Balance crept up ever so slowly... Now the wake up call

Didisdebtfreejourney

Morning, 

Yesterday (Sunday) I apent £1.45 on milk as a top-up as I am planning to do the weekly shop tonight. Got my shopping vouchers on J@mDoughnut for some cashback and I am getting really close to the minimal withdrawal amount now. 

Feel free to skip this post, self-indulgent pseudo philosophy coming up! 

Was thinking yesterday (in the shower, that's where I tend to get my best ideas 😆) that for me personally (every situation is different so I am not saying this is the case for anyone else), going into debt results in an imbalance between:
- my resources (money, knowledge and know how and support)
- time (lack thereof, external circumstances and pressures)
- energy (mental energy when dealing with mental load, physical as lack of sleep or less than ideal diet).
I feel all three are interlinked and that I am more inclined to spend money when I feel like I don't have time or energy to do things. Similarly, if I don't have money around, it takes more energy and time to do everday things. 
I was playing around with the idea for a while, like how it would apply to regaining more time (resources and energy) or reclaiming more energy (more time and resources). I am not sure whether it makes any sense but it was entertaining at the very least. Especially the bit where I realised I have more resources than I thought initially (money alredy tied in things in own, being on good terms with family ..). 

Oh well, enough philosophying for one day methinks! 

Didisdebtfreejourney

(ps: I'm categorising 'willpower' under the energy heading)

oceandreamer

Well done on starting your diary.  I find that; writing things down does make things clearer.  I know that you mean about time, money and energy being intertwined!  I find that I definitely spend more money when I am short of time or stressed.  Food is a very good example of this. At best, I can menu plan, eat out of the freezer, only buy what is on the list and eat well for a week on very little.  Throw in a stressful day at work or being late home and it all falls down and I end up with a takeaway and often a bottle of wine too. I have found that if I cook/prepare as much as I can at weekend when I know I have some time and generally am less tired/stressed and freeze/fridge it, I am much more likely to just reheat even if I am short of time.  Good luck with your challenge I will read with interest.

Didisdebtfreejourney

oceandreamer said:

Well done on starting your diary.  I find that; writing things down does make things clearer.  I know that you mean about time, money and energy being intertwined!  I find that I definitely spend more money when I am short of time or stressed.  Food is a very good example of this. At best, I can menu plan, eat out of the freezer, only buy what is on the list and eat well for a week on very little.  Throw in a stressful day at work or being late home and it all falls down and I end up with a takeaway and often a bottle of wine too. I have found that if I cook/prepare as much as I can at weekend when I know I have some time and generally am less tired/stressed and freeze/fridge it, I am much more likely to just reheat even if I am short of time.  Good luck with your challenge I will read with interest.

Thank you for your reply 😄. Yes, I need to get better at prepping things at the weekend and be more organised generally by thinking ahead. That would certainly help! 

Didisdebtfreejourney

So yesterday was weekly shop day. 
I took the pram out to go to @ldi, took £7 with me to pick up a couple of snacky items (Teddy faces, some pouches and the baby jam filled biscuits, all a lot cheaper there). I am starting to seeing these very much as little luxuries as my girls take about a second to eat them. So long as I am mindful it's nice to keep a couple in the house as a treat. 

Then in the evening spent about £78 including some extra items I had spotted beforehand online that were on offer and reduced (I had looked at the Nect@r prices, my special Nect@r prices and the extra point items). 

The main and important reason I go S@insburies and not @ldi is the scan as you go feature that makes such a difference when I have 60-70 items in my trolley. Also I focus very heavily on the price match items anyway and save up my points. 

I will be going back to Aldi on Thursday (spending about £20) as they have a special deal on wipes (£1.80 off the packs of 12 so will be getting 2 if I can), their own brand wheetabix as they didn't have any last night and to get nappies for my youngest as they are the ones we like best. 

And this morning I saved my boiling water in a thermos for later after I made my cup of tea as I have a bad habit of overfilling the kettle. 

I should get up now and switch the lights off as it's getting brighter. Hope you have a good day. 

oceandreamer

Milk top ups are such a nuisance!  I need to go and get some tomorrow and I know I will find it almost impossible not to come out with anything else so well done you!

Didisdebtfreejourney

oceandreamer said:

Milk top ups are such a nuisance!  I need to go and get some tomorrow and I know I will find it almost impossible not to come out with anything else so well done you!

Yes I've done that, going in for one item and coming out with a basket worth of stuff 😅.

I did need to go back today as I hadn't picked up chicken for today despite it being on the list (I had some in but forgot that it was in for another recipe). Only bought the chicken and nothing else today which I am happy with. 

I usually buy the precooked chicken as I feel I need to bleach everything after handling raw chicken breasts. But there is a difference of £1.80 per kg between the precooked pieces and the raw chicken (and it would have been nearly £2.30 per kg if I committed to the pack of 10 chicken breasts). I guess I'm just going to have to deal with it, especially with cooking more from scratch. 

Didisdebtfreejourney

Morning,

Hope you're all doing well on your debt/mortgage free journey. 

Navigating life without Disney + (you would think we had had it for years but we only subscribed last July!). I used to have it on everyday for my girls as they like rewatching their favourite films again and again. We still have plenty options with some DVDs and Youtube of course!

Why would I cancel it if was an intergral part of the day? Price went up, I am trying to cut down to bare essentials and to be honest I think that they will appreciate it more down the line if (or when) we sign up again as they were struggling to choose what to watch by the end (we're limited to the 0+ category and a lot of the "classics" are 6+). This is without mentionning my attempts to reduce screen time in general. 

Apart from that, a quiet day today with (fingers crossed) a possible trip to Aldi tonight as planned to get their reduced wipes. 

Signing off for the day, trying to be productive today before going into work tomorrow. 

oceandreamer

It's definitely worth getting over your dislike of raw chicken as it is so much cheaper. If you could bear it a whole chicken can really be stretched.  There are lots of posts on the old style forum about 'rubber chicken' and how you can make one bird stretch.  I usually cut the thighs and legs off - its really easy and the wings.  I collect the wings up until there are enough for a meal and use the thighs for casseroles, chicken and chips etc.  I use the crown that's left for roast dinner and use the left over meat for either sandwiches or rissoto etc then make stock with the bones for soup.  You really can get a lot of meals out of one chicken and although it's a faff it's a great saving if you are going to be cooking more from scratch. This would definitely be a step too far at the moment but something to bear in mind for the future.  

Didisdebtfreejourney

oceandreamer said:

It's definitely worth getting over your dislike of raw chicken as it is so much cheaper. If you could bear it a whole chicken can really be stretched.  There are lots of posts on the old style forum about 'rubber chicken' and how you can make one bird stretch.  I usually cut the thighs and legs off - its really easy and the wings.  I collect the wings up until there are enough for a meal and use the thighs for casseroles, chicken and chips etc.  I use the crown that's left for roast dinner and use the left over meat for either sandwiches or rissoto etc then make stock with the bones for soup.  You really can get a lot of meals out of one chicken and although it's a faff it's a great saving if you are going to be cooking more from scratch. This would definitely be a step too far at the moment but something to bear in mind for the future.  

Thank you @oceandreamer for your really interesting post, that is something I would really like to look into. I have roasted a whole chicken before and made stock afterwards in the slow cooker with the carcass but I had not thought of saving different parts of the chicken for various meals. 
Like you say I might just have to get over the "ick" feeling as I can just about transfer a full chicken on a tray for now. Eyes on the prize!