Oops I Did It Again

Blackcats

That's great about the money in the tin.  That's a good amount to pay off the debt too - is it the debt that tells you how much interest you've saved?  That is a great incentive.  When I was repaying my final debt I was throwing everything I could spare at it and paying little and often.  Each extra payment generated a letter setting out the new balance and interest saved - it was so motivating.

CRANKY40

I'd just like to say that I don't normally have a gardener. The conifers in the garden next door haven't been trimmed since the old lady that used to live there fell out with the chap that she used to pay to do them. That was about 5 years ago, They should only need doing every 6 months or so now. As an even bigger bonus, the neighbour from the house whose garden backs onto mine came out and cut down the ivy that was 3 foot (maybe more) higher than the back fence. Result!

enthusiasticsaver

The debt is coming down nicely and I think you are right that sometimes hoarding food is something people on a limited budget do. I guess for them it is a security blanket of sorts. I quite like empty shelves and cupboards as I can see what is there and make sure there is no wastage and start afresh every now and again with the food cupboards and freezer.

So sorry about your Dad. My stepdad has vascular dementia and I feel so sorry for my mum having to look after him. It is like being widowed twice as she lost my Dad 28 years ago when he died of a heart attack at 63 and now my stepdad has this awful dementia. He just sleeps all day really and he was so active before. 

CRANKY40

Thanks @enthusiasticsaver. Vascular dementia is horrible - on the plus side my dad mostly thought he was in a hotel in Blackpool (he was in a nursing home in London) so it could have been worse I suppose. 

Yesterday was another NSD. Today was a planned spend day. Food shop for packed lunch stuff - bread, fruit, ham etc and some cat food. I also spent £5 buying my son lunch from the golden arches after his dentist appointment. It has long been a tradition that all such appointments are followed by lunch from there since the days when I had to bribe him to go and have his teeth counted. I stuck to my own healthy packed lunch which I took to my bubble friend's house. We are cleaning and decorating there so better to take food than to try andmake food amidst chaos if you see what I mean. 

I'm still chopping up conifers in any spare time that I have. I've just done another half hour now it's time to do the  ironing then I'll make dinner. Tesco credit card statement was done yesterday.  Min payment was £65 and I paid £125 this morning with possibly a little bit more that I can pay off before the end of the month (probably £10-£20 ish) so it's all good, 

TheAble

I was just wondering how come the person owns the conifers doesn't pay for it? He could at least make a contribution I would have thought.

CRANKY40

TheAble said:

I was just wondering how come the person owns the conifers doesn't pay for it? He could at least make a contribution I would have thought.

They offered but the front fence between our properties is being replaced this week so although I offered to go halves we settled on me paying for the back and them paying for the front. The conifers weren't affecting their garden, only mine so rather than wait for them to get round to it, organising it myself seemed like a good idea. 

CRANKY40

Yesterday was a spendy day. The barbers were running late for my son's hair cut appointment so I bought a snack and a drink for waiting in the car with. If I'd known it would be 2 hours I would have taken my own from home. I hadn't had much to drink up until that point (4pm) so I definitely needed a drink. I've had a quick count up and NSD's so far are 8 out of 17. 

Friend's house was finally clean and tidy enough to be valued yesterday so that was a good result. I've also done the freezer inventory (on Tuesday as planned) so hopefully we should be eating down the freezer stocks as much as possible. There seems to be a lot of sausages in there so it'll be a hundred ways with sausages for the rest of the month. 

CRANKY40

Today I paid another £10 off my loan (£10.02 from Prolific to be exact). The minimum payment is £10 so I wait until I have enough for a payment and sometimes I can add to it from other funds. 

In other news Sunday was NSD number 9, yesterday was planned shopping and today was an unplanned spend for biscuits for a garden meeting with my cousin tomorrow. My cousin said she will give me the money back but she usually provides whatever we have (it's her garden) so there's no way I'd take money off her. 

CRANKY40

It's time to check in with the month end figures......

                    LB Moment  /      Now

Tesco CC     £3338.44              £2962.62
TSB CC        £3478.25              £2762.89
Lloyds Loan  £2158.54              £1752.19
Rings            £ 132.00               £      0.00 (Wedding present for sister)
Bed               £   70.09               £      0.00

Total              £9177.32              £7211.70

Debt reduction this month £383.33
Debt reduction since LBM £1965.62

Things that I have learned this month  

1. I can not keep track of NSDs

2. NSDs are probably not the way forward when I make 3, sometimes 4 packed lunches per day so I need fresh fruit/bread and bits and pieces quite often. 

3. I can go into Asd@ and just buy bread so need to stop worrying about NSDs. 

I have worked out my budget for next month and I have roughly £82 per week to spend on food. This includes cat food/cat litter, the above mentioned packed lunches and making dinner for my looked after person two evenings a week, my son's partner once a week and all meals for myself and my son. I have decided to allow £10 per day for food. Anything left over will be carried forward each day until day 7 when the balance will be paid into my savings account unless it is more than £10. Anything over £10 can be used as an overpayment for my loan (minimum extra payment £10). I'm hoping this will help with my tendency to over shop. In theory, the longest that we will have to wait for anything that we have run out of will be the next day. 

The pain in my knee that my GP assured me was ligament damage has turned out to be zero joint space and I will probably need a knee replacement. I'm young but the problem seems to be hereditary and my younger sister has already had hers done. Losing weight will help post op recovery so I also need to remember that "diet food" is not a thing and that the only way to lose weight is not to eat regardless of how many calories the item contains. I weighed myself this morning and I will be noting my weight as well as my debt reduction in future because I firmly believe that there is a link between the two. I buy food "just in case we run out" then overeat because it is there. It'll keep me more accountable if I update my debt diary every day too. I have £10 left in my pocket that will do for bread/fruit for the rest of this week's packed lunches.  

Blackcats

That's a great debt reduction this month - well done.
good idea to have a daily spend allowance for food.  You have a lot of people to cater for during the course of the week!