New Life Pending.....

Iwantanewlife

girlatplay wrote: »

I can't remember if you've said or not but do you have a Lidl nearby? They have some lovely sausages. Aldi might be just as good but I haven't looked in there (I've got Lidl and Aldi quite near to me. More than one of each too).

Will be thinking about you tomorrow.

Aww thank you

No, no Lidl, but do have an aldi!

Toni'sfriend

Aldi have some quite nice ones as well. Iceland do different kinds (Cumberland, etc) in their chiller compartment for £2.00 but in our local one they are frequently reduced to £1.00.

Iwantanewlife

Toni'sfriend wrote: »

Aldi have some quite nice ones as well. Iceland do different kinds (Cumberland, etc) in their chiller compartment for £2.00 but in our local one they are frequently reduced to £1.00.

aww thank you, ill have to have a look so i can switch it up for next weeks meal plan!

Iwantanewlife

Good Morning!

Finding it tough to get up this week, im a real early bird, but still seem to be waking up tired every single day. I have to admit, im not 100% happy in my job and i think that is starting to effect how enthusiastically i want to get up. I think once ive sorted out these finances, im going to start having a serious look at a new job. I would love something that enabled me to have a bit more time with my son. At the moment he is in child care from 7am, and i dont pick him up again until 5.30. Although he loves it, i find it really difficult, and i just get so tired! Joys of single mother hood ey!

So pay day is pending and i have had all of my minimum payments through. So the b&%$rd loan has a minimum payment of £60.26, interest is being charged at 0.18% PER DAY!!!!!!!! The minimum payment is lower than what i thought it was, however the plan is the same. Minimum payment to CC1,2,and 3, plus paypal, which totals £89 - the rest of the debt budget will be moved over to the loan. This should mean that i can overpay by at least £150 this month. This is not as much as i would like but i do need to be careful as i will need to buy my sons back to school uniform and shoes, so need to make sure i have enough for that without resulting in using credit.

The selling is going well, Ipad payment of £148.50 is due. Topcashback payment of £102.99 is pending - This money will be used towards my sons birthday treat (legoland) and his present in September. Anything left over will be put towards the loan. I have listed £200 worth of stuff on Facebook Market last night. £5 already received. I have also done various surveys, only managed about £15 across 3 sites, but im going to keep going as every little helps.

Im starting to think about Christmas, i have a really large family and we are extremely close. I have told everyone it will only be token presents this year, but i need to start thinking about a budget for it now as i will not even have enough for that. Damn my pre LBM!!!!

The rest of the week is looking a lot less spendy. Although today i do need to go and get some washing powder, im going to go to the pound shop and see what bargains i can find. Petrol has lasted and i still havnt topped up from last week, im hoping this will last until Wednesday. I then need to make the last £40 last until pay day, so may be a stretch considering im going to my sisters in Norwich for her birthday dinner (at her house), free food though, yay! I am hoping i can grab a lift with another family member, so we will see.

I have to pay for the car parking at the airport this week. I am going to need to take this from the dwindling EF, however, ive been looking around for the last week or so, and it seems i can get a deal on TCB with 38% cashback.

As weve previously discussed i am going to use my food budget and fuel budget for my holiday spend. When i do my shop on Friday im going to make sure i keep everything at a minimum so i spend as little as possible. We leave early morning on Thursday, so teamed with freezer food and pasta etc this should be done pretty easily. On a side note, its amazing how much food i actually can make just from my house stock! i was reading another diary (my new favorite hobby!) and there was a discussion about 'shopping at home first' - this is something that really hit home, as i really do have so much stuff with labels on, or unopened toiletries. Im going to try and do a bit of a stock check to make sure im not over spending anywhere.

Im really looking forward to living a debt free life, and being someone who is aware of their financial spending. I cant wait to be able to have financial security with savings and not having to pay ridiculous interest rates!

Anyway, enough ramblings from me, until i think of something else of course lol. Have a good day all x

savingholmes

Glad the funeral went okay.

I will need to think about the shopping at home first concept - that is one of the areas I fall down currently.

With Christmas too - I have been a fritter spender - so the first year I got back on track with money - I created hampers with all my fritter spend items... Do you have anything similar you could do? My MIL still asks for a hamper now - I think she likes the surprise...

Toni'sfriend

Hello

I went through my cupboards and freezers at the beginning of last month and was amazed (no, shocked) at the amount of food we had. Jars and jars of sauces, tins of fruit and vegetables, etc, etc, etc. I've started trying to incorporate everything into meals and just buy what fresh ingredients we need (unless I find a very cheap YS item that I know we will use). The result is I spent less than half our food budget last month. Actually, a lot less. I would really recommend doing it. It's an eyeopener.

I like the idea of fritter hampers.

Iwantanewlife

savingholmes wrote: »

Glad the funeral went okay.

I will need to think about the shopping at home first concept - that is one of the areas I fall down currently.

With Christmas too - I have been a fritter spender - so the first year I got back on track with money - I created hampers with all my fritter spend items... Do you have anything similar you could do? My MIL still asks for a hamper now - I think she likes the surprise...

Thanks Darl.

Honestly this shopping from home thing is a great idea, amazed at how many meals i could make without even topping up the shopping. Im one of those people that finds comfort in having a full fridge - even though i end up throwing most of it away! it must be a security thing.

Stupid question probably but whats a fritter hamper? do you mean like all the extra toiletries and stuff that weve brought or been given?

PurpleFairy26

Well done, you seem to be making great progress. I see you are talking about leg0land for your sons birthday. If you haven't already (if you have just ignore me ) do some research on line so you know about taking swimming trunks and your own food etc to make the most of your day. There are loads of offers around at the moment for adults get in free with a child ticket. On boxes of cereal etc... best one I found was on rice crispy bars in h0me bargains for £1. If you can't find any, I'm sure I've a spare which I'd happily pop in the post to you.

We've been twice but a bit of research ahead will save you £££ on the day.

savingholmes

Iwantanewlife wrote: »

Stupid question probably but whats a fritter hamper? do you mean like all the extra toiletries and stuff that weve brought or been given?

I mean all the things we buy but needn't have done - so toiletries can be part of it - but also make up (if unused), charity shop or new books/dvds/cds, wall plaques, gardening stuff, ornaments, vases, craft making stuff - whatever your over-buying impulse is that matches best with the person lol. In the past, I've even bought baby clothes in the sale despite not having a remote possibility of getting pregnant nor at the time having any pregnant friends or relatives.

The first Christmas I was on MSE there was a hampers thread on the special occasions board - lots of people were part of it and we posted pictures of what we made and added little personal craft touches. This included buying 3 gingerbread men (each individual wrapped with ribbon) from H&B for all of about 69p and adding a 'perfect man' poem to it.. Reindeer flannels with soap inside. Marshmallow and hot chocolate snow cones. Sweet hampers etc... Nothing jars etc Journal jars... You can have a lot of fun with it and make it really personal. As I say, mine were well received. My nephew 4 is getting a book hamper when I next see him.

Iwantanewlife

PurpleFairy26 wrote: »

Well done, you seem to be making great progress. I see you are talking about leg0land for your sons birthday. If you haven't already (if you have just ignore me ) do some research on line so you know about taking swimming trunks and your own food etc to make the most of your day. There are loads of offers around at the moment for adults get in free with a child ticket. On boxes of cereal etc... best one I found was on rice crispy bars in h0me bargains for £1. If you can't find any, I'm sure I've a spare which I'd happily pop in the post to you.

We've been twice but a bit of research ahead will save you £££ on the day.

Thanks Purple Fairy! Ive seen some cashback offers, but didnt realise about the cereal things. I will have a look, thank you for the hints - such a kind offer x