August 2016 Week One

Happy August everyone! Well I suppose the most important news are what are the scores on the Stealth Van Man and Stan the Van doors for debt this month?  Well...you know I had a lapse and blew a load of money last month on a weekend away so I was sort of dreading adding up the figures this month. I'd spent far less on food etc this month for some reason...for those of you thinking I skimp on food I actually eat far more than I did previousily, and far nicer too...but buying just what I need means I don't have any waste at all. I remember before this that I would think nothing of £150 on a weekly shop....wow...lets see what I spent this month....ummm...its a magical £54.00

That's not £54.000 for the week...that's £54.00 for a month. So what do I actually eat? Someone emailed me in so I'm going to list my menu's for the week and the cost - I mainly shop at Aldi and Lidl...and car boot sales too :)

So lets deal with the carboot Stuff!

Kellogg's Breakfast Bar Cereal Things - I get 25 Bars for a £1                                               £0.25
Tins of Marks and Spencer Lamb Curry (70% Lamb) £4.20 at M&S, I pay £1 each              £2.00
Tins of Marks and Spencer Chilli con Carne (70% Lamb) £4.20 at M&S, I pay £1 each       £2.00
Air Freshener cans for STAN, the auto spray ones                                                                  £1.00
Banana's, enough for 2 a day                                                                                                    £1.00
Pink Lady Apples, 2 a day                                                                                                        £1.00

I ALWAYS buy these, the cereal bars last a month so I'll split it into 4 as I'll do this as a weekly spend...

Aldi Time!

Brooklea Authentic Greek Yogurt
(Not the crap stuff) x2                                                        £1.40
Cottage Cheese and Chive tubs x 3                                    £1.50
Lettuce                                                                                £0.50
Tomataoes                                                                           £0.50
Beetroot                                                                               £0.40
Continental Meat Selection
Cooked Ham Bits                                                                 £1.60
Fresh ravoli/Tortelli pasta                                                    £1.00
Proper Feta Cheese                                                               £1.00
Mixed Granola Tropical Fruits                                             £1.20
Sea Salt/Black Pepper Biscuit Thins x 2                              £1.20
Peanuts                                                                                  £0.40
80% Dark Chocolate Bar                                                      £1.30
Eggs                                                                                       £0.60
Tuna Tins                                                                               £0.60
Bread Thins                                                                            £0.60
Mackerel in Spicy Tomato Sauce                                           £0.60
Long Grain Brown Rice Microwave x 2                                 £1.20          

Now I can add up the same as you guys and I know that comes to around £20.00, but some of those things last for the whole month and are one of purchases...I always have food over each week, so it does average at around £15 a week or so.

I do have the occasional extra such as shampoo, etc but it tends to merge into the £15 and not affect it. The only major expense apart from that is Aftershave but I use a website called Fragrance direct and get a large aftershave I use for £22...that's a third of the high street store...and yes its genuine....they have like a billion reviews. I'm not trying to fudge the figures, this is my life...pointless lying to myself :)

So what do I eat, lets list it :

Apple, Banana and Cereal Bar for Breakfast before Gym

10.30am  Greek Yogurt and Granola for Brunch...the authentic stuff tastes amazing!

1.00pm Salad with Ham, Lettuce, Tomatoes, Mixed continental meat. Beetroot, sometimes Feta Cheese

5.30pm Rice or Pasta with either the Marks and Spencer stuff or tuna or something from above, I can vary it how I want. The above list contains enough for 7 evening meals

After Gym - I try and eat Mackerel on bread thin toast or something, but sometimes I'm just too tired. Sometimes I'll also split the evening meal and have half before and half after Gym.

Evenings : A piece of the 80% chocolate, the Biscuits with the cottage cheese...yummm...or just snack on some peanuts.

I may trade a Cottage cheese for a Pate every now and again...

Everything above just needs a microwave, so I use the one at work upto 5.30pm. The rest is fairly easy and makes NO mess...in STAN...that's what I like....

The only issue is that it can get repetitive...you see no fizzy drinks etc...I drink Coffee at work black and water the rest of the time.  I've sort of giving up on eating in pubs now...I did that at the very start and tbh, I find the stuff I cook nicer.

So that's the shopping and meal list done. It may not be for everyone but it works for me

So, back to where all this started...I was hoping to pay off another credit agreement and realised I had not met that target due to the wasting the £200 at the weekend. I also realised that hitting these targets was very important to me mentally. Yes, I could have paid off £912 from the £1231 but it was nagging me that I had wasted the chance to get rid of another creditor. So I decided to dip into the emergency fund and pay the creditor in full. I can top the fund slowly backup, but knowing next month I don't have to pay out another £33 to that company makes me smile!

So here we are in August Total debt starting this was around £43K
I've paid off more than I thought, although the emergency fund is down to £700 now
so total debt now stands at £38.5K or so, so that's 4.5K and £700 emergency fund, £140 in Stan the Vans Maintenance fund, £45 in treat fund, that averages out at crazy repayments every month!

The snowball payments (when you pay of a debt in total and put it towards the next debt) now totals £177. That's £177 guaranteed towards another debt as well as the payments I can make normally. I have a debt at £798 that the target for next month, that would allow me to top up the emergency fund back to 1K...and I pay £55 a month towards that £798....get rid of that baby next month!

Anything else....prepping for winter started...I've become a ebay stalker for camper van heaters...
Gym is still fine...I want that under 13 magical figure this month, issue is I think I'm putting on muscle as fast as I take off weight...

I would LOVE a trainer for a few days...I'm doing everything self taught...not so good...anyone with any gym advice just let me know.

Okays...I'll catch up in a few days with more news of the Life of a Stealth Van Man