Spendy Wendy to Saver Savvy

Spendywendywoo

Good morning. And that it certainly is… 8 hours of solid sleep! I truly believe that finally addressing our financials and trying to get more organised is helping me relax more. 

So today, it’s a busy day but most of the tasks are self inflicted as I want to get organised for the week ahead so that we don’t go off track. Plan for today;

Coffee! Homemade, of course £3,95 saved 

Meal plan / shopping list to be created (there is a first for everything, this is a first, but it will help immensely with planning what we are eating, thus taking the daily stress away, it will use up some of the stock we have in our freezers and cupboards, will help with weight loss and will help save money!) 😀

DS has a football game this morning, the first of this year as last weeks was called off due to the ice and cold weather 

Going to nip to the shop and buy just what is on my list

Floors and bathrooms to be cleaned upstairs, a little decluttering along the way to officially start the
decluttering challenge I’ve set myself (2025 items) 

Ironing uniforms and work wear (I’m actually now on top of the washing, yay!)

Meal prep where I can and make DS lunch for tomorrow 

if I get time I’m also going to do my nails £30 saved (I was spending too much at the salon so bought a nail kit for Xmas so I can do my own). Will pop the £30 over to the annual expenditure/EF later, if I manage to do them

I hope you all have a great day,
Wendy x 

Cara_

Hi Spendywendywoo

It looks like you are embracing the changes and reaping the benefits from the outset.

The first year of putting aside the annual costs is always more difficult but even if you haven't got the full amount for each, there will be less to find from that months pay, which will be a help.

Good luck, I'll be following.

Cara

Suffolk_lass

Happy new DFD @SpendyWendyWoo. You will find masses of support on here, debt-free is our home in the forum, more than the mortgage free diaries as our debts (CC cars, loans) included our mortgage before we paid that off.

For me (and it was me, not us), I had to get past what I call my "Smug filter" - which was that layer of complacency that we could afford it, so I didn't need to worry. We had a £220k mortgage on interest only, around 20 years before we retired and I was spending over £700 a month (£800 sometimes) on housekeeping, for two adults, one teenager and two cats back then. Now I average just under £3k for the year; only two of us, one old cat and a dog (neither pet in GC). For me, it was accepting that others knew better than me, how to do this. 

The biggest thing for me was planning. Plan meals, plan shopping, plan splurging, and decide how much control each needs. I hoard food too, if I don't keep control of myself. Being set for the next Suffolk siege is my thing (the last was several centuries ago...), so I avoid temptation by avoiding shopping as much as possible. Like @foxgloves, I have milk delivered. It may cost more per unit, but it means I do not enter the shops.

Keep posting, it makes you accountable to yourself. Maybe consider "Tilly-tidying" - this is where each time you pay for something, you round your account (or purse) down to the next round number and put the dregs into a savings account. We built a contingency emergency fund from which I still top up the current accounts when big bills come in, and then I built it up to pay down the mortgage, tracking the amount of interest we were saving. Back then, I made OP of over £1000 but lots of people pay the TTs straight off their mortgage. It's referred to as the magic snowball, getting bigger and gathering momentum as it rolls along. I found it was compulsive too. A little buzz each time the letter with the new interest component arrived.

I wish you success and will be encouraging if I can

badmemory

For me being organised is what helps.  I have a massive list of all the things I buy, including stuff I may only buy every couple of years.  I use this to compile my shopping list.  It means that you can avoid those top up shops because you have missed something & the extras that always jump into the basket.  (I also love a good spreadsheet so can't help doing it anyway).

Debtfree2026

Hi Wendy! I've book marked your diary - it reads similar to my situation to be honest! To the outside world we live a fairly affluent lifestyle but lack of planning, organisation and financial knowledge means we were always in our overdraft, living hand to mouth essentially.  I've been on this path for two pay runs so far and already see such a difference to my mental state and bank balance!

I am very impatient - I really want the debt gone so I can put the most possible into my pots and 'live' but that isn't realistic.  I need to spend the next couple of years being sensible and get rid of the debt.  Our mortgage is also due for renewal end of June 2026 so I'm very much using this time to get us to the best place possible for that!

jwil

Happy new diary and good luck with it!  It's amazing how you can still have a good time but also save money when being a bit more mindful about spending.

Spendywendywoo

Oh it’s lovely to see so many comments, thank you for taking the time to comment, it means a lot. 

@Cara_ thank you. I agree, just knowing we are putting aside monies in advance of the payment being needed is already helping my stress levels. 

@Suffolk_lass well done on paying your mortgage off. I’ll be sure to look at your diary too. It sounds like you’ve made some real changes and achieved a lot. A lot of what we spend, no one sees. We have 3 year old car, which we’ve had since new, but it’s not a flashy model, and we only have one between us as our circumstances re work etc allow this. We don’t buy expensive clothes or go on big nights out, but we do try to book two holidays a year (circa £2k-3k each plus spends). Our money is frittered away on @m@zon, meals out, takeaways and days out. We prioritise bills, savings, an investment each and then the rest is used as ‘spends’, which is the wrong attitude to have when we have a mortgage and both want to retire early, if possible. I totally agree re planning, I’ll give an update in a mo but already I’m more organised this week than I’ve ever been. Tilly-tidying is a great idea! I’m not sure how we will fare with the new budget so for now I’m trying to make savings, stay below budgets etc and any money saved or left at the end of the month  to annual expend, which includes an EF. When I can I’ll update my signature too so I have the main info in one place. 

@badmemory you sound very organised! Love a good excel spreadsheet to keep things in check. 

@Debtfree2026 thank you, you sound like you’re in a very similar situation, but already making changes and seeing the difference, which is fantastic 😀

Spendywendywoo

What a busy day so far. 

I deleted all social media towards the end of last year as it was distracting me, and I was spending far too much time on it. I now only have Facebook and don’t have it on my phone, I’m not missing it. This morning whilst having my coffee, I decided to start going through my Facebook posts and deleting anything that I’d shared and therefore irrelevant, or where I have shared a memory. I worked my way back to the end of 2022 and deleted 47 posts! My aim is to have just the bare posts that are pictures of me, DH and / or DS. 

I got the football kick off wrong this morning but thankfully realised in time so I found that I had 30 minutes extra before we had to leave the house, usually I would have says and scrolled on social media but instead I sorted out the utility room and moved all the boxes of dry clean clothes to the relevant rooms (I’m going to go and sort them out once I’ve posted this comment). 

After the football match I shopped for just the items on my list, I wasn’t able to everything I wanted but spent £49.79 but this included some cleaning items which I budget for separately. 

Since returning home I’ve meal prepped two meals for this week, boiled some eggs, made DS lunch for tomorrow and put a stew into the slow cooker. I’ve emptied and reloaded the dishwasher and cleaning the kitchen too. 

I feel organised and in the best position I ever have on a Sunday. I will continue to post on here, to maintain accountability.

Off to out the washing away, do the ironing and update my budget so I can give true figures against relevant categories. 

I hope everyone is having a great day,
Wendy x

Spendywendywoo

@jwil sorry my feed hadn’t updated for some reason.  Thank you for your comment.  Already I can see how much we can save, and I havent felt like we’ve missed out this weekend. If anything I feel we’ve gained more peace, fewer calories and overall more clarity on the situation x 

jwil

Spendywendywoo said:

@jwil sorry my feed hadn’t updated for some reason.  Thank you for your comment.  Already I can see how much we can save, and I havent felt like we’ve missed out this weekend. If anything I feel we’ve gained more peace, fewer calories and overall more clarity on the situation x 

That's a great start!

I declutter my FB too but just via memories each day, I check it and delete any that I don't care about.