Spend Nowt, Buy Nowt, Owe Nowt

XSpender

Parkyp said:

Morning, did you get snow? I’d love to go to the races, is it a long Day though or do you just drink in between the races and the time’s passes 😁. Uber eats often send out voucher codes like 25% or 50% off (I think it’s for the customers who don’t use them often) that’s when by son orders when he’s getting a bargain lol. Enjoy your walk. Ps Sorry forgot to ask. how are you feeling ?

We have had a little bit of snow but not as much as some.  It has been bitter cold all weekend and the wind is blowing the snow about.

XSpender

I'm getting fed up of being in lockdown.    I think working from home constantly and only leaving the house to go the shop or to take a short walk is getting me down and making both me and DH lazy.  We didn't do much at the weekend at all, not helped by DH being preoccupied by a meeting he has at work on Friday.  He always gets very anxious about these meetings when there is no reason he should be.

I had a day off today and apart from getting DS school work finished earlier than usual not much else has been accomplished.  I have signed up to a couple of survey sites, unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher, washed DH hoodies on a 30 as requested and ran the van for a bit so it doesn't get a flat battery.  I will run the hoover around in a bit and make a GF Jamaican ginger cake and maybe some cheese scones.  We are having roast chicken for dinner followed by little lemon puddings with custard.  I have a new pasta recipe to try tomorrow.  I am not that keen on pasta so I am hoping this new recipe is tasty.

I forgot to do the Sunday account sweep yesterday so have moved £10.09 over this morning and the savings balance against the target for Feb is £815.90/£1000.  I also paid another £5 OP to my CC.  I am OPing enough each month to cover the interest on the loan so I pay off a minimum of £700/month net off the debt.

On Sunday I listed the contents of the freezers and the cupboards and we have a lot in but not much meat, except sausages from the YS haul the other week, and I will have to buy more chicken at the weekend.  I want to keep our food spending low over the next two weeks to build up a fund for Costco.  So far on the Costco list is meat (pork loin, chicken, steak, burgers, chicken goujons), catering size paprika, laundry liquid, kitchen roll (stocking up for when the pooch arrives) and toilet paper.  I am planning to have 3 empty drawers in the freezer by the end of the month to fit all the meat in.

I have an awful lot of dried goods that I could do with using up: red and brown lentils, buckwheat, kilos of GF SR flour, GF plain flour, coconut flour and sugar, lots of different rice, dried chickpeas, almond flour, flaxseed, chia seeds.  I will have to find my baking mojo again.  We do seem to be having more puddings with the weather being so cold which will see some of these getting reduced/used up.  I can't even remember what recipe i bought the buckwheat for!

Toni'sfriend

I think you're being pretty active compared to what I'm doing which is basically nothing. If it's any consolation a lot of people are feeling the same. Nothing really changing from day to day. I'm sure it will get better but it is very difficult at times. I would love a dog or a cat but not really practical for us or fair to the animal. What breed is the dog?

IzzyBee

I agree a lot of people feel the same it’s seems so long this time I think a lot has to do with the weather the first lockdown we could sit in the sunshine 

Toni'sfriend

That's also true. It's more difficult to walk. sit outside, do things in the garden just now. Even just the lack of seeing flowers blooming and watching birds must be having an effect.

XSpender

Toni'sfriend said:

I think you're being pretty active compared to what I'm doing which is basically nothing. If it's any consolation a lot of people are feeling the same. Nothing really changing from day to day. I'm sure it will get better but it is very difficult at times. I would love a dog or a cat but not really practical for us or fair to the animal. What breed is the dog?

He’s a yellow lab 

We also have an elderly Jack Russel.

XSpender

I’ve been for my first mammogram today.  In and out in 7 minutes and only 6 mins drive each way as it was a mobile van at the local leisure centre.  Fabulous NHS 🙂

I tried a new pasta receipt tonight; DH loved it, DS didn’t like it (even though he likes all the ingredients in it???) and I thought it needed to be more saucy. Followed by HM mini jam sponges and a slightly OOD syrup one for DH I found In the back of the cupboard.  There are only 3 of the dozen cheese scones and half of the ginger cake I made yesterday still in the tins.  

I had to pick up something for work today so nipped in M&S food to see if I could spot some chilli marmite and got YS GF scones and spring rolls and full price GF filled pasta which I have when the boys have meatballs and haven’t seen any in Morries or Mr T.  I used most of the cash I had in my purse and moved the change to the piggy bank when i got home.  I seem to have hardly used cash this year.  I cant remember why I took out £20 at the start of the month but have been trying to get rid of it since.

DH winnings hit the account today. I have left it in there as we have spent it on the birthday breakfast and last weeks £20 Sunday savings.  I also managed to get through to V1rg1n on their chat bot thing to request the refund of my previous suppliers cancellation charge which they said they would cover.  The credit will be on next months bill effectively giving us a free month.

It’s a real dead zone for all things Financial this week.  My next debt DDs don’t out until 18th and I won’t be adding anything to savings until Sunday.

Suffolk_lass

That all seems under control. I personally find it helpful to use my diary a bit like a journal of spending. It keeps me honest with myself

XSpender

After an awful day home schooling yesterday, where I never got a scrap of work done, I am hoping for a much calmer and more productive day.  Luckily DS workload is low today and we are going for a play in the snow at lunchtime even if it is currently -3!

DH anxiety is through the roof about his meeting on Friday.  He has nothing to worry about from what he tells me but hates these kind of meetings and worries he is going to lose his job.  He will ring me after it on Friday and it will have gone well as usual.  

We were talking this morning about not being so reliant on our salaries for all our income and looking at additional/alternative sources of income especially if lose my job at the end of the year as I will find it difficult to match my salary.  Ideally I would like 2-3 sources of income in addition to our salaries although these will take some time to build up.  There is only so far we can cut our expenses with our massive mortgage payment so we need a bigger shovel to achieve our goals quicker and have more financial security.  I am hoping it would also alleviate some of the anxiety DH always feels about losing his job although his worries are unfounded.

DH mentioned a side hustle idea he has suggested before which is in his area of expertise.  It would require a £1000 initial investment/float. We have estimated this side hustle could make us a profit of about £5-6k p.a. for a few hours work a couple of weekends a month and very low costs.  We have not started it before now as we never had a £1000!  We need to do a bit more research on pricing and save up some more for the initial investment as I am nervous about using so much of our savings pot.  I expect we will start in March as the current weather will have an impact too.

Nothing added to savings or paid off debt except a £5 OP this week.  We filled up DH car last night which, along with the £4.99 spent in M&S have been our only spends since Saturday!

apple_muncher

How exciting to have plans for a side hustle!