Hopefully debt free before Mortgage renewal in June 2026

Tezzadp

Fuel for the car to get to work £25.00

Tesco Food shop day today. This weeks total £29.99 (almost bang on £30 lower part of my budget)

No direct debits today

Natwest CC Daily payment £2.57 Total daily payments made this month £12.75

Total of all Natwest CC payments, including weekly and monthly payments made this month £74.78 leaving a balance of £3770.20

*This month refers to 30th May to 29th June (the day before pay day)

Tezzadp

No money spent today
No direct debits today

Natwest CC Daily payment £2.58 Total daily payments made this month £15.33

Total of all Natwest CC payments, including weekly and monthly payments made this month £77.36 leaving a balance of £3767.62

*This month refers to 30th May to 29th June (the day before pay day)

in_need_of_direction

love today's quote, thank you

Tezzadp

No money spent today
No direct debits today

Natwest CC Daily payment £2.59 Total daily payments made this month £17.92

Total of all Natwest CC payments, including weekly and monthly payments made this month £79.95 leaving a balance of £3765.03

*This month refers to 30th May to 29th June (the day before pay day)

Spendless

I was going to ask how did you decide on a £30 grocery budget? Did you notice how much you were spending on average or another method.

I tend to be feast or famine with ours,  last weeks was £100, this week's £43. Our household can have 1-3 people in it (student daughter. Husband who works away) and Ive been thinking would it be better if I had a weekly budget instead, being careful of the perishables.

That figure is going to start with a 2 within the next month or so. You're racing through it. 

Tezzadp

No money spent today

Standing order for £40.00 for my weekly payment into my emergency/savings account. Total paid in this month is £80.00 Balance now stands at £458.15

Debt payments 

Natwest CC Weekly payment £19.00 (I pay an additional £1 every week until the debt is paid in full) Total weekly payments made this month £37.00

Natwest CC Daily payment £2.60 Total daily payments made this month £20.52

Total of all Natwest CC payments, including weekly and monthly payments made this month £101.55 leaving a balance of £3743.43

*This month refers to 30th May to 29th June (the day before pay day)

Tezzadp

My weekly look at the total debt paid and remaining figures. Im up to over 42% paid off now, creeping closer and closer to the 50% half way mark. I think it might be pushing it to be able to get to the 50% point this month but it is definitely achievable by next month for sure.

Also the average payment figure is coming down, and im hoping by the end of the month i can bring this dow nto below the £400 mark.  

Tezzadp

Spendless said:

I was going to ask how did you decide on a £30 grocery budget? Did you notice how much you were spending on average or another method.

I tend to be feast or famine with ours,  last weeks was £100, this week's £43. Our household can have 1-3 people in it (student daughter. Husband who works away) and Ive been thinking would it be better if I had a weekly budget instead, being careful of the perishables.

That figure is going to start with a 2 within the next month or so. You're racing through it. 

Hi, thanks for you question/comment. I was spending anything from £40 to £80 a week and i thought it was too much. So i decided to rein in my spending as i was wasting a lot of money on "rubbish" really. My main saving was alcohol, i was spending around £12 a week on alcohol, so i decided that money over the month is quite a significant amount i could be putting towards my debts. Also i stopped buying snacks and comfort food, like chocolate, sweets, cookies, doughnuts. I dont recommend anyone lives off what i live off tbh, as it not healthy at all as i find myself getting hungry most days and have lack of energy, but i prefer to suffer for a year to get my debts paid off quicker, thats just my preference, and as i say i dont recommend people do this at all.

 I mainly buy bread and sandwich fillings ham/cheese/ready made fillers etc for work, lots of ready made meals for 1 (not healthy at all but cheaper than buying ingredients separately, plus i cant cook lol. Also i dont have the energy physically after work or mentally to cook meals - so its convenience really) and all the usual tea/milk/butter etc etc. Also i have to buy packet ham/chicken in my weekly shop for my dog coz she doesnt eat proper dog food like pedigree chum etc as she is fussy, so i spend about £5 a week on that out of my weekly amount too.

I tend to buy the same things every week tbh, i live a very boring life and i do get fed up with the same meals and food all the time aswell, but i know without even adding up my shopping as im going around when im around my budget figure. I buy cheaper brands than i used to aswell to save on costs, sometimes i just cant stand the cheaper brands taste and have to stick to the dearer ones, but in that case i try to make those last longer or buy them less often and treat them more like a treat than before. 

I find it helpful to have a budget, as i only buy what i need to last me the week, if i dont need it this week i buy it next week and i dont get tempted by anything while im shopping as im trying to stick to my budget and dont want to go over. Maybe you could try it in your household and set yourself a budget next time you go shopping and see how you find it? You may find it works for you, but you might find it too restrictive if you need to buy things and you are already at your budget for the week. But you might find that it helps you to put off buying things until the next week that you dont actually need that week. It might help to try it for a few weeks in a row rather than just 1 week, as you can spread the items you need over more weeks and only buy certain things every other week or few weeks rather than every week. Let me know if you try it and how you find it and if it works for you. 

Yes, my total debt is coming down nicely. Im aiming for xmas day to be debt free with a bit of luck.

Thanks again for your post and im sorry for the waffle, hope it makes a bit of sense and helps in someway.

daisy_1571

If you can follow the instructions on a ready meal, you can cook.  Some of the best meals are simpler  to cook than them.

Beans on toast always cheap easy meal, even better with some grated cheese on top to melt with the heat of the beans.

Baked potato only takes 10 mins in micro, beans, cheese, boiled egg, tuna, whatever you like on top is all fairly nutritious especially if you eat the skin and just as quick and simple as a ready meal but way tastier.  Stab it with a fork all over to let steam escape then just shove it in on a plate and pop it in.  Watch as plate will be hot, cover your hand with your sleeve if you don't have a towel handy to pick the plate up.  (If you hard boil eggs do half a dozen at the same time and they keep in the fridge and you have meals part prepared for quick food when you get in for a few nights.)

Best of all is soup, you can follow a recipe but equally you can just chuck any veg in a pan with water, 2 lamb stock cubes and a veg cube (or 2 veg and 1 lamb), simmer in a pot till all soft then squash it up with your potato masher or leave it chunky.  Always use a white onion (those are the ones with brown papery skin and white insides) for flavour.   Some potatoes with skin left on is better for you and bulks it up.  A handful of red lentils, any tin of mixed beans, or fresh veg, whatevers cheap that week, try scraping a carrot with potato peeler rather than chopping and it tastes different, frozen veg works fine too, couple of lumps of frozen spinach can go into any veg soup.   You'll never get 2 loads that taste the same but you'll rarely get a batch that tastes rotten.  That's cheaper than buying tins unless they are on special offers of course but you'll get less salt and more fibre doing it yourself not to mention bigger amounts than you get in a tin so more meals prepared at one time and ready to heat up later.

You can also throw in a packet of the cheap super noodles or pasta if you like that in soup.   Essentially just a meal all in one bowl. 

A really simple soup is stock cubes as before, a potato, an onion, a bag of fresh spinach leaves. Makes a really billious looking bright green soup but its really tasty and a good way to get veg and fibre into your diet.  It does need smashed up, a masher might not do the trick but im imagining if you don't cook much you won't have one of those stick blenders.  Try cutting it with scissors, its just to break it up from looking like wilted leaves.  That will make a good 5 bowls worth of soup, maybe more, so for your leftovers, put one bowlful in fridge for next day, anything over that use your ladle to measure your normal soup plate amount into any plastic carton or freezer bag.  My bowls take 2 of my ladlefuls so I know thats a portion for us. Ready made, correct size portions for other days.

You can cook cos you do cook if you heat up ready meals, it doesn't have to be 'fancy' food to be 'cooking'.  The other diaries on here are endless sources of inspiration for cheap meals, you can do it.  Nothing is better than feeling well, it doesn't have to feel like punishment to pay off debt, you can feel well at the same time 

Dxx

Tezzadp

No money spent today
No direct debits today

Natwest CC Daily payment £2.61 Total daily payments made this month £23.13

Total of all Natwest CC payments, including weekly and monthly payments made this month £104.16 leaving a balance of £3740.82

*This month refers to 30th May to 29th June (the day before pay day)