Coffee, Cake, Yarn - New Start

CoffeeCakeYarn

Scores on the doors! I thought I'd keep it in a separate post then I can add to it and clearly see month on month the numbers going down, hopefully Some really good results, I'm pleased. I had an unusually frugal month, but I kinda expected I would. It's partly due to the massive YS meat shop, which I still have 1.5 pork joints, 7 mince and both packets of fish left from. And the toiletries sort out. I now have them all lined up and have realised I don't need to save the nice body wash for best, I can just use it. I don't think I'll be buying any shower gel for about six months! The really low social spend, thanks to it being Jan and everyone being skint. I already know the fun spends are going to look very, very different next month.

I'm happy. It's not a huge amount off, but 2% is good. It means that in 50 months I could be debt free, which feels like an age but isn't forever. Feeling positive about it.

Week off is here! Well, it will be at 5pm. So happy, so looking forward to it. Plan for the week is to chill, eat too much, etc. Then a few days back at work before the next adventure.

Happy payday all

Mumoffourkids

:j:j Yeahhhh for payday.

Also good job on the 2% paid off. Just remember you could have increased your debt. And your extra earnings figure is great as well. Keep going!

joeyjimbles

Well done. That's fantastic, and you already are looking ahead and seeing where you need to save money for things you want to do which means you're limiting some of the bends in the road that tend to scupper our best intentions.
And making over £100 additional earning is great - if you look at that v your Spends it more or less covers everything except your Petrol! And that earning could go up as the surveys have been a little thin on the ground in January.
So do you have a little cunning plan as to how to save a little more/make a little more in February? Perhaps a little difficult with your week off?
Anyway, long winded way of saying well done - 2% off and you're on your way.

CoffeeCakeYarn

Thank you thank you thank you my cheerleaders! You've kept me on the straight and narrow this month. Weirdly, I'll go to get something then think, no, what would they think of me, I'm letting them down haha, so you really do help

Apart from last night in Aldi, which I forgot to confess to in my payday happy. I was clearly VERY tired and Very hungry. I got home and put dinner in the oven then went food shopping. In the interest of full disclosure here is what I bought that I didn't strictly NEED.

Big packet of crispies for tomorrow: 85p
Yorkshire Puddings: 50p
Sage and Onion Stuffing: 34p
Cookies: 42p

Okay - ramble but......

I budgeted £5.00 for the wine. It cost £3.75. I'm still 40p in budget.
The cookies are my aldi treat, the only 'treat' I get in food shopping. The only other snack I get is a fruity nut mix thing which totals about £3 and lasts a month, so once a week I get my 42p cookies
Stuffing and Yorkshires are dinner items, I just didn't strictly NEED them. I has meat, veg and tatos, but, I AM WEAK FOR CARBS!

The roasty additions means that the dinner veg portion was a bit too large so I'll half it tonight and have the left over veg with fish tomorrow, so it's kind of helped eek it out. But still, didn't NEED.

But besides all that I spent a ridiculously low amount on food which included a protein order last month. so it's just not that bad.

FEB - It's going to be a rather hard month for me with the extra earnings. Everything that's worth anything has now been sold, the last dregs are being relisted on ebay, so unless someone dumps a bag of goodies on my doorstep I really can't sell anything else. And no, I'm not selling the craft supplies haha I've also got next week off and will be away from computer and rather busy, so I can dip in and do a few in downtime, but it won't be anywhere near the amount I have been.

The week after I have a weekend away. It was a Christmas present, Thurs - Sun, EVERYTHING is paid for apart from petrol which will be split 2 ways. It's usually about £20 each. I'll need some booze if I want it and Crisps, but all meals, some cakes, all tea and coffee is paid for. It's activity based so no 'days out' or sightseeing or anything that needs paying for. EEEK exciting! BUT, again it means I'm going to be out of the survey game for 4 days.

Along with that, it's looks like it's going to be a bit of a busy one at actual work, and I might have to pull my finger out. I tend to coast when I can, but then when I need to manage a project I'm a Trojan, and working all the hours god sends for two weeks. It's possible I might have two projects running concurrently that I have to work on, and unfortunately the real work pays the rent so I have to focus. I can't drop the ball on it, so again possibly very little downtime.

I'll keep up the pictures of receipts where I can, and the wombling, and just try and get as much done survey wise as I can when I can, but I think I have to accept that unless I want to start selling dirty knickers on ebay my extra earnings is going to be a little lower for now.

It's okay though, I'm glad I had such a positive, frugal, extra month this month to kick me off. It's a good jumping point, like when you lose 8lbs in the first week of a diet.

And yeah, looking at the extra earnings vs spending was a real eye opener! First Freaking Frugal month in the bag!!

redofromstart

Well done, an excellent start. Don't forget the stuffing/yorkshires will presumably do more than one meal and they help to pad the meal out.

Mahsroh

You seem to have your head screwed on! Subscribing to this for inspiration!

Good luck!


P.S. For clarity....Yorkshire puddings ARE an essential! We all NEED these in our lives!! :-)

joeyjimbles

Stuffing and yorkshires are really not a huge sin - and will provide some variety - you can do fake toad in the hole, and use them to eek out a bit of dinner into a lot of dinner. And the yorkshires are lovely anyway - stuffing I can take or leave.
I think if you can keep checking PA and e-rewards and do even one a day then you'll keep things ticking over.

MeenaM

yaya! we made it to payday!!! keep going and enjoy the Aldi treats xx

CoffeeCakeYarn

Yay look at all these comments! And agreed with yorkshires being a need haha. It's was 12 little ones so will last an age for me, they will still be in the freezer after the pork is gone. And the stuffing is four portions so adds a bit of variety. But yeah, in the food shopping sense I try to stick to macros, not only for money saving (I.e not buying extras bits and junk) but from a health perspective too. Some things I can't drop down on, like veg. I hate the texture of frozen veg so I know I spend more than I should on fresh, but to me that's a need. Stuffing and Yorkshires do not fit in the eating plan macros lol.

It's weird seeing someone say I sound like I've got my head screwed on thank you! I often think I don't sound it with my ramblings. And often think people must be reading this thinking why is she out for dinner she's in 26k debt. But I read something the other day that was along the lines of you're in debt, not prison, and that resonated. Most importantly, I might be in debt but now I'm in CONTROL.

For instance next week I've got £120 saved for it. 241 vouchers for the tourist activities. Vouchers for a £2 breakfast sandwich. A booking at a cheap but lovely all you can eat. I exchanged Tesco vouchers for a dinner out. A few months ago I wouldn't have even thought about it I'd have just mindlessly handed over the credit card. And although I think I might need it next week, I'm very mindful of the implications if I do, and how hard I'll need to work to claw it back.

Happy happy days today. Positive pants are on! Gonna try to get a good nights sleep, I was up at 6am excited to get on the payday banking so I just ended up getting up lol. Few chores and boring bits to do tomorrow morning then the fun can really begin.

Happy Friday evening you lovely lot!

CoffeeCakeYarn

And just realised I'm no longer in 26k debt, it's 25. That's got to be a win right?