From £6000 ----> £9000 in 2023.

NinjaSavingKat

savingwannabe said:

I think  you are doing great. I started keeping a spending diary and that has helped me so much but it took ages for me to stop buying bits and i still struggle. I am a sucker for a red coat and also perfume. lol. Selling on marketplace is free and vvv quick. 

One of my Christmas presents was the Go Girl budget planner. I am writing everything down! Good on you too though - makes for interesting reading each month...

MovingForwards

Birthday idea is borrow camping gear, head over on the ferry and tour some of England, Wales and Scotland, you may find some bargain pitch fees.

Hope you find a new job soon!

NinjaSavingKat

MovingForwards said:

Birthday idea is borrow camping gear, head over on the ferry and tour some of England, Wales and Scotland, you may find some bargain pitch fees.

Hope you find a new job soon!

Funny you should mention this. I actually am an under cover unapologetic bushcraft nut. I have a tent, sleeping bag, rucksack and all accoutrements. Actually managed to walk the international Appalachian trail (Irish section)..

You might be on to something you bloody genius.. 

For those in the know I'm a Hilleberg snob..lol.

MovingForwards

Up here wild camping is the done thing, you'd be in your element and it would keep costs right down. E&W don't allow it unfortunately, but there's still small sites if you scour the net.

NinjaSavingKat

Might have to look into that...💪.... I'm in NI. Had to stealth camp my way across the route mentioned above. 

NinjaSavingKat

Greetings all...

• Mechanic trip cost me £240 - with a £10 tip. All paid in cash  - Emergency Stash still intact. Phew!
• Viovet cat food delivery removed one item that was unavailable upon my request - £35 returned which covered puddy-tats vet bill that same week. 
• £5 Vinted fund spent on the most amazing super spicy ramen in Tesco - 5 x £1. Will be removed from food budget tomorrow and sent to online stocks and shares ISA with Moneybox. This is a long term, low spend game plan. £5 a week and any possible Vinted sales.

Up-coming expenditure to locate..

• Car Insurance - March. Probably £300. Needs to be £43 a week...
• Car park at airport in the last week of this month - £23 for one night.  .. 
• Petrol to get to airport and back again with enough to last until pay day. £40.
• Cheap hotel (£25-30 maximum each) as we will not be staying with her ex-boyfriend - because we need to talk about him..lol! Although we need to discuss this. 

I have SO much food in the house - gonna buckle down and make a menu for the next 3 weeks and attempt to not buy anything until February. I LOVE yoghurt and hate running out but the temptation of something else when I am in the supermarket is too much so I am going to be a big brave girl and DO WITHOUT YOGHURT.

That's 19 days. 57 meals. Always happy to repeat meals. Love scrappy meals. This will be fun. £60 saved. That's the car park and petrol sorted. 

Will also need to pack snacks for journey to airport, the actual airport, flight, car journey with friend, and back again - I am ALWAYS hungry. 

In other news...

Pay has not been sorted but am on to figuring out my pension.

I have a civil service pension and have requested they send me more info for clarification.

Whilst doing this it came to light that my current employers pensions contributions and my own had gone missing. Having tracked it down as it wasn't showing on my online account it looks like they missed ONE LETTER off my last name and created a second account. Glad I chased that down. 

I am sending info tonight to get them amalgamated then will pursue my company for not auto-enrolling me to NEST when I started with them in 2018. 

This means I have to pay MY CONTRIBUTIONS before I get there's. I am so annoyed. I dread to think how much this comes to. However I am very much focused on getting my emergency fund to £6000 then I will look to getting my own pension contributions increased to 12% (a lot I know), which will mean a total of 15% is going into my account. I have neglected it for too long and need to play catch up. 

That's me for now. Blood donation tomorrow - free biscuits right?? ..lol!

MovingForwards

Would making your own yoghurt be viable or is it cost / time prohibitive?

Congratulations on getting your pay sorted out. Maybe ask your company about spreading the Nest pension contributions over a certain amount of months rather than one hit.

Financials look good, I'm sure you'll find the insurance money, check all coats, bags, back of the sofa etc.

NinjaSavingKat

Hello @MovingForwards.. thank you for stopping by and reading my absurdly long essay. Heres another...lol.

I have an old skool yoghurt maker in the house that my Mum bought in the 1970's. I tried a vegan version with a tablespoon of a shop bought one as a starter. Did not work. I think it was potentially too warm and left for too long - so you have reminded me I need to try again. Its a viable option but will need some work as I feel its a niche to be able to get a vegan version correct. Watch this space. 

I have had reasonable assurance in the last week that pay will increase plus a rebate of pay from when I asked about it - that would possibly mean up to £500 after tax.  I am not getting excited just yet. Albeit I intend to spend it on a very expensive kitchen implement that I need imported from Japan. ;-)

Our general manager, social media assistant, and 2 other staff from the same office have resigned in the last month. We have 1 other high management position yet to be filled so the workplace in turmoil at the moment. Hopefully they will recognise staff who are "sticking with it" and get my pay sorted asap. Fingers crossed. 

No news on pension but yes incremental additions to my current payments might be the only option. I spoke with a professional who said "they don't need your contribution to pay theirs but they may ask for it to be awkward". They have. I said there is no way I can pay this up front but first need to know how much it is and we can go from there. Watch this space. 

Once my "emergency fund" has been hit I have plans to reduce the contributions and slow time aim for £10k. The rest will be a split between pension contributions anyway and filling Sink Funds. 

I went to see my friend in London. Arrive Sunday, stay in Cambridge, Leave Monday. Stayed within budget, and more importantly didn't buy anything other than a cup of tea (essential) in the airport. It used to be some sort of gadget (currently wearing one on my wrist from a previous trip), or cosmetic item. 

I prepped food before I went. I will add a picture. Airport staff took my hummus off me. Lol!

I also used Vinted sales and money from TopCashBack to get a few news items from Amazon. One new strap for said item on my wrist, 2 x new charger for my phone as I realised the battery is dying very quickly these days on my phone and my cheap non genuine cable is not doing the job properly. I carry a portable charger but Samsung are not selling my phone any more so there are no more updates. I will not be replacing this phone any time soon so best stick to good chargers. Only £4.99 for 2 mind you - not exactly bank breaking.

I added 2 books from independent sellers that I have been after for ages. One on Kombucha which will curb my ever present need for something fizzy to drink and be somewhat healthier than Pepsi max..lol..(but I love Kombucha!!! but its so expensive!)... and one book on Soya bean (Miso, Natto, Tempeh).

I have a large sack of soya beans that are nearly done (25kg) and will be saving to purchasing another (£55). I can make so much from this - soya milk and then yoghurt eventually, tofu and left over bean pulp for pie cases and sausages (yes really), "natto" a very specific Japanese product that has been rattling in my head for years, tempeh which is fermented whole soya beans and can be used like tofu and with a bit of patience my own miso paste. Miso can be used for a LOT of things - and can be used itself to ferment tofu. It's like coming full circle with one little bean. I am a complete saddo. 

I have been quite good at avoiding Amazon in general and using alternative sellers so I shall be once again reverting to my "avoid Amazon as much as possible" stance. 

The day after I came back from London I had booked off work. I wanted to avoid the supermarkets this week.

I spent the day cooking and prepping leftover food in the house in order to prepare for the 3 days of work ahead (one was overtime!!) and to see me through the weekend and into the next week.

-Pulled pork jackfruit to have inside pitta bread.
-Made-from-scratch veggie katsu curry..(potato, butternut squash and carrots) x 4 portions and 1 for freezer to see what happens when defrosting cooked potato. Still can't get over how amazing this tasted. 
-Sushi rice prep for katsu. 
-Butternut-squash muffins with butter coconut streusel. 
-Butterbean and out-of-date tofu scramble with garden leeks and carrots
-Crunch salad of random leftovers julienned for pulled pork pitta...(cabbage, shallots, cucumber, carrot, celery and pepper)...

I will be planning another cook-a-thon for Tuesday morning (no gym / no work/ up at 5am) to see how far I can get without shopping.  I still have enough to last another week I think. Its amazing what can be pulled together with very little. So I am curious as to how far I can get. 

Then I need to think about re-stocking the fridge but I have 4 products  that make anything taste amazing so am happy to get down to just beans... shoyu koji (koji rice which is a fermented product in soya sauce), pickled ginger, chopped and ready to go spring onions and lastly wafu dressing (sesame/ginger Japanese dressing). With these I am good to go. 

Sorry. Too much talk about food. 

Okay. Next stop - MOT on Monday night. Fingers crossed.  Then Car Insurance in March. 

Thanks for hanging in there. 

NSK.


P.S. My Uncle was given 2 weeks to live a few days before I went to London. He died last night in Australia. I had money ready to travel with my 73 year old Mother if she had wanted to go. We got her an emergency passport but he told her not to come. Its pure sadness but I was ready and able to go if necessary. Having that emergency budget for something like this makes living like a pauper in the meantime entirely worth it. 

NinjaSavingKat

Food prep for travel. We have some date balls  and crackers left.. 

NinjaSavingKat

Crunch salad in cos romaine boats with lemon juice and salt. My mum's home made bread (kept in freezer to prevent me eating it all in one go!) with tofu/butterbean hash and topped with a small avo half. Realised leftover home made hummus on the toast first was amazing..