Broke and lonely with it

ET22

@foxgloves, I went into the office for two days this week and I spent nearly 20 pounds on food and drinks and I didnt need to. I used my contactless card for cups of tea at 3 pounds each and bars of chocolate and bags of crisps at 1.20 each. I think I may have thought twice about doing that if I had paid with cash from a limited budget but because its just a tap and pay, I quickly forget about how much these small amounts add up to. The first couple of weeks in the job I did spend a little bit but this week, probably because I have felt low, I didnt prepare for the week ahead. 

Im going shopping tomorrow, so I will walk into the town centre first and withdraw cash. Then i will walk back to the L!dl close to where I live and pay for what i need wth cash. The most expensive thing i need to buy is laundry pods and I always use the branded ones because my washing machine is old .I find if I use the non branded ones the machine can get a bit smelly, I think its just the age of the machine. 

@Grumpelstiltskin , it definitely is hard cooking for one, thankyou for the link. I will look at it while I write my shopping list tonight.I do try to buy non branded items but will try harder. The cost of some branded items is ridiculous'  

@Chocolatefund, I am the same, i would be lost without my microwave. I need to change my approach to planning and making meals so I will look at the cooking for one thread and see if i can draw up a meal plan for the week. 

Writing all of this down has made me think a lot about my routines and how I need to work on being consistent rather than starting everything at once with good intentions then letting the exercising, the cooking, the housework all become a bit haphazard. I think by working on my routines it will have a positive effect on my mental health.  

I have two loads of washing to do tonight and I will put the dishwasher on.  All I have to do tomorrow then is a little bit of tidying and the cleaning. I live in a two bedroom flat, im not a minimalist but Im not a hoarder either. The basic saturday cleaning routine will be the floors, changing the bed and cleaning the bathrooms and hoovering. I will clean one cupboard every saturday and can add on other items like cleaning the windows as they need doing.

I did get a call from the local stop smoking service today and they are giving me a telephone appt for tomorrow morning which i was impressed about. If they prescribe me the nicotine sweets then it should save me a small fortune x      

foxgloves

@ET22 - Yes, you make a good point about not really noticing that spending on food & drink. They weren't big spends but as we all know, they quickly add up. If you'd had cash, you'd have noticed markers like breaking into a £20 or using the last pound coins, etc.
When we started debt busting, we had a set amount of Personal Spends money each month & back then, when we were getting used to budgeting & living within our means, we always had this as cash. We changed to a virtual amount managed by a spreadsheet later on & still do this method as it seems to work well for us but we certainly used cash for quite a while initially. I think it helped us get into a good headspace for seeing how money is quickly used up if we don't spend more consciously.
F

ET22

It will be interestig to see how I get on with it x

Grumpelstiltskin

Your washing machine, do you ever run an empty very hot wash through with white vinegar in the powder draw?

You can get white vinegar from Lidl / Aldi.

I do this about once a month, then I use Aldi own brand non bio. wash powder.

You can find all these cheap ideas on the Old Style threads.

ET22

@Grumpelstiltskin, for the last few weeks Ive been using a small amount of bleach and running it on a hot or quick wash.. It seems to do the job but I think the vinegar is going to be a better option because im not 100 per cent sure the bleach is safe to use. Thankyou 

I didnt go shopping this weekend, I ended up spending most of yesterday catching up with housework and today I was too tired to do much so I only went to the shop a couple of roads away to get milk and eggs. Im planning  to do the shop tomorrow after work, at least it gives me more time to organise a shopping list and vinegar will definitely be on it. How much vinegar do you put in?

I didnt go for a walk either but at least I caught up with something and made a chilli to last for a few days for dinner. I also put my water meter reading in and for 3 months, the bill was 75 pound so I decided to pay 5 pounds a week off the bill so that in October I should be able to pay off the balance in one payment. 

Ive also checked my electricity usuage this month and it seems to be ok. Im not expecting to have used more than 43 pounds for the month. My tumble dryer broke a couple of months ago and I was planning on getting it fixed and might at some point, but Ive noticed the humidity levels are higher than they should be so I might just buy a dehumidifier instead. From what I can work out, a dehumidifier is a good way to dry clothes. I bought a dri buddy a couple of years ago, it didnt seem to be much good but I will keep it incase i end up with a few woolly jumpers to wash in one go. I am trying to cut down on how often I wash my clothes as I have been running the washing machine half or less than a full load.Hopefully this will also bring my water bill down.

I didnt get the walks in and I havent done the shop yet but I am in a better place mental health wise than I was last weekend and its probably because I have got the cleaning done in preparation for the week ahead and Ive cooked a meal for the first time in a while x  
       

Grumpelstiltskin

I don't measure the vinegar but I  would guess about 3 or 4 tablespoons.
I don't like to put bleach in the washer and vinegar is safer.
Like I say I put the 90c wash on.

ET22

Thankyou, I will try it this week.The branded ones are very expensive for me and its not like my clothes get visibly dirty so I will give it a go. 

Im also trying not to spend anything other than the basics this week because its mortgage payment week. the electricity direct debit is also going to go out and I still owe my relative 50 pounds. Im considering asking of they could give me a weeks grace so I dont find myself going without basic necessities that week. Hopefully this will be ok. 

Ive got a plan to pay 100 pounds per week off my service charges starting the first pay in October. Initially I was planning on paying 130 pounds a week to catch up but I think the 30 pounds I dont pay is probably better being left in my bank account to start to get out of my overdraft. I think i am going to start the NSD challenge ive seen on these boards.

Once Ive caught up with my bills, excluding cc's Ive defaulted on, I need to get in the right mindset to save money. Ive never been any good at it and tend to think im ok if I I have a regular income, can pay the bills and dont go into my overdraft, that I can spend the rest. But thats basically why I have found myself in this situation x  

Sarahwithlove

You could try seeing savings as a bill, have a regular standing order coming out. Even if you start at £25-50 a month it will build up. Maybe in premium bonds so it's not so simple to take out but available in 2-3 days if really needed. 

foxgloves

Hello @ET22,
I was a latecomer to saving, as was my partner, as we both spent all that we earned & more until we decided to get rid of the debt & manage our money in a less chaotic way. I absolutely agree with @Sarahwithlove that regular saving is most likely to happen when it is budgeted in at the beginning of the month as a regular bill. That is what I do. It will be my regular monthly Big Budget Day this coming Friday so as well as looking at all the other payments, that's when I pay money into 2 different savings accounts. The 3rd savings account is an online regular saver so it goes out automatically as a monthly standing order. I spent most of my life doing exactly the opposite......spending all my money then not having anything left for savings. Now, I regard 'paying ourselves' as just as important as paying other bills. It actually creates a nice feeling of balance because although of course a LOT more money is going out of our account on bills, at least there are a couple of payments which are going towards our own better financial security making us better able to get through an emergency without any borrowing.
Back in my Spendy Years, I never saved anything. I always told myself I didn't earn enough to save, but that was nonsense, I just chose not to budget & to spend in a chaotic manner instead. I think for beginner savers when the budget is tight, even a small regular monthly savings amount is worth doing. For instance, just £10 a month would mean that this time next year, there's a little pot of £120. £25 a month would be £300. I think if anyone asked a person with no savings, 'Would you like to have £300 of emergency savings by this time next year?', pretty much everyone would say 'Yes'. The thing with saving regularly is that it becomes addictive. We have 2 accounts with a local building society which still issues customers with the little pass-books. Even though we manage payments into those accounts online, I still find it really motivating to go into our local branch & ask them to update our books, especially in April once the interest has been added. Use ex-endebted folk have paid quite enough interest to banks over the years, it is nice to think we can earn a little bit back ourselves.
Also, re branded products. Yes, they can be a lot more expensive than supermarket own-labels. When we first started debt-busting, I stopped buying branded washing powder & tried a few own-label ones. I found some better than others but the one I personally found most effective & a lot cheaper than the big brands was the A*di washing powder in the green box. I still buy it now. It's defo worth trying different things. I spent years trying to get my Mum to understand that a 40p pack of generic paracetamol tablets were exactly the same drug as a branded £2.89 packet, but had to give up in the end. Sometimes the advertising from big brands is just too pervasive, I suppose.
F

Blackcats

Agree with the saving a bit regularly is a good habit to get into.  

You will read on these boards that people prioritise getting an emergency fund - usually about £1000 but lesser amounts will still help you in an emergency.  @Sarahwithlove shows £1000/£2000 emergency fund in her signature.  

If you are doing seasonal or contract work you might need to aim for a month's worth of living costs but get yourself straight first and get into the habit of putting some money into savings each time you get paid.  

It's taken me years to learn this 😉