Time to stop being frivolous!

WatchedByOwls

Thanks both, I've never used any of those cashback sites so I'll check them out!

It's been a No Spend Week so far. Spent 10 hours in the office today but haven't really left the house the rest of the week. Don't anticipate spending anything this week - we've got food in for every meal and are doing well at resisting takeaways.

My First Direct account switch is now officially done. I've transferred the required minimum amount in and my pay will now go in there so hopefully it won't be long before I get the £125 incentive paid in.

The energy switch to Ovo is apparently now done but I've not had any communication from them or my old provider so I'll need to chase that.

Edit: Just tried to call EON to sort out my final energy bill and their lines are only open 9 to 5 Monday to Friday! Rubbish if you work full time. They were also trying to charge us £89 a month for gas and electric for a 2 bed flat when all the other providers quoted £40-60. Vindicates my choice to switch! 

In other exciting news I've decided to downgrade my oat milk I've been buying Oatly but experimented with Tesco own brand this week and couldn't notice any difference, so I'll be making the permanent switch. It's about 50p less a carton and I get through 4 a week so an easy £2 savings! 

WatchedByOwls

Afternoon everyone! 

Just updating while I take my work lunch break. Working from home today so I've moved to the sofa but I'm now struggling to keep my eyes open!

Today was supposed to be an NSD but a book I wanted was available on Kindle for 99p so decided to download it. Have been trying to get it from the library for ages but it hasn't been available so took the opportunity while it was cheap.

I tend to get library books where I can but do sometimes get them on Kindle, though only when they're on sale for 99p - I resent by paying full price for something I don't get a physical copy of! I love browsing bookshops but have to restrain myself from spending all my money in them.

Nothing much to add from me today except it'll hopefully be a quiet night in with no more spends. 

Loveactually

Enjoy your book. Sometimes we deserve a little treat

WatchedByOwls

Evening all! 

Today was a spend day. I sponsored an owl through an owl sanctuary charity but they accidentally sent us someone else's certificate and gifts as well as my own. They said we could keep the incorrect one but I felt guilty as they need every bit of money they can get to help rescue and rehabilitate owls so I posted it back to them which cost a few quid. 

Other than that, a wholly uneventful day. Worked from home and watched an excellent film on Amazon Prime this evening - The Gentlemen. Had never heard of it but I love British gangster films so really enjoyed it. Would've seen it in the cinema if I'd heard about it but suppose I've saved money watching it at home!

I think I'll be putting about £50 towards paying off my debt this weekend and hopefully a couple of hundred before next payday on the 20th which is great. 

I also reached my savings goal of £1300 for my holiday today! I'm supposed to be going on a tour of Algeria in September and I've been putting aside between £50-£100 a month towards it from over a year now. Holidays might not be seen as MSE by some but I love travelling and fortunately am not in a position where I can't afford them. I've always been pretty bad at budgeting for them though so I'm glad I've got my house in order this time round and gradually been saving up. 

Nothing's been paid so far except a £50 deposit. However the trip might not go ahead and may be postponed for 6 months (Covid 😔). Won't know for a few more weeks. If it doesn't happen this year my plan is to keep putting £50 a month in and take a short UK break instead. Anything extra I do save for it will go towards debt repayment when the trip is over. 

Hope you've all had a good Friday night! 

Loveactually said:

Enjoy your book. Sometimes we deserve a little treat

Definitely! It's added to my pile of about 10 unread books haha. 

WatchedByOwls

Good evening all! 

I was able to put £250 towards paying off my debt today which I'm really pleased with - I've now paid back £3267 out of £10,000. I'm hoping I can put aside another £100 or so by payday on the 20th.

However I do need to buy two things quite urgently - some new suit trousers (as my current ones have ripped and are beyond repair) and a new pair of trainers as my old ones are on the verge of falling apart. I'll probably use my Big Spends pot for some of that.

Annoyingly it looks like we owe about £115 on our final bill from EON which is frustrating. I've got money put aside for it so it won't hit my debt repayments. However I have no idea how it's got so expensive - we were paying them £59 a month for electric and gas and we do our best not to use that much so it's a mystery!

Other than that the last few days have been NSDs. In fact I've hardly left the house except to go to the gym! 

Tomorrow won't be an NSD. We're going on a day trip to Lincoln. Most things have been paid for a few months ago such as train tickets and attraction tickets. The only things we'll pay for tomorrow are lunch and dinner - we've got 2 reasonably priced places booked so won't be too big a spend. I've packed some snacks for the train to avoid impulse purchasing things at Waitrose in King's Cross Station! 

Hope you've all had a great week. 

WatchedByOwls

Just had a look through my Monzo pots.

I've been doing the Penny Challenge since 1st January. This is where you put 1p aside on the 1st January, 2p on the 2nd January, 3p on the 3rd, and so on. I've got it set up to transfer over automatically to a separate Pot at 8am each day. 

So far I've moved £188.27 into this pot! It's mostly been small amounts so far but now it's coming up to £2 a day. It gets slightly annoying having to move money around to make sure I've got enough each day but I know it just goes into the Pot not to be touched till the end of the year. 

Apparently by 31st December I'll have £667.95 saved up which will go straight back to debt repayments. It likely would've all gone to frivolous spending if I wasn't doing this and I hardly notice it going into the Pot, so win win! 

Loveactually

When buying new things remember to check on Hotukdeals and also go through Quidco for cash back 

WatchedByOwls

Afternoon all! 

I didn't have a great spending week this week. Lincoln was slightly more expensive than I hoped - spent around £60 on lunch, dinner, taxi and entrance to the cathedral (couldn't book in advance). We had a lovely day out though so I think it was worth it

On Thursday I cracked and got Papa Johns for dinner which was £11. So foolish of me as we had dinner in and I regret it! Oh well, onwards and upwards... will come back to this post if I'm craving it again! 

I went down to Brent Cross this morning as soon as it opened - I wanted to avoid the Saturday crowds and queues. It worked, I was in and out within 25 minutes and there was hardly anyone there! 

I got myself some new suit trousers for £80 and a new pair of trainers for £25. I'll have to go back and get a new suit jacket at some point in the future but didn't really want to spend that much today - will put some money aside over the next few months for it. The money came from my "Big Spends" pot - almost felt guilty dipping into it but that's what it's there for! 

Payday is on Tuesday and I've got quite a bit of spare cash in my account. This is in no small part due to cutting out frivolous spending and just not buying unnecessary rubbish! I've been able to put £100 more towards debt repayments today, meaning I've paid back £3367. Hopefully I can put £75 or so more towards it before payday, but I have birthday presents for my mum and sister to buy! 

It's a lovely sunny Saturday here. I feel like I should go outside and enjoy it but I also just want a peaceful afternoon in. Dilemma! OH had friends coming round later to play some board games. I won't be playing (too big and complex for me!) but will probably help him with hosting. 

Have a lovely weekend! 

WatchedByOwls

Good evening all! 

It's too hot this week. Our flat seems to trap heat which makes it really difficult to sleep. Roll on cooler temperatures!

First Direct gave me my £125 joining bonus today which I transferred directly to my debt repayments - I'm now up to £3592 paid back which feels good.

I've managed to put £582 towards it since I started this diary just over a month ago. I won't be able to keep up that rate but it proves that with a bit of effort I can stop frivolously spending and make repayments.

This week has been primarily No Spend. Payday was yesterday so I sorted out all my Pots again and paid off my Amex - only £50 but nice to clear it. I tend to use it for bigger spends to get Avios points but then get forgetful/lazy about paying it off... Thankfully managed to avoid any interest charges this time though! 

Tomorrow is my very delayed leaving drinks from a previous role that I left last year. Hopefully I'll be bought drinks rather than buy them but will try to keep any spending to a minimum. 

Going out on Friday with a friend for dinner and drinks to celebrate his birthday. It's a moderately expensive restaurant but I'll try not to spend too much, though I do want to be able to enjoy myself. 

Loveactually

Well done on clearing your Amex.