My 5 year plan

fatrab

Keeping up the motivation this week! Thanks for the encouraging comments, especially concerning the credit card - they are evil!


Stepped on the scales yesterday morning and was very surprised to see that I'd dipped under 17st. Won't take that as gospel until my official weigh in on Friday as had a few pints yesterday afternoon and may have put back on any weight that I lost over the weekend. Started the 16:8 intermittent fasting plan this morning and no alcohol for the next month or so.


Should be 2 NSD's today and tomorrow. Wednesday I'll need to get the bus to hospital as I've a small operation to go in for on my hand. Would have been a spend day anyway as we'll have used up most of the food that we bought yesterday by then.


Happy Monday!

fatrab

JoJoC wrote: »

Your motivation and enthusiasm is infectious, hence why I keep coming back to read

Thanks, I just reached a point in my life where enough is enough and it's time to make a change. I still have a few things that I need to reduce, snacking and alcohol consumption being the main two. Mrs fatrab and I can be a bad influence on each other so that's another area which also needs some focus.

Just need to get on with it and keep the end goal in mind.

Thanks again

enthusiasticsaver

Yours is one of my favourite diaries. You sound so determined and focused both in terms of getting on top of your finances and sorting out your weight. Neither is easy!!

fatrab

Writing things down really helps me. It makes me stop and question everything I buy or spend money on (bills etc) as I know I'll be summarising my spending here for others to analyse and criticise (constructively of course!).

It's good to know others are going or have gone through similar or worse situations, and that the advice or comments received comes from real life experiences. And it's good to know someone is listening/reading.

Those little "Thank You's" and comments really do mean a lot.

fatrab

I'm using a spending tracker app to log everything I spend (not including bills). It has a feature where it shows everything as a percentage of the overall expenditure for the week/month. I was going to post the results monthly to see if my habits evolve but I think I'll do it weekly on a Monday for all to see!

1st - 7th Jan:
Pub 50%
Eating out 27%
Shopping 17%
Travel 6%

8th - 14th Jan:
Shopping 45%
Fuel 39%
Eating out 10%
Pub 4%
Clothes 2%

15th - 21st Jan:
Shopping 42%
Fuel 36%
Eating out 12%
Pub 10%

The first week looks terrible but the reason behind this is that I hardly spent any money that week. Unfortunately the bulk of the money that I did spend was on a day out drinking with my mate. Train into Glasgow, few pints, take away on the way home. If only I hadn't gone out that day.......

I've included any snacking purchases under Eating Out as I don't want to include them in the weekly shopping costs. I'll create a new category in the app for snacking if I do buy any more, which I'm trying not to!

fatrab

Should be 2nd NSD of the week today!

Been thinking a lot about other small ways to save. No pub and no takeaways will be a good start, so onto other things....

Driving back from Inverness to Glasgow shortly and challenging myself to squeeze as many mpg from the car as possible. I don't drive a particularly economical car. It's expensive to tax, insurance is ok, mpg isn't great (35 at a push) but it is very well suited to the type of driving conditions that I encounter through work - Scottish Highlands, off road, snow and mud. A little city car just wouldn't do the job so I'm not prepared to make sacrifices in that department. I get paid car allowance in lieu of a company car which suits me as the company car choices are awful and not adequate for my role. Paying the insurance monthly last year was a serious error on my part.

Mrs fatrab is looking to downgrade her car. Her current car (a big 4x4) is also not very economical but we need the space for the big mutt (he's a Great Dane) and baby, pram etc. Her car is worth around £6k but the car she's looking at changing to (smaller estate car) is only going to be around £3500. When she goes back to work following maternity leave her employer has relocated her department to a new office which is only 2 miles from home (was 12 miles previously). So the money free'd up will go back into the bank loan and she'll be paying less for fuel and road tax which should in turn mean she can contribute more to the household pot when the time comes. We did question whether we actually needed a second car but with me working away from home and the baby going into nursery for a few half days every week, amongst other things, it seems like a necessity.

Shopping. Still buying snacks, but buying them as part of the weekly shopping instead of nipping out to the shop during the day at work. This needs to stop. £6 of Sunday's shopping was "snacks". Also my portion sizes for meals are massive. I need to reduce them, slightly. Things will start to stretch a little further each week and the belly should start to shrink!

I've set myself a budget of £0 for new clothes this year. I'm losing weight. I have clothes hanging up at home that will fit me again soon so no need to buy anything.

New energy supplier took over the supply today and the DD date is the 23rd (today) - just before payday. So called them and moved it to 27th. Next payment will be 27th Feb so all good.

It's good to keep making these little tweaks.

Hope you all have a great day!

Working_Mum

Hi fatrab,
WEll done on keeping the faith - being out and about all day in your car can lead to some interesting conversation in your head can't they!!

I thought I'd share some things which i did a few years ago to use less resources:-
* brick in the toilet cistern saves me a litre of water a flush
* flush the loo less - old adage "if it's brown flush it down, if it's yellow let it mellow" (sorry for any offense!).
* turn every electrical gadget off at the mains
* set home thermostat to 17 degrees (the lowest my kids will go I found after trial and error) and wear layers
* seal drafts around doors etc with sausage door stops etc
* always carry a usable bag in my handbag to avoid the 5p surcharge
* shop with a list
* shop with a hand basket as I have to carry it and I am dead weak lol
* meal plan every week
* always "shop at home" first for anything I need - I have loads of stuff I don't use/keep for a rainy day and that has been re-purposed over the years!
* instigate a 48 hour waiting period for any purchases outside of food etc - saved me lots of impulse buys!
* celebrate every success - saving money can be a daily grind but you have to "start with the end in mind" (Stephen Cover 7 Habits) and a little celebration keeps things jogging along!

I feel sure you are on the right track to your fiscal freedom - just think of all of those choices you and your family will have when you have done the hard graft!!

Keep it going

This thread has some excellent old school ideas and keeps me motivated!!

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=33

Storm89

Working Mum - the 48 hour waiting period is a really good idea, I've seen that on a few diaries recently. fatrab I love your ideas, especially snacks. I used to be TERRIBLE for snacks, spending a tenner on the weekly shop on cakes etc and then still popping out in the week for them haha. Good luck with the weight loss !

fatrab

Working_Mum wrote: »

Hi fatrab,
WEll done on keeping the faith - being out and about all day in your car can lead to some interesting conversation in your head can't they!! - OH hell yes, my inner monologue goes at 100mph lol

I thought I'd share some things which i did a few years ago to use less resources:-
* brick in the toilet cistern saves me a litre of water a flush - council tax in Scotland, no water rates as such, still a good idea.
* flush the loo less - old adage "if it's brown flush it down, if it's yellow let it mellow" (sorry for any offense!). - already in place! For environmental reasons more so.
* turn every electrical gadget off at the mains - will look at it but think we're pretty good at this already, from a safety aspect
* set home thermostat to 17 degrees (the lowest my kids will go I found after trial and error) and wear layers - 4 month old baby so not really possible although I do find 19 degs is too warm anyway so it's usually at 18.
* seal drafts around doors etc with sausage door stops etc - UPVC doors front and back with no drafts at windows etc, house is very well insulated. I floored the loft and the amount of heat that has kept in the upstairs rooms is unbelievable!
* always carry a usable bag in my handbag to avoid the 5p surcharge - we keep 3 in each car at all times
* shop with a list - Already do. Mrs fatrab hates lists. I love them!
* shop with a hand basket as I have to carry it and I am dead weak lol - Hmmm, have to give that some thought. I'm not sure that would stop me as I'm quite well built (well, I used to be before the blubber took over!)
* meal plan every week - started this last week, it really works and encourages us to find new ideas
* always "shop at home" first for anything I need - I have loads of stuff I don't use/keep for a rainy day and that has been re-purposed over the years! - we currently make meals depending on what's in stock already, only buying the ingredients to complete the meals. except snacks - I MUST STOP SNACKING!
* instigate a 48 hour waiting period for any purchases outside of food etc - saved me lots of impulse buys! - I saw this on another thread and really like the idea of 24/48 hr thinking time
* celebrate every success - saving money can be a daily grind but you have to "start with the end in mind" (Stephen Cover 7 Habits) and a little celebration keeps things jogging along! - hopefully at the end of Feb we might manage a little night away on our own

I feel sure you are on the right track to your fiscal freedom - just think of all of those choices you and your family will have when you have done the hard graft!!

Keep it going

This thread has some excellent old school ideas and keeps me motivated!!

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=33

Thanks!

Is your brick wrapped in cling film? Random question I know but this would displace more water as bricks are rather permeable.


Don't ask me why I thought of that......

enthusiasticsaver

Interesting to see the percentages of spends and what they are on. I used a spending app tracker coming up to retirement and use a spreadsheet now. I found the fuel spend like yours was quite a substantial part of our spends as we live in Cornwall and cars are essential due to the remoteness of some places we go to. Even though we are now both retired (early) we are still relatively young (57 and 59)and have different interests so have two cars still. We spend no where as much on fuel though due to walking more as we have more time and no more commuting for either of us.

If you are trying to lose weight I would hold off on buying clothes for as long as possible.