Hopefully debt free before Mortgage renewal in June 2026

Tezzadp

No money spent today
No direct debits today

Natwest CC Daily payment £2.66 Total daily payments made this month £36.33

Total of all Natwest CC payments, including weekly and monthly payments made this month £117.36 leaving a balance of £3727.62

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

dawnybabes

You’ve missed off the most important questions - how was the stew ? 

Tezzadp

dawnybabes said:

You’ve missed off the most important questions - how was the stew ? 

Ohhh yeahhh haha. Well i have just had tonights portion and it was bloody lovely, if i do say so myself. After yesterdays serving i felt a lot more full than i usually do after my ready meals and have more energy aswell. I have frozen 4 more servings in tubs tonight aswell so i can have them at some point. I will definitely look at getting into doing some cooking more often i think 

Tezzadp

Cara_ said:

I'm just catching up on your diary. The debt figure is starting to reduce quite quickly now - your debt free date of Christmas Day will be a great present to yourself.

The stew sounds nice and I hope you enjoyed it. You've received some good cooking tips from Daisy_1571, joedenise and Spendless (& thanks Daisy for the tip re using a potato masher for chunky soup as it never occurred to me) which have proved helpful and whihc you can build on. When I began making my own ready meals it seemed to take a lot of effort but now I can see the benefit and it is second nature so it does get easier the more you do it.

Something I do is only buy joints of meat and cut them down myself so a ham joint can be turned into gammon slices and then the rest of the joint can be cooked so then you have ham for sandwiches and any bits can be added to pasta dishes, omelettes, pizza toppings or added to soup. I slice the cooked ham and freeze it which I find is OK. Although I do make my own pizza base, for a quck pizza I buy the cheese and tomato bases and if I just want a piece, I cut them up and freeze the rest of the base for another day and I find they are fine. 

There are lots of cooking tips which you might find useful on the Old Style board. Some of the suggestions won't work for you so it will be trial and error to find something you like but don't give up as the changes you are making are not just about saving money to pay off your debt in the short term but they are about making longer term changes and saving money for your future.

Hi Cara, Yes im hoping to get it all paid by xmas day, which would be really nice. 

The stew was really good and i feel soo much better for it. I will look to cook more often than i used to now i think. i cant cook joints of meat though lol. Plus they are expensive. 

Tezzadp

Early night for me, i think something must have bit me when ive been walking the dog. My ankle has swollen up and its got a yellow inner circle with a red outer circle its slowly swollen up and is itchy and sore. I've taken some Piriton and some Allergy tablets. It's the last day at work tomorrow for this week so hopefully i can get through that ok, then im hoping it will go over the weekend. 

daisy_1571

Yaaay to the stew (I love stew too 😋) and the feeling better, boo to the bite 

Dxx

Spendless

I'm heartened to hear the stew was successful and made you feel fuller and that youve got several portions left over. Have a look next time you shop but a gammon joint is usually one of the cheaper cuts around £4-£5. I cook mine in the slow cooker.

Hope the bite gets better for tomorrow. 

joedenise

I was also going to suggest a gammon joint.  If you haven’t got a slow cooker you can cook in a large pan for about an hour.  It’s good hot for a meal with potatoes and veg or cold with chips and beans or just with a salad.  Also great for sandwiches.

The sliced leftovers freeze well too.

Tezzadp

No money spent today

Direct debits

Be Fibre Broadband monthly bill £21.00

Standing order for £40.00 for my weekly payment into my emergency/savings account. Total paid in this month is £120.00 Balance now stands at £498.15

Debt payments 

Natwest CC Weekly payment £20.00 (I pay an additional £1 every week until the debt is paid in full) Total weekly payments made this month £57.00

Natwest CC Daily payment £2.67 Total daily payments made this month £39.00

Total of all Natwest CC payments, including weekly and monthly payments made this month £140.03 leaving a balance of £3704.95

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

Tezzadp

So not much has changed from last week really, but we are gradually creeping closer and closer to the 50% mark of the debt being paid off now. And the average payment needed to pay the debt off in the next 9 months is also coming down.