Are we nearly there yet?

Pauper1

Ordered food shopping to come tomorrow on the first day of my pay month. I'm looking forward to it getting here, as much as I am also enjoying using things up, there's also things I've been missing! Like actual baby wipes, instead of the cloth ones. I used to full time cloth nappy with my second baby, but my washing pile is horrendous as it is this time around!

So as long as there's nothing missing etc, my grocery challenge will be at £280.39/£400 with 11 days to go until the end of the month. Should definitely be achievable.

Today I have made low fat banana muffins and a small loaf, and currently proving some wholemeal flatbread things. All using bits and pieces up, and hodgepodging some recipes.

Gonna chuck a wash on and then take the dog for a walk I think. It's a bit drizzly but the toddler is grizzly, so it's preferable 🤣

Pauper1

Food shopping was a tiny bit more than planned, and I forgot a couple of things, so yesterday made it £287.24/£400, but I'll have to spend a little today as well so it will be higher.

Had to get fuel this morning and forgot the fuel card, so had to spend my own money 😭 

Did get £5.10 from free spins at Coral though, and my Chase cashback is at £1.66 for the week which is nice. I absolutely definitely need to list some more things for sale tomorrow...

Have done a £1 PAD every day for the last 21 days, and my penny challenge is up to £2.31 🙌

I finished my pay month at -£80.38 instead of the usual -£250, so saved myself £169.62 plus whatever interest that would've been. Satisfying feeling.

Plus I cancelled a few things so should have freed up £258.61 in total. I need to pay £150 to in laws this month and plan to finish the month at or above £0, so that only really leaves £28.23 as "spare". Gets eaten up so easily!

Pauper1

£1 PAD and 22p penny savings today. Should be NSD 13 today.

Yesterday was quite spendy, considering how low spend the rest of the month has been. It was still massively reined in compared to last year though! Dentist was £26.80, spent £12.98 on some toiletries I'd run out of, £1 on the carpark and £3.85 on things I'd forgotten from the food shop.

I realised this morning that one of the cancelled things will still come out this month, so it actually will make it -£16.77, which is annoying.

The balance transfer has gone through this morning, so the 42% interest card is finito!

Only lost 1lb this week, which is still a loss, but considering how much I've changed my diet is quite frustrating. Gym yesterday morning and moved a load of furniture around on Monday. Housework today and maybe a dog walk, depending on how grumpy the toddler is. 

I will be making some "not-meatballs" from one of Jack's books today. The banana bread and flatbreads went down well, but none of the main meals have been a success so far. Last of the Gousto will come tomorrow, unless my friend orders her box using my code.

Gotta go.. biggest kid has just come in to tell me that the bin has "fallen over and there's loads of stuff all over the floor"... 🤦

Pauper1

£1 PAD & 23p penny savings today. NSD number 14.

No exercise today or yesterday unfortunately, besides a bit of housework. Unless you count school runs and bathing three bonkers kiddies, which probably did get my heart rate up TBF haha. But gym tomorrow 🥰 and hopefully dog walk after work as well.

I haven't managed to get my breakfast ready for tomorrow yet as the smallest one keeps waking up, and bed is feeling quite cosy now... So I'll set my alarm for a bit earlier tomorrow instead. 

Lunch, fruit tea, water bottle and coffee mug are all ready to go, to save me from temptation. And I've already put the fuel card in my purse for a change 🙌

I've had some interest added on to my cards and I'm now up £10.45 in terms of debts, since the 1st Jan, which is incredibly frustrating. I still have the overdraft win though, which I must try to remember! And if I keep chipping away, without adding any spends to it myself, it will start to come down. Slow and steady I guess.

Pauper1

£1 PAD and 24p & 25p penny savings yesterday & today. NSD number 15 yesterday, hopefully 16 today, and then spending tomorrow.

No dog walk yesterday, just the gym, and will do my home workout today as the gym seems to be busy on Saturdays at the moment. Definitely a dog walk today as well. Got a new low on the scales today after quite a few days of staying the same, will see what the next couple of days bring. It's been harder to stick to my diet this week, I think a combo of my period and also getting stronger, as I've hit a few PBs which is awesome. 

Anyway, money. I had the last big bit of my income yesterday. Paid a couple of the things that I don't have direct debits for, and made sure I left enough in the account for the remaining payments. Then moved the rest to Chase, although there's things that will come out of that account as well. I think I worked out that it left me with about £300 for all spends, including groceries, so that's fun...! 

This month I need to focus on selling things and raising money that way, and then it should be doable. The plan is to make sure the overdraft is £0 at the end of the month, and then a few more things finish this month, so that will mean I've saved myself another £147, which will make things easier going forward. Add that to the £169 from last month, and that's £316 that's not disappearing straight away! 🙌

Pauper1

I hadn't taken into account my overdraft or Klarna debts when I did my original total, so starting amount was actually:

£11706.68

After 4 weeks it is now:

£11354.92

If it carries on at that rate I should be at £7133.80 by the end of the year. However I am hopeful that it will actually speed up if I am able to access 0% balance transfers etc. My aim was to half the debt by the end of the year, so that's an additional £1280 on top.

Cara_

Hello Pauper1

I've just read through your diary and you are doing well. All those baby steps towards saving money do add up and reducing your debt by more than half by December will be a great achievement..

Cara

Pauper1

My January roundup:

Make £2025 in 2025: I was so close to my monthly target and ended on £160.29/£168.75. I did sell something on Vinted for £30ish yesterday, but that'll go on Feb's takings. 

1p savings challenge: No problems there and hit £4.96

NSDs: It was close but I did 20/20 with one day to spare 🤣 

Payment A Day: I made a £1 payment to my highest interest credit card, so took £31 off the balance, but for some reason they didn't take the direct debit in January! So I don't think I even covered the interest 🤦 it was helpful in terms of getting back to a good starting point, but I need them to take the proper payment going forward.

Grocery challenge: Ended on £369.29/£400, but OH bought two Gousto boxes this month so I probably would've been over budget if not. I'm not entirely sure how to reduce this as I was so careful this month. Definitely one to focus on.

Weight/Cholesterol: I definitely have slacked off this week. No gym sessions, no dog walks, feeling quite snacky, takeaway and chocolate 🙈 in my defence your honour, I've been exhausted and the smallest has been ill. My Wednesday weigh in showed a loss but I've no doubt it'll catch up with me this week. I was down 8lbs overall on Weds, but I'm not really counting that yet!

Pauper1

February plans:

Make £2025 in 2025: I've pulled out loads of things to sell from the cupboard and a big bag of cloth nappies from the bedroom, so will list it all over the weekend. There's still a huge amount around the house and garage after that as well. I still haven't sorted my first direct switch and I've no idea if I'm too late now, so I'll need to check that today. (ADHD tax hitting hard there if I've missed out on £175!)

1p savings challenge: it'll be £12.74 over the month so I doubt there'll be any problems again.

NSDs: I'm aiming for 20 again, which is going to be really hard seeing as I only just made it last month and I've got 3 less days to do it in this month 🤣

Payment A Day: If the direct debit doesn't go out again this month (the 6th) I'll do a manual payment for the amount it should've been. I'll then carry on moving the £1 a day to a savings account or something, as it has been working out for me that way, and pay a lump sum after the DD goes out in March.

Grocery challenge: I've run down my stores quite a lot over the last month, but there's still a few random bits and pieces to use up. I've got some baby pasta that would be perfect in a minestrone soup, so I'll check what I need for that. I shopped in Tesco and Asda a few times last month so maybe I'll try a month solely shopping from Aldi and see if that makes any difference.

Weight/Cholesterol: I'm giving myself grace and telling myself that I needed the extra carbs as I was so so tired this week, but I'm not letting myself get swept into the whirlpool. So today it's back to it. Dog walk after lunch, home workout this morning, and back on track with food. I'm setting February's target as 6lbs off.

Pauper1

Keeping up with my £1 PADs & penny savings. Made £113.10 over the last week, which means I've only got to make £64.21 over the rest of Feb to get up to target for the year 🙌 (I forgot about a £5 FB sale, so I actually made £118.10, so need to make £59.21)

Had a bad end of week & weekend in a few different ways, which impacted my weigh in (1/2 on) and my NSDs. I didn't go mad, it was only a Starbucks latte on a drive, but it's still annoying haha

Back to the gym yesterday, and hopefully a dog walk today, but I think I might have a middle child home sick which makes it tricky. 

My main aim for today is to list for sale all the things that I pulled out from the cupboard as they are currently in my way haha