First ever blog

So this is it... My first blog, my first page, my first few lines.
A few days before NYE I began thinking of challenges and ideas to improve my life in 2013, there is nothing wrong with it I just want to make it a little better. When you realise that yours and your partners wages cover nothing other than your morgage, bills & loans its time for a big re-shuffle.

The challenge/experiment was set as follows : For the duration of 2013 to only spend money that we earn on top of our wages. The wages covers our basic loans, morgage & bills, no overspill. So its time to take a good look at what we own and what we need, what we spend and what we can save.

Ive started this blog 2 weeks into the challenge, the first couple of days I decided to go through all my household bills and check if there was anything I could do to reduce them even just slightly. 2 hours later and over £100 saved, seemed like an instant of time. Stopping all paper bills and putting every bill onto monthly direct debits it was simple but saves £2.50 a month. It was a good start. Positive.

Now I dont spend much.... I dont fashion shop, go out drinking and I havnt been abroad for 2 years but as we all do, I know my weakness. Food is the thing I enjoy, I practice with, I use for rewards and for confort. Plus I only eat organic, local & seasonal, a posh diet some may say. A posh diet on no money ... for a year !!! Take a look at your cupboards now and think how long can I survive on this?... non preppers,just regular people. I managed a few days on what I had in, then wanted fish, nuts, yogurts all the things I love & crave. Right, time to start selling making money using my head.

 Ive done this before so I can do it again. 8 years ago I was desperate to move out of my parents home after returning from uni, a dropout, I saved £6000 in 6 months so I know its do-able. Back then I had low rent and nothing else to worry about though. The ideas, tactics, and resources all need to come back to me and soon.

Step 1 was to make sure I update my profile on a well know home B&B website, to get it all up to date again and try my best to get my spare room rented on a 1 night basis, not to disturb us too much. The fresh linnen, flowers out and the mess had to go. Snap Snap Snap a few nice pictures on the site and bingo the next day a room rental for just one night 40 Great British Pounds. Its means fuel/bleach/fish and savings. It fells good, thrilling... even?A visit that came and went and was paid. Done.Hope for a good review to get the next guest in asap.

Mobile phones, in all our homes!! well they depriciate in value so I find 2 old ones, check they work and get on all the sites trying to find the most profitable. Found. Order the postal envelope & wait. Two days its here, time to pop in the phones send them off & wait. Eventually they will be checked and the value will be verified and sent to us, in the meantime back to work.

You cant really predict whats going to happen but when you can you must save. Awoken most rudely the next morning by no other means than my loyal 7 year old car being smashed by bandits, the window gone along with the target, the trustee sat nav. A cost not expected so an IOU in the tin. The money earning must accelarate...

OH No The dog was booked into the vets to be spayed and her dual claws removed, a long day awaiting the news and a big £221 kick in the teeth, another IOU in the tin.... accelarate....

Things come in 3's right ?My partner & I ill chemist fees £7.95 x 3. Can just pay that one, but then nothing left for food. It was fine we had bits in the freezer and I can improvise, vegetarian diets suit me just fine, for a while.

 Toni isnt smiling as much when I put his dinner down, doesnt seem as pleased as he used to, maybe quinoi salad with a baked apple pudding isnt quite what he signed up for.After a week and a half ive had 3 quinoi meals, tins of pears that have surely passed their sell by date, wild rice in adbundance. Made about 3 sugar free cakes, have now proceeded to run out of eggs. Which are mighty expensive!Ive got some great new 3 ingredients recepies and can make any type of meal out of very little, how long can I last doing this?. Im sure I can manage, I must. I mean there was rationing years ago, I just have to act like that, feel like that. Im just not used to it.

A quick check on my B&B profile and I had a lovely review and a new booking request. A speedy response almost always leads to a booking, so 2 more guests are due to arrive tomorrow. Great news. Until the blind falls down in their room whilst giving it a wipe. Ahhhh a new blind will almost certainly cost me what the guests are paying to stay, rendering the whole event pointless. Luckily toni spots a £10 blind on the argos website, off we go.

Day 14 does mean we really have no food in the house, onions & oats. I cant really conjur up anything out of that, I really cant. What can I hear outside ??? SuperDADDY is here. The dog goes beserk.... my father is at the bottom of the stairs holing a carrier bag of frozen good, a hot chicken, frozen salmon, chicken, sea bass. I dont know what part of this experiment allows donations but by the time I finish contemplating Toni and Coco have eaten the whole chicken. I decline the offer of some, as I somehow feel like a bad housewoman (im not a wife) not to provide the good full wholesome meals i did for everyone 2 weeks prior.They both look so full so content, so the stir fried onions on rice didnt do the trick?

It was a lovely end to the evening seeing them both happy. It had been an afternoon of emptying the loft to find 150+ DVD's and they had been photographed and put for sale, on facebook & twitter first. The plan was to send any left from this to musicmagpie to bring in arround £67 not much for a lifetime of collections.

It feels like the last 2 weeks have been a bit of a battle of not spending anything but having to, and trying to earn what we can extra to make sure we can buy what we need.Let see how the next 50 weeks go.