Debt Reset....

Seasidegal58

Popping in to wish you a belated very happy New Year Cranky!🥳🍾
You've made a terrific inroad on your debt over the past year and all the best for cracking the rest in 2022!
I think £3 for a LSD sounds ideal. Such a good idea - you do what works best. 

Baileys_Babe

Happy New Year @CRANKY40 and HT

I keep an eye on my NSD and many people mention LSD, I like your idea of less than £3. Would it be worth keeping a note of what was bought on each LSD so you/us might find solutions. For example, if it was bread would it be worth having crackers, part-baked rolls/baguettes or flatbread (wraps) in the cupboard or keep a spare loaf in the freezer or make a loaf, scones, soda bread etc

I am glad I have found your diary, I have read many of your posts over years and think your contributions are a great asset to the forum.

Sun_Addict

I’m on the NSD challenge and am super strict with my NSD the only things I don’t count are direct debits. Others on the challenge don’t count groceries but I do because it’s still a spend in my eyes. Counting LSDs is a great idea. 

CRANKY40

Thanks @Baileys_Babe. I have bread in the freezer and also have crackers, part baked bread etc but sometimes the things I have in just don't work with the people that I'm feeding. Three of them have sensory food issues and the HT's partner likes fresh fruit so if they appear off schedule I may have to top up the fruit bowl, or buy a pizza for my looked after person if there aren't any in the fridge or freezer. I don't have a problem with that, it;s my "buy enough to feed everyone because I'm spending money anyway" approach that needs fixing. The low spend days are an idea to see how it goes. 

Thanks @S_A direct debits are the only thing that I don't count in my NSDs too. 

Blackcats

Happy new year.  Great debt reduction in 2021 - well done! 

I've been doing the grocery challenge too and I've found it has helped me, although I still spend quite a lot on food but at least I know I'm spending a lot now rather than blissful but expensive ignorance.

CRANKY40

@Blackcats thank you. My problem comes from when the HT was small and we were on our own. There wasn't anyone to fetch stuff if the weather was bad or if one of us was ill so I stockpiled food. The supermarket is in walking distance now and the HT is 17 but Im still stockpiling. Hopefully I can do more cooking from scratch this year as I'm so much better healthwise than I was last year. That'll help the stash go down. 

Baileys_Babe

We are planning to eat out of our cupboards and freezers as much as possible to reduce how much we have in stock, reduce our spending and rotate stock.

We are also planning to decide on the level of stock we want for a range of items so we don't have an excess nor a lack of anything.

CRANKY40

Good evening all, 

I'm just making spag bol for the HT and I for dinner. There was only two of us for lunch and dinner today, yay. It's just as well because I've pulled something in my back somewhere. I can sort of stand up but still bent over and then straightening up really hurts. There's always something isn't there? My debit card has stayed in my purse today so nothing to come out of my bank account. I'll transfer the grocery money to the food shopping account later ready for the new month. We shouldn't need too much but I need pizza for LAP as I'll be working tomorrow and the HT usually has the same. I need some ice lollies for LAP, some bits for baking and some cheese, ham and bread for toast and toasties. 

The HT and I have carried on having cheese and crackers for supper to use the left overs from the christmas cheese fest so I think I may carry on with that in which case we'll need some more crackers and some decent cheese. I'm hoping to spend less than usual on food this month so that I can divert some cash to debt repayment. 

Take care all of you 😊

Seasidegal58

Ouch to your bad back!  I hope it has improved today. 😖

rugbymadfamily

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Sounds like you had a really good one.

I also keep track of my LSDs and NSDs but keep track of what I spend on the LSDs on my phone to make sure it's not a pattern (eg buying take away coffee when I could have had at home!) so think it's an interesting one to do, I just keep it on my phone so it's easy to log. 

Great work on the debt reduction in the year, you really have done well. Agree with you about getting EF back up to £1k before making debt overpayments again. So worth knowing that the full fund is there should you have an emergency.