Investing in Us: Holidays, Health, and the Road to £150k

debtfreewannabe321

It is in my signature now. No spend March 😂 I will aim for at least 21 days of NSD and possibly more if I can. Bills and food shopping (including supplements in this) as well as petrol not included in these days, this is purely for my naughty spends on stuff I don't need.

Edited to add I am aiming to make some extra money instead on prolif1c, I've just made £10 which is pending and cashed out £6.44. I will aim for another £20 at least this month I think.

daisy_1571

Sounds like there was a lot of necessary stuff plus sometimes you just have to. At least its not all on the never never!

I hired a mobility scooter for a couple of weeks, it wasn't too bad cost wise but the joy of being mobile was worth it 40 times over (and for the sheer fun 😆 mr d made me put on all my bike stuff including helmet so he could pretend this was my new motorbike to give everyone a laugh on faceache😆). A bigger one feels more stable on unsteady British streets and pavements. A lighter one will fold to go in back of car easier. Id say just hire one wherever you go on holiday if you need it then

Dxx

Humdinger1

@debtfreewannabe321 this is all mindful spending! You haven't plunged back into the swirling vortex of spendiness!! Your change of mindset is impressive - please be proud. Standing by for more updates from work love Humdinger xx

debtfreewannabe321

Afternoon all, I am just on a lunch break. I came home for it as I felt if I headed straight back to work after a morning visit I would be roped into working through lunchtime again (which is why I think I am also struggling as don't seem to get a proper break.) I wish I were a workaholic, hmm, perhaps what I mean there is, I wish I had the energy of a workaholic, yes that's better 😁…those that I know like this are machines that never seem to switch off and have as much energy at 5pm as they did at 9am………HOW? 🤣

So anyhow, @Humdinger1 no updates from work yet, haven't been in but also newbie isn't in until Wednesday…and my boss I won't see unless I bump into her in the halls. And tutor also not in till tomorrow, so I have a quiet afternoon planned really. Need to send some emails but don't have an awful lot else on today. I have had to initiate and negotiate some difficult conversations already this morning and not having been trained on exactly what to do or say I kinda winged it and think I did okay. 🤣 I was attempting to keep two parties happy that were nearly at loggerheads, I am the middle(wo)man…Guess I will find out when I go back to work and parrot what has happened this morning and what was said whether I said all the right things lol.

I had my lunch at home so don't even need to take my bag back in with me this afternoon just laptop and folders. It's no wonder I get so out of puff walking to work when I consider all I carry in every day, and with a big thick heavy coat, scarf and whatever else too I am doing a full workout on the way 😉. So thin coat is out, no bag, and no lunch to carry, should be nice and easy this afternoon. I am having a cuppa and will refill the DW whilst home too so all I need to do later is reheat the dinner for DD & I.

Maintenance has gone into my bank and moved to where it was needed so all accounts are fully loaded for the month according to budget. I think it might be worthwhile sitting and doing an SOA again - I need one with a list of yearly things that need paying for too, might see if I can find my list I started on these in one of my budget planners. Then I know I am putting enough into them for those bills.

DD got paid on Friday and immediately was moaning she was poor. I questioned, how??? And she said she had been paid two hundred and something pounds and I thought that was a huge amount all things considered (she has NO bills) but she has set up a monthly savers account and she is putting £250 into it so all her wages and then some went back out right after she was paid 🙈🙉 she's saving for insurance for her car amongst other things so I don't want to discourage this, but I feel having NO money left after working for it will also discourage her from working and she works really hard physically as is on her feet for 7 hours running around and I don't want her to quit……so I am going to transfer her some spends I think, even if just a tenner a week. I do feel for her, I think many of us have been in the situation where we have no money left after being paid and it is utterly demoralising. And I do get child benefit still, which is currently paying for her phone, petrol and gym membership but there is a little left from that so I will take that and top it up and send it to her. —— sent. £40…hopefully that will be enough to cheer her up.

Thanks for the support on the overspends 🙈 I still feel it was too much but I suppose a lot of the take out and eating out was as I was adjusting to work and feeling exhausted…….also birthday spends were on there too so that was a fair bit. I should get a NSD today, I have a paid parking ticket, I came home for lunch and can take a snack back with me if I am feeling desperate for something, and don't need anything else. In fact I need to pop to the CS as I have a pair of trousers I bought for DD that don't fit her so I need a refund. Will probably do that tomorrow now though as haven't got time, I don't think, now… right tea has been drunk, phone is charged a bit more, best go do some more work.

daisy_1571

Matt allwright, channel 5 at 12:50 today had a young girl talking through finance, she was really good if you can get it on catchup

Dxx

KajiKita

We always feel our overspends are too much, but you know, life …. 😉

I did notice the takeaways value was quite high, but with 3 of you I suspect that adds up fast. Maybe that is one to gently target this month - perhaps set a budget for what one takeaway a week should cost you? Then you shouldn't feel too deprived but you won't be cooking every single night and you will be containing the cost.

KK

debtfreewannabe321

Morning all,

Just checked my mortgage and it's ever so slightly dipped into the £158k 👏🏻

I finished my book yesterday, I'm going to see if I can find my library card and go there for another one otherwise I'll buy one from the shops...am trying to avoid that awful A river word that I throw all my money to all month long 😆🤣🙈. I'm sure I've a pile of books unread but they are still boxed up 🙈 job for when we have a spare weekend - pop to blue 🔵 and yellow 🟡 Swedish furniture shop and get cheap bookcases!

I've had peanut butter on toast in an attempt to eat protein for breakfast. I had it in oats yesterday which was surprisingly ok but I forgot to make them again last night so toast it was today. I've got hummus and salad with brown rice for lunch. And I'll worry about dinner later on, we've plenty in so I will see what my energy is doing later before deciding on the level effort I can be bothered with 🤣.

I had my NSD yesterday! Almost bought a book on that A site and closed it down scolding myself 'what are you doing DFW!! It's the second of the month and you nearly failed ' 🤣 I do like a little goal or two to work towards.

Right I better be off as I'm almost running late this morning if I don't get a move on.

daisy_1571

I do porridge oats in a bowl, milk, some raisins, bit cinnamon and in the micro. No extra bowl or pot to wash and its very tasty.

I've also recently got KFC style chicken, kebab meat and kebab things (like pitta bread but round and they open easier than pitta ) from mr i@land. They also do a squeezy bottle of garlic mayo. Shove it all in freezer (not the mayo), then if we want a takeaway, chicken in air fryer for 25 mins, curly chips in the other one, add kebab meat for last 5 mins and the kebab bread thing for last couple of minutes. Job done! Only fresh thing needed is some tomato which we always have and some cabbage which keeps for months in the fridge

Fakeaway for 2 for about a fiver in less than half an hour which is less time than we would spend getting in car, driving to nearest chippy and bringing kebab back. (Neaerst KFC I think is almost an hour away so haven't had one since we moved here almost 5 years ago.)

We have a big air fryer and a small one but it would probably work out better for that meal if we did it in the oven actually now I think about it 😆.

Plus, if you get stuff like that, could you allocate the rest of a freezer drawer for pizza? L!d! do lovely small oblong ones or bigger rectangular ones. Between all those things you'd have 3 different takeaways ready to go ???

Dxxx

debtfreewannabe321

Morning all,

@daisy_1571 I'm veggie but we keep stuff in like this too for fakeaway night.

Last night I hit a wall with my energy. I got home from a particularly busy day, put junk food in the air fryer (fake nuggets bought for DD but I fancied some and chips) and got into PJ's ready to crash on the sofa for a couple of hours. One hour later my friend called...I had prearranged to meet her this week 😩 and I'd forgotten. So she was on her way over. So I battled through till 8 and by then I really was struggling to keep eyes open. She went around 8:45 🙈 I hadn't seen her in over six months so we had lots to catch up on but omg I was done in. But brain was too wired to sleep so I went upstairs and watched the end of my show I'd started on n3tflix. Lights were off by 10 but damage done. I'm so tired today I'm unsure how I'm going to get through another three days work. 🙈

I've had my reduced contract sent off and hopefully it should be agreed soon enough, the boss and bosses boss both agreed it already it just has to go through HR. So I'm on countdown to Easter and I should get two weeks recovery time rather than the one I booked off.

DP is home tonight. I had a super quick catch up yesterday with him but with my friend here I was too tired to talk after she'd gone so I rang him this morning. He's buoyed on with his course even though it's been very long days. His motivation is me 🥰 I think that's so sweet. He wants to make a sideline business that will allow me to quit work if I want to, reduce to shorter hours if I want to or just pay the mortgage down quicker which he knows is my goal right now to financial freedom. If only I'd met him thirty years ago instead of my ex .... 🙈👀

I'm in the carpark already at work, but I am sat typing on here instead of walking in yet..I know I will be faced with newbie and also the lovely lady that sits next to me...who is lovely but she's a bit of a stress head and she thinks if she's sat at her desk she must work work work. I'm more of a ...I'm twenty minutes early let's make a cuppa and have a chat kinda person 👀🤣.

Hoping to limp through today and I will get an early night tonight to try and get through the next two days- Thur looking busy but Fri not so much. Nothing planned this weekend thankfully so I can recoup a little then for next week which will be a busy one for me.

Right I'll take a very slow walk in now. Meeting starts soon so suppose I better not be late for that.

debtfreewannabe321

Oh and got another NSD yesterday!