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

LadyWithAPlan

Happy Saturday all
I am still on a go slow  despite my todo list being very long- but then only been back 2 days and think I am de-stressing from constant noise and pressure of ensuring many animals were happy, healthy and fed - and ignoring constant barking and need for attention...

The flylady thread suggested boudoir yesterday so I times myself 30 mins in there and I am determined  to do a little each day in the threads suggestions.

Not been to gym today and now its a little late - I went to bed late and started late so rather than going first thing I did my MB.
Been doing MB and football trading and made some money
When it comes to trading I am very disciplined so I do small amounts and close trades quickly  to preserve my stake quickly - so was right 7 out of 9 times
All on premiership football including the draw on the Liv v Everton game

Back into also doing Extra places on horses -down on the day but  I know its just a numbers game so I am patient and make sure to check the EV (estimated value) - no crazy trades - all within the maths parameters I know are needed to ensure long term profit - slow and steady - like OP a mortgage - no quick wins - plus I combined some free bets and offers as well.

Plus I need to do 4 hours work for a client I didn't do yesterday so I will do this weekend - they checked my availability for a business trip abroad so hopefully! Love a paid for work trip abroad and might pop see my friend on the French coast after or before

TT 27p + 99p from 2 accounts I will be rich!

I also discovered in my spare change pot loads of coins - I added up £10 in coins and swapped a £10 note from my Grocery purse. The  £10 has gone into my passport wallet holder as extra cash - I would put it in my flying pink mortgage unicorn pig but I am thinking notes might not come out so easily.. Although I was not paid last week I had £90 in my purse from unspent cash from last month so thats the start of  my £160 GC for Sept at least.

I will not move any funds from my monthly budget  as no new funds in - which is why I am procrastinating about doing my Sept budget. This lack of regularly paid invoices  is why I stopped doing my MFW diary posting and my monthly budgets before so I am committing to doing it tonight as funds will arrive. I need to keep the focus no matter what.

NSD so far - I may indeed make it 1/16  for today- however if I pop out for fresh air then I am bound to check YS in local shops ... I want to have a go at meal planning first if I can.

I also am aware that when I buy DF milk I make a few DF lattes each day which add up. The sweet in them even if its Almond unsweetened means I like to eat more. I always buy DF thats on offer etc or on a supermarket cash back deal (I love the Alpro I cant believe its not milk brand but will not pay £1.90 for it) So the longer I stay out the shops the better for my budget and my waistline. I always pop into the local shops after my gym as there is a coop, lidl, sains, and tesc to see if any deals but I need to get strict on this as I end up overbuying.


Food - I had some top rump steak which I add.ed to part of my yesterday cooked chicken stock with old potatoes  and onions  in the pressure cooker (function on my 6 in 1) and served with peas. Very healthy and nice - whats left is like a beef broth so I may try to freeze it and make it an Asian soup base so chilli, GF noodles, pak choi etc.

I have an easily accessible freezer here - where I was the freezer was in the outdoor store house so a pain plus 6 dogs to disturb to get there - so I have been nibbling on frozen blueberries and a few walnuts.. back to normal habits.

After the inspiration of the breadmaker at the family members I have discovered my 6 in 1 has bread rise and bake in the multifunction so as I have not yet shopped since my return I am being experimental..
Reading the Jackie 0 stories and her grocery spend (£30-60 a month!) I am really inspired to massively cut down my spends, cook even more and have zero waste kitchen and  HM GF bread is a third of price of in the shops as it is now running at well over £3 a loaf.

I have a YS GF seeded bread loaf mix so I am trying to work out - half from packet and half from machine -  on timings. the 30 min bread rise I have followed from clever chef instructions but it is saying 145 for 60min then turn and another 10min for browning the top whereas my recipe on the mix says 200 for 45-50 min
So I am going with the machine instructions. I will report back how it goes! It smells good already and  I really want to 'see how it's doing' but I will wait. With some YS DF butter it should be fabulous  - just negotiating and guessing bake/temp times...

I have loads of amazing apples - so once I have cleaned out fridge (1/3rd done) I will add some and start stewing some for freezing and puree. Apple jam I guess is a thing?

I have been reading the frugal 22 and 'feeling the pinch thread' - so many hard stories and sad to hear how worried /frantic some people are  understandably on this energy bill. It is also uplifting and supportive how many such as Jackie O are, saying we can get through this and giving brilliant workable ideas.  I am sure the govt has to give help to lower income people.

My elec is low usage - at £36 for july - there for all but 2 days that month- and at £28 for August even though I was away for 20 days in Aug shows a lot of it is standing charge. I think therefore it will probably go up to about £60- £70+ /month from Oct as the standing charge is a large portion of my bill and that is only slightly going up. So doable if thats all it is for last q of year - plus the gas (ha! thats a different story))  The £66/month  help from the govt  (£400) will not cover me but it will help a lot). 

I was under £30 a month elec  before the last rise but I am on a forced prepayment smart meter due to scot's energy company mess up - got to get onto ombudsman again but I can imagine they are swamped- but I am on the best rate due to a prior Ombudsman decision that still not resolved.


It makes me really appreciate how lucky I am to not only be able to look after myself but also I can help my parents a bit - yes it will interfere with my house deposit savings - but I have time  and space to work more, I chose not to have children and I am single, I got rid of my car 5 years ago, I have cheap rent, I am healthy, so my luck is some privilege including having had a great education which my parents struggled to provide for me and some financially supportive decisions for my life including monthly budgeting, travelling frugally, not eating out, no takeaways etc over the last decade.

The sentence ' I am choosing to be frugal to support some fabulous life changing and affirming financial goals' rather than 'I cant afford this' is useful and motivating as well - as I really can afford things - whereas some people cant. It also takes away any guilt on spending  as I bought those succulents yesterday on the vodafone deal and I will enjoy them - and £3.99 for p+p only  is not a fortune and I have a treats pot anyway I add £20/month for anything I want so I have moved that over.

LadyWithAPlan

savingholmes said:

I look forward to reading about your house decluttering. Just see it as another way that you are preparing for your eventual move. All that money you save by not having to move it later.

That is a fabulous reframe tx!! I will see it as me moving towards my fabulous new home both in terms of space and extra cash. Plus living in a space  that makes me feel calm and wonderful each time i walk in.

themadvix said:

 Good luck with the decluttering. Don’t forget Freegle/Freecycle/Olio for things that might not sell/be charity shoppable but aren’t ready for landfill/recycling yet. And FB marketplace for those bits that are too awkward for eBay.

 Good idea I missed a free final sales weekend before I went away but I am not sure waiting for one is wise. I have plenty to get rid of! I always regret getting rid of clothes but there are some things here that have never been worn in a decade as there was always something about the way it fit I didnt like.

GF Baking adventure update
I have just baked bread for 50 mins then the online instructions said to flip the loaf so other side gets a crust. The top looks uncooked but the bottom looks good so I am doing 10 mins then will prod it to see how cooked it looks - as the recipe on the pack says 200 (45-50min)  vs machine  a lower 145 degrees (same time) plus extra 10 ... I dont want it uncooked in the middle.
It does smell amazing. 

Merlin's_Beard

Reframing why you're not spending is massively important, I think. Mine is "do I want this more than [whatever the money would have gone on otherwise]" - when I was saving for a house deposit it turns out I wanted a house more than a lot of things, but not everything, and it kept a nice balance.

South_coast

Ooh, I like this 👍

LadyWithAPlan said:

The sentence ' I am choosing to be frugal to support some fabulous life changing and affirming financial goals' rather than 'I cant afford this' is useful and motivating as well - as I really can afford things - whereas some people cant.

savingholmes

South_coast said:

Ooh, I like this 👍

LadyWithAPlan said:

The sentence ' I am choosing to be frugal to support some fabulous life changing and affirming financial goals' rather than 'I cant afford this' is useful and motivating as well - as I really can afford things - whereas some people cant.

Me too. There's an Afford Anything podcast if you've not yet come across it. It relates to FI. It's the premise we can afford anything but not everything. That is also a useful reframe.

Of the food we buy - studies of what goes in people's bins shows 1 in 3 bags of food gets wasted... Add to that fast fashion and other things we buy and waste and never use. We - me included - have a long way to go before we are close to a zero waste society - the closer we get the more we save... 

LadyWithAPlan

Merlin's_Beard said:

Reframing why you're not spending is massively important, I think. Mine is "do I want this more than [whatever the money would have gone on otherwise]" - when I was saving for a house deposit it turns out I wanted a house more than a lot of things, but not everything, and it kept a nice balance.

I like this as I can see it does allow you to have freedom to spend wisely and 0 guilt! 

@South_coast
I felt briefly not positive about buying those succulents as it destroyed my Fri NSD but I have to enjoy life whilst I focus on this big long term goal. Guilt is an negative emotion that does not allow for growth or happiness. 
i went away to the South of France this year for 2 weeks in a frugal fashion as well as it is an important thing to have fun on these huge journeys but I said no to the Ibiza 9 day extravaganza which would have cost a fortune. 

 So my reframe and Merlins now  is at the front of my mind as I embark on this next year of heavy lifting financially and focus wise

@savingholmes i had not heard of that but checked out her blog. Nothing new but it’s again a great reframe ‘I can afford anything but not everything’ so will add that so tx 
I like her idea of me first buying a multi family home as a ftb eg a duplex
London a bit difficult for that plus assume if I had a separate living quarters with tenants I may need to let mortgage people know  

NSD was yesterday first one so 1/16 to Saturday 
Sunday I will get some food from Lidl in after the gym

Bread adventure hmmm - not knowing the right times to bake was difficult as I tried to work out a medium between the 6 in 1 cooking and the on pack instructions 
I ended up flipping bread a few times, cooking it much longer as the middle didn’t seem cooked 
eventually it was ok - still think it may have needed more heat -and maybe more cooking -  it was a doves free seeder bread mix so had many seeds including pumpkin etc - I have frozen loads . It’s tasty and v nutritious but not risen much and the inside looked v different from the crust 
it was lovely with some YS flora plant butter I had picked up from Lidl a few weeks ago - the Naturli one is fabulous but this flora one pretty good 

- however some GF bread is like that - has issues riding  
the Panasonic bread maker I used was perfect bread so maybe my expectations were too high.  

Today gym and swim, some work,MB and happy wheel, trading, tidying and prep for Monday 
I was planning to see friends but have needed to just chill - it’s been busy last few weeks 

Merlin's_Beard

savingholmes said:

South_coast said:

Ooh, I like this 👍

LadyWithAPlan said:

The sentence ' I am choosing to be frugal to support some fabulous life changing and affirming financial goals' rather than 'I cant afford this' is useful and motivating as well - as I really can afford things - whereas some people cant.

Me too. There's an Afford Anything podcast if you've not yet come across it. It relates to FI. It's the premise we can afford anything but not everything. That is also a useful reframe.

Of the food we buy - studies of what goes in people's bins shows 1 in 3 bags of food gets wasted... Add to that fast fashion and other things we buy and waste and never use. We - me included - have a long way to go before we are close to a zero waste society - the closer we get the more we save... 

That's such a good way of thinking about it as well, I'll have to look that podcast up.

LadyWithAPlan

@savingholmes I had to throw out some unopened Alpro soya yogurt that had got shoved (by me) to the back of my v large fridge... I have been away for 3 weeks - I opened one it seemed ok the older ones werent. VERY annoying

I am trying to see how to keep my F&V fresher so I have just looked at 2 x Lakeland stay fresh bags as many on here rave about them and say they are re-useable.
I checked first and saw TCB given 2.5% cashback and Quidco £2.25% on amounts on lakeland up to £64.99 so .. However its £3.95 postage  - hmmm - I can see there is one near my parents so I will wait.

GYM
I went to the gym - 13 min HIT, 29 mins functional strength training and 20odd mins swim. I saw a friend and neighbour in the pool so we chatted a while.

Weekly weigh in
I have (drumroll) dropped 6 lbs in weight since Aug 11th which includes (Boditrax stats)  a 2lb drop in fat off my trunk - this is probably down to being Ms Doolittle - I was jumping over fences, hedges and was doing 18000 steps a day easily. Every time I sat down an animal needed something.
Trick now is to keep moving as I have been - there I did not sit down for the first 3.5 hours of each day! - last two days I needed to laze on couch and my steps were sub 5000!
Goal now  is sub 30lbs body fat - I always feel much better - currently at 34lbs - so it is doable in 4-6 weeks ..



GC £31.52/£160 + £0/54.50 bulk)
I finally went Grocery shopping after eating out of the freezer for 2+ days. Paid all in cash

No crisps or sweets but I did buy raisins for baking and have snacked on a few too many and now feel sick! Plus I bought lidl salted peanuts but only ate a few ..

Co-op - all YS veg £6.16 - didnt have app on new phone annoyingly so missed offers
Lidl £19.79 - I had some reduced pork and chicken which I have divided and frozen into smaller portions
Sains £5.57
YS lamb kebabs and YS veg inc YS spiralized courgettes - they had a recipe on the back so I thought I would have a try.. I had to buy pesto with recipe but Sacla was £2 reduced from £3, Sains own £1.10 so I got from Lid* own 79p.  Not great tasting but was OK as a side with YS caramelised onion beef burgers and my home made gf bread toasted with the onion oil

TT £2 

Only NSD has been Saturday 1/16
I could have seen a couple friends this weekend but they drink a lot and whilst I am able to say no with them, it becomes a bit dull as they ask me over and over if I want a £15 cocktail wherever we are - Cocktails may be an art but they are full of sugar as well. I will just officially declare a 3 month stop on alcohol til Dec 1st ...unless its a real occasion

Decluttering
Sat 4/3 - including an old broken bread knife I have finally safely packed up and disposed of
Sun 1/4 - will find 3 more things now.,
EDIT Sun 4/4 I found 3 more things to throw /declutter/CS 
I have a bag to get rid of in the hall of CS things I am not going to eBay 

Did  Budget for sept - I hope to get paid something this week so I can move funds around as we all like to

My CC is £353 due end Sept  - comprising of my paid course and  energy bill - I will clear to zero as soon as I get paid. I do have the cash  but as I never know when I am getting paid.. I will only put travel on thios moving forward and pay off asap.

However I checked my credit score - it has gone down massively from 999 a few months ago to 691???  - apparently its my lack of credit - my very reason for getting a credit card a year ago  which I am using the 10% and always repay in full early - or the scots energy issue which is not showing up on reports anyway - I will check all 3 . I need to find a way to track my rent thru it - I have never been late in my life.
Do I need to get a second credit card to help?
i know recently Barc wrote and said they had got rid of my overdraft as I never used it. My Mzo and Hali o/d is still there but again never used. I have never been more in control of my accts and my savings are high but my credit score  is going down !

South_coast

Could you do a click and collect for the Lakeland order? That way you get the cashback without having to pay for postage?

badmemory

I hope you don't mind me asking but where does all that body info come from?