Improving all the time

FloraandFauna · 18 July 2019 at 7:03PM

savingholmes wrote: »

Well done on the NSD. It all helps.

It certainly does! Honestly, the time it's taken me to put 2 and 2 together... if you don't spend the money, you still have the money...

FloraandFauna · 18 July 2019 at 7:11PM

- clean/fix something every day - nope, early start for work at 5.30, and only just back. not going to happen
- throw something out every day - nope, see above
- Tilly tidy every day - no! no account activity. (this is turning out to be not such an achieving day!)
- check an existing, or investigate a new, freebie - no surveys, but have had FD paperwork through so a step closer to switching - filled out and ready to post tomorrow
- tick off one of those tasks at work - yes! and a !!!!!! of one, too. well done me.
- tell the cats I love them - naturally

Bonus points: NSD today. It feels like I've typed that loads, but in fact it's only 9 this month. That's only every other day. Must do better.

Thankfully WFH tomorrow, will have some time in the early morning to ponder other ways of making/saving before work implodes.

savingholmes · 18 July 2019 at 9:20PM

:rotfl:Celebrate the NSDs... I too am only just learning a penny saved is a penny earned.

FloraandFauna · 19 July 2019 at 6:02PM

Well, this week has vanished down the rabbit hole of work. Finished, but may pick up a few bits tomorrow just to stop me fretting over the weekend.

- clean/fix something every day - yes, cleared the table in the sitting room of 'useful' stuff that does not need to be sitting out on view for weeks on end
- throw something out every day - yes, shamefully, the two sets of Christmas lights that blew last year have been sitting in the dining room ever since. During a fascinating conference call on CBAs, I removed and checked every light bulb on both - one fixed, and the other unsalvageable and thrown out.
- Tilly tidy every day - no, no activity on a/c
- check an existing, or investigate a new, freebie - no surveys, but posted off FD forms
- tick off one of those tasks at work - yes, and half another
- tell the cats I love them - naturally. Despite vomiting in the bedroom at 2am, and wanting praise for it at 3am.

Bonus points: NSD today. 10/19 so far this month. Will be back to 50% tomorrow as need to pay lovely neighbour for fixing steps, and do a small grocery shop. Ah well, it's a baseline to set a reducing target for next month.

I have met (exceeded) my impossible monthly OP target for this month, but am still agitating to do more! Very addictive, paying off debt. But budget is now at its last squeak for the rest of the month so will sit on my hands until I see where I am on payday.

FloraandFauna · 19 July 2019 at 6:27PM

Hmmm, was just thinking; have only been doing this diary less than two weeks, but it's really brought into relief to me that all my frugal activities are passive.

As in, I don't pay for a TV licence as I've stopped watching TV. I don't pay for haircuts since I can get away with just trimming the ends. I'm saving money because I'm not spending it on anything during the day.

I need to have a more serious think about both number 4 (finding more freebie type things), as well as generating some positive additional income as well. Not just focus on trimming what I have, but increasing it. Not investment - I don't have the funds to do anything meaningful there - perhaps a cottage industry, sideline of some sort. Will have a think.

savingholmes · 19 July 2019 at 7:59PM

FloraandFauna wrote: »

Hmmm, was just thinking; have only been doing this diary less than two weeks, but it's really brought into relief to me that all my frugal activities are passive.... well as generating some positive additional income as well. Not just focus on trimming what I have, but increasing it.

Sounds like a great revelation to have. Previous Make £10 a day challenges on the DFW forum often has great ideas

FloraandFauna · 20 July 2019 at 6:44PM

"Sounds like a great revelation to have. Previous Make £10 a day challenges on the DFW forum often has great ideas"

Ooooh, that sounds interesting, will go and check it out.

- clean/fix something every day - yes, lawns cut, batch cooking for next week done, kitchen cleaned
- throw something out every day - only packaging
- Tilly tidy every day - no, no activity on a/c (I shop on a CC and pay off at end of month to retain cash in a/c making interest)
- check an existing, or investigate a new, freebie - yes, prolific, signed up for PanelBase for £3 bonus, signed up to a free £5/no deposit bingo site - made £35 profit on free spins but no idea if they'll honour the payout or not
- tick off one of those tasks at work - n/a
- tell the cats I love them - yes

Bonus points: did the shop today and should be sorted until the end of month, barring the odd lump of broccoli or so. This diary has SO helped me focus. I haven't been stinting on food, or food quality, but just swapping to menu planning (and then actually eating what was planned) has dramatically reduced the budget. I just checked last year's spreadsheet, and I'm only a few £s off the lowest spend I've ever had in a month! Bonkers.

FloraandFauna · 21 July 2019 at 4:15PM

Right, I need to give myself a bit of a pep talk. It's fantastic I'm taking this mortgage seriously, although I could still do better. But OP'ing is seriously addictive, and so going weeks without being able to OP anything (i.e. waiting to build up survey total, or for TCB to come through) can make me feel I'm not achieving anything.

(To add to my two unevolved emotional responses above, I think I have to add 'delayed gratification'.)

Anyway... since starting to OP this mortgage 11 months ago, I am:

- paying 5p a day less interest than I would have been if not OP'ing

- that's about £1.60 less a month than I would have paid

- which is so far a total of £617.74 interest over the m'gage life that I do not now have to pay

- I have knocked 3 months off the mortgage end date

- if I'm still working at that point, that's an additional £2,577 I could have in the bank by not paying m'gage and OP for those 3 months

And that's without really checking the spends, or looking at additional income, which I only started just before starting this diary. I tried to, in general, not spend much, or often. But I never tried to quantify 'much' or 'often', which is so stupid of me, given I work in an area where the mantra is "if you don't collect the data, how do you know how you're doing?".

FloraandFauna · 22 July 2019 at 7:19PM

Not feeling so hot today, had to come from early from work. Been sleeping, back to bed again imminently.

Yesterday and this morning not so bad. Sorted savings into (theoretical) pots, so although it now looks like I have a lot less saved in emergency fund (just £1,000), I do have a small emergency vet fund, most of house insurance renewal set aside, and can now see what I need in the next few months for boiler services etc. Aim is to get all these maintenance type pots filled up for a year in advance, so that 'savings' can be actual savings put aside and not just future spends being ignored.

Although this means the amount I have 'saved' has gone down, it weirdly feels really satisfying to have the set aside pots. Usually I get a bit distressed when it feels as though I have to spend my 'savings' on bills - this way I'm not kidding myself about how much I have.

Have signed up for Testable Minds (thanks, SavingHolmes for the £10 a day thread tip!) and i-say. Done one survey on testable, but i-say has so far let me do most of 3 surveys and THEN decided I'm screened out. Not impressed with them and may give it a miss.

Have TT'd another 42p, so have moved total of TTs so far, plus small payout from prolific, into an OP of £10.36. Really chuffed that's £10.36 conjured out of nothing. Won't show up in online mortgage account for a few days, but changing my spreadsheet shows that's another £5 of interest I won't be paying over the mortgage lifetime.

Did finally hoover downstairs yesterday, which was begging for it. Feel much better for that too.

FloraandFauna · 23 July 2019 at 6:07PM

Absolutely pooped today, after yesterday's pain-drama. VERY glad to be able to work from home, really appreciate my employers in general.

- clean/fix something every day - yes, tottered about to hang one, small, picture, in a pre-existing nail hole in the wall, so didn't even have to exert myself with the hammer and nail ; )
- throw something out every day - no, no decluttering today
- Tilly tidy every day - no, no activity on a/c
- check an existing, or investigate a new, freebie - no new prolific, a few panelbase which keep screening me out - will persevere with these new sites for a few weeks, but if no surveys are completed will bow out rather than waste time
- tick off one of those tasks at work - yes, and part of another
- tell the cats I love them - yes

Bonus points: NSD today, that's 12/23 - hope to get another 4 or 5 in this month, and then will try to increase that next month. Can't stop yawning...

Improving all the time

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