Third Time’s The Charm

Moneywhizz

It is great to pop in and read how well you are doing. What a difference it has made to pay all these little extra bits off the Argos card and your debt free date is gradually creeping forward month by month. Being really strict with your grocery budget too is a good place to save money and maybe it will spur your husband on to give you a bit towards it if he starts to notice the lack of treats. Is your daughter planning to start University next year? Will this have an effect on your debt repayments or have you already planned it into your budget? Keep up the good work, you are a real example to others on this board. 

Parkyp

Hi, I read you diary last month and thought I had added you but obviously I hadn’t. Good to catch up, your doing amazing putting every spare £ to the argos card, snowballing sounds a really good idea. Hope you have a nice weekend, wet n windy here ☹️

foxgloves

How are you getting on with your surveys, Narola? I am getting hardly any Onep*ll. I have resurrected my account as I found it had over £13 on it. I may not carry on with them after cash-out but it did seem that £13 was too much to waste by leaving it there doing nothing. My goal is a £50 Prolific cash-out by Christmas & I'm doing better on those - 4 yesterday! I'm up to over £46 now, so I think I should achieve that.
F x

Narola1976

Hi everyone, happy Saturday. Thank you for stopping by and for your encouraging words. Yes the extra payments have really helped. Yesterday was payday and the first thing I did upon waking was made my Argos payment - £585. This was the normal snowball amount of £426 plus all the extra bits I managed to make from FB sales plus the TV licence refund I received after cancelling my licence. This leaves a balance of £267.16 plus a tiny bit of residual interest. So come 1st December I will be able to pay the whole balance plus give a bit extra to HSBC. 

I have been off the last couple of days which has been nice. DD passed her driving theory test the other day which I am so happy about. Now to get that licence, but with lock down looming, looks like lessons will stop again. I fortunately did a big food shop yesterday. Came to just over £140, well below my £150 target. Thought I should save a few pennies for bread. I was so lucky at T3sco, there was quite a lot of chicken reduced, trays of chicken thighs reduced to £1.32 each. I confess I got 11 trays. My freezers are quite small so I couldn’t buy much more as I also got other bits from the wholesale butchers. When I got home, I emptied each tray into a bag to flat pack it and just about got everything in the freezer. I divided the mince into bags of 300g and rolled it flat with a rolling pin. Not only is it easy to store in the freezer, it takes next to no time to defrost. I focused most of my purchases on protein as have sufficient rice, pasta, potatoes and frozen veg. OH often comes home with potatoes and bread, so that helps. And DD bless her will often buy things from the partner store. Things are often only 10p each. The other day she brought canned veg and fruit. A real help. 

I am really hoping that more BT offers will come through. While I know it means nothing my credit scores have gone up, which I take it to mean my efforts are being seen in a positive light. I would love to transfer the current HSBC balance as the interest rate is 28.9%. My hope is that within the next 3 to 6 months something will come through but the pandemic has changed everything and banks are just really reducing their exposure across the board. It’s not like they can know my job is secure, which it is. So all I can do is just keep plugging at it. I am a little concerned that I am over extending myself with debt repayments  but I don’t want to reduce it as I am more afraid I will fritter the money away than leave them be in their savings pots. All the immediate obligations are met, this is more the savings for things like glasses, dentist etc. I will keep to current plan for now. The thought of not being DF by the current date is just not even something I can contemplate right now.  But it does mean that this time next year, if DD manages to get into uni I may have to revise the amount going to debt repayment. But I console myself with the fact that I have a year to really make inroads to my debt. We will have to see what the future holds. I am rather glad she is not at uni this year. Practically wasting money for lots of online classes and accommodation some students can’t or won’t use due to pandemic. I really feel for the students this academic year. I do wonder what the landscape will look like next year. 

Hope you are all keeping safe and well and that you are able to get bits and bobs at the shops. I think people are panic buying again, my friend sent me a pic from C*stco, only limited toilet rolls left! Fortunately we bought some a few ago and still have plenty. 

Chat soon,
Narola

foxgloves

Oh my goodness, Narola76 - What a good idea re rolling mince bags flat before freezing! Why on earth have I never thought of that myself? I will be doing it in future whenever I divide up a larger amount. Thanks for the tip.
F x

Sarahwithlove

I agree great idea to roll it flat. I'm gonna try that too. 

Parkyp

Me to, best tip heard for ages for space and quick defrost. 

I think banks are too busy dealing with people with no or reduced income, hopefully you’ll get a transfer soon.

Narola1976

Morning, and happy 1st of November. The start of a new month and for me, a reset of the clock on working on some aspects of my life, most notably my diet. I want to get back into my fasting protocol, which basically means skipping breakfast for the next month. It’s rather doable, but some days are harder than others. So I intend to close my eating window at 8pm and open it at 12 pm, which means I fast for 16 hours. And to stay away from the sugary stuff which is rather hard today as DD brought home from work reduced profiteroles and passion fruit cheesecake. It is so hard to stick to a plan, even when I know how effective it is. About 18 months ago, I took part in a year long research project run by the local hospital. The idea was that I was provided with a new medication and the purpose was to see what impact this had on not only reducing the sugar levels but also on appetite / losing weight. It did not really work for me. But interestingly the Dr contacted me the other day to say that she had finally been able to review my blood tests - these are not tests hospitals normally do, it was just because of the study and what they picked up was that my leptin levels were so high they were not detectable. Leptin is the hormone which tells your body and brain that you are full. It controls satiety. And my leptin receptors are defective, which means I don’t get the same messages that other people do. It’s quite rare apparently,  and because the test isn’t a standard one, I would never have known about it if I had not been part of the study. So she is referring me onto a professor in Oxford that specialises in this disorder to see if I definitely have it. Personally I am not convinced I do, yes I eat a lot, but I don’t eat beyond the point of fullness, but it does take a lot more food to make me full than the average person, so maybe that’s what it means?? Who knows. In the meantime,  I am going to do my best to get back on track. My aim is to be on plan until Christmas Day, enjoy the festivities and then get back on it.  Fingers crossed. 

Really glad I was able to offer you a small tip re rolling the mince. It’s been a game changer for me for sure, and quite satisfying to do LOL. Even flat packing the chicken has helped. Those trays are so big and bulky and taking the chicken out and placing them inbags has helped. I place each piece side by side, and so because it is also flat I can stack them one upon the other. And it also defrosts easier. 

So another lockdown looms then. I am really sorry for those people who will be losing income. I really don’t know how effective this will be. I hope everyone keeps safe and well. DD will continue to work of course, being a key worker. Nothing changes for me as I work from home anyway. OH will probably be confined to home, but will some be able to generate some level of income. But as I manage the home with my income, his income or lack thereof has never impacted on us in that sense. 

I am just finishing with the lunch/dinner meal, and then off to collect my vitamins from H&B. Painfully expensive, but they have ben effective so I had no choice really. At least I got 1 bottle for a penny in the penny sale. So 2 months supply half the price. 

Happy Sunday, speak soon
Narola

Narola1976

Just a quick nip in to say I cashed out £10 from my receipt scanning app and paid it straight off the Argos card. The bank barely had a minute to register the deposit before it was gone again 😂

Narola1976

Evening all, hope you are all well now that lockdown 2.0 is in effect. Can’t say it feels all that different from pre-lockdown. 

 Not too much happening on the finance front except to say another £10 off Argos since last post having withdrawn my survey monies. I must say while it was relatively quick to make £5 on Qmee the surveys are long and dead boring, well most of them. But the payout was instant so I am pleased. A couple a day is no bother and it’s free money so I am grateful. I don’t have the time to undertake a second job. So surveys are really the best option for me. 

Nipped out to Tesco this AM to collect my vitamins at H&B. It was relatively quiet but it was just after 9am. No doubt it got busier later. I parked a bit of a distance and so managed a bit of exercise! OH had given me £50 for groceries. I didn’t really need food per se but wanted to get a few low carb bits for me. I was pleased to find loads of reduced food, particularly veggies and chicken nugget type stuff for the family. Some low carb ice cream marked down from £5 to £1.50. There was loads of YS stuff. I filled three large bags for £49.49. A great haul and will certainly see us through well into December I think. And it didn’t cost me anything so happy days lol. 

Worried about DD not getting her act together in terms of applying to uni, writing personal statement etc. There is only so much nagging one can do. After a while it falls on deaf ears. Teens are good at tuning you out when they feel like it. I have decided I am not saying anything anymore. I just don’t want her to come running for help at the last minute, of course I will help, but who wants the stress and pressure when time is running out. I wonder if there is more to it. I know the course she wants to do isn’t something her father and I are best thrilled about as it’s not exactly something that will lead straight into a career. If she manages a course based on what she is doing at college that will be better. Better career options even if it is highly competitive and won’t be high flying to start. I want her to do something she will enjoy but also something that can translate into a career. I think she is regretting now having quit A levels against our wishes and gone to college. A levels would have given her a broader foundation for uni. Now I am not sure she will actually get in to uni without traditional A levels. It’s all so complicated. And advice and guidance from college is limited.

Low carb eating is going relatively well. I am not strict, so will eat starchy veg like butternut but have stayed away from rice, pasta, potatoes, bread  and all the sugary stuff. So I am happy. My sugars are better than it has been for a long time. I haven’t really weighed as it’s only been a week today. I will weigh in the morning, 

The next few weeks are going to be hard and I just can’t wait for Christmas break. Speaking of Christmas, apart from the couple of bits bought on Prime day, I have made no effort to buy anything more. I can’t seem to motivate myself to buy anything even though I have the money. I think it’s a reluctance to see that money dwindle away. But I have saved all year for Christmas so it’s not money I haven’t budgeted for. Most of the stuff I can get online but I just can’t seem to make those purchases. I have said I will wait until Black Friday although I am not sure the website I am buying DDs main gift that she wants (Dr Marten shoes @£150) will have BF sale. No harm in waiting to see I suppose. 

Anyway that’s me for now. Have a good evening, it’s so cold I think I will put on the fireplace to take the chill out of the air.