Rawring in the face of debt

rawr_

Thank you DSpendLittle

Got my load of washing done last night, and had a nice evening reading some diaries and printing off some vouchers to use in my Friday shop.

Todays three things are:
1) Cancel M&S CC (theres nothing on it and hasn't been for months)
2) Sort some bits this evening for Ebay
3) Arrange a coffee catch-up with a friend for next week

I didn't sleep that well last night, I've been toying with what to do regarding my loan. I think once I have a nice healthy amount in my savings account, I'm going to concentrate and throw all my money at the loan to get it paid off. I just keep thinking once this has been paid I'll be back to around £500 expendable income, which is a nice amount! So I'll easily be able to save after that. I guess that spanner in the works is if we find a house in that time, it will start to get more difficult! Hope every one has a lovely day, I'll check in again later this evening.

rawr_

Had such a busy day at work yesterday, and was so tired by the time I got home and cooked tea that I didn't do anything on my list yesterday or even come on the forums! I watched a couple of shows on nflix, had a bath and went to bed! :rotfl:

I'll carry across my 3 things to do for today instead, hopefully I'll actually get through them this time! Yesterday was a NSD, but today won't be. I need to get some rolls for tomorrow's lunch and tonights tea as we've run out (Mr Rawr was just like, "I thought we could have a Tosco lunch tomorrow" - my answer to that was no the plant based lunch range in Tosco is great for emergencies but is very pricey!! It's my pay day tomorrow (Mr Rawr gets paid every Friday) and I would usually say yes as a pay day treat, but I need to start saying no more.

I also think I'm going to have to get some diesel on the way home as I'm nearly on the red, and as it's a new to me car, I'm not sure yet on it's limits ha! Fuel consumption seems to be better on it though, so I'm hoping I'll see an improvement in next months fuel budget.

rawr_

I think I'm going to give up with those three things for now as I don't seem to be getting anywhere, just been so busy! Payday today, so I have sorted all of my budgets, my spreadsheet for keeping track and also done my meal plan for the week. I'm looking forward to challenge of sticking too, and even coming under budget on a lot of things.

Filled up my car last night, so used the rest of my money in my personal account before I got paid today, so starting from £0. The car take a little more than my other to fill, bigger tank, which means will last longer, but I think it will just even out. Incase anyone is interested in a plant-based diet, I have decided I'll post my meal plan each week. Starting to try and limit ourselves to a couple of meals that include processed food (which are quicker to cook!) and trying to cook more stuff from scratch. We'll see how I get on.

Meal plan (Friday - Thursday)
Friday - Hotdogs & Fries
Saturday - Mac & 'Cheese'
Sunday - Garlic butter lentils with mash and veg
Monday - Mushroom stroganoff
Tuesday - Pulled 'pork' burgers & Fries
Wednesday - Jacket potatoes, beans and leek 'sausages'
Thursday - Lentil bolognese & Garlic bread

Then next Friday I will just pop to a supermarket to get something for that night, as we go away on the Saturday. I've also got a small list of things I want to take to cornwall. We're staying with family, and although they are veggie, there are a few things we want to take incase some alternative stuff isn't available down there (like bits for sandwiches, dairy free butter etc).

Will report on my supermarket spends tonight

rawr_

Todays food shop: £46.67

£16 of it spent in Ald! and the rest spent in Tosco. Would be £36 if it weren't for the bloody cat food :rotfl: Got all my fresh stuff in Ald! and then some dairy free bits and bits I couldn't get in Ald!. Will probably just need rolls in a top up shop in the week for lunches - if I keep this up I should come in well under budget :T

Mr Rawr has a driving lesson tomorrow, then we'll be going into town to get his mums mothers day and birthday presents as we'll be seeing her next Sat. He'll be paying for this out of his stash have good weekends!

rawr_

Morning moneysavers!

A round of toast and 2 cups of tea down and I've done 2 surveys this morning, so now have £3.92 in my PA account. Think I'll wait until I get to £20 to avoid any pay pal fees, I usually just cash out at the threshold. We've decided to go into town tomorrow instead now so the cats can have a day out, so will spend my day washing clothes and sorting the house out I guess. I may go and see my mum this afternoon, she's only a 10 min drive away.

Will also have a rummage around, and perhaps take some photos ready for ebay - will probably wait until we get back from Cornwall to list though as I'll be getting pushed for time towards next weekend. Really looking forward to getting away for a week!

rawr_

Yesterday was a NSD for me! First one this 'month'. Got my MIL's presents that we needed to get that Mr Rawr paid for, so that's all done, just need to wrap them. Got a bit fed up yesterday, I don't often get days like that but I just really felt like I wanted to go out and do something fun. Mr Rawr decided he wanted to make a pizza last night from scratch, we had all the ingredients so didn't see why not, will just jigg the meal plan a bit.

Met my mum for a coffee this morning, and I paid for the three of us - was £9.25 :eek: which comes of of the £20 coffee budget. I aimed to get my brothers birthday present (which is on Wednesday), but couldn't see anything - think I will get him a gaming gift card so he can get himself what he wants. Then I spent £3.40 in Tosco on dairy free chocolate - I wanted to make my own creme eggs! This is our first easter vegan, and Mr Rawr really did used to love his creme eggs. They turned out pretty good! (And pretty cheap to make too!)

We had the mac and 'cheese' tonight for tea, was a bit of a let down but was still nice, sauce was made with veg so was fairly healthy. Glad I did some crispy mushroom 'bacon' for the top to give it a bit more flavour. There was loads of sauce, so I've frozen half and I'll save it for a cheap dinner when we're back from Cornwall. Mum also popped round with some RTC ready meals for us that I've also stuck in the freezer.

Tomorrows back at work *sigh*, but only a 4 day week for me & 5 for him but he's starting earlier and finishing earlier on Friday so not quite as bad as his usual 7pm finish. Shouldn't need to buy anything tomorrow, so aiming for a NSD. Hope everyone is enjoying the lighter evening, I sure am !

rawr_

The countdown to our break begins!

Today's not going to be a NSD after all, need to get some bread for toast/pack-up tomorrow. Also hoping to get some little boxes for leftovers I can shove in the freezer - determined to start freezing left overs for another week. Will look in my discount shops in town I think. I think I'll take that out of the food budget. It came to mind when I was looking for a box for yesterdays leftover sauce and only found one!

Determined to ring car insurance and cancel old policy this afternoon, really need to get it done!

rawr_

Ahh it's been a while since I last posted, I've just been so busy. I've been doing really well with my speadsheet to track my spending, with a row now all set up for next Friday when I get paid.

Food: I've not done too great with the food spend this month, too many treats :eek: so Friday's shop is going to have to be a mega cheap one, as I'll probably have to take some out of my personal account to cover it. Part of it is probably because I've been doing my whole main shop in Tosco every week. I need to stop this, but I just love the self scan guns so much as I can just get on and then go

Savings: I have saved what I wanted to save from my pay so far (£200 a month) and I now have Mr Rawr's £100 going in every Friday so we are slowly getting towards that 6K! I had to build it back up a little as I lent some money to Mr Rawr for computer stuff (he's into mining for cryptocurrency, it goes over my head), but the deal was even after he'd paid me back, he would continue to put £100 a week until we reach our goal / or we buy a house (as that will stop his expendable income).

Car: Car is going great. This month was the first month without any trips anywhere so I could really see how much fuel I'm using for work. I filled up just before I got paid and I'm still on just over quarter of a tank! We're off to Norwich on Saturday, so will probably put some more in on Friday to cover me until I get paid on the 25th, but that's still a saving! I was spending £100 per month - reckon now it's more like £70 on a normal working month.

Side business: This is the reason I've been so busy! We've actually had a few orders - I have a free bookkeeping and taxation workshop at the end of this month so I'm looking forward to learning a few things as I feel a tiny bit out of my depth. But I'm so happy that I'm able to earn a little extra. I'm not going to count this into my earnings or budgets as it's all as a bank account, and I'm not making any drawings out of it yet until I know what's what with the tax and what-not. I am hoping over time though it may be able to buy us a cheap holiday?! (Or just pay off more of my loan, which is the boring option :rotfl: )

Holidays: Mr Rawr is going away on a brothers holiday for a week to Paris and Germany (paid for by his older brother) - he was a little dubious at first but I told him to go, he's probably not going to get another chance to do something like that. We'll then have our annual week in Scotland staying with his parents. I think I'm planning on driving up this time, which is a 10+ drive. No other holidays planned, although really wish we could just get away in the sun for a week.

So not much excitement here, plugging away with the saving. Mr Rawr is getting on well with his driving lessons, and he's finally started revising for his theory that he'll hopefully book in the near future. My things for today are:

1) Send a place name order on my lunch break
2) Buy some foundation as I've run out this morning
3) Get cat biscuit on the way home as they had crumbs left last night and weren't impressed :rotfl: (they have wet food as meals and then biscuits before bed)
4) Make flowers for an order when I get home from work

Hope everyone had a good day!