The Money Diet

Saturday 23rd December

So, today should be a NSD. The OH is going out tonight but I don’t think I’ll bother going, will stay at home tonight I reckon.

I’ve been going through the budgets/spends for this month. Food shop has gone over by £9.10 so it’s not as horrendous as it could have been, especially since that also included some Christmas bits as well. I need to find some bits for a Christmas present to give tomorrow but I might check our alcohol cupboard and donate a bottle to that. I have two bottles of prosecco in the cupboard so might give one of them.

Also checked value of Credit Card no.2 and the balance has dropped by roughly £20 due to the minimum payment that went out of the OH account. I’ll be happier when the balance drops to the next thousand pond bracket, hopefully it won’t take too long to get there!

Feeling a bit better today, still full of cold (stuffy/runny nose and lots of sneezing) but I don’t feel ill anymore.

If everything goes to plan we should end up with a ‘buffer’ of £60 in the joint account which will go towards the non-existent emergency fund at present. Pay day is Friday so I’m hoping we can avoid using the account again until then.

Today we plan on going for a nice walk around the local-ish Park (20 mins walk away) with the dog. I’ve taken food out of the freezer for dinner tonight and I’m trying to make good choices until Christmas/Boxing Day. I weighed in this morning and had gained 2.5 lbs so I need to keep an eye on that!

Monday 25th December

Happy Christmas.

It's been a long day, I'm looking forward to an evening of relaxation now we're back home in front of the tv.

Obviously today has been a NSD. So I!!!8217;m at 9/15.

Today has been wonderful, spent the day at the in-laws and tomorrow spending it with my mum, her partner and my brother, I'm cooking, so will be up early to get everything prepped (that isn't already prepped!)

Wednesday 27th December

It's a day late but my iPad kept dying yesterday!

I bagged a NSD though as we didn't leave the house so I'm now at 10/15. I'm happy with that. Although my target was 15 I know I will never reach that but ten is a decent number and next month I hope to improve on it.

Spent the day cleaning the kitchen and doing some laundry. Still have a lot of laundry to get through today though.

Used up some of the leftovers yesterday for lunch and dinner so I have some space in the fridge/freezer. Lunch was turkey with brioche rolls and cranberry sauce, I saved space in the freezer from brioche rolls and used up the cranberry sauce. Dinner was a turkey, stuffing, leek and white sauce and potato bake from the leftovers in the fridge. Thickened it up with some leftover cream and chucked some cheese on top. Popped it in the oven for 30 minutes, it was tasty. Served that with leftover braised red cabbage, leftover normal cabbage and leftover prepped broccoli. Even more space in the fridge now and there is enough leftovers from the bake for today's lunch. I will have to Make sure it's hot enough and that we won't get Ill because technically I'll be reheating the turkey a second time!

Friday 29th December

Today is pay day! It's amazing how quickly the bank account empties on pay day!

I've been proactive and allocated all money out today.

£850 to joint account. This monthly payment will now cover an overpayment on Credit Card no. 2 as our mortgage has now dropped to £392 per month. The minimum payment is £23 and we'll start paying £112 (which is the ' 'saving' on the mortgage) so that's an overpayment of £89. We are going to amend the direct debit so that comes out monthly instead of the minimum payment.

I've transferred £31 to my Christmas 2018 Account. I had hoped the DH would join in with this, but he said he didn't want to so I will pay for my side of family gifts and he can pay for his out of his own money (not our joint money). Not very MSE as we're not collaborating our money together but I don't care. He can explain to his family why they don't have anything next year! We will see if he changes his mind later. I point blank refuse to save my money for Christmas 2018 and let him use the joint account for his family because that is not fair on me and my hard work!

I've overpaid Credit Card no. 1 and I'm now below £100 which is fantastic. That will be paid off with February's pay day money.

I've also put the 'water rates' money in the Honeymoon Fund as no payments this month. I've also put in £50 and asked DH to match that figure so Honeymoon Fund is looking pretty healthy at £754.11 (well it will do, when he puts in his £50.00).

January will be a long month as a January budget starts today so that's 5 shopping trips. The fridge is now looking a bit bare too.

We need to go shopping today really so I forsee a spendy day ahead.

EDIT: So, today did end up being spendy. Shopping trip (including house cleaning bits and some logs for fire) came to £77.38. I've updated my signature to reflect January Grocery budget.

On the plus side of things - all the turkey is gone! Although it was lovely I was getting somewhat fed up eating it all this week!

Sunday 31st December

New Year’s Eve. The last day of 2017 so this post will be a bit of a reflection of the year. First things first though, I have managed a NSD so I’m now at 12/15. Didn’t hit target, but was over 10 so I’m happy with that.

2017 has been a wonderful year, although there were some ups and downs. My grandmother passed away, my grandad has gotten increasingly ill and has had to have two toes amputated this year. Not nice, but he seems healthy enough after his trips to hospital.

My goal for 2917 was to save for our wedding. We knew we wouldn’t be able to save for it all, but wanted to save what we could so that we didn’t have to put too much on our credit card.

We saved roughly £6,000 over 13 months. This was a big feat for us - it was difficult and we went without in order to do it. It would not be sustainable for the long term and to continue to save the amount we were saving because long term it would be frustrating and depressing- we went without new clothes, most of my shoes are trashed and have holes in because we couldn’t afford to replace them, DH only owns about 2 pairs of jeans without holes and we stopped doing regular ‘weekend’ things (like visiting places) as we couldn’t justify the petrol but it was doable. And we did it. If we HAD to save that amount again, we could.

Our wedding was wonderful, I do not regret a single thing about it. Our mini moon (which ended up costing an extra £500 more than I wanted it to) was fantastic and I wouldn’t change a thing about it. It was our first time abroad for 5 years.

We have some debt on the Credit Card, but it’s a manageable amount. I’m looking forward to 2018 - our honeymoon to Sorrento is in May. I also hope that we will be able to make headway on the house as it still needs some work to it. I noticed the other day that the laminate flooring in the bathroom is bubbling near the sink and radiator which makes me think we could have leak. That will need to be investigated in 2018 at some point.

I’ve had a lovely New Year’s Eve so far - we went to Rufford Abbey and had a walk around with the dog. It was nice to go out and visit somewhere. I have a nice bit of salmon for dinner (from the freezer - was a YS bargain at 50p!). I also have a nice round of Brie that I intend in popping in the oven later with Homemade bread for a toned-down, just me and the hubby, New Year’s Eve celebration. I also have a bottle of bubbly that I will pop into the fridge to see the new year in, hopefully I’ll make it this year (last year I fell asleep!!)