Frugal, thrifty, make do, mend! Let this debt come to an end!

Makingabobor2

Have a safe journey. Don't load anything valuable in your car tonight, or leave anything on display....you just never know who's about. 

fionaandphil

Have a good trip, hope you have a nice Christmas with your family 

weenancyinAmerica

Have a Merry Christmas and a safe trip.

Moorviews

Merry Christmas 🎄 I hope you have arrived safely and have a great time with your family 

themadvix

Merry Christmas! 🎄 

Four_Seasons

Merry Christmas 🎅 🎄 

Elisheba

Merry Christmas, my frugal friends!  I hope is was a good time for you all.  I had a lovely time at my sisters, albeit rather merry!  My dog and I slept in my car camper so I was able to partake for once, which was nice even if it left me knackered the next day.

I'm working this week from Scotland. Thankfully all we have has where I am is a lot of rain and some wind, and we've missed the worst of Storm Gerrit. Journey up was fine on Xmas Eve much to my surprise - a bit windy, but the roads were really quiet!  I'm driving back on Hogmanay as that'll give me New Year's Day to get organised before I start back work.  Its sort of a shame to spend the bells on my own, but in all honesty I'm not that bothered. After the Xmas merrymaking I feel all merrymade out! A quiet night in with my dog and cat in front of the fire, and maybe staying up to see in the bells sounds ideal to me.

It has been a bit of a spendy morning as I needed to order Ad Blue for the car, and I got some screen wash, and a window cleaning spray that promises less glare at the same time, and then I also bought some walking poles.  My balance is a bit iffy and I've been struggling on some of the ridges and coming down some of the hills near me when I'm out walking my dog, and people have assured me at least one walking pole will help, so I'm giving it a go.  

Other than that, I'm out to dinner with a school friend tomorrow night.  We've stayed in touch all these years so will be wonderful to have a catch up, as haven't seen each other much recently due to the pandemic etc. We are both driving so won't be a late or particularly expensive night.

I'll have my month end totals soon so can finalise my 2024 budget.  I am contemplating having an annual total for all my categories eg. £1200 for food, £420 pet food and supplies, £1800 for diesel,  etc.  That way, although I'll have a rough amount in my budget each month, I can also more easily deal with over and underspends, and I like to see how much things cost me a year. 

I do have an annuals pot for the car and heating oil and Christmas and a few other things that I'll be putting money aside for each month, but this would be a more monthly budget line specific type of thing.  The main issue I'll have is reducing my discretionary spending.  I budget £100 a month and have gone over every single month this year.  Ideally I would increase the amount, but that's going to mean cutting back elsewhere and I'm not sure where I can.  I think I am going to try to stick to it and see how I get on this year, and perhaps add my Prolific total to it every month.  Once I have some firm figures I'll post on here what the budget for each line will be for the year.

I also need to think of some goals for 2024 - things I want to do in my new house, places I want to visit, that sort of thing.  With the move this year, I am pretty much where I want to be in life right now, so its time to enjoy that and take advantage of the lovely opportunities it offers.  I do want to save as I would still like to buy a house, and that's going to be hard so definitely something to focus on. Once I have come up with a list I'll post it here as well. 

Hope everyone is keeping safe and warm, and hasn't been too badly hit by Storm Gerrit.  

Elisheba

Oh fiddlesticks!  Just remembered I have a £20 Amazon voucher from Mobile Expressions (for harvesting my data I think!) and I could have put it towards the things I bought earlier.  Oh well, too late now as they have been dispatched, and I'm sure I will need something else from there at some point soonish.

Elisheba

Morning, all,

I had a lovely dinner out with my school friend last night, and apart from that and some diesel I need to buy I think that's my spending done for 2023.

I've gone through my s/s and everything is now up to date. My totals didn't match my balance, but I have suspected that things were off for a couple of months just haven't had the chance until now to do a full reconciliation. I now should have exact figures going into January so hopefully I can keep the problem from reoccurring.

I've decided against doing yearly totals and what percentage I have left from them for spending, mainly because I can't work out the s/s formulas without having to do some manual stuff every month. Nevermind. I do have a column for end of year totals so that will have to do.

Regarding the annuals pots for the car a lot of it is guess work. I've heard car insurance has risen a lot so I've put a bit more than I paid last year aside. Then for MOT and service I just don't know with it being a new (to me) car, but I'll be doing a lot of driving so put £1k aside just in case. Since I have a 3 year warranty on it that might be a bit excessive, but a new battery cost about £300 so if it needs tyres etc, I imagine they will be expensive!

The car is now topped up with Ad Blu and should be good for 6000 miles, so that's one thing sorted. When I topped up the screenwash though there was another clear container in the engine filled with pink liquid that looked like it could do with filling, so I'll need to find out what that is. Couldn't tell from the lid. I should also probably check the oil at some point but there are no lights flashing so it's fine for now.

On my current figures I've not been able to put anything aside for holidays, which is an oversight I'll need to rectify somehow. I'm thinking maybe just keep plugging away at Prolific and use that money. Car camping isn't that expensive,  but I think there may be a weekend away for a friend's 40th I like to go on so might need to find more funds for that somewhere.

Happily I will be able to repay my friend in full this month for the interest free loan he gave me to help me move house. I don't like owing friends money so it'll be good to get that out the way. That will leave me with the interest free credit card I put £2000 on for the move, to pay off in 2024. I'm also still paying off the  interest free credit card debt I still have left from the original massive debt I had when I started this diary. I'm just going to plug away at it in 2024, then I'll be able to pay a bit more in 2025. I haven't done the sums yet to see if it'll be paid off before end of the interest free period, but it shouldn't be far off.

So that's it for money saving for today. I'm visiting a relative today and it's due to be snowing for the drive so that'll be fun 🙄. Then off back home early tomorrow. Hope everyone is cosy and warm. My nibling bought me a Oodie style thing for Xmas and it is brilliant!

Makingabobor2

Could the pink stuff be antifreeze? Just a guess as I dont know what it looks like.