Time to get my house in order!

dark^knight

Thick_n_Thin said:

So after Boris’s update last night I don’t think I’ll be back in work any time soon, definitely not this month anyway. Seriously debating weather to put my 1st overpayment to savings instead?? Much to ponder over the next few days until I get paid again but I’m desperate to try and get my overpayments started and I’m aware that I’m fortunate to have this problem in comparison to some people. I did my top up shop yesterday and spent £27 so that will last us until Friday. Swept £20 into my utilities bill account to try and build this up again as it’s currently depleted, current account now stands at 26p and I have £14 in my purse to last until Friday. I have done some cleaning this morning, may go for a long walk this afternoon to blow the cobwebs away!

It's good to be cautious with the current situation. If you want to still feel like you're not missing out on OP, maybe OP a little and save the rest. This way, you're still OPing something every month, and you can increase this when things are more stable. Even paying as little as £10 for the month is fine, as it means you keep up the habit. I have done this many times when I was unable to make my usual OP due to unforeseen circumstances.

Sofee3

Good luck with your journey, it was nice reading your posts, this is something I will be aiming for too in the future, good that you have your pots of money for emergencies etc 

Thick_n_Thin

dark^knight said:

Thick_n_Thin said:

So after Boris’s update last night I don’t think I’ll be back in work any time soon, definitely not this month anyway. Seriously debating weather to put my 1st overpayment to savings instead?? Much to ponder over the next few days until I get paid again but I’m desperate to try and get my overpayments started and I’m aware that I’m fortunate to have this problem in comparison to some people. I did my top up shop yesterday and spent £27 so that will last us until Friday. Swept £20 into my utilities bill account to try and build this up again as it’s currently depleted, current account now stands at 26p and I have £14 in my purse to last until Friday. I have done some cleaning this morning, may go for a long walk this afternoon to blow the cobwebs away!

It's good to be cautious with the current situation. If you want to still feel like you're not missing out on OP, maybe OP a little and save the rest. This way, you're still OPing something every month, and you can increase this when things are more stable. Even paying as little as £10 for the month is fine, as it means you keep up the habit. I have done this many times when I was unable to make my usual OP due to unforeseen circumstances.

Sofee3 said:

Good luck with your journey, it was nice reading your posts, this is something I will be aiming for too in the future, good that you have your pots of money for emergencies etc 

Thank you both for taking the time to comment, I think you are right dark^knight a cautious approach is the most sensible option at the moment, someone said on a diary regarding debt that the debt was made up of lots of little £10 spends here and there over a period of time not one big bulk spend, so she saw it as an anchievment by paying off smaller amounts rather than being defeated by not being able to make big overpayments and I need to remember this to keep me motivated when I can only make a small overpayment.
sofee3 - I would definitely recommend setting up some pots for different bills, I used to just pay bills as and when they came in but having a little pot of money there has really helped me, next month I’m hoping I’ll be able to pay my car insurance for the year instead of monthly, all my pots are virtual but I know people who use envelopes or actual jars or pots, 
I have one for gas/electric, one for car related expenses, one for Christmas and a personal spending one.

Thick_n_Thin

This morning I went for a run, I didn’t want to but I cajoled myself into it. I have a love/hate relationship with running, I enjoy it to some degree when I’m feeling fit and healthy but at the moment I’m currently about 2 stone heavier ( wine weight) than I feel comfortable being. All I can think about when I’m plodding along is how tight my workout gear feels, how heavy my legs feel and the blisters on my feet, today I tried running without music just so I can tune in more to my surroundings and it did feel better to some degree. I don’t think I’ll ever completely love running but with gyms closed it’s my main form of exercise for the foreseeable future. What I do love is spinning/ walking/ weight training and I can’t wait to get back to this. I’ll continue my plodding around the park but once this lockdown is over I’m hanging up my running shoes for good! 

South_coast

Loving the idea of wine weight 😂 Definitely guilty of a bit of that myself! 

Thick_n_Thin

South_coast said:

Loving the idea of wine weight 😂 Definitely guilty of a bit of that myself! 

Wine weight is definitely a thing!🤣

Food waste
we used to be a terrible household for food waste and we are still definitely by no means perfect but we are getting better, every week I will try and make some meals from things that would otherwise go to waste and now and then I’ll try and stretch the days between food shops out by 1 or 2 days. The fridge and freezer are looking a little depleted now as we are at the end of our pay month but I will manage with what we have available until Friday. Yesterday I had to bin half a bag of saled leaves that couldn’t be salvaged and I/4 tub of coleslaw but that’s it for this week. I have decided to stick with Tesco for my food shopping whilst we are still in the grip of this pandemic, I nipped into Aldi last week and there was no social distancing down some of the isles and it felt a bit chaotic to be honest, I know the stores are a lot denser and they don’t have as many staff to manage how people shop but I didn’t feel comfortable being there, so I may have to pay a bit extra but would prefer to do this for the time being. 

Bargainhunter30

Have you thought about growing your own lettuce? I've just started with a small container and after of couple of weeks of watering, I dont think I'll ever need to buy lettuce again 😂 so easy!

Thick_n_Thin

Bargainhunter30 said:

Have you thought about growing your own lettuce? I've just started with a small container and after of couple of weeks of watering, I dont think I'll ever need to buy lettuce again 😂 so easy!

I have to confess I’m not much of a gardener, my dad started some lettuce off for me last year and I was terrible at remembering to water! I love the idea of growing my own veg ect but in reality I know I’ll be useless, I am going to buy some herbs and have a little herb pot I think as these should be pretty much self sufficient I hope! 

Had quite a lazy day today, have read through some diaries on here and got loads of ideas for the future and some really good advice that will pay dividends if I spend some time researching. I think I need to treat MoneySaving as a hobby so I find some enjoyment from it.
Continued with my challenge of using up the bits and bobs in my fridge, porridge and raisins and banana for breakfast ( using up the banana and used some oat milk that I had opened in the fridge) for tea I rescued 1/2 courgette, 1/2 red onion and 1/2 red pepper, roasted them in some chilli oil, added to some pasta and 1/2 jar of pesto that needed using up and the last of the feta cheese and it was a perfectly nice meal. I love finding ways to use up stuff that could easily be thrown away, determined to be inventive and stay out of the supermarket until Friday! I have a bottle of tonic water and some gin that needs using up later! 

Miss_Money_Magnet

Enjoyed reading your diary- keep up the good work!

Thick_n_Thin

Miss_Money_Magnet said:

Enjoyed reading your diary- keep up the good work!

Thanks for posting Miss _Money _Magnet!
So I’ve been for a nice long walk this morning instead of suffering a run, I just wasn’t in the mood to push through it today, the sun is shining so I put my sunglasses on and listened to a podcast and just enjoyed the walk, I’m past thinking that I need to endure exercise so I’m going to do things that I enjoy instead
I had to pop into the local Tesco as we had run out of bread, spread, milk and needed some eggs as well so spent £5.05, got two £2 coins in the change so have started my £2 savings jar back up and I’m also going to save 50ps as well.
We had a holiday booked with TUI which we have just received a credit note refund for, I don’t want to keep this as I can’t even think about holidays at the moment, it’s valid until October 2021 but I would just rather have a a full refund so I need to ring them this afternoon. Other than that I think I’ll do a bit of cleaning and then work out my budget for next month.
_