Trying to be debt free in 2020

Bella19

Today I'm off to stay with my mother again for two weeks as she has her next session of chemo. Fingers crossed it should be her last session. My poor OH has been a bit of a bachelor since June as I have been at her house more than home but I am lucky OH is very understanding. I have £10 cash to go with me but that has to last me 2 weeks I should be able to manage on that.

I have batch cooked a load of food for the freezer for him so he doesn't need to cook the next couple of weeks. I find I have saved a fortune by learning to batch cook meals over the past few months. It is also a major time saver!

Feeling absolutely exhausted at the moment but need to keep plodding on forward and with everything going on I still have uni work to complete too! think I need to start planning some me time...

savingholmes

Hope the chemo for your mum goes well.

Sounds like you are doing well on the budgeting and home decor front. We want to sell our house in the next few years so are gradually doing ours up too. Enjoy your new flooring.

Bella19

Evening all,

A quiet day today absolutely out on my feet so have curled up on the sofa reading. OH has gone back home after dropping me off at my mother's so won't see him now for 2 weeks . I have managed to get an hour of uni work done which is better than nothing. Had a nsd which is good, off to get an early night and catch up on some sleep.

Bella x

Bella19

Have had 2 nsd in a row and have been busy rejigging my budget. I started following the Dave Ramsey baby steps last year, currently on baby step 3 (building a 3-6 month emergency fund). He recommends having a zero budget whereby every bit of money is allocated a job. As a lot of bills have come out today I thought I should double check the budget to make sure everything is running smoothly but somehow I have miscalculated and I am £30 short somewhere, very annoying! I just can't work out what I have done.

Bella19

Another nsd for me today which gives me a total of 3. I did have some chips for dinner tonight but they were bought for me so don't count (frugal tip, buy a large portion and share between 2 less cost and calories!)

Pulled up a carpet/underlay today and took it to the tip for my grandad as he is having a new carpet this week. Managed to bag it up whole and carry it down the stairs definitely a good workout. Still feeling stressed out about my work due in next week but am working my way through it slowly.

DH and I are considering a house move in the near future, not that Ive been able to spend much time at home lately with my mother being unwell. Currently trying to estimate the cost of moving and it's coming out at about £10,000 :eek::eek:

Bella19

Good afternoon diary readers,

I have been very busy the last few weeks which has resulted in me neglecting to post. My mother's chemo has unfortunately been delayed to this week and I can't be there due to prior commitments. I have managed to finish my university assignment so pressure is off there for a bit.

I have decided to join a couch to 5k running group tonight which will cost the grand total of £1 a session, I did some running last year but due to injury had to stop, the sessions will be over 9 weeks so I think good value and I run better in a group. I am now 3.5 stone lighter so hoping to find it a little bit easier and continue to lose the weight. I've had fun this morning trying on my running gear, all of my leggings bar one pair are too big :rotfl: now normally I wouldn't hesitate to go out and buy some more running leggings, spending probably about £30 a pair.New frugal Bella recognises that she can only wear one pair at a time anyway so it won't harm to actually just wash them between running sessions (WANT not a NEED!)

Currently I have a joint of beef defrosting ready for a big batch cook tomorrow I am planning to stretch the joint to make:

beef dinner
pulled beef
shepherds pie
beef and mushroom pie
beef curry
beef fried rice
beef pot noodle
beef and veg soup
beef casserole

Have managed to stick to a £10 a week food budget so far this month with two more weeks to go. Going to get a little bit more tricky this weekend with MIL and FIL visiting but challenge on.

Have a good day! Nice to see some sunshine about :j

Bella x

Bella19

Running went well yesterday a little bit achy today off to another session on thursday though, I find my head is a lot clearer when I run . Managed to get 22 portions out of the joint of beef, which cost £7, very happy with that. The freezer is starting to fill up nicely. Next batch task will be to stretch out a whole chicken. £50 left in the bank to last until the 1st February but I just have a phone bill left to pay and I have cash ready to pay for OH petrol so should be fine.

Bella19

Full of cold today so dosing up on paracetamol and hot squash ready for running tonight. Today's task is to work out how to cut down on our gas and electric bill as it's £96 a month at the moment. I work from home and feel the cold so turning the heating down/ off isnt an option and I only run it on 18 degrees anyway...

Bella19

Good morning all,

I have done some calculations of how we have got on this month as we are aiming for a 'low spend' year (not quite a no spend year but along the same lines). Below is how much we have spend for what I class as variable categories which change on a month by month basis, categories I have not included are all bills and petrol (we take cash out for petrol and then put the change in a jar for Christmas/ birthday savings).

Total grocery spend= £63.57 (for 5 weeks of food shopping so £12.71 a week very happy with this!!!!)

Eating out = £49.32 (unexpected visits from SIL, MIL and FIL)

DIY= £106.46 (Kitchen makeover; new kitchen flooring in the sale and paint ready to start on the kitchen this weekend as we are hoping to put the house on the market)

Shopping= £12.06 (OH razor blades, 6 months supply and a new diary for work)

I am quite pleased with the above spends not too bad however we have had one major fail and have booked a holiday for the end of March which I have calculated is a spend of £586.42 (plane tickets, parking at airport, cattery fees and spending money). This has resulted in money going back on to the CC so it now has a balance of £642.85 :mad::mad::mad:. I am going to put £150 off the CC next month and put aside £350 for the cattery/spending money for the holiday so that doesn't end up going on the CC as well. We literally seem to take one step forward and then two steps back with the CC. We were debt free in December after clearing over £7000 of debt last year and I don't want us to head that way again.

Bella19

No credit card spend this month which is great. Did do a little spendy clothes shop at the start of the month which I now regret as my laptop has broke. I need to replace it for my work found one for £240 which should do the job. Expensive month next month; car mot, holiday, vet bills and a family meal to budget for. We will be at least £500 short so going to have to dip into savings yet again!