mumof3.12kindebt - mortgage free by 40!

Thankyou savingholmes for your support. I'm looking forward to it too. I hope you enjoy seeing how we do

Hello my beautiful diary friends,
I hope you are all well. And life is being good to you.

Brodiebobs
Well done on what you achieved . I wish I had managed to get on the property ladder sooner. Ten years of renting so much money that could of gone to paying off a mortgage . I hope our experience with becoming debt free and living a low spend / no spend life will continue to help us with this next journey as you said im sure it will. It's hopefully set us up for a more financially secure future.

badmemory , I have considered botox and it's something I think I should look into again as over time it will probably be more financially benificial. It's for a medical need really but not something I would consider as a beauty treatment. So I completely agree with you.

I will update later with today spends , I need petrol but other than that and milk I think that. Should be our only spends today. (keeping it essential only)

Last day of school for eldest today and a nice break for summer . I'm hoping for some dry weather as it is so much easier to do free days out when the weather is dry. We're not going away during the summer holidays but do plan to do some day trips to the beach (about an hour's drive) . We will take food and drink with us so won't cost us anything apart from fuel for the car.

Ds2s meeting with his new teachers went well. Definitely feel I have made the right choice regarding school for him. I feel alot more relaxed now about it all.

We are keeping all receipts and track of all our transactions to be able to create the most realistic budget possible. It will also allow us to reflect and see where we can make changes , (what we can cut back on etc and where we need to be more mindful of our spending habits)

Money savings tip (sort of)

Due to the fact I spend so much money on fuel and my local petrol station is Tesco I've been refueling there instead of other garages on the way or on the way back. I just refuel as soon as i get to 1/4 of a tank left if I have work the next day. And I've been making sure I always hand over my club card. This is an expense that while working where I am I cannot avoid so it's a way of making the most of it.
From This week I'm also going to make sure I pay using my credit card as I get cashback on purchases and transfer the money so I don't pay any interest. So a double mse

One thing I have noticed though since moving we have been going to Tesco instead of Aldi (both around the same distance) this is good because I can get more free from foods for ds2 and I do use my clubcard so I'm getting points when I shop but it's meaning we are spending more for three reasons
1. We aren't taking a list and when we do we don't stick to it
2. There is more of a selection at Mr t and although we tend to buy the cheapest we are probably adding an extra 50% of unneeded stuff into our trolley
3. We haven't been setting a food budget for the week or month like we did when we were clearing the debt and we aren't adding it up as we go along like we use to so we get to the checkout and before we know it we have spent £100 and have no real meals within the shopping.

This is where we are slipping back into bad habits and it's going to stop !

So from now on
Phone charged with meal plan , list and calculator ready.
And budget set. If we go over budget we remove anything that isn't essential and/or swap for a cheaper alternative.

I'll also be baking more once the cooker has come which I know will help reduce the food budget. And preparing food in advance for busy days so we can continue to avoid the take away.

We are also going to have regular pick and mix nights . You know when you end up with the last bits in the freezer and fridge those are the nights all of that will be used across a few meals to get it used and try and get the freezer and fridge and pantry as empty as possible before we do another food shop.

So our target for the rest of July.
Reduce food waste , reduce the amount we spend on food.

Quote for July

Quote by Boyd K. Packer:
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without"


Have a great day everyone. I'll do a short update tonight with any spends

Brought
Cereal
Milk 2 X 6 pints
7 bananas
160 tea bags

Hello my beautiful diary friends,
I hope you are all well. And life is being good to you. Hugs, prayers & positivity to any of you that need / want it.

savingholmes thank you I was trying to find this website the other day but couldn't remember what it was called.

I also have a t&p cashback account which I forgot about and therefore forgot to check when we switched our internet and gas and electric supplier when we moved. I will try and remember in future to check the site and qu!dco before we purchase anything.

Today isn't a no spend day as we brought tobacco. I'm using my vape alot more though so it should last longer than normal. No other spends today though.

My top money saving tip today is
Be organised.
By this I mean. Buy the food you need for a week using a list and a meal plan. This would mean you don't spend money throughout the week on stuff and it will also mean less trips to the shop so less temptation to spend money. This also coincides with days out/ holidays etc if you are organised you can spend time looking for the bet deals ,(vouchers, money off or book in advance which normally saves you money) . It may also mean you could exchange clubcard points for tickets.
I don't know about you but if we go out for the day and we don't plan ahead we don't set ourselves a budget and we end up spending more money. Especially if we are so disorganized that we don't make drinks and food to take and end up spending a small fortune feeding us all while we are out.

The above is something we will be working on too. If any of you decided to try it out let me know how you get on I'd love to hear your views and stories on this.

^ it also works at home
For example yesterday it rained. So yesterday I checked the weather and today its dry so I put my washing on this morning instead so it can dry on the line instead of using the tumble dryer. I know this isn't always possible but when it is it will save us money In electric and it's the small savings that add up.

Also we have a dishwasher now (we were kindly given it) so I always wait until it's full before it goes on. On average unless we do a roast dinner or baking this means it only gets put on once a day (normally after dinner) and then is opened before we go to bed (all Sharpe objects removed) and the rest left to dry and is emptied first thing before the kids come down for breakfast). I hadn't had a dishwasher for at least 3 years before this. But I appreciate the time it saves me washing up and drying up. Would I buy one if this one broke. Probably but only if we could afford it it's a luxury to me and not something I would buy if we couldnt afford it or had to go into debt for. Same with a tumble dryer I would happily use a washing line and airers until we could afford to replace it (especially now we have more room to be able to use airers)

I using up all the cleaning products we have until I buy more (it's not alot but I do have 2 of some things)

We have got into the habit of only using one box of cereal at a time so non gets wasted.

Generally I'm trying to be more conscious of what we use and be more organized to use up what we have at home first before we buy something.

Hopefully all the small changes will help us on our journey.

I'm also not afraid to buy second hand and accept things people offer us. This can be a huge money saving in the long run.

Have a great day everyone.