New year plus new decade equals, new diary

charhen19

Utensils drawer cleared/cleaned and tidied ✅
2 x utensil jars cleared/cleaned ✅
A load of plastic cutlery and a few other bits into the charity bag ✅

Didn’t get to the cutlery drawer so that’s on the list for tomorrow now - I’m done for the night. 

charhen19

Well I've bitten the bullet this morning and paid £8 off the furniture balance.  This means I've paid off 2 thirds in eleven months of a 2 year plan.  Before I set another mini target for this I need to complete my other "by the end of February target" of getting my EF from £192 up to £200 so I'll be concentrating on this for a bit - it equates to around £0.45p a day for 18 days! 

charhen19

Today I've been gifted a sample sachet of chocolate spread which OH can have on his toast to make a change, and a tin of 5 bean salad which will go in the next chilli or similar to pad it out a bit. 

I'm tired today - must be that mid week lull.  Still, will crack on and I want to sort the cutlery drawer out tonight plus also dye my hair - grey coverage!!  I'm yet to master this without getting dye over myself/the bathroom but I will persevere - might have to rope OH in to help!!  I just really couldn't justify going to a salon to get this done and the price tag attached, although it would be such a luxury!

charhen19

The cutlery drawer has now been done so I think I'll attempt phase 2 of the under stairs cupboard this weekend. 

The washing machine has had 3 days off this week - a massive achievement in our house!  It has to do at least 3 loads on a Saturday after sports club so we try to let it have a day off here and there to make up for it.  Dishwasher has had 2 days off. 

Funds are VERY low and so are supplies - will be interesting meals up until payday Thursday and my "big shop" delivery. 

I remembered a favourite childhood meal the other day - faggots, went on a supermarket website to look them up for nostalgia and realised what a cheap meal they are.  Ready made and in sauce they're £1 for 6 hearty "meatballs".  I couldn't believe it!  They cook straight from the freezer and are definitely filling.  So guess what - now my freezer has a healthy supply of them!  I don't think I'd get away with giving them to OH on a weekly basis - there were some comments about rationing and getting home before the blackout!  But every few weeks I don't think he'd mind them with mash and peas.  I'm trying to think of some other meals from my childhood that are such good value and convenient too in that there's no prep necessary or even defrosting. 

charhen19

Goals for 2020 are as follows:
*Keep up to date with my penny a day jar (towards DMP) Up to date upto 12th March
*Keep up to date with my £1 a day jar (towards Christmas 2020) Up to date upto 4th March
*Daily Tilly Tidying (rounding down the pennies in my current account against the mortgage - if it's at £??.00 I pay £1.00) Up to date
*Building my emergency fund up to £1,000 Up to £192 – mini target of reaching £200 by end Feb. 
*Clear out something every day (this could be one thing into the charity bag, one single item used up or a whole cupboard cleared out) Definitely up to date with this but still room for so much more to be cleared – will keep on keeping on
*get rid of my 0% furniture balance - it's not massive but would like it gone and ahead of schedule at that Going in the right direction, mini target of 2 thirds paid by end Feb. (11 months) reached.  Will set a new mini target for end of March soon. 
*get on the ebay case - I go through fits and starts with this. I've found really that only new items with tags are worth the hassle so will create a bootfair pile for the rest Had a fair amount of success but could really get to listing some more bits
*breakfasts, lunches and snacks to be taken to work every day - all it takes is a little organisation but can be a massive saving in the long run 100% on track with this!
*stay on the no smoking wagon - I suprised myself and everyone else last year by one day just giving up and moving onto a vape and haven't looked back. Yes - I know vapes aren't great either and I am now on a quarter of the strength fluid I was using when I first quit but there's obviously room for improvement there still I’m still vaping
*maintain/drop some weight - this one I'm not too fussed about. If I maintained I'd be happy but if I dropped a little I'd be even happier!  Maintained so far!  Could try harder at this to be fair! 

charhen19

Another busy weekend and back to work for a rest! 

There was a buffet lunch at a family event yesterday so we didn't bother with a roast dinner - chucked some bits and bobs in the slow cooker and had a modest bowl for "supper" and have leftovers for lunch today.  I'm all set for the week ahead and up to date with everything.  I have mere pennies in my purse and bank account put together but actually don't need anything so should be ok so long as my petrol holds out!  Otherwise I may have to dip into my EF.  If I do this I always repay it at the earliest opportunity and charge myself a £1 fee for doing so.  I still need to find an extra £8 before the end of Feb to reach my mini target of £200 (a fifth of ultimate target of £1000).  Payday Thursday! 

charhen19

There's not much happening at the moment - I'm in that limbo period waiting to be paid (early hours of tomorrow morning it will hit my account) so that I can move things around and adjust totals here and there. 

I've dug out and cleaned up my old bread maker to put into action.  OH was interested so tried it for the first time and had success so he's looking into trying some more fancy recipes in there - you can even do cakes so will be interesting to see what he comes up with next.  Will deffo make a saving. 

I'll be driving home on petrol fumes tonight - roll on that salary hitting my account!  (Must remember to get up early tomorrow to fill up on the way to work). 

charhen19

I cleared out the last 2 kitchen drawers last night, threw a load of bits out, recycled a lot, filed a lot of paperwork and am left with a small pile of things to find new homes for tonight.  Some can go in the pile to be moved to the shed, in that it's not stuff we need on a daily/weekly/monthly basis but it's not worth chucking away. 

charhen19

Payday today = busy day of shuffling things around. 

Filled up with petrol on the way to work this morning - nearly £50 but should last me the month knowing what I've got planned.  Have put an extra £10 aside for a top up should it be necessary. 

Paid for lottery at work.  DD gone into my EF - sig. updated. 

charhen19

I've made an over payment of £15.71 to the furniture balance.  This means once the DD comes out on 1st March I'll have paid off 3 quarters of the balance in 12 months of a 24 month plan.