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

Elisheba

elbree said:

Excellent work! I'm usually the one that goes home with my purchase and THEN finds the coupon, which expires the day 🤦

   I know that feeling! I think I posted last year about a L!dl shop where I forgot to scan a £5 off voucher. I got out to the car kicking myself, and eventually went back in to see what could be done. Bless them, they had to refund every single item individually (and it was a £50 shop I think) and put them all through again to get my voucher to work! They did it though - can't fault that level of service! 

Elisheba

Been a productive day today!

* Got all the dishes done and put away
* Got 2 loads of washing done and hung up. Just some bedding left to do and that can wait till the forecast clears a bit. Might do pet blankets as well when it's dry
* Got a quick hoover of downstairs done 
* Caught up on MSE boards I've bookmarked
* Got 50p off milk and a free pizza 
* Checked banking and immediately refunded Blue rewards money when it came out. So annoying I don't earn £3 a month from that any more! 
* Ate breakfast, lunch and dinner with no unhealthy snacks in between 
* First full day of giving up smoking again, since I relapsed a while ago. 

missymoo81

Well done on giving up smoking! You can do it, and well done on the couponing! I love it when that happens. Rare in this country though!  

Elisheba

Morning all,

Looks like it will be a nice day today so I have put the bedding in the wash to hang out later. One job out the way!

Porridge for breakfast today, with Greek yogurt and the last of the blueberries.  Red pepper hummus and olives on a baguette for lunch possibly with some hot cross buns afterwards if I'm still hungry, and pie and chips with peas for dinner (If I have time - I have a zoom meeting at 7.30 and need to walk the dog before hand.  I might end up having crumpets and cocoa just to be quick!).

Looking at my fridge I have half a celeriac, half a leek, and some carrots and onions that need using.  Quite fancy lentil soup with the carrots and leek, but not sure what to do with the celeriac. Anyone have any ideas?

Not many jobs on my list today.   Another quick hoover - the joys of pets.  And sweep the back patio, hang up the washing and put away any dry washing.  Think that's it.  I'll get the bathroom cleaned tomorrow when I have more time and that will be the weekend free to do nice things.  

I'm hoping to make some clothes washing liquid at the weekend, and get some mending done.  I also have a pile of things that need sorted out and taken to the charity shop, and at some point soon I'll need to put out my summer clothes and bag up my winter clothes.  Its just been so chilly recently that I haven't wanted to do it! Fun wise, I 'm hoping to go for a walk through some lovely bluebell woods and have a picnic afterwards in the car.  I've got an audiobook I want to listen to as well so can do that while mending, sorting etc. Oh, and I might go swimming as well if i can find the time.

Hope everyone has a brilliant day today, and gets to see the sunshine at some point!

elbree

I read somewhere about a celeriac dauphinoise which sounds delicious! 
If your bank isn't giving you cash anymore maybe look to move? You can still get cash rewards and monthly benefits with some accounts. 
Good work on the smoking, take it day by day 😊

Elisheba

Morning all, and happy Friday! Woo hoo! 

Nothing much planned today. My BC issue has finally sorted itself out, so I've made the final payment and waiting for for that to clear. Once it has I can balance transfer 2 cards onto it. I'm going to pay £250 a month onto it, so it should be paid off in a year and a quarter roughly. Or maybe I should pay £300pm, and take the 1 year interest free balance transfer? I'll need to do some sums. 

Once that has been done I'm hoping that the cards I've paid off will soon offer balance transfer deals and I can get the other 3 cards on low or interest free deals, and then most of the payments I'm making will attack the debt rather than just cover the interest. That'll be nice!

It lovely to feel back in control of my debt. For the last couple of years I couldn't take advantage of any offers and I knew I was paying through the nose, but just had to get on with it. Now it feels like there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Porridge and banana for breakfast, maybe soup and a hummous roll for lunch, and not sure what I'll have for dinner. Friday is normally pizza but I had my free one earlier on in the week. I'll see what feel like. 

Planning on giving the bathroom a once over later, and that with some dishes and a quick hoover will be the house chores for the day. I'll need to bring in some washing as well, but the forecast is for rain later so I won't do the pet blankets.

Hope everyone has a good day and gets to finish early for a restful weekend! 

Elisheba

elbree said:

If your bank isn't giving you cash anymore maybe look to move? You can still get cash rewards and monthly benefits with some accounts. 

I'm getting closer to the point I can do this, but I'm still using the OD on one of my accounts and I like to have it there as an emergency fund as I'm focusing everything on debt right now. Once I'm out of the OD 100% of the time I will start looking around at bank accounts.

Elisheba

Oh and I meant to say, still not smoking. Not really suffering either, thankfully though I went cold turkey.

Also, I got the months pet food yesterday and I won't be moaning about cat food this month. My cats have been eating Tesco cat food for a month, and haven't gone off it, and it's only £6.50 for 12! It was £5 for 12 last month on offer, so if that deal pops up again then I will bulk buy for a few months. I also get 1p back on every pound with clubcard points, so that's another saving. Got dog food and cat litter there as well, so no need to visit PAH. 

Elisheba

Hehehehe!  Yippeee!  That's me transferred two credit cards on to a 12 month interest free balance, and set up the payments so its will be paid off within the year!  £75 a month previously paid in interest now going towards the balance.  Minus the transfer fee that's just over £800 going towards debt in the next year that otherwise would have been squandered on interest    

Now, I just need to hope that one of the cards I paid off will offer me a good balance transfer rate soon, and I can transfer the remaining 2 (that I don't share with my ex) and that will be another £50 in interest a month saved!  Hopefully that will be on the cards by next month! Although I am not sure I can pay that off in a year as well.  I'll wait until its an option and see what can be done.  

Oh, it just feels so lovely! Finally getting somewhere!

jokono

Elisheba said:

I tried to stay mindful all day. This is me living the life I want. This is me living my good life. It made me more reflective. So many things I rush through to get to the 'good' bits, or so I can go and read my book or play on my phone. All these other bits are my life though. I might not like doing the prep for things or the cleaning up after as much as I like doing the activity itself, but if I've got to do it I may as well take my time and find things to appreciate in it.

I started reading your journal a few days ago, I love this part, I'll see if I can find the book in my local library. I feel like I am always rushing, always! But this is my life, my good and only life, I might as well FEEL it, all of it. Thanks ❤

This is on page 5 so still a bit to go!