Chubby Keto lady working towards Debt Free and Healthy Frugal Life!

juicyjackieb

Well it's been a spendy week!

Bought a few things! My raging hormones demanded sugar so I bought a box of keto pulsin bars from amazon yes not great but ya know hormones  - Also, wanted to stop buying so many candles so invested in some flickering LED ones from amazon too, £20 but they look pretty great! I will still buy the odd candle but these are more economical in the long run as the batteries last 350 hours! I also did a bulk online boots order as I wanted to get more CBD oil, it made such a difference! They had some weird deal stack going on too so I was somehow able to buy 16 different cheapo shampoos, bubble baths, and shower gels for around a tenner and managed to get £3.50 of points too? Dunno how but I stocked up until I need to reorder again! Oh, and it was pet food week too sigh. 

I sat down last week and did a weekly budget/forecast right to the end of the year, wow super motivating! I am hoping to pay off my phone by end of February at the latest then double down on my credit card and increase payments from £35 to £75 a week and saving any surplus into my savings account.  If I am able to do that have calculated that I will have paid it off by mid-September! Once that's paid I will put that £75 into my savings and even ignoring any surplus that may have built up I should have £1100 in savings by the end of the year but I think I can beat that for sure. I am feeling positive about my finances for the first time in years; probably just jinxed myself!

My shopping was due today, another stock up at a whopping £85 which would have taken me to the edge with nothing left over. But as we had a lot of snow the driver called to say that he was canceling it and Sainsbury will call me to rearrange. No call yet but perhaps its a sign to see if can wing it a week and get it next week or pop up one night when the snows thawed and just get a couple of bags of essentials and yellow stickers and pull the money back in. 

So without groceries I had to fudge my meal prep, used up some bits and bobs and still managed to do tarragon chicken and some breakfast bites. Not too shabby!


Hope everyone is doing good - as always thank you for all the support!
 

Sarahwithlove

It's amazing what you can manage to put together when you have no other choice. 

Aspiration

Great meal prep and incredible transformation on your health, very inspiring!!! 

caeler

Great meal prep @juicyjackieb
I made some super flaxseed rolls this weekend which turned out nicely, low carb and gluten free. I just love flaxseed. 

juicyjackieb

caeler said:

Great meal prep @juicyjackieb
I made some super flaxseed rolls this weekend which turned out nicely, low carb and gluten free. I just love flaxseed. 

Thank you! I do like flaxseed but I had it and I had an allergic reaction to it 😩 - I do make fathead dough bagels sometimes and I have a recipe for psyllium husk rolls that look good too! I also make chia seed crackers and they are delicious and fairly cheap to make 

caeler

I've never tried fathead dough but I'm sure I will at some point! @juicyjackieb

juicyjackieb

It's been a wibbly-wobbly week for sure!

Never got a call or anything from Sainsbury's so I ended up going on Tuesday night for the essentials and the few yellow stickers I could see. I don't think they are bothering to stock the shelves as much with less foot traffic which makes total sense, although that means fewer yellow stickers. I have seen so many people commenting at the rocketing prices which is really starting to worry me too. 

Also on Tuesday, we had to take our cat Doodle to the vet, he was off his food and very lethargic. It was very well done, all socially distanced, etc. The little bean had a temperature of 104 degrees with what we think an infection from a scrap; he only had a small scuff on his nose. £93 paid by the OH - normally I would jump on it but he is bashing through the OT and has a large nest egg for house projects over the summer, and he was happy to pay for it so I didn't object. 

I was originally looking at paying off my phone contract by the end of February and then doubling down on my credit card payments from March 1st. However it's looking like I should actually be able to pay my phone off Friday - cant wait to call them and remove yet another bill! So excited! Saving £22 per month is much appreciated. However, rather than jumping straight to the card, I am going to move all my excess money from then till month end into my savings to use as a garden budget. I really want to spend some good time and hopefully well-spent funds on my garden this year. There is a shed in pieces waiting to be built, all the fences really need replacing but I will paint them and see if I can get a few more years out of them. We are going to replace our bench though as its falling apart.  I want to dig new beds and buy a nice red coloured bush (you can see although I lack knowledge at least I have enthusiasm!). I got the RHS handbook for Christmas that I am gonna crack open later and start working on wish lists. This is going to be my equivalent of a summer holiday and if I can put a few hundred aside I know it will be totally worth it. 

And circling back to groceries - Sainsbury's didn't delivery a full order today, no litter or pop so I yet again had to go up. I have been told to try the Aldi version of Pepsi max which if the OH likes could save us £15 a week (yes I know, I know). I am meal prepping for a 5-day egg fast today, eggs do still seem to be relatively cheap and a great source of protein so I think even though I am not the biggest fan of eggs I will move over to having more eggs in my diet during the day with a bit more an interesting main meal. 

I am going to spend the evening playing in my planner, printing free debt trackers, setting February goals and generally centring myself. My mental health was quite bad last week, I am usually OK but work and just ya know the never-ending nature of life right now overwhelmed me a bit. Setting goals and exercising helps, as does the CBD which I will step up too. Think I need another pack of St Johns wort too. 

Right, back in that kitchen! Egg fast meal prep waits for no woman! Hope youre all having a fab week! Full steam ahead!

caeler

Enjoy the egg fast. I did it last October. My savour was Halloumi which was my portion of cheese on some days. 

Sarahwithlove

Oooo I'd love to know what he thinks. The only cheap one I've found that I can drink is Morrisons Coke zero. 

juicyjackieb

This week has been a lot better and I am feeling calmer again. 

So, unable to get our shopping slot for today so I had to waddle up, bare shelves again in JS and we can’t get cat litter. Sigh. OH didnt like the aldi fake Pepsi Max but I didn’t mind it. I did grab the JS own cola today and saved a fiver for a few bottles. There were very few yellow stickers anywhere except the pet shop which helped a little. 

Other wins this week. Paid off the iPhone woooohooooooo! Chuffed to bits, that’s another £22 pm gone. While I was on the phone to them I had a little moan about their chat bot refusing to drop my tariff and the Lady apologised and dropped it from £16 to £12 which is nice, all these little wins really do add up. 

I was offered 10% affiliate payments plus products from a company I PR for a little but I declined as they are a small business and said I would just do it in exchange for product (which I use for my Instagram etc). I feel uncomfortable taking actual money from a small business right now, but I was flattered by their kind offer. 

I also sorted out my life assurance! My OH has so much in place but I had nothing, I know he feels happier should anything happen to me he will be covered. Finding a company that offers it to someone obese is so hard, plus it was around £8pm so nothing to worry about. They also do wills for £49 which seems fair so I think I will put that on the agenda for March. 

Oh and I’m doing a 28 day declutter challenge and threw some unused beauty bits onto eBay and 3 sold straight away and I now have £24 sitting in my savings. 

All in all I’m happy with the direction my finances are going in; feels a lot less like a runaway train now. 

Diet is going good too! Completed my egg fast and now transitioning to higher carbs. Meal prep day tomorrow. I’m going to do more egg Mayo bowls, Keto doughnuts and some fatbombs for the day as it’s relatively frugal and taco bowls for dinner. I’m already excited for dinner 🤣

Well that’s plenty rambling done for one night I think, I’ll check in again next time I have a brain fart!