“Debt is normal. Be weird.”

browneyed_girl

darrannah wrote: »

keep up the good work.
Your situation sounds very similar to ours in the fact that we (in theory) should have a surplus but never seem to see it, DH would say we "fritter it on unnecessary rubbish" and to be honest he's right (shh don't tell him though :rotfl:) ours tends to be on the so called "top-up" shops where we only need 1 or 2 things but end up spending £20/£30 by the time we have done :mad:
The planned holiday next year sounds FAB and its great discipline you have with the sealed pot.
With your focus and determination, I don't doubt that your debt will be paid off quicker than you think :j

I can definitely relate to those top-up shops! It’s an area where I now try really hard to budget because the amount we were spending was beyond ridiculous!

Today has been a pretty good day. Managed to finally get around to completing lots of little outstanding jobs at work which were giving me a headache. Also had £900 clear in my account from an invoice I sent last month :j. Have already put half in my ISA and the other half in my online savings account. I’m always tempted to use these bits of money for other things, including paying debts, but I feel I need to make some progress with a mortgage deposit just to keep me sane and focused on the end goal!

From the spending side of things, I had another NSD, as did DH (kind of) :T. However, it seems the kids have been out to sabotage us! DD1 decided she wanted a school lunch today because of the menu, which DH allowed as a “one-off” (yeah, right!) and cost £2.20. DD3 then somehow managed to make a purchase on Sky store - £14.99 for two films! :eek: DH immediately went to PIN protect everything and then insisted that he was going to buy the films anyway as a treat for the kids this weekend.

So when it comes to the unnecessary spending tracker, I’ve now decided to add a section for the kids (for costs incurred by them that really shouldn’t happen). They’ve been pretty good over the past week and not needed anything, but I sense it’s not going to stay that way for long! Current totals are now...

Me - £25.10
DH - £38.53
Kids - £17.19

Right, must be off to get some dinner. Am famished because I skipped both breakfast and lunch . I know this isn’t good for me, but I am just too rushed in the mornings for breakfast and struggle to think of appetising lunches that I can make quickly and cheaply. DH always argues that I should make a lunch for myself when I make DDs lunchboxes, but if I take sandwiches to work I never fancy them and they would just end up getting wasted. Not very MSE. Any ideas would be much appreciated . Specifications are: cheap, quick to make (preferably in bulk and able to last), vegetarian and not sandwiches!!

beanielou

Happy shiny new diary
You are off to an awesome start :j :j

Baileys_Babe

browneyed_girl What facilities do you have at work?

Over a couple of jobs I have had:
Kettle
Toaster
Microwave
Grill
Oven
Hob
Fridge
Freezer

In others nothing more than a sink with running water.

If you let us know what is available, we can make suitable suggestions.

What sort of things do you buy?

ohdearhowdidthathappen

I recently bought the 'Pinch of Nom' book and there are some brilliant lunch ideas in there.
Other ideas;
-crumpets or muffins (if there's a toaster there), I take in a pack of cooked meat and a 6 pack of crumpets and use them up over 3 days
-soup (if a microwave), I got a soup mug thing that you can put in the microwave
- I sometimes buy noodle pots and just add boiling water.. there are a few brands that haven't got too much crap in them
-Sometimes I'll take left overs in, mainly pasta and rice dishes.
I keep a stash of popcorn and small chocolate bars in my locker too and never make sandwiches either as they always look sad and unappetising by midday!!
My budget for work lunches is £1 a day roughly

browneyed_girl

Baileys_Babe wrote: »

browneyed_girl What facilities do you have at work?

Over a couple of jobs I have had:
Kettle
Toaster
Microwave
Grill
Oven
Hob
Fridge
Freezer

In others nothing more than a sink with running water.

If you let us know what is available, we can make suitable suggestions.

What sort of things do you buy?

I have access to a fridge, kettle, toaster and microwave. Would honestly be happy with any suggestions. The only thing I cannot stand to eat is cauliflower (it tastes like feet), but otherwise quite adventurous with different ingredients and flavours. We also keep well stocked up with basic staples - pasta, rice, cous cous, plenty of lentils, chickpeas, beans and spices. Generally lots of fresh veg and dairy in the fridge as well.

I’m sure there are many things I could make, but I’m so pushed for time that I’d just like to make something in bulk. However, I know I would get bored with the same thing every day so would look to make something that I could have in different ways or add to other things.

browneyed_girl

ohshithowdidthathappen wrote: »

I recently bought the 'Pinch of Nom' book and there are some brilliant lunch ideas in there.
Other ideas;
-crumpets or muffins (if there's a toaster there), I take in a pack of cooked meat and a 6 pack of crumpets and use them up over 3 days
-soup (if a microwave), I got a soup mug thing that you can put in the microwave
- I sometimes buy noodle pots and just add boiling water.. there are a few brands that haven't got too much crap in them
-Sometimes I'll take left overs in, mainly pasta and rice dishes.
I keep a stash of popcorn and small chocolate bars in my locker too and never make sandwiches either as they always look sad and unappetising by midday!!
My budget for work lunches is £1 a day roughly

Some great ideas that I hadn’t thought of - thank you! I would love to have a similar budget for lunches. If I get the time to have a break and pick up lunch from the work canteen, it’s usually at least £5 :eek: It’s ridiculous to do that everyday so I generally just skip lunch (and I’m normally so busy anyway that I can’t afford the time away from my desk!).

browneyed_girl

Had some great news today . It’s payday and I noticed that my pay was £700 more than usual. Called payroll in a panic, concerned that they’d paid me incorrectly and expect it back (probably after I’d already earmarked it for various things), only to find that they’d made a mistake with my pay since April and owed me that amount! :j Have already used the extra to pay off the balances on the Amazon and Natwest CCs :T

Had the urge to do a bit of window shopping but resisted. Stuck with planned spends only - £20 on fuel, £4 parking (have to pay to park on a Friday so I can get home quickly for DH to get to work) and DH bought a few top-up items for less than £3.

Trying to decide how much to overpay on the Sainsbury’s loan :think: Don’t know if it would be best to save up a bit more to make a larger overpayment, or whether it’s best to pay a smaller amount sooner. Or alternatively I put some money towards Very account - have got 5 months to pay off the balance to avoid interest charges. Can’t make my mind up!!

browneyed_girl

Morning folks! :wave: Hope everyone is enjoying a lovely start to the weekend

It’s another day of housework for me, whilst keeping children occupied and letting DH sleep off his night shift. One bonus today is that DS slept through the night until 7.15, so managed one of the best night’s sleep I can remember for a while!

No plans to spend anything today, but in a moment of madness I bought a couple of scratchcards for £4 :doh: Waste of money, but with the extra pay I had yesterday I guess I was feeling lucky. Nothing quite like throwing away money to drag you back to sobering reality! :rotfl: Will be putting some extra effort into surveys today to cover the cost and will add it to my impulsive spending, which now stands at:

Me - £29.10
DH - £38.53
Kids - £17.19

Best be careful - looks like I’m catching up DH and I really don’t want the forfeit! We’ve decided the “loser” will have to do all the ironing for the next month! :eek:

thepennyfarthings

Hi,
Look up The Food Medic for healthy lunch ideas!

DebtFreeMonkey

Could you precook a small batch of things and then mix-a-match it? Or make some left overs for lunch the next day? I don't know, I only eat lunch and dinner and work in the evenings so I make everything fresh (but I need to stop this because time is an issue for me as of late). I'm interested to read and try others suggestions here, too.