As of last week I’ve completely cut out the fast-food visits and coffee fixes, by making pack-lunches and salads and bringing my cafeteria into work, for that fresh made coffee taste, and although I now have to set my morning alarm a little earlier than normal I've probably saved about £10 a week. Still, I can't help feeling like I’ve lost a best friend not smelling, tasting and having that greasy, bloated, satisfied feeling that I used to get from fast-food. But it was getting embarrassing when the drive-thou teller recognised me and asked if I was having my usual!
Definitely time to cut back, save my penny’s and probably get healthier in the long run too.
I have also begrudgingly knocked all the unnecessary fashion and girlie gossip magazines on the head like Heat, OK! New, First, Star and Closer, to name a few. I have just kept the one weekly - Grazia, to keep me going. Plus I also find that I get a good read from the Sunday papers and supplements which form part of the weekly food budget. So without all the weekly and monthly trash-mags I am saving about £7 a week.
I also finally got rid of my old gym membership which I never used and although the place was amazing its still cost £35 a month. So me and *loml enrolled with the Councils FFit Card scheme and paid £7 each for a years membership with access to all Conwy County leisure centres. All we have to do is pay an extra fee (with 30% discount) each time we want to play squash or badminton or use their facilities. That's a saving of over £400 a year!
Although I've given saving totals it’s difficult to add up exactly how much I’m Penny Pinching, but I know it's got to be a few hundred quid each month as that’s how much my credit cards increased when I relied on them to supplement my income. Although after this budgeting exercise I now feel totally depressed at the realisation I’m poor, very poor, but I do also feel a tiny bit motivated by the fact that I’m on my way to managing my debt and pinching those penny's.

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