A New Start

Nichelette

Hello!

I have been away from MSE for quite some time, but have recently got involved again. I had a diary on here many years ago which I read back recently (very nostalgic!), then I got out of debt and drifted away a bit. I no longer have any debt (other than soon-to-be mortgage which is a terrifying 289k), but I'm planning to overpay the mortgage and am planning to try and live by the same principles I used before to achieve this.

I hope people don't mind me starting a diary here, but I always liked the friendliness of this board and it's where I feel most at home. I have started a MFW diary too which will focus mostly on overpayments alone, but I feel my old style type ways are suited to here, and maybe those who are trying to get out of debt might find them helpful.

I have been doing lots of things to try and save the house deposit (batch cooking, meal planning, taking lunches to work, things on apps, matched betting and so on), so I will try and share some of the things that have helped me over time.

Here's to a positive financial year for everyone :beer:

beanielou

Happy shiny new diary

WannabeFree

Happy new diary
x

Nichelette

Thank you

I've been a bit busy this week with one thing or another so I haven't been able to post!

I have been reading a lot lately about living with minimal spending and waste, both for the environment and to save money. I had a bit of an epiphany regarding my spending on presents a bit before Christmas and am going to where possible buy presents which are useful and/or not plastic if I can avoid it.

Both we (at the moment) and one of my sister's live in a one bed flat. Even when we move we're only going to a small two bed, and we don't have space for clutter, which a lot of present type things seem to be. Likewise, my other sister has 4 kids. They have far more toys (read: plastic rubbish) than they will ever need and really don't need more. I'm planning to buy them days out and things in the future. I'm one of 4 too, so they have so much family always buying them presents!

Before Christmas I saw an exact same version of a Road Dahl trilogy I got for Christmas back in 1991(!) in a charity shop for 90p. I still have my copy because I loved it so much and read it to death, so I got it for my nephew because I thought he would appreciate it. I didn't expect him to be able to read it yet as he was only 6 in December, but they my amazement he could and he adores it. Goes to show you don't need to spend loads to make them happy!

Anyway, I said I planned to share some of my tips for saving, so the first one is accurately recording everything. I use a spreadsheet to project 2 years in to the future to encourage me by showing how much I could save. The same could be used to show any spare money to throw at debt. It's quite simple but it works for me. I fill our predicted figures for the two years, mark the known ones in black, and the tbc ones in red, until they are known when they become black. I will grab the link for it and post it below in case it could help anyone .

Nichelette

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/19SojlEyf94soEStsMiQniXD2RT4yKiBGBmuA_cDQg_I/edit?usp=drivesdk

That's the spreadsheet link. Hopefully it will work!

Lines can be added/removed/amended as required

Onebrokelady

Happy new diary:beer:

Nichelette

Thank you

I have just cooked this: https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/spicy-chilli-bean-soup

Cooking most things from scratch, along with meal planning and mostly shopping in Aldi is another way I keep our food bill low. We also eat a lot of veggie meals as I'm veggie. My husband isn't but often he likes the veggie stuff I cook and will eat it too. When I do buy meat it's usually yellow sticker which I portion and freeze. I am quite lucky with it to be honest as often we go shopping after work, so we're about at the right time. There is an M&S food next to our Aldi. They reduce up to 90% and I sometimes get lucky with that.

A few years ago my husband bought me a soup maker as a birthday present. Whilst it was very kind I did wonder why I needed it when I had a pot and a blender. I was completely wrong, I love it. We both work full-time, and it's so easy just to throw some bits in it and get a decent, cheap, healthy meal quickly. I often make a batch for our lunch at work.

I've costed the recipe above out as follows:

1 tbsp olive oil - pence - I use vegetable oil
1 large onion, finely chopped - No more than 10p - I buy bags of small onions for about 50p so using 2 is about 10p worth
1 garlic clove, crushed - 5p - I buy frozen which is about 20 cubes for £1
1 tbsp tomato pur!e - 5p - again tubes are cheap
1 tsp mild chilli powder - pence, I buy spices in bulk
½ tsp ground cumin - see above
400g can chopped tomatoes - 28p
500ml vegetable stock - 25p as I treat myself to stock pots for soup, but cubes would be much cheaper
400g can mixed beans, drained and rinsed - 42p
1 red pepper, cut into chunky dice - 20p - I buy the family bags which are usually about 5 peppers for £1

I think that's about £1.10 for 4 portions of soup which is pretty good .

Nichelette

Had a bit of luck today. I got my car insurance renewal through a bit ago. I usually always check it but this year I didn't (it's only £200 which is £10 more than last year so we're not talking big numbers for what it is).

It renews in a few days so I decided to check on the off chance as I was bored at work and got it for £145 through a comparison site! Even better I get £30 cashback too so it will only be £115 accounting for that. I was quite impressed!

Just goes to show it's worth checking!

Sadly it was equalled out by the £170 water bill I got when I came home lol.

Nichelette

I haven't forgotten about this diary, and I am going to keep it up as I know it will help keep me on the straight and narrow.

Life has got in the way and I've been really busy. I used to keep track of everything we spent in my budget book (as in physically write it). I stopped recording when we had the offer accepted on the house as I didn't have a clue where it would leave us financially. After the longest chain free house sale ever we exchanged on Tuesday and will complete on the 31st. We are keeping our rented flat for another 2 weeks so we can move slowly. It's a bit of a long story but due to MIL being ill we can't really take time off work other than to see her, so we are going to do some car runs with smaller bits before getting a van for the last big bits. Anyway! We are paid on the 15th, so I have started recording everything again. I'm using an app called money manager this time - so far so good.

Yesterday I defrosted lots of meat and made 6 different meals in batches for my husband. That will help as we need the get the freezer down, and I won't have to cook so much after work. I've also attempted the clear out the cupboards. We don't eat much sugary stuff so I ended up chucking out a lot of biscuits and things that were ancient and had gone soft. I'm not usually too bad we the food waste, but I've learnt my lesson about buying things like that in the first place. I always feel terrible wasting food.

Im still not sure exactly how things will be financially after we move so we will see! I'd like the try and decorate the house whilst it's empty which will be at a cost. I've been stashing vouchers from consumer pulse so that will cover some of it, though not much! I also used topcashback for the house insurance so that's another £25 back.