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

Watty1

Lovely catch up with your plans.  I use the Mindful Chef boxes often and am thinking of trying the Green chef one.  Partly because i began to struggle with the VNM on the "time for dating" thing and we have settled into a lovely routine of eating together mostly but sharing the cooking.  The VNM is happy to cook if it is all there in one place and we have both had a lot of fun trying things that are new to one or the other of us.  Then we talk over dinner. I looked at it as way less expensive than going out, and I eat better at home!

LadyWithAPlan

Watty1 said:

Lovely catch up with your plans.  I use the Mindful Chef boxes often and am thinking of trying the Green chef one.  Partly because i began to struggle with the VNM on the "time for dating" thing and we have settled into a lovely routine of eating together mostly but sharing the cooking.  The VNM is happy to cook if it is all there in one place and we have both had a lot of fun trying things that are new to one or the other of us.  Then we talk over dinner. I looked at it as way less expensive than going out, and I eat better at home!

That sounds lovely! Cooking together is fun. I have not tried Mindful Chef as yet but till when I see a great voucher.. I also eat better at home. Plus with these meal boxes it encourages you to try new recipes or try them at home.

MWAP has decided I am a better cook than he is - though I think he is pretty good  and he certainly arranges food better than I  but I have been on a lot of cookery courses over the years from 2 terms Japanese... plus  10 week courses  of Indian, Chinese, Thai, Italian and others  etc so its fun discovering new ingredients and dishes you always see in restaurants. My ex partner loved my sushi more than restaurant one as I used to marinate the veg in sauce before adding to rice etc  
I do love a course  

I am extremely hungover today as was out Thurs for 'one drink' and was out for 5 hours with friends running round central London clubs and bars  ... including one with 20 feet  marble horses coming out the pillars and a private club built out of marble with marble busts everywhere and quadruple hugh ceilings - looked incredible.
I didnt feel too bad Friday but then...I went to see a friend yesterday as I am looking after her gorgeous huge dog  - a year old  very cute and well trained - in a weeks time and we started on the rose Friday afternoon and we carried on til late  joined by other friends. So today  I am on the sofa nursing a hangover and doing some MB and horse extra places..  

YNAB is telling me how much I have overspent as I have received no payments in April and not much in March. I will be calling Monday. Luckily YNAB is helping me see 

FOOD
Just about to cook this HF recipe - koftas   -  Asian Style Sweet Chilli Pork Koftas  with smacked cucumber .. yes I am about to smack a cucumber ..  i do have my own GF breadcrumbs in and GF soy 
I do need a proper food shop but got the pork and also a sea bass dish that looks lovely but i am not much of a fish person,.

Grocery spend -£169.18   plus 
HellF   £24.88  
Junk /crisps £8.95 but had more just didnt track -  (still had no haribo or such sweets/candies this year - did have a bit of chocolate and eating far too many crisps)

Looking forward to a chilled solo weekend and getting some stuff moving forward
Happy Saturday all

PennysIntoPounds

Sounds like a marvellous Thurs and Friday, and sofa time doing MB is very productive! 

LadyWithAPlan

Indeed sofa time is important ! @PennysIntoPounds

Cashback monies from Quidco £26.19 
This was from the flash one day only offer before xmas on 25% off boots .... very useful for xmas shopping..and finally paid 

interest income 61p 
I had a lot of virtual pots which i used to use for budgeting but since starting ynab in Dec 23 these are all empty - however i just saw I had 61p of interest paid spread across 3 accts. So i have added it to my bonus reward saver 

YNAB Poor
Felling very poor as i have had to drain all my pots down to cover no decent payments in. However I have increased my savings since using YNAB - despite up/down payments 

PYTHON COURSE
Udemy had an offer last night so I have bought 7 courses - full price £450 for £107 - approx £13-15 per course. Bought 3 courses on Python - MWAP was inspired by me learning a new language so he went and looked and has bought  6 courses in python, excel and another software language. So i just bought the same  as it saved me looking  plus another course with a certificate as I am looking to update my cv and skills
So I am retraining  to add to my current skill set

I have 6 weeks of busy- ness and travel ahead - but then mid June I am buckling down to study and new job hunt - am over feeling stuck and my monthly invoices have definitely dropped


house buying - my friend sent me some houses - will try to see one in area I have been looking in however I am in no rush as I figure it will take me 2 months or 3 to get up to speed and an additional contract - it seems I am not getting paid regularly and I don’t want a £2k plus a month mortgage plus bills without knowing I have regular cash in 
YNAB has made it very clear on my outgoings and I need to up my income to normal levels 


today is a Sunday but I am using it as a reset catch up on some projects but first I am going to the gym for the first time in 2 weeks ! 

skint_spice

I am having a much needed sofa day today! 

I hope you manage to get the income sorted out soon, it must be very frustrating.

savingholmes

Good luck getting your money up - and the money in. Sounds like you've been enjoying the journey. Your life sounds quite exotic at times. Your food sounds delectable too.

debtfreewannabe321

Yes please to the HF codes  
Smacked cucumber sounds interesting too

LadyWithAPlan

savingholmes said:

Good luck getting your money up - and the money in. Sounds like you've been enjoying the journey. Your life sounds quite exotic at times. Your food sounds delectable too.

My life has been and is pretty exotic to be honest  - travel, free rose , parties -  its the luxury of having no kids and no long term partner - I get to do what I want - no compromise.  
Plus I work in various work fields where there is a fair amount of glamour etc - hence me currently looking at my annual purchase of another full length dress... or adding ruffles to make a train on a dress .. however it will be heavy which is an issue for my 2 suitcases I am already taking..

debtfreewannabe321 said:

Yes please to the HF codes  
Smacked cucumber sounds interesting too

 You basically trim the ends of your cucumber, wash  and smack it with a rolling pin  (still in skin)... !!! It then after a few hard whacks kinda splits in the middle  and gets smushed in the middle .. this is then chopped and added to a sauce.
I will PM you the code 


study of doom 
A neighbour was giving away a tall shelving unit at the weekend so I have used that to help clear up my study - still more to do but an hours tidy and throw out and it looks much better. I do need to get rid of some boxes but I am selling stuff so.

VINTED
I have just listed some things on vinted - go me - now 4 things on there - an expensive new with tags dress that was gifted to me and also 3 pairs of evening shoes I have never worn - one is slightly too big..
More things to go though and list - maybe 10 - I will add then pause as gather there is a HOLIDAY Mode. 
Will aim to do one a day

Spent loads yesterday on groceries .. Waitro*e  - some reduced foods including some meat, a chicken etc  and Coop - did get £1.70 off as £1 voucher plus 50p off toilet rolls etc 
Total Groceries £202.81 - plus HF plus junk  v different from my March £76.49 but I was away and also ate down the freezer.

I have chased the one contract - have been promised money tomorrow as they waiting on funds in ... I will be kicking if it does not arrive as I need the funds for Wed 1st May and paying rent etc - or I will have to move even more stuff around again.

MY MB looks like it may be down month on month - I have had 3 months of very good - averaged over £1k each month this year - but I have given some of my profits back on my new software - though I was v lucky last month  on new software so I expected it.

INVOICES - Chased hard today - while doing loads of work for client - so gather should be with me today as soon as  company waiting on monies in themselves gets it... Or I will be moving cash. I have said I cant buy a flat without consistent invoice payments shown in my bank..

savingholmes

Well done on vinted listings and the debt chasing 

South_coast

LadyWithAPlan said:

My life has been and is pretty exotic to be honest  - travel, free rose , parties -  its the luxury of having no kids and no long term partner

Hmmmm, not my recollection of my life before BF....🤔🤣