Digging my way out

Doing_it_my_way

Hello
I would like to start a diary so it helps me focus and hopefully pay off our bills. We have one credit card to pay off which is a long standing card which needs to go, I over pay monthly but also use it when I have no other alternative. Also our mortgage. We also have an overdraft which is constantly in use.
So I need to put money aside for an emergency fund which I have set at £1000 to start with.
Savings but I intend to pay off the cards and overdraft first, a nice round £10,000 in the end would be lovely.
I am thinking of using the 50/30/20 method although I would have big guilt using 30 to pay for wants, although it would be after the cards and overdraft are paid off.
We do have a healthy income when we are working but we have periods of no work at all so we need to consider this and put aside perhaps 6 months of expenses which would be around £9,000.
I am pretty good at meal planning and I cook from scratch, pretty much every from cakes and bread to pies and pasties. I am currently on a diet and have lost a total of 14lb so I am chuffed with that. At the minute we have a monthly budget of £200 for all food, cleaning, washing and pets but I usually do one large shop in Aldi which comes to around £130 and then top up to about £180 during the month. There are only two of us at the minute, DS has dinner here as well every day as he works here.
Occasionally I am able to earn some extra money from a small sewing business I have but this is very limited as I suffer a bad back and neck and can only do days when I feel ok.
I love gardening and currently have runner beans, tomatos and lettuce growing and have been to Wilkinsons and bought lots of seeds at 10p a packet for next year, and plan to grow potatoes as well, I need to sort out the money side of things as I want to create raised beds so I dont have to bend over so far. I am thinking of aiming for at least 20 no spend days in the month as we very rarely go shopping and rarely go out for meals more likely to take a picnic or have a bag of chips all out of the £200 food budget.
So really this diary is to enable me to focus and plan and keep track

Doing_it_my_way

Runner beans looking ok have about 20 beans so far but tiny the birds are leaving them alone for the minute, at least 75 tomatoes but they are all green as yet and have around 4 lettuce we can pick from and another 16 growing. Slugs and snails have been busy this year. Have taken lots of cherry laurel babies from underneath the main plant and potted up to bring on over winter so we have a new hedge. Horses are all fed and enjoying their day, 4 in all. Grass is cut but will need doing again any minute! Seems to be a lot of blackberries around so hopefully lots of jam come September.
Today is a spend day, need milk, cereal and toilet rolls. Will visit DD and call in Aldi on the way home so no special shopping trip there. Hopefully will be less than £5. Bread in breadmaker.

beanielou

Happy shiny new diary

DebtFreeMonkey

Good luck with everything. It seems like you've got an idea of how you're going to tackle things. Don't be afraid to adjust things if they're not working for you.

One tip that might or might not be relevant to you is to track everything you have in your cupboards/freezer and work through that, buying only the fresh stuff you need. That works if you're stupid like me and have built up a ridiculous amount of frozen/cupboard stuff, though but it's saving me quite a bit of money.

Another tip is that I track and write down every single penny I spend and deduct it from my budget. It makes me that much more cautious and focused on not wasting money.

But either way, you do what's best for you and I shall keep checking in on your progress.

Doing_it_my_way

Hello thank you for saying hello
I have a very full freezer, I usually meal plan for up to 5 weeks and then work out exactly how much I need of everything and then go and buy it, I tend to buy big packs of mince from Aldi and then portion it down per meal. Same with pork chops and that. I do go a bit haywire as the weeks go on but I try and alter my diary if I cant be bothered to cook a dinner and go for chips that night and swop the meals over, confusing I know! Thats how I keep track of my freezer.
Anyway I have just checked my purse and have £28.68p left and have spent £131.04 at Aldi so far for this month. The £28.68 is left over from last month. So officially I still have another £68.96p (if my adding is right) from my £200 budget for August. Although I am going to see how long I can get the £28.68 to last, it will only be for milk and other things to top up, maybe a chippie one night.
Lovely to have some visitors

Doing_it_my_way

Did our Aldi shop on the way home from visiting DD last night, so no extra diesel. Spent a huge total of £21.75, I felt awful last night but this morning I have sat and looked at the receipt and added up the necessities which will go forward for the month and the 'wants', the necessities such as toilet rolls, tomatos which we havnt got ready in the greenhouse yet and beans, chips, cereal etc. were £16.59. DH bought something for his work costing £2.39 which he always tells me to transfer back from his account, but as we use his account to pay for holidays and bits around the house I tend to try and swallow it into the household costs, he never spends much anyway, the other £2.77 was 'wants' mainly DH as I am on a diet, so chewing gum which we keep in a pot in the car which had become empty, popcocrn, crisps and thats about it! When i worked it out and saw that most of it was for the food cupboard and fridge I felt better. I just need to be more realistic when I make a top up list as I always buy more when I go. Total left in my purse is £6.93 and today is a NSD.
It colder here today and gusty. Will do hay and straw for horses later DH has mucked out and turned them out, we like them to go out everyday and stay out overnight in the summer if possible but last night was a little stormy. I have checked my runner beans and there are quite a lot on there but I have lost some flowers which is a shame. Tonight we are having a curry with rice, I am going to do a vegetable curry and then add chicken for DH last minute, I will have the vegetable option. Have reached a plateau on my weight loss at the minute I am hoping it will be only for a short time.
I've done a very long (5 years) or so money forecast and if I stick to it, then yay! On my forecast I have opted to pay the credit card in one go when we have saved enough, so we have money in the bank as well as doubling up as an emergency fund. This morning I think I will rethink and once I have the £1000 emergency back up in the account anything else over will pay off the card monthly/weekly however it comes, that will save interest I think.

Doing_it_my_way

Made pasties for lunch, 4 in all so DH and DS had two each. Next time I will make slightly more pastry 7oz flour which will make 5 large pasties with the same amount of filling. Total cost £1.60 plus pastry, so probably no more than £1.80. Quite often we have them with chips so a very cheap tea.

savingholmes

Good luck on your journey. Having a decent emergency fund - and savings pots for annual bills can help eliminate credit card and overdraft use.

Doing_it_my_way

Not such a stormy morning here today. Moved all my runner beans yesterday as they were being blown over, they are all in pots this year and overnight they are still standing.
Made curry last night and honestly, wasnt worth all the thought I put into it, much nicer to just use a jar of Aldi curry sauce add chicken, onions and mushrooms, and wow! how many calories are there in rice...what??
So back to the old drawing board today and a safe and tested, homemade chicken and mushroom pie for DH, mushrooms from the field this morning, for that I am eternally grateful, fab. Cooked two pieces of chicken last night deliberately only used one so one will go in the pie.
Made a £200 payment to the credit card but wont update until interest goes on as it is up and down otherwise.
At the moment writing here daily is keeping my thoughts focused and trained on money saving, exactly where they need to be.
Goal for the month make the freezer stretch even more.
Enjoy your day

Doing_it_my_way

Forgot to say thank you for taking time to post here

Iwantanewlife

Happy New Diary!

I have also just started my journey, so i will be keeping an eye out for hints and tips! Good Luck x