My journey to a debt free life

Chrystal

Sounds like a plan OBL, Glad you've got your head together... you can do this X

Onebrokelady

Chrystal wrote: »

Sounds like a plan OBL, Glad you've got your head together... you can do this X

Thanks,I think I have just got a bit complacent then panicked,its so easy to to let things slip and get back into old habits,I just need to keep plodding on:)

Onebrokelady

Today I have had a day out to visit our fairly new Ikea store,it opened in May and I went for a look round with my mum but we missed some of it out,both my DDs needed some bits so we all went.
I didnt buy any home stuff but could have spent hundreds if I had the funds,The only thing I bought was a packet of biscuits and some little almond cake bars,it was very naughty because I didn't need them and they are not included in my diet,but I fancied a treat,I got an Ikea family card while I was there so got them discounted

We then popped over to Tesco because I needed some bread and while I was there I discovered the wash tablets were on special offer so I got two boxes of those,they should last me for a while now and I still have a bottle of liquid wash from Sainsbury's that I bought last week,they have stopped selling wash tablets in the shop in town so I end up getting the liquid but I don't like it as when ever I use it for any length of time it makes my washing machine smell,so I'm glad I went to Tesco,it's quite far out of town so I don't get to go there too often

We also nipped into the large pet store out there because last night I discovered I didn't have as much chicken food left as I thought so I had to buy a 5kg bag to use until I can buy the bigger bag,I also bought them some corn which will last a couple of months,so my pets are all stocked up for a while and I haven't got to carry heavy bags of poultry food home on the bus
I'm now chilling out with a cup of tea for a bit and catching up on here

I was looking at the Old style Money Saving forum last night and found the September grocery challenge so I have joined that to see if I can shave any money of my food bill,I have started with a budget of £120 for the month,this is for me the dog and the chickens and includes food and all household products,I should be able to save money here if I plan a bit more and don't buy things I don't really need,I still end up wasting food that I've bought that I then either decided I don't fancy or I don't have the bits to make a meal,so more meal planning is going to be happening
I set it at £120 because that is what I put on my budget for SC but I'm sure I can do it for less than that,it seems high for one person one dog and two hens
I have nearly all of last months receipts so Im going to got through them to see what I spent my money on and how much I spent last month,something definitely went wrong becauseI had to bail myself out,so I took my eye off the ball and got in a mess,this will not be happening again,I now feel calm and in control once more:j

Onebrokelady

It's a wet miserable day here today so I'm glad I didn't have plans to go anywhere,I had a lovely lie in this morning followed by a leisurely breakfast
I had to talk myself into taking the dog out for her morning walk becasue it's so wet,but we went off over the fields and it actually stopped rain8 while 8 was out

The morning was spent tidying and going through last months receipts to see how much money I spent on food and fripperies ( fripperies = things I bought but didn't actually need like fizzy drinks, coffee and cake etc)
I know some of the receipts were missing but with what I had I managed to get a good idea of how much I spent
So the spends came to the following
£100.32 on food for me the dog and two chickens
£34.71 on fripperies that I didn't need,this includes the books I bought in the charity shop and coffees I went out for etc,
This all came out of my so called food budget that Im supposed to be dividing up into envelopes to use weekly, my budget was £120 so I was £15.03 over
This month I have set my budget again for £120 but I am trying to cut it down so will be shopping carefully
I am rethinking ordering the chicken food online because I found the receipt for the last bag I bought and it was the 28th of July so that bag lasted me a month and I still had some left so won't need to refill the feeder for a few days at least

Other jobs done today have been giving the bathroom a thorough clean and I went out and cleaned all the bits on the bird table in the garden ready for feeding them again,I have four small bags of insect medly that my mum bought for the chickens thinking it was meal worms so I'm using that up now,I'm not sure if the chickens can have it so will give it to the garden birds,the chickens did their best to convince me that it would be ok for them to eat it though when they saw me putting it out

I was going to make a banana bread today as well but I haven't got any flour left so I can't,I'm really annoyed because I could have bought some yesterday if I had realised,I don't want to waste these bananas so hopefully they will be ok until Tuesday

My holiday finishes today and I am back at work tomorrow, I really really don't want to go back but needs must and all that,I don't know why I get like this as my job is ok but lately I just feel a bit anxious before a shift, I don't know if it's because of the challenging patients we have had lately or if it's just because it's so busy sometimes that we are run off our feet, I like being busy so probably not that or maybe I'm just bored after 26 years in the same place,I'm very grateful that I have actually got a job though so need to look for the positives

Drawingaline

Sounds like you are back in the game now. I have let everything slip over tee summer holidays, but this year I budgeted for it, did no debt payments July and August pay and saved £900 for summer entertainment for us all. But this is the first summer I haven't put at least one day trip on a credit card so it has been worth it.

I have a pretty tight budget to pay off our last lot of debt, hoping to be debt free in February.

Good luck with September.

Cherryfudge

I think if you mash and freeze bananas, they may still be okay for baking (maybe thaw them first ). I haven't tried it myself but I know some people make them into a dairy-free ice cream-type treat which they say is very nice.

Hope the shift is okay and the patients behave themselves.

Onebrokelady

Drawingaline wrote: »

Sounds like you are back in the game now. I have let everything slip over tee summer holidays, but this year I budgeted for it, did no debt payments July and August pay and saved £900 for summer entertainment for us all. But this is the first summer I haven't put at least one day trip on a credit card so it has been worth it.

I have a pretty tight budget to pay off our last lot of debt, hoping to be debt free in February.

Good luck with September.

Well done with your credit free summer,it's the unexpected things that throw me,so being invited out for coffee etc,I should have money in the budget for this but it never seems to materialise,,I definitely feel more in control this week,Im still stressing about the cut in hours but as my DD pointed out I can go back to full time at the end of the three months if it's not working so there is that option
Good luck with your plans to be debt free in February

Onebrokelady

Cherryfudge wrote: »

I think if you mash and freeze bananas, they may still be okay for baking (maybe thaw them first ). I haven't tried it myself but I know some people make them into a dairy-free ice cream-type treat which they say is very nice.

Hope the shift is okay and the patients behave themselves.

I did wonder if they could be frozen and still used for baking,they still seem ok so I will hopefully cook them tomorrow
The shift was lovely,we had a nice calm day with no dramas and there was a nice team on too:)

Onebrokelady

First day back at work done and dusted and it ended up being one of the nicest shifts I have ever worked, we started off first thing in the morning full of laughter and didn't stop laughing all day,lovely and relaxed,I haven't worked a shift like that in ages

I was worried I would be tired because I woke up at 4.30 am and couldn't get back to sleep,there was too much stuff going round in my head but I was full of energy all day,this cutting my hours is stressing me out so much though I'm thinking the stress of worrying about it is not worth it,if it's keeping me awake it's not going to help me at all,I've decided I'm going to take it one month at a time and have had a talk with myself to try and calm things down so these are the pluses
I have saved enough money already to do my Xmas pressies so just need money for food now,DDs boyfriend still has to give me £100 so this can go in the Xmas savings for food
I have £450 in the emergancy fund but have a new room thermostat to pay for, but at least I have the cash to pay for this
I have enough money in the bank to cover this months bills and the SC payment,so thats this month tsken care of
Less wages next month will mean I won't be able to save anything but seeing as I have most things sorted that is not a priority for that month
I then only have one more month to get through before deciding whether I can afford to stay on these hours or go back up to,what I was doing before
It won't be a complete disaster if I can't save anymore for the next couple of months as I have caught up this month
I just need to stop panicking about it and take it one day at a time and just pay attention to my budget
DD also had some good news yesterday as she got her next uni placement and it's at our hospital which means she won't have to travel or get accommodation this time,she has said she will pay me some keep while she is not commuting because she won't have any train fare to pay out,so that will help too
I'm going into the council to see about getting a discount on my council tax as I should be able to seeing as DD is a full time student
Finally if all else fails I will speak to Stepchange and reduce my payments,if I decide to stay on these hours,

Onebrokelady

Another busy couple of days for me,Tuesday was babysitting day, I took him to see my friend and her grandchildren so he had a fun time there while we had a catch up
Yesterday I was back at work and had another nice shift,I was in clinic until 5.30 then back on the ward until 8pm,wednesdays in clinic are usually manic but it was really quiet yesterday so that was a bonus,the last patient of the mornings parents bought us doughnuts so that was a nice treat to have with our coffee
I'm working tomorrow but it's my short shift so not too bad and I'm in clinic again all day as well
The only downside to yesterday was that I started getting a cold,it didn't feel too bad all day but towards the evening I started to feel a bit rough,I came home had a hot shower and was in bed but 9.45 pm,I took some paracetamol and went to sleep and I didn't wake up until 10.30 this morning,I now have a full blown cold with a runny nose but I'm hoping it will be a short lived one and will clear up quite quickly

I'm not,going to go anywhere today so I can potter about and take it easy at home,DD hooverd everywhere yesterday so I don't have that to do,my plans for today were to cut the grass and tidy the garden but that's not going to happen now,I have pegged out one load of washing and have another on the go plus a small pile of ironing so that will be today's jobs

I'm also having a sort through of my craft stash becasue I have a half done cross stitch that I came across when I was moving my room around so I'm going to get all the bits of that together this afternoon and get it on the frame ready for sewing,it's one of the panels from Klimts Tree Of Life that my DD bought me so I need to get it finished and up on the wall where it belongs

In the spirit of not spending any money over the autumn and winter on new craft products I'm sorting out and making all the bits I've already bought over the last couple of years,these are things I've bought from craft shows on my CC that I shouldn't have bought because I didn't have the money but just thought hey ho I will pay for it later with the money from the magic money tree in my garden :eek::D
I'm not allowed to spend any money on craft products until these things are all made,the only exception to this is that I need a circular needle to make the socks I have bought the wool for but I'm going to ask my older DD if she has one I can borrow first,if not I am going going to buy it out of my personal spend money which is usually used for riding,it will just mean less riding this month

Speaking of which,I haven't been riding since my Dartmoor adventure back in July,there are a few reasons for this,first it has been very hot here and I don't think it's fair on the horses to take them out in that kind of weather,I could go in the evening but there are normally loads of kids around them which brings me to my second reason,it's been the summer holidays and the place is overrun with kids,I have nothing against children but after working with them all week I prefer not to socialise with them if I can possibly help it so I avoided the yard over the holidays,the last reason is money,I'm too scared to spend any money on riding in case I need it for something less frivolous like food or household stuff
However now the weather is cooler, the kids go back to school next week and I have a good budget worked out for this month which means I should be able to book a hack for next Thursday all being well.
I'm going to check my budget again to make sure then I will book it if everything's looking ok,I have budgeted my usual £50 for my riding this month but it's seems a bit frivolous to spend it in case I need it next month,I am loath to give up riding altogether though as I consider it's the only hobby I have that helps with my mental health status,more than anything in the world I feel most happy and at home on the back of a horse and that's got to be worth paying for surely

I also went to see my GP on Tuesday morning about my continuing low mood and the current anti Ds not working as well as they normally do,I wondered if it could be being made worse by the menopause,any way the upshot is she doesn't think it's menopausal and has doubled the dose of the anti Ds,I have to try this for a month and if that doesn't work she will look at HRT,so I am now on double the dose and will see how it goes,I didn't want to do this really but am thinking I will at least try it to see if she is right