We will get this debt down & the savings up

foxgloves

I think you could have a point there, @badmemory. This morning, I had a busy couple of hours in the greenhouse, chopping things back, lifting heavy stuff, stretching, bending & felt pretty active......but then my fitness tracker pinged with the message 'Time to move, Foxgloves!' And there I was being active, but it just wasn't steps. Mr F's old tracker used to tell him how many minutes he'd spent cycling. That made us laugh as only one of us has a bike & it isn't him! If he tried to ride mine, his knees would be up around his earholes. Then we worked out that whenever he mowed the lawn, it was being counted as cycling! And it was a powered mower, not an effort-making push model!
F

Blackcats

The re-set challenge sounds great.  Will come up with a set of non-negotiables and good to do's when we are back from holiday.
This week mine has been eat, walk, drink tea and eat cake, walk, glass of wine and eat.  Think a re-set will be beneficial 🙃

Makingabobor2

Blackcats said:

The re-set challenge sounds great.  Will come up with a set of non-negotiables and good to do's when we are back from holiday.
This week mine has been eat, walk, drink tea and eat cake, walk, glass of wine and eat.  Think a re-set will be beneficial 🙃

That's what holidays are for. Ours will feature cake most days. Even planning on taking a bottle of pink fizz, as it will be our wedding anniversary. Mr T do a really nice cheap one. 

Blackcats

In the spirit of supporting cake consumption, I recommend Blueberries cafe for scrummy cakes.  It's on the cliff path between Sandown and Shanklin with stunning views.  There is parking nearby but it's a good starting point for a nice walk.  Very steep stairs down to the beach nearby too.  I know it's not your preferred part of IoW but the cakes and the view might well be worth the trip 😋

Makingabobor2

Ooh yes I do love a good cake @Blackcats. 

CoffeeSonata

Randomly catching up with everyone after bieng away a lot. But for growing things in autumn you can do a lot. Late potatoes (if it isn't too cold a winter, or you frost protect) will give you a christmas crop of potatoes. (i use compost bags I can move if I need to! but have done it in raised beds.) Autumn carrots same. Late beetroot. Winter kale.  Radishes, upto October.  Late onions planted now will give you small ones by december or plant spring onions  for early ones in spring. Same for overwintering garloic. perpetual spinach  will give you spinach for autumn  and less slugs to eat them.  Same for rocket. Might need frost protection if you want to all winter - again I've done tubs and moved near the house, but fleece also if you are determind. Mine last year didn't need protection at all (south east England).  Turnips planted now   will give you turnips over winter. Parsnips - quick growing hardy varieties will also give you parsnips by christmas.  

Makingabobor2

Thanks for the tips @CoffeeSonata. I will have to get out there and get a few things planted. Got a "To do" list, but been busy. 

Makingabobor2

Just a quick post as been AWOL a few days again.
Things still going in the right direction, although the start of this 4 week period seems to have been spendy. Window cleaner came today.....£10, Had to buy some new bras.....£20, Had to order some more vitamin supplements, £40.   Why do these things all seem to come together?  Although on a positive note, the money was all available in various savings pots, so not worries there, but its almost like now I have the savings pots, I don't want to spend any of it. 

Another small OP off the mortgage
Several orange and yellow sticker items found in L!d!, C00p and Mr M, so some good savings there. 
DH came home from work with some freebie biscuits the other night, they get some from time to time from some of the clients they deal with. So some given to DD & GKs and some put by for upcoming holiday food and some for Christmas. 
Studies & surveys certainly seem to be a lot slower since the summer. Not sure if this is because more people are signing up to them, or I'm just not logging on enough/at the right time.  I am trying to limit my amount of time online, so that could have something to do with it. 
Had coffee with a friend yesterday and it was their turn to pay, so a good saving there. Also I still have 1 free coffee left on my garden centre loyalty card to use by the end of the month if I am passing by. 

So there it is, that's about all the money saving I can think of.  Oh yes, we are finally getting a lot of tomatoes, although only from the cherry tomato plants. The plum tomatoes just don't seem to want to ripen. I have moved the plant into a sunnier area, now the sun moves round quicker at this time of year. I have picked some and put in window, but they won't ripen in there either.  Anybody got any ideas?   
I have planted some radishes which I hope might do well over autumn/winter and going to try a few more things now as well. I only have containers and planters to plant in, so can't do any big things like parsnips etc. 

Well that's about it for today, my brain is tired and I can't think of much else to write.  Sun has decided to come out, so I think I'll nip in the garden for half an hour and do some tidying up. 
Roll on end of the month when we have a few days away.  

Makingabobor2

Just having a 10 min sit down and some lunch, trying to catch up with online things.  Busy today cleaning and packing for our little trip away. Will be leaving tomorrow when DH leaves work at 4, hotel on south coast and then onward early Saturday morning. Hoping for some good weather and a nice rest.   I feel the last couple of months I have got a bit off the ball with things.  Still doing the best at debt busting and saving, but not so good at getting through my "to do" lists every day and not eating as well as I should, or getting the garden & house sorted etc.  Just seems so many things to think about.  I have certainly failed at a few MSE challenges this year, the 10 a day challenge is nowhere near where it should be and not much in the SPC pot challenge either.  Think next year I need to do less challenges and just more normal savings. Got so many things we want to save for. 

In the spirit of getting next year more organised, I have bought next years diary. Just a cheapie from The W**ks, but it is big enough for me to lay everything out how I want it and use it as a proper To Do list as well. I found I was writing things in diary, then going to bed and thinking of other things, so starting another list and nothing seemed to get done properly that way. So now I will make a rule ( even in the rest of this year's diary,) to sit down and do a list once a day and then put diary next to bed, just in case something else comes to mind in the night....it usually does....lol.

Got plenty of food packed as we are going SC on holiday, so that will save us a fair bit.  DH wants to go to the lovely place we discovered last year, to have breakfast when we arrive. So hoping he is going to pay for it as well......lol.  He has his personal spends as well as me, but sometimes seems to think it is just for buying himself things he wants, where I tend to often use mine to treat us to stuff.   The rest of the trip should be pretty low spend, there is petrol in the car already, might just need a £20-30 top up before getting home. The accommodation is already paid for and we just want to do lots of walking. There is a stately home near by that DH fancies visiting and I have allocated money for that, but not sure if we will go or not, all depends on the weather really. 

Today is DH's pay day so I am just about to check my spreadsheets and savings pots and update signature in a bit. Will try and make another mortgage OP  as well. My pension and start of next 4 week budget period is 14th Oct, so will be making more OPs than and putting some more money towards next years holiday.  Also want to start on another F&F debt bust and see if we can get another one down before mortgage is paid. Obviously once that is gone I can concentrate big time on the other debts. 

Need to get off now and iron DH's jeans and get rest of food packed up and whizz the Vax round, clean the surfaces, clean the downstairs loo and get tea sorted. 
Will probably not post until we are home again, so have a good week everybody and hope the weather improves where you all are. 

Makingabobor2

Hello....if there is anybody still out there.  Sorry for being AWOL so long. We got home a week ago and I just seemed so busy and so tired and then we had our jabs on Saturday and I felt rough yesterday. I  kept writing "update MSE diary", on my TO DO list, but never seemed top find the time.  
We had an amazing time, weather wasn't too bad at all and had a lovely catch up with a long lost relative which was great. Need to save up to go again now. 
Anyway, hope you are all well, got lots of catching up to do. I have read a few diaries since getting back but not commented much

So today is pension day and the start of new 4 week budget period.  Signature is all updated, have made OPs to the mortgage, put more towards the next holiday, EF is going up and I've opened a couple of other savings pots and moved stuff around. Decided to try a pot for stocking up and the refill shop, as that always seems to come out of the normal housekeeping budget and never seems to work well. I often buy things in bulk and so it ends up costing more. 

Been saving my Nectar points towards food as we are going away, self catering for Christmas.....just wanted to get away from it all. So far I have over £40, so that should help no end. 

Had to have the heating on a couple of mornings for a bit, been so cold here. Also yesterday, we both felt cold, think it might have been a reaction to the covid/flu jabs. So we ended up putting heat on for a couple of hours.  I hate doing it so early in the year, but not going to get cold. Its my feet that feel worse and then it goes all up my legs.  Think I must get some nice furry booty type slippers. We are £195 in credit since we sent in yesterdays reading for the last month. It wasn't too bad as we'd been away for a week. Next payment of £135 comes out on 24th, so that will put us at over £300. Need to go round the house and check for what needs extra insulation etc. Been saying for a couple of years that we need a new curtain for the door that comes in from porch to lounge. May poop to D*n*!m soon and get one. The one we have is not really heavy enough. 

Going mad at the moment, next door ( we are a semi), has been sold and the chap bought it and rented the rooms out by the month. One of the tenants seems to have a dog, and it is constantly barking when it is left alone, which seems to be a lot of the time. I have taken some recordings of it and thinking of reporting it to RSPCA and I think its in distress.  DH said just go round and tell them, but I don't really want to get involved. It is a BIG dog and they don't look like the most friendly of people.  Its such a shame, as the people who lived there before were lovely. Now it just looks a mess, the back garden is over grown and full of dog poo and poor dog is barking for hours at a time.  
If anyone has any tips or advice, then I would welcome them. 

Well, that's about it I think. Need to get my head back into money saving mode and will post again soon

Have a good evening.