Mortgage free target is under 10 years

dipdap

Good evening 
Well today hasn’t been too bad

Sat down and worked out how much we save into our various savings accounts each month, I try really hard to keep the money in there and not take it back out. We’ve managed to put about £8k in the bank account, for the help to buy so far.
ive Started using online survey accounts again to get a little bit of money put away for Christmas. Got my first £10 Amazon voucher already

13th January - spent £13.47 on a little bit of shopping today, DH fuelled up the car £38.36 and I booked a hotel for a concert in April (was due to get the train back but due to COVID the last train of the day has now been withdrawn  hotel cost £68.99 (eek!)
Overall spend for today a whopping £120.82. Need to be a bit more careful for the rest of the month!

dipdap

Morning!
Well I was really good yesterday, managed to not part with any cash, used gift cards for shopping instead


14th January - realised I have £50 in gift cards that expire in a couple of weeks so used £6.60 of my balance on some bread and milk. I classify this as a non spending day for me still have plenty of balance left
DH spent £7 on travel expenses, so overall spend for the day was £7

sabsob

Hi @dipdap, you are really accountable for your spending, it's awesome. I must be missing a trick on the cashback - you seem to be getting back a huge portion, I get 1% on everything I spend - what am I missing, lol? I'm trying to work out if it's a different app, different shops, or different items Either way, it sounds like you are doing great!

dipdap

Hi Sabsob.
I’ve started using the shopping cash back apps (shopmium, greenjinn) that give you cash back for buying specific products. I was skeptical to begin with but have found them very easy to use.
Does mean you have to buy specific items from specific stores, but it’s given us a chance to try different things. 

One of my kids has actually enjoyed trying all the non dairy items that have come up.
Sometimes items are cheap, sometimes they’re free, my favourite one last week was 50% back on a case of 24 coke (£5.50 back on £11) - it’s my favourite but I refuse to pay full price

15th January - popped in the supermarket to grab a couple of bits before the cash back offer expires, spent £2.61 and got £2 cash back. DH was travelling back today so spent £29.99 on fuel (silly sod fuelled up at a motorway service station  ) and £7 on travel expenses. Overall spend of £37.60, but only 61p of it was me!

16th January - much better today, had to run out to fetch potatoes and paid with my gift card so free shopping today, didnt part with any cash - woohoo!

Really need to get on top of selling stuff, have loads of books and DVDs waiting to send off, just haven’t got round to scanning them and packing them yet

dipdap

Good evening
Had a nice quiet day today, made sure the little one that’s been off school has caught up and ready to go back.
Got a few free bits off the food sharing app, can tell we’re into the new year now as people aren’t listing as much as they were a couple of weeks back.
Still haven’t had a chance to sort out the books and DVDs, must get them sorted!

17th January - spent £2.70 in the supermarket and £1.99 in the health food shop, on a couple of bits and got £3.99 cash back. Overall spend today £0.70. 

Very happy with that, haven’t even used my gift card for a couple of days either 

dipdap

Good morning!
Forgot to post here yesterday (went to bed super early). 

It may look crazy that I swing by the supermarket almost every day, but it’s on the way past school run and I find it much easier to grab shopping in smaller batches.

18th January - grabbed some bits. Forgot to use my gift card to pay (oops!) so spent £9.32. Must remember to use these gift cards.
Finally scanned some books in to send away, offered just over a fiver which is better than nothing. Now need to find a box to put them in 

dipdap

Good morning!
Expensive bills coming up, the credit card is almost at £1,000 for the month. Going to need to find the money to pay that back down before it accrues any interest.
We should be ok, I’ve done a shuffle around of the bank accounts and I must remember to use my gift card!

19th January - spent £8.00 yesterday but I mainly bought items I was getting cash back on so £8 cash back is currently pending. No overall spend day for me, I’m very happy with that. Used my gift card to buy £10 worth of groceries.

dipdap

Good evening!
Managed to injure myself so resting up at the moment (no school run for me!), isn’t going to stop me nipping out if the cash back is good 

20th January - noticed an email in one of my accounts from Costa telling me my account was about to be closed and I have 2 free drinks to redeem. Free Costa for me today - woohoo! Spent £9.31 and got back £9.25 cash back. Think that’s my best one yet, overall spend of 6p! Also grabbed a free bottle of coke with a voucher I had and a couple of lunchbox bits with my gift card. Very good day of shopping 

21st January - picked up some bits for lunch today and paid with my gift card (I will use them all before the end of January) but forgot rolls so DH spent 69p grabbing those for me. Spent £45.95 on train tickets for one of the kids but that’s an expense I can’t avoid. Overall not too bad a day, I will have to sit down and work out exactly what we’ve spent this month so far.

dipdap

Good morning!
Well I spent the day stuck indoors yesterday, hopefully my leg is not so bad for the school run tomorrow.
Sent a manual payment to cover the TV / internet / phone bill. This is one of those bills I started paying up front last year so I didn’t have to worry about finding the money for the direct debit while I’m on maternity leave. The payment means the account is 2 months in credit. I do the same with Netflx which is currently in credit until May.

22nd January - DH haircut cost £13 and we had a sneaky McDs as it was £5 off so only cost £11.14 for 4 of us (which isn’t bad). 

sabsob

Thanks for explaining, @dipdap I've downloaded Shopmium, we are quite rural, so only a couple of shops to choose from, but I'll keep an eye on it

I hope your leg is better in time for the school run tomorrow!