Paid off the £31,000! BUT - still scrimping!

brizzledfw · 8 October 2016 at 10:15PM

I have never managed to stooze Mysteek...let me know if you manage to nail the technique.

Have a great weekend SSG - all sounding good. Especially like the quiet washing machine

Sun_Addict · 9 October 2016 at 4:23PM

Hello SSG - glad you had a fab holiday. I'm back to work tomorrow too (boo). I've never stoozed either - I got into enough of a pickle when I had a Mr S credit card just to use in there alongside my usual Mr T one to use for everything else.

jazzyjustlaw · 9 October 2016 at 6:54PM

Loving the thread hope you don't mind me following.

Seasidegal58 · 9 October 2016 at 10:49PM

Hi jazzy :hello:- it's great to have you aboard!

I’ve joined the October No Spending Day thread today to give me a boost in keeping me on track. I’ve signed up for 12 no spending days till end of month so hopefully might be able to exceed that target. Lots of great goals, ideas and support on the thread so here goes!

Just popped to Aldi today and topped up the groceries. Have £4.21 food budget left for the week but will have to buy some almonds tomorrow. So a nice NSD today to start me off!:j

£18.10 was added to the emergency fund today from the Santander 123 monthly interest and cashback.

I’ve also decided to set up a YNAB category for the newspaper I buy during the work week – it’s £1.40 per day so I think it deserves it’s own space on YNAB. So I’ve debited the cost for the rest of the month from Week 3 and 4 Spending categories which had brought these amounts down to c.£165 for the month.

Looking back over “Clothes” – Hmmm yes – Clothes - which in my case also means Weight

At the beginning of my previous diary back in April 2014 I wrote this:

“I note that I left one “essential” off my list yesterday and that was clothes. Tbh I have loads of clothes (one of the reasons for the debt!) and don’t foresee buying any in the near future. I currently have clothes in four different sizes (some still with tags on - I can’t get into them!) so this will also be an incentive to drop some weight properly. I will probably need some new underwear at some stage but I have £110 in Marks & Spencer’s vouchers which I am keeping for this purpose and perhaps a clothes emergency, though I can’t envisage what this might be!. I like their underwear as I find it’s comfortable for me.”

Well most of these clothes are still under the bed! I did manage to go down one dress size, but have stuck there basically while I have yoyo'd up and down. And of course I have had to buy new clothes, shoes etc. I bought the Marie Kondo book when it first came out – I found her method of storing clothes, etc very handy but when it came to sitting there and picking "the clothes that give you joy" - well that totally fell to pieces! Because I am overweight I don’t actually think I ever look that great - I can look neat and tidy and professional for work and there’s nothing wrong with the style of my clothes but I don’t think I do them any justice! There was no actual clothing apart from handbags and boots that I actually liked. So I couldn’t throw hardly any of the clothes because I would have had nothing to wear!

So after weighing myself today for the first time since I got back from holiday I have had a nasty shock and am now going to really try and do something about it. I’m going back on the 5:2 diet tomorrow and will try for 1500 calories on the non-5:2 days during the week and ease off a little at the weekend or if I do go out for a meal. On the NSD thread one of this month’s goals is to eat your 5 a day and exercise more so this will be an incentive.

One of the other things I am going to start next month is to have an actual YNAB budget category for clothes as it is silly to think I won’t need anything going forward – I know I’ll need underwear, new winter boots and probably a few other things that I haven’t thought of.

So for tomorrow - packed lunch of sandwich, fruit and toms in the fridge, porridge when I get to work and a low calorie meal tomorrow night!

Mysteek · 10 October 2016 at 12:50PM

I just wish I could get on here more often, just reading your diary seasidegal gives me so much enthusiasm and a bit of a ‘kick up the backside’ to keep me on the straight and narrow. You seem so organised and organisation makes me happy – sad aren’t I lol

Ok re stoozing. I thought I would try and give it a go but I just don’t have the time to be sourcing high interest savings accounts and moving stuff from here to there to get the best rates and remembering when things come off their 0% rate. But give it a go I did, the money is only in normal savings accounts as I said above I just don’t have the time to look for better ones. I’m also not sure it’s worth all the effort to gain a few pounds of interest.

Anyway that’s not the main ‘difficulty’ for want of a better word, it’s the fact I have credit cards again! Just the fact that it seems like debt again really irritates me and I keep wanting to go and pay them off, so I think just purely from this point of view stoozing is not for me. I was going to wait till after Christmas before I did anything but I have already gone and paid one off this morning and will do the other later today when I have time.

The other thing is that having all that money in my savings account is very very tempting. When you’re in debt and indeed when you’re working to get out of debt, you don’t have the money to have stuff done in the house etc. and now all these things need doing. Yesterday, I nearly caved in. We were looking at stuff on line with the intention of borrowing from the savings account and then putting it back over next 2/3 months. I had stuff already in my basket but then something pulled me back from the brink and I didn’t press the button and I said we’d just have to wait and save up. So before I have any more of these moments the money will be gone from my savings account and the credit cards will be paid off. No more temptation phew! At least I can say I tried.

Oh gosh I’d better log off before I ramble on any more, I don’t want to hijack your diary Seasidegal. Hmmm maybe I should start another one of my own, what do you think?

Bye for now x

Sun_Addict · 10 October 2016 at 8:02PM

Is the £1.40 newspaper you buy The Times? If so why don't you get a subscription, they do some great offers. I've got one and I pay £12 a month for 7 days a week.

Seasidegal58 · 11 October 2016 at 8:14PM

Well after all my good intentions of NSD yesterday it went pear-shaped! On Sunday night I felt a sore throat coming on which developed overnight to full scale cough and streaming nose yesterday morning. I felt really rough but went into work as I have a lot on after my holiday. Ended up buying cough mixture, lozenges and paracetamol! Only positive thing was I couldn't face food and only had a banana all day. After going to bed at 6.45pm last night today I felt better - still couldn't face sandwich and ended up buying Pret soup for lunch. It's soup again tonight so one good thing is that I've got off to a flying start on the diet!

Mysteek - I think you've been absolutely sensible about the credit cards. I'm a bit like you time wise - I've never got around to surveys and comping. Am saving them up for when I retire!

. Why don't you give a new diary a go - it does help you focus - and you get lots of lovely support!

And you are so right SA about the subscription. It's a no brainer and I should have got round to it ages ago. Have duly rung Times up today and subscribed!

Mysteek · 12 October 2016 at 12:41PM

So sorry you're not feeling too well Seasidegal, there's a bit of it about. Hope you feel better soon x

Seasidegal58 · 12 October 2016 at 8:36PM

Thanks Mysteek - still got the cough and leaky nose but feeling much better than yesterday.

Had packed sandwich lunch today - also my boss had lunch out and came back with a two cronuts for me which is a cross between a croissant and a doughnut. Didn't really fit in with my diet plans but I must have been feeling better because I ate one - it was really yummy. I did give the other to a work colleague though!

My contents insurance runs out at end of month so spent my lunch hour trawling web. My current provider sent me a cheeky renewal of £143 which I thought was a bit steep since it was only £80 last year:eek:

Anyway I managed to get it for £53 in the end. Couldn't get it via quidco but confused.com has given me a year's supply of two for one cinema tickets for Tuesdays and Wednesdays so they'll come in handy. Was so annoyed with current provider I didn't even ask them to match it, just told them to cancel auto renewal.

My annual travel insurance is ending soon too so that will be next job tomorrow.

Anyway going to have more soup and vitamins now - cronut has filled me up!:D

Sun_Addict · 12 October 2016 at 9:00PM

Great result on the insurance front. I got a good deal this year from Legal & General - £108 for the year with a £100 M&S gift card - so £8 in effect - bargain

Hope you feel better soon xx

Paid off the £31,000! BUT - still scrimping!

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