“Debt is normal. Be weird.”

browneyed_girl

So, I realised I didn’t post anything yesterday but there were no exciting events or spends to report.  Only spend for the day was £87.30 on fuel, which should be DH sorted for the week.  

Today was a slightly different matter.  Started the September NSD challenge and though it would have been nice to kick off the month with a NSD, it just wasn’t going to happen.  Having finalised plans for DD1’s birthday, I had to buy the tickets.  Buying online saved 30% (apparently) but it still amounted to £103.25 for 7 people.  We will be taking a picnic on the day though to keep further costs down. 

As DD2 had a friend over for the day (who is a very picky eater, possibly even worse than DD3), we treated them to a trip to Mr T with a £10 budget to pick up some snacks and a dessert of their choosing.  They did well to stick to their budget (their total was £7.25), but whilst there we ended up picking up a few extra bits, plus some school trousers for DD1 (who is so tall that she requires age 13-14 despite only being 11 this week!).  Overall spend was £29.48.  On the plus side, I only have a couple of things to pick up for DD2 and then all return to school stuff is sorted .

Tomorrow should be a NSD unless something drastic happens.  It does help that my current diet plan means the biscuit tin stays fuller for longer, thereby reducing the need for emergency biscuit shops.  I’ve managed to lose 3lbs this week, which I’m sure is just my body being in shock due to the lack of hobnobs.  It will definitely find another way to sabotage me before long - it seems reluctant to give up on its hard-earned insulation!

browneyed_girl

Ooh, completely forgot to mention that I’d updated all my spreadsheets after payday and subsequent loan and CC payments.  Current debt stands at £45,978.12 which means that since starting this diary on August 8th, I’ve paid off £1072.62

Pretty happy with this so far, but I’m sure I can do better!  Will be updating spreadsheets and signature again after DH’s payday on the 10th once he’s hopefully paid a big chunk off his CC! 

WinterWarrior

Well done on the money saving and debt reduction ⭐️

BellaLasagna2018

Your progress to date is amazing! Well done! 

browneyed_girl

Argh!!  So annoyed with myself!!  I came so close to a NSD and then without even thinking about it managed to spend £10 on lottery tickets!  What the bleeping bleep?!!  DH found it hilarious that I’d sabotaged my own NSD and that for once he wasn’t the one responsible!  

It’s not as though we even usually buy lottery tickets - we just noticed that it was a must win jackpot on Saturday.  Last time this happened and we bought a couple of tickets, we won over £100 just for 3 numbers, hence the rather hasty decision to do the same again.  Maybe if we end up winning millions I won’t be quite so annoyed with myself!  

Not much else to report for the day.  Kids had soup with cheese on toast for tea (possibly the cheapest meal I make them, yet also one of their favourites) and I’ve got leftover veggie curry from yesterday.  DD1 and I baked an apple cake for pudding, which should have plenty leftover for tomorrow.  DH has just popped off to work and should be back at around midnight.  That means I have an evening of mending ahead of me so I can feel as though I’ve done my bit!

WinterWarrior

Just the sort of NSD accident that happens to me! 

FootyFanDan

well done on how much progress you have made so far

browneyed_girl

Oh my goodness!  The last few days have been somewhat hectic (also somewhat of an understatement) and I feel terribly neglectful for not posting on here for a few days!  I do feel as though I need to treat this diary like a fifth child and give it the necessary attention to make sure my spending habits don’t go unchecked!

I’ll probably post about the past few days in dribs and drabs in between housework and demands from the children.  

After Thursday’s epic NSD fail, I knew I couldn’t accomplish a NSD on Friday because of preparations for DD1’s birthday weekend.  Instead, I put my planning hat on and worked out everything that needed to be bought for at least the next few days so that I could have one day of spending and (hopefully) many NSDs .  Because of weekend plans, I had to do the main weekly shop on Friday, alongside picking up items for a picnic on Saturday (to avoid buying expensive lunches for eight people during DD1’s birthday outing), some extra bits and pieces for lunchboxes for the return to school, as well as the remaining uniform for DD2.  

Total spends on Friday were £61.98 at Lid!, £53.19 on fuel and £50.37 at Mr T (made up of £7.87 on food items and £42.50 on uniform and clothes).  I always feel horrified to have such an amount come out of my account in a single day, but I don’t think any of it could have been avoided.  I was also a bit annoyed that it wasn’t possibly to buy certain uniform as a single item, instead having to pay for a set of two cardigans when I only wanted one, and similarly with some leggings for PE (these I had to buy in a pack of three to get the right size!).  I’ve instead decided to add only the necessary items to DD2’s wardrobe and keep the others in my store cupboard to be brought out when items get ripped or mysteriously vanish (same goes for new packs of tights and socks).  I’m hoping that by doing it this way, the same amount of clothes will last longer and there can be new items ready mid-year (I always buy a slightly larger size to increase longevity so shouldn’t be any issue with outgrowing items).

Onward to the weekend where Saturday was spent at an amusement park for DD1’s birthday with the rest of the kids and a couple of her friends.  Picnic lunch was just enough for everyone (I usually have a tendency to go overboard because I hate the thought of anyone going hungry!) - I worked out the total cost of it afterwards and found it only came to £10.98 for eight people!  That is admittedly with two small children, but I was still impressed by how much of a saving that is compared to buying food at the park.  I even resisted the urge to buy everyone ice creams as we were leaving - they’d already had plenty of treats and I was so determined to achieve a NSD!!  

browneyed_girl

Following on from Saturday, Sunday was spent at Nanny’s house so that DD1 could celebrate with the family.  Party lunch and birthday cupcakes provided by Nanny .  This meant that Sunday was also a NSD - two in a row!!

Today was DS’s first full day at preschool.  Apparently he loved it and impressed the staff with his counting and ability to name all the different dinosaurs!  The rest of the kids are back at school tomorrow, so the evening so far has been spent sorting uniform and making packed lunches.  DH is currently at work - hopefully he doesn’t feel the urge to pick up food on his way home because then we’ll have our third NSD!!

DH gets paid on Friday so will be making some big payments towards debt then, but I’m trying to focus on little victories and the small changes that will save money in the longer term.  I find that when I don’t celebrate the little things, I lose all focus and the big picture suffers.  

With that in mind, I’ve managed a few more surveys today and have also been sure to upload my receipts to my Shoppix app (I’m close to being able to cash out £20 - yay!).  I’ve also done mountains of laundry over the past few days and made sure to hang them all out rather than using the dryer in order to save on electricity.  I sent a meter reading yesterday which was 250 units less than they predicted for us, so hopefully they won’t be putting up my direct debit anytime soon.  For about the past year, I’ve gone back to using laundry powder because it seems like the cheaper option, plus I like that the cardboard packaging is easier to recycle than even more plastic bottles.  We also started using white vinegar instead of fabric conditioner, which again saves a lot on cost and must surely be better for the environment.  I can’t say that I notice any difference with the laundry, except that it just smells clean rather than having a heavily perfumed fragrance. 

Nothing much else to report from here.  Hope that everyone has had a positive debt-busting start to the week!

Honeysucklelou2

That’s  very impressive to have resisted buying an ice-cream treat! Well done on the NSDs.