Spendy Wendy to Saver Savvy

Spendywendywoo

Sun_Addict said:

I’m usually up by 6am at the weekend too. In the week it’s 5am.  Struggle to stay awake beyond 9pm though 😆 I love a list 🙂

It’s gotten to the point that DS is awake later than I, which causes a huge anxiety for myself. He still wakes at half 6 and is ready for school in enough time though as he’s picked up at 7.45 x 

Spendywendywoo

Well, this morning didn’t go to plan as I had a very restless nights sleep, I felt very panicky (no idea why) and struggled to sleep for any real length of time, but I persevered and just led there when I kept waking so ended up snoozing a bit, which is better than nothing. 

Still managed to get quite a lot done today, which is amazing. 

• Towel wash and dry - done 
• DS football - done, it was a good game and ended a draw
• Ironing - done
• Clear inside freezer for batch cook - done

Batch cook;

• Veg soup. - done, 4 portions 
• Leek and potato soup - done 6 portions
• Chicken fajita freeze pack x3 - done
• Dishwasher on - done
• Make DS lunch for Monday - done
• Weekly plan - done

Change of plans for this afternoon as we have been invited to a friends for a roast dinner, which will be lovely. So I now have 2 hours to do the following, which is plenty of time;

• Bath while reading
• Wash and dry hair
• Moisturise
• Foot pack
• Nails mani/pedi
• Empty dishwasher 

We’re still planning an early night as won’t be at friends late as hey have a very young son. 

Tomorrow I will catch up on the tasks I didn’t get round to today, plus update our budget

• Workout circuit - 20m bike, 20m tread, 10m strength, 10m full body stretch
• Quick shower
• Bedding wash and dry
• Inventory of chest freezer

Batch cook;

• Chilli
• Spag Bol

• Make tea - ‘pizza’ made from chicken breast base, tomato sauce with pepperonis and wedges with veg
• Make DS lunch for Tuesday

jwil

That's a great amount achieved on very little sleep.  My days are usually a washout after a poor night.  

Sun_Addict

You’ve achieved a lot despite the poor nights sleep. Hopefully you’ll make it up tonight. Dinner at a friends sounds good so everything else can roll over to tomorrow. 

Spendywendywoo

@jwil, @sun_addict thank you both. I did feel like I'd achieved something yesterday as usually I would have written the day off. This would have been incredibly detrimental to our week as I realise, and as others have pointed out too, organisation, and consistency, is key. 

Dinner at our friends was lovely and we were still back quite early, which meant I was able to enjoy a nice early night.  Sleep was ok but not great, I'm sure it will be better tonight. 

Quick update re the weekend, we met some friends on Saturday afternoon whilst DS was at the football, was home early and ended up ordering a takeaway (not my idea, but the jacket potatoes I had planned just weren't cutting it for DH). We ordered the takeaway but we would normally order from two different places, this time we ordered from one. I'd had two alcoholic drinks or I would have gone to pick it up to save a few pounds there too (I do not drive at all once alcohol has touched my lips). Usually a takeaway would cost anything between £40-80 but we chose carefully and only ordered what we knew we would eat, with the delivery charge it came to £31.40, which has been recorded on our budget this morning. 

The main reason for recording this information on here is to remind myself that.... we did not enjoy it one bit! With it being only the second takeaway we have had this year (we had chippy chips on payday as an unexpected issue meant we were running around and I wasn't as organised then...plus also a snack for DS when we nipped to an appt which overran the other day which I've recorded as a takeaway), we thought it would be a nice treat but DH was hugely disappointed, said it wasn't as nice as he had expected, and my Mum guilt kicked in again that DS wasn't eating nutritious food (perhaps why I was a bit panicky in my sleep that night as it does pray on my mind). We've agreed that homecooked food is preferable.

So, we have decided that a few homemade curries, chillies, and other tasty, but easy, dinners will be made over the next couple of weeks and popped into the freezer (as @foxgloves has pointed out, fakeaways are amazing!). If we know we are out, but will be home for dinner, then we will get a meal each out the day before so it is defrosted. I made soups in batch yesterday and I'm making spag bol and chilli today (as I forgot to get the mince out on Saturday).

That said, I've updated the budget and we are doing really really well, compared to normal.  We would have next to no money left normally as we would have frittered it away on rubbish and many takeaways, lots of going out etc. We've still be able to see family and friends but without breaking the budget that we have set. 

So update (month runs 15th-14th);

Groceries: £214.58/£450 - shouldn't need much more this week other than perhaps milk and bread
Takeaway: £60.65/£100
Eating out: £0/£100
Cleaning products: £21.59/£30 - I bought a new mop and some zoflora last weekend
Pub/Alcohol: £135.35/£300 - this includes games of pool at £1 a time and accounts for the time that DH is playing snooker and darts with his mate
Entertainment: £0/£200 - this is assigned for days out as a family to the seaside (when it's warmer) or to the bowling alley, or cinema. Hope is that some months this will be low so that we can put towards a weekend away. We had a quiet weekend in as a family last weekend and played games, and this weekend DS was at the football, then playing football himself. DH and DS had a games afternoon yesterday whilst I did jobs and meal prepped.

I record a lot of other topics too but these are usually our more spendy categories and ones I want to focus on most.

Home: £88.10/£200 - I want to make our house more homely but never 'have the money' to do this, I've dedicated money so I don't feel guilty. New bedding and sheets bought in the sale last weekend, worthwhile purchase as they are lush. We also needed to repair the toilet so I popped the cost of the part in this category for now... need to look at that though... Feels good to be able to start making our home even more homely whilst controlling how much we spend (and actually having money to dedicate to this category).

All in all great progress has been made.  We have also made the decision to keep our car at the end of the finance agreement as the current interest for a new finance deal is between 6.9% and 10%... our current finance is 1.59% with a balloon payment at the end. This has made me focus even more on saving as I need to save for the balloon payment which will be due in November.

I hope everyone has had a lovely weekend, and is ready for the week ahead,
Wendy x

jwil

That's a great update.

I like the idea of allowing yourself a pot to make the house more homely.  I always feel guilty about this too.

Debtfree2026

jwil said:

That's a great update.

I like the idea of allowing yourself a pot to make the house more homely.  I always feel guilty about this too.

Yes me too!  I think once my debts are paid off I will make a pot for this!

Suffolk_lass

This all sounds very positive. You do have to cut yourself a little slack, as I can see you are doing, or you will likely run out of steam.

For me, it was paying down the interest I was paying on the mortgage that became mildly obsessive. You could do the same with accumulating your balloon payment for the car - if we don't save £x this month, we will pay £y in interest on a loan to pay it off, come November. I can't recall if you have any balance on any credit cards but that might be your top up option on a 0% CC

I admit, I make a big batch of ragu and use it four ways as it comes out of the freezer in takeaway boxes that stack nicely - spag bol (freshly cooked dried pasta), pasta bake/lasagna with a white (cheese) sauce on top with penne stirred through or layered with sheets, stuffed peppers on a light day - and chilli, with baked beans, home-cooked chick peas and borlotti or pinto beans (can't stand kidney beans, after some undercooked dried beans at a hockey tournament [must be 30+ years ago now])

PennysIntoPounds

Found your diary! Thanks for popping in on mine the other day. Well done on all your brilliant progress so far. Glad that an important lesson has been learnt by DH about scorning your jacket potatoes 😁

Spendywendywoo

@Debtfree2026, that sounds like a plan

@Suffolk_lass, I agree, I work in project management and all to often see others lose enthusiasm quickly. I try not to get too excited about a project and quickly learn a routine or rhythm so that it becomes consistent, hopefully this will be the case here too. The interest on the finance is fixed so the total amount is the same whether it's paid off early or not, I believe, so we will continue to pay the monthly repayment and then gather together the funds for the balloon payment at the end. I really am regretting not having my LBM earlier but I can't change the past and must look forward.  We don't have CC debt, thankfully, and I hadn't considered a 0% as a way of elongating the payments, instead of trying to find every penny before November (which I know is impossible but I hadn't quite worked out the solution), I could set aside an achievable amount each month for the next 10 months and get a 0% card, I can then pay off the set amount each month after November onto the card and ensure that's completely paid off before the 0% ends. I'm not sure how this would work with paying off the payment though, can I do cash (card) payment for a % and then use a credit card for the remainder... certainly something to look at in the next few weeks so I can hatch a plan. Thanks for your insight, really appreciated. 

@PennysIntoPounds, welcome! I love reading your diary but don't always get a chance to post as I'm usually just catching up on notifications here and there (I've subscribed, obviously ). Thank you for your comment, yes I feel very organised at the moment.  I was quite mad with myself once I'd eaten half the takeaway, and DH declared he wasn't enjoying his, I wish I had been stronger but I know going forward. Also, I think it will help once we've started to make payments and he can see the mortgage amount going down. 

Just had the HM soup with a ham salad roll, heading into a workshop at 1pm for the afternoon so must ensure I make a nice hot cup of tea, and top my water up, before it starts. Work is ramping up now, which is good as the days are flying by, but I am being true to myself and ensuring that I don't work passed 4.30pm. I'm the most productive I've ever been but working the least number of hours I've ever worked (now just work full time hours lol). 

Have a lovely afternoon, all,
Wendy x