Future Proofing my life: Deposit saving then MFW journey in under 13 years

LadyWithAPlan

beanielou said:

Yes, was sad to hear President Ikada had died. 

Just missed the Tozo on Zoom as I got the time wrong! 

Ah .. i do that often ...

Just lost a post but ..
Nov days in gym 1 (but did swim for a week in the States and walked a lot)
Finally got to the gym to do some legs and upper body as figured 30 min was better than none and want to start slow//

Grocery  £138.59/£150  grocery    + £2.25/100bulk 
Popped to MR MS £5.41 spent 
- grabbed a few YS inc 2 x cooked chicken breasts one of which i added to the thai green HellFr meal  to bulk out plus a YS veg medley which accompanied my half of green thai ... the YS also had some nice indian dips to liven up the veg..
YS pineapple as well  as chunks for dessert.

B*ots recycling scheme - finally did it £12.87 + 500 points
Basically you have to register for it (diff from boots card)
upload at home pics of your items which are  then verified ..
find box in store and scan a qr code - not all boots have..
Chose which items (need to do 5 min) and put in bin
A voucher is then issued to be used within 2 days 
buy something for over £10 - what I wanted was not in  stock so i got  teeth pick things, floss as I only like the satin stuff and some opaque tights for work..
- then you scan your boots card and the voucher you get on the recycling app  and get 500 points .. I spent £12.87 but only got 500 points £5 ... but still

I am now collecting my next 5 items...
They are doing 3 for 2 on no 7 plus got a voucher for sopend £20 and get £10 off as well I will use ahead of xmas.

Free money 
£2 cashback from yest grocery + £5 in points at b****


Per month  -
Track my NSD's - Target 13 days/month  3/13
Track my Grocery spending in GC thread £138.59/£150  grocery    + £2.25/100bulk 
Track what I save in my hse deposit  Nov £885.32/902.21    +     SIPP  £462.10
Cashflow EF  £360/£2000
Track extra income from ebay/free money/refunds etc  £131.66
Track Minimalist game    0/18 but 12/19 so far today 
Non essential spending  £1003

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6289577/future-proofing-my-life-deposit-saving-then-mfw-journey-in-under-13-years#latest

savingholmes

Sounds great. Well done on the delayed gratification with the bag and for drinking water some of the time while you were out.

Chase those invoices to speed your home 🏡 buying journey.

Well done on the decluttering too 

LadyWithAPlan

tx @savingholmes - I am impressed with my own delaying .. and family glad a present is sorted. 

i am so far being v good with the Black Friday sales .. even though the GF bread maker I want I can see for £109 - normally £150-200 - it’s  a warehouse damaged box one etc but i do so want it BUT 
I keep saying don’t buy stuff! For myself anyway - I have a £450000 thing to buy !  

I do still want a new phone - the battery situation is annoying but I am not travelling much now til Jan  so less unsafe and hanging on and indeed I am typing this whilst plugged in at hairdressers 

I do need to get Xmas presents - we as extended family - tend to buy a lot - been cut down over the years but I still have a fair amount to buy .. I have sent my Xmas list to all ahead of BF - but not not received any back apart from DN whose list is full of v expensive Tikt&k ‘wants’ - she is an highly influenced teenager and I am trying to break her of the  brand envy ., far more interesting to dress oneself rather than slavishly buying designer everything .. 
I have some in my Xmas pot £206 & gifts £39 as I have bought a few things but will need to bump that up by a few hundred in Dec .. plus have a DN birthday before Xmas 
the patchy pay schedule has messed up my pots slightly 


had a NSD yesterday finally 4 this month !!
but at hairdressers today - a friend so much cheaper than it could be - plus will pick up some groceries And pop to TK max& as got a gap before seeing friends in town tonight - already my hair pot was full - I go every 2.5 months so save cash over the period .. 

not done decluttering full amounts the last 2 days but at least some is happening .. 

the Hello fr Thai green curry was really not that good tbh. And it really needs more veg - both in it and on the side 

I still have 2 more HF meals to cook - if it wasn’t for my credit I wouldn’t prob bother getting another .. though you do eat less  and quite fun 
at least I have not had to run out to for a big shop 

I am still not over my jet lag in terms of living UK vs US time zone  probably cos I have allowed myself to sleep in 
I am getting up far too late which I need to sort 

I saw the mse Sainsbury double vouchers offer and I have got the offer and nearly 10k points - I rarely use Sainsbury any more more of a Ms L shopper but I will try converting £10 into £20 and do a shop there this weekend 

Karmacat

LadyWithAPlan said:

i am so far being v good with the Black Friday sales .. even though the GF bread maker I want I can see for £109 - normally £150-200 - it’s  a warehouse damaged box one etc but i do so want it BUT 
I keep saying don’t buy stuff! For myself anyway - I have a £450000 thing to buy !  
Good for you!  You're doing it!

I do still want a new phone - the battery situation is annoying but I am not travelling much now til Jan  so less unsafe and hanging on and indeed I am typing this whilst plugged in at hairdressers 
I can see the need for the useage - but if you don't need it so much till January, you can wait and see what the sales bring?

I do need to get Xmas presents - we as extended family - tend to buy a lot - been cut down over the years but I still have a fair amount to buy .. I have sent my Xmas list to all ahead of BF - but not not received any back apart from DN whose list is full of v expensive Tikt&k ‘wants’ - she is an highly influenced teenager and I am trying to break her of the  brand envy ., far more interesting to dress oneself rather than slavishly buying designer everything .. 
I have some in my Xmas pot £206 & gifts £39 as I have bought a few things but will need to bump that up by a few hundred in Dec .. plus have a DN birthday before Xmas 
the patchy pay schedule has messed up my pots slightly 
You're definitely on the way, you know, the tone of all this is quite different  


not done decluttering full amounts the last 2 days but at least some is happening .. 
Those kind of exercises are about keeping your attention focussed, and you're doing that, yay.

I am still not over my jet lag in terms of living UK vs US time zone  probably cos I have allowed myself to sleep in 
I am getting up far too late which I need to sort 
Oof, I think this is the time for some kindness towards yourself!  You'd fully adjusted to the different time zone, and that does make it harder to adjust back.

I saw the mse Sainsbury double vouchers offer and I have got the offer and nearly 10k points - I rarely use Sainsbury any more more of a Ms L shopper but I will try converting £10 into £20 and do a shop there this weekend 

Ooh, double vouchers offer?  I haven't been reading the weekly email recently.  I'd like to really stock up on peanut butter - Asda didn't send me my usual stock up of 700g at 35p per 100g, and instead sent me Sunpat at 75p per 100g.  Ha!  Sent back.  I just checked and Sains have the same price as Asda  

savingholmes

Personally I would resolve the phone.

beanielou

I would also resolve the phone.

LadyWithAPlan

Karmacat said:

LadyWithAPlan said:

I do still want a new phone - the battery situation is annoying but I am not travelling much now til Jan  so less unsafe and hanging on and indeed I am typing this whilst plugged in at hairdressers 
I can see the need for the useage - but if you don't need it so much till January, you can wait and see what the sales bring?

I saw the mse Sainsbury double vouchers offer and I have got the offer and nearly 10k points - I rarely use Sainsbury any more more of a Ms L shopper but I will try converting £10 into £20 and do a shop there this weekend 

Ooh, double vouchers offer?  I haven't been reading the weekly email recently.  I'd like to really stock up on peanut butter - Asda didn't send me my usual stock up of 700g at 35p per 100g, and instead sent me Sunpat at 75p per 100g.  Ha!  Sent back.  I just checked and Sains have the same price as Asda  

Yes go  to your nectar app  - and see if you have it  
https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/latesttip/#nectar
you have to swap vouchers by Friday 24 nov and use in a month 
Good offer especially on peanut butter   Which I cant have in the house as I just eat the whole pot...in about 2 hours....

On the phone yes I will hang on unless a great deal for BF

@beanielou @savingholmes phone works  - just the battery just starting dropping off at speed  and on occasion dying later in the day - not great when I travel and use it for work.
so carrying battery packs around and a lead! I will see what prices BF come up with for the 14 pro max, 15 pro moax, 15 plus.. all the phones will the best battery lives - which will hopefully last for a few years .. current phone is a second hand one I got in Jan -  12 pro 
I also like to work on the move - other solution is a 2nd cheap android phone with a cheap sim so I have  2 phones  and can swap sim if needed when travelling

£154.96 / £150  grocery    + £2.25/100bulk  - budget blown but its normally £200 per month so and was in the States for first couple weeks
Grocery spend £16.37 today

Nov non essential Spending £161.50 
Nov    £1164.50  Spending on non essentials ex food  and  London travel
Hair dresser  then 2 hours spare before seeing friends  so went xmas shopping in central London - busy but not crazy and some fab xmas lights in covent garden
I was starving though so bought and ate junk 

Food £16.37
Clothes £4.5
Gifts £19 + £52 promised towards Bday gift 
House £2

Hair done then the shop ...
Prima*k  gifts and for some fishnet tights - they do great ones and cheap £4.50 for 2 plus 2 
TK MAXX £13.97 inc a fab £1.99 kitchen non scratch silicon scrub which I kept for myself as needed a new scrubber thing
Nisa £2.14 some food 
Tesc*  £13.23  - half price joint with crackling, sweets and such, Cov gden  soup (i make my own but this was CC prices so 


Tomorrow hopefully will be a nsd - only my 5th this month

I also picked up from Tes**  a vinted nightie thing I bought - it looks more like a dress i could wear on beach .... but the brand is v good  and norm v expensive - hence why I got it  - will wash it and try on. - this is in spending already 

Minimalism Game - about to run round and find 21 things

savingholmes

Well done on examining your spends and on continuing to declutter. I threw away another 3 OOD items today which is progress. 7 yesterday.

LadyWithAPlan

I did my normal get the minimalism game done late at  night before bed 21 things - at 8/22 for 22  only - 23 today I am starting to eye up some clothes 

NSD to report  woohoo - lots of messages/emails re BF but I am standing tall

NSD 5/13 yesterday 
today only one college class - second not on- so will  able to not spend there on coffee as won’t be there 7 hours straight
the big tesco is there though so will pop in after  as I do need veg etc 

I am trying to keep my grocery spending down for Nov as I have overhit my budget - £154 v£150 
however  the 2 lots of Hell Fr is £53 of that and i have not received one of those HF boxes (have as credit as had to cancel last money) so  it is skewed
However  I do have £11.75 on an iceland card  and nearly 10k sains points so I will do the double points on £20 or so to stretch my budget. As one of the fabulous MFW on here say giving oneself the feeling of not having loads of cash to spend frivolously -(by moving money out of accounts and having budgets you stick to) is a great way to keep spending down 

the fact is I have been tracking my non essential spending this month as I go and it’s £1164.58 not including food and some london travel -   I know the hel fresh boxes is not essential food!  
Normally I move my pots around at the beginning of the month into various bank acct pots and then withdraw into my current acct or cc as I spend so I can see what’s left -
however I don’t often total it up as I go and not that easy to add up at the end of the months as I have bus spending etc as well ..

Seeing  I spent £1164 (which also didn’t include some US food at the beginning as work did give me a per diem - invoiced but not paid) .. ouch this does not help my saving goals 

I also did a round up properly last month .. I say I don’t spend much on clothes but I spent £199 last month on a coat, trousers, boots for  work in Europe - not crazy but then spent £124 so far this month - inc the bag I will have for Xmas - I could though have spent loads in the States but adding it up as I go  stopped me. 

Again I can afford it but cos I was clear I spent £400 on a flight change I didn’t want to overspend further 

I also spend well over £1k non essential last month .as well. 

So I have built a new spreadsheet-woohoo- and marking my spending in categories as I go - I will also add up each month so I have running totals per category .. as well as keeping my pots going 

Free Money 
I have one of those internet /tv watch  boxes since Feb this year - not looked at points/cashback but I need to but can’t log in 

side hustle possibility.. 
I have my MB and Happy Wheel but one of my side hustles may suddenly get a big boost in March - thought some conversations on it had closed as they weren’t following that track - but had various communications yesterday on it as they are doing something that they may book me for 
if it comes off it will massively help my budget as my day rate will be the highest ever in my life.. 
Not getting too excited but could be v exciting - and having done my course I feel much more comfortable 

Merlin's_Beard

Keeping the fingers crossed for the side hustle.

I've definitely had moments before when I thought a category was under control and then I actually looked at what I spent.

And I would definitely look at BF offers for the phone - you don't know when you're going to need it and it's something you're going to have to buy in the near future anyway!