Spend Nowt, Buy Nowt, Owe Nowt

XSpender

I will have a pop over to the reverse meal planning thread for a look SL.

I reorganised my freezers recently so that all foods of a similar type are in the same drawer.  This has made it so much easier to see what we have, meal plan and use up some of the bits we won’t be buying again as we change our diet but don’t want to waste.

I prepared a vege chilli, vege curry, favourite lemon chicken and sweet potatoes recipe and a sausage casserole at the weekend to cover some of our lunches and dinners this week and some leftovers for next week.  I will need to cook again tomorrow, a chicken and chorizo paella, using what I already have in and ‘make it work’ on Thursday from whatever I can find in the freezer! I have meal planned for the next 2 weeks, we have a fair bit of meat in which should keep costs down.

As we like Morries I have decided to stick with them but try having my shopping delivered to avoid temptation, especially with all the GF Christmas goodies in store.  DH suggested I go shopping without him but I think I am as much of an over spender in this area as he is. A months delivery pass has cost £8 instead of £4.50/shop for the times I would choose.  If it works for us we will buy a delivery pass for a longer period.

This week’s shop comes to around £47 and includes a tenner on beer for DH but I will need to add on a couple of bits for DS dinners when he doesn’t eat the same as us and lemons if they ever show as in stock!  I am also cutting out our usual weekend crisps which must add £5 to the weekly bill.

Our oven has started to have even more issues (it hasn’t worked properly for a year) and I was starting to worry that it would conk out on Christmas Day. DH has found a much better brand/model than ours on market place for £100 which we will pick up tomorrow.  It just needs a bulb and DH can fit it 😀

In debt busting news I have £825 on a CC where the 0% offer is due to expire by the end of Jan which I am going to do my best to clear.  This will take our o/s cc balances under £30k even allowing for the BT fees we will need to add moving some balances to DH new CC.  It does mean that I won’t start saving our bigger EF until end of Jan pay but I should receive my annual bonus then which will give the savings a boost and we have our mini EF in place.

I have almost decided on my debt busting and saving goals for 2021 but as they are likely to change, knowing me, I will hold off posting them until nearer the end of the year 😉 😀

apple_muncher

I have really been proud of your 'days since cc used' number as the year has gone on. Please wear your smug face!!

Suffolk_lass

apple_muncher said:

I have really been proud of your 'days since cc used' number as the year has gone on. Please wear your smug face!!

I agree - it is a major step towards clearing your debts and living your best life - well done!

I've just placed an order with Morries too - but we cannot add carrots (!) lemons, oranges or pomegranates so we have ours as a (free) click and collect. We did this for wine just after the first lockdown and it took about five minutes to collect. The Morries we use is very close to the big outbreak of the virus (went up from 12 to 103 in five days) for a postcode cluster and now Suffolk has a dark purple spot, just down the road from us and I'm not confidant about shopping for a week or two. DH will collect, and take my phone, and we can wipe everything down before putting it away when he gets back.

enthusiasticsaver

Well done on not using CCs for so long. I organise my freezer drawers like you too. Bread and chips etc in one. Meat and fish  in another. Veg in one and convenience food and ice creams/frozen fruit  in the bottom. You can see at a glance then how many meals in there. Tricky with a chest freezer though. 

XSpender

Thanks for your comments about not using the credit cards this year, it has been a game changer for us.  I expect we were overspending by £10k a year😮     <<--my smug face Apple

We picked up the oven yesterday and got a fair bit knocked off as we are going to have to replace a part so will cost us about £130 overall which is better than the £400+ we were looking at for a new one. It is immaculate, my oven never looks that clean!  DH will fit it at the weekend and check it works before we order the part.

My plan to pay off the small credit card balance by January was short lived after completing my tax return 🙁.  I did not think we would have to pay back so much of the CB for last year as my income hasn't changed and this needs to be paid by the end of January.  Last year we borrowed the money to pay back the CB overpayments for the previous 3 years so being able to cashflow this over the next 3 months pay checks is a win.  Next year I am going to save the CB in a separate account and then whatever I don't need to pay back to the tax man will be a nice Christmas bonus Next year the bill should be smaller due to 3 months on furlough pay, a much 'cheaper' company car and claiming the WFH allowance for the whole year.

I am still working on my realistic goals for next year.  I can't afford to do everything I would like debt and saving wise so will eventually decide on an achievable goal for each. Although it won't move the needle as much as I would like it to, it will be progress.  Progress not perfection is going to be next year's mantra

XSpender

DH has successfully fitted the cooker and it works so I have ordered a new inner glass door.  It didn’t need a bulb.  It has made the kitchen look more modern and has many more bells and whistles than any of my previous cookers.

I have bitten the bullet and ordered a new bulb for the kitchen (funny sized strip light that has 2 bulbs and 1 was out) and have bought a load of new spot bulbs from B&Q for the office (10 needed!!) as I need more light in there. 

We popped to Aldee for frozen brocolli x 2 and sweet potatoes which were missing from our Morries order and spent £32.  The 3 items I went in for would have cost £2.07. This is why I am planning on keeping out of the shops. Apart from a drink for DH and DS, 2 boxes of gf mince pies and a new bird feeder the rest was from the Christmas budget and included a couple of stocking fillers for DS which were on the list (boggle game and a small air-fix model) and some trivial pursuit Christmas crackers.

I added up what we have spent on food, alcohol, dog food, toiletries and household stuff like cleaning stuff, new mop heads and loo paper this month and I didn’t know whether to cry or throw up.  I knew it was bad but the figure was obscene.  Double what a generous budget for these categories would be for the 3 of us and a small dog. We don’t have expensive tastes, eat more than the average person, buy lots of branded items, have cupboards full of food or drink expensive wine but you would think so with the amount we have spent. 

I was hoping to take advantage of the glasses direct offer from martin’s email but I am having trouble entering my prescription and can’t find the last one I had.  I only need reading glasses so may have to give them a call.  The £10 pair I bought as azda last month have fallen apart 😡 I am currently using some we bought for DH that are not quite strong enough but will do for now.

Suffolk_lass

Our local stationers, bookstore and pharmacies all sell reading glasses - DH favours the library or the local "Harrods" (£1+ store). His are usually 2 for £10

On the grocery spend, I have managed to reduce mine by having eggs and milk delivered - the extra for the milkman is def offset by not going into the SM as I am just like you. I did used to nip into Waitrose about 3.30pm on a Sunday and hover round the bread but find I have better things to do (and so do you I think! - it's about finding your compromise - with your busy family life some savings are plan-able but always have some contingency).

For comparison, our two-week shop (click and collect on Thursday from Morries) was just under £160 but it included two cases of 20 small bottles of Stella (£9.99 each) and 6 boxes of Lindor truffle things (3 for £10) - both for Christmas - in both cases I have been looking regularly to get them when on offer. Other than this it was £52.80 on fresh use it up stuff, and an extra £7.96 for things not listed online or they said were out of stock (pears, pomegranates, lemons, bread rolls and pumpernickel bread) because DH went in - and £42.43 on store-cupboard things (plus oats and oat bran in the health food shop). I still buy my brands but they have to be on offer (I buy 6 when they are). We also had some treats - bombay mix (4x50p), crisps (12 for £2.50) and ice cream (£3 a litre). The only meat this time was a chicken for £3.10 (could have got 3 for £10) but I had already got lots of meat in the freezer and portioned up. I try to spread out the things I need - bleach and cat litter are always there but I wait until I get the the fourth bottle of shower gel then start looking for the offer when I'm there.

My best trick is minced beef (20% fat with no fat added to cook it) - I divide the 500g packs into 4 portions of about 130-150g and then when I cook ragu, bolognese or chilli, I pad it out with carrots and red lentils and put the cast iron pot in the oven for an hour and nobody ever notices how little meat there is. The lentils really add texture and are full of protein but the big plus is no soaking or pre-cooking.

My worst is biscuits or crackers and my store-cupboard has lots - like 3-4 packets of three kinds! Oh, and wine. I bought a case in the first lockdown and have avoided looking since because we had two full racks after that. However, we have taken to stopping for 20-30 minutes to drink "cocktails" - might be a glass of wine or a small bottle of beer and then having water with meals - that has made a huge difference. I would happily sit and drink a whole bottle of wine if it is next to me. Sitting with a little bowl of crisps or bombay mix and a single glass, and stopping and chatting is our lockdown equivalent to a date ( ) but needs must.It makes having that drink a bit special and we seem to be a bit more abstemious. 

I don't know if these help or not - they are hopefully some ideas that might help you. Keep going - lots of other things are much better this year for you x

brizzlegirl

Just catching up., sorry for the long delay in posting.  Hope you’re all ok, have a great New Year, love Brizzle x

Suffolk_lass

Hope all is well with you and hoping you will be posting your 2021 aims on here soon. Happy New Year!

Honeysucklelou2

Happy New Year XSpender.