Flush by 30?

Thank you both!

JVR it makes me feel better that I'm not alone with my phone-related clumsiness! Got my replacement today so just waiting for the SIM activation to go through.

Velvet Freak Ha, thank you - that's what I needed to hear! We had 'a chat' and he sulked that I was being mean to him and then changed his tune and has offered to come over next weekend AND the one after (my birthday) to make up for it... He's really good company and I am very fond of him (not going to be too mushy about him on the internet!!) but he's not really a 'good' boyfriend in some senses. As in, I don't expect we'll ever live together, because he's too set in his ways (at 31...)

Still, I feel better for my rant and in a generally better mood in general today. Except now I have the sniffles. So I also have a hot toddy. Swings, meet roundabouts........ :beer:

Hello!

I'm going to stop apologising every time it's a while between posts; I think everyone here understands that life can get in the way!

My birthday was lovely, I bought 6 books so I'm in reading heaven. And I got my laminate flooring... honestly it's SO beautiful, and my dad did such an amazing job fitting it for me. I really am very lucky to have him!! I just want to sit in my living room more now, so I can't regret the additional cost even for a moment.

Money-wise: My credit card is currently a LITTLE higher than it says in my signature, but when I get this months' rent from Mum on the last day of March I will be putting the whole lot on the card, which will take me to about £700 left on the card. So, a small dent, but a dent nonetheless.

This is actually a really good sign, that I can use the entirety of Mum's rent money on the credit card, because it means I've managed to get my budgeting to a point where I'm not going into my overdraft and I'm not relying on Mum's rent money to get by. It's a good time to be in that position given that she's moving out in 2 months.

I've also learned something else about myself: when I get paid, it is safest for me to remove the temptation of having money in my account. This was more or less fine when I was always in my overdraft because I never had any money, but now I am always at least a little bit in credit I always have this temptation to just treat myself, or treat other people around me until there's no money left. It's almost as though I feel safer when I have no money in my account, because that's how I'm used to living.

So, to deal with this I have started doing a few things:
- I move grocery budgets to a different account on the day I get paid
- I make all the overpayments I've allotted for the month on the day I get paid too, so my debts are dealt with first
- I move a little bit of 'fun' money into another account too - and then every time I buy a £1.75 coffee, or go for dinner with friends, I pay using my debit card and move the money immediately from the fun fund into my main account to cover it. This means I can check up on how much 'fun' I'm allowed to have as the month goes on.
- I also use up as much of my grocery budget as early as possible. I've started doing this in the last couple of months, because I know that food is one of my biggest budgeting weaknesses. I can be very easily tempted by things in fancy jars and nice bread. So, I pre-order boxes of fruit and veg to be delivered to my house every week (we've got an amazing service now that only costs between £17 and £20 and you get LOADS), and I also buy discounted Sainsbury's gift cards (I get them through work and if I buy one for £50 it only costs me £45). I then use this card in the last week or so of the month when the rest of my budget is depleted, and it helps make sure I only use my grocery budget for, well, groceries. Also, I always do an Asda home delivery order as soon as I get paid to fill up on anything we're short of for the month ahead.


Phew! I do feel like I have come a long way since I started tracking my progress on this site, so it's definitely been helpful. I feel calmer, I'm much less stressed about money on a day-to-day basis. I do still hate that I have a credit card and a loan, but I'm more relaxed about the fact I'm paying them off and still living a nice life.

So, I'm happy. I always said being 27 was going to be a good year for me, and so far it is turning out to be true

Thanks SA

It's a new initiative for us and I quite like it. I wouldn't want to put ALL my budget on gift cards in case something happened, but it seems to be working as part of a wider mixture of techniques.

Oh, I forgot to say - I SHOULD have about £200 coming in from my hosting, but my guest the other night accidentally left the hot tap running on full blast all day when we let the other day, so I'm parking that extra money until I've worked out with British Gas what that slip up will cost me. It was running solidly for about 7 hours... please tell me this has happened to other people too and it's not too disastrous?!