Debt free before 35

It's been a couple of days since I've been on. I've been having headaches on and off for a while and ended up with a full on migraine last night (or even early hours of this morning!). I've never, ever had one before and seriously hope I don't get another in the near future. I can't believe how painful it was. I really feel for people who get them regularly. My head hasn't been right all day today, but much more manageable thankfully.

I've managed to add Dh's bonus to the emergency fund, so have got that at £1520.28. Pleased with that, and now just want to add another £479.72 to it before I will start overpaying debts. Despite the credit card debt being turned into a loan, in my head I'm still keeping it as the same sort of debt as it was before so that I don't become complacent with it (if that makes sense).

I've sat this evening and gone through our budget for September. I've moved the money around to the correct accounts and updated YNAB. I'm pleased to say that this month has been the 'easiest' so far with the budget and at the last week of the month I'm not 'borrowing' from next month (though I have done the big, monthly shop early, but that was more a time issue with being back in work next week!).

Tomorrow is an easy day. Though it is the last one with just me and ds for a couple of weeks (grrrrrrr for work!). I love our one-to-one time, though we have lots of budget friendly things planned for the bank holiday weekend. We need to pick up a few bits for the weekly shop (there is literally only 4 items on my list.........happy days!!). Sticking to my £20 budget should be easy. Will take £80 out for next month's weekly food budget and pop it into an envelope. That worked really well this month and I'm not trying to scrape pennies together to buy milk at the end of the month! I've also decided me and ds are going to bake a cake. Just because! We have all the ingredients here ready, so no cost involved.

It's been a few days since I've updated here, so thought I'd log on and say hello! I watched Eastenders tonight, it was sooooo sad. I don't usually cry watching TV but this storyline got to me. It makes me feel so, so grateful to have a healthy little boy. He had an extra good night kiss tonight.

Money wise, things are as always really. No big windfall (we can dream, hey?) and no major outgoings. Did eat out this evening, but that only cost £14 for the 3 of us!

Back to work tomorrow. Not overly looking forward to it, though there is a small part of me that is a teeny bit excited I'm sure once I'm there and in the middle of it all, it will be good! 8 weeks and I'll be able to look for and apply for different jobs. 8 weeks isn't long.

Right, I'm going to bed. I think an early night is needed before I'm back! I aim to have a read through other diaries this week (haven't been on here much over the weekend) and catch up a little xx

Sunday evening is here. I'm already tucked up in bed! I'm in bed so early when I'm working!!

I've had a few spends this weekend. Went to Tesco Saturday afternoon for a box. £35 later..........:rotfl: I bought some reduced meat, the box, some ghee because I've decided I want to make my own homemade 'takeaway' curry and a few Saturday night treats! We had enough money in our food pot to do it, but won't be able to do it again this month!! Then today I've been and got a few Christmas presents. I've sorted through what we already have and we've got loads. We have very little left to get, and I'm hoping the majority of that will be with Tesco vouchers and their Christmas boost! :T

Had a lamb dinner this evening. I bought the lamb from the freezer section of Aldi, and it was just over £4. Wasn't convinced but thought I'd give it a go. Defrosted it in the fridge first, then this morning I sealed it and popped it into the slow cooker with a lamb oxo cube, water, mint sauce and herbs. I'm very impressed. It fell off the bone, and was yummy. I'm thinking the left overs will go into my homemade, takeaway curry! Will definitely be buying again.

I was so excited to see a new series of Strictly on last night, and then at the end it says it's not back until the end of the month. Grrrrrr!!

Reconciled my YNAB yesterday, so happy that it's all up to date now. I've also used some of my emergency fund to buy Premium Bonds, so I'm working on building the emergency fund up again now. It only takes a couple of days for the money to show in your account if you want to withdraw it though. I'm working on winning the million! May as well aim high! The loan would be gone, the mortgage would be gone, we'd think about baby number 2, we'd move and rent out our current home, put some aside for ds future (and baby number 2, and possibly 3!!), we'd have a nice holiday, we'd spend a little on clothes shopping, and after all that there would be very little left. Not that I've thought about it, of course :rotfl:

Right, a couple of pages of my book (which I've been reading for well over a month I'm sure and have only managed around 40 pages) the time for some zzzzzzzzzzz!

Oooops......a month and a half later!

I blame work! It's keeping me busy, that's for sure. I'm still plodding along with things. I have started buying silly little things for Christmas and a few more gifts have been bought, etc. I'm finding it an expensive time of year. I do have money set to one side for Dh's gift, and I'm also trying to save a little for the sales! I have almost £50 in Tesco vouchers, which will be sent out soon. I'll be doubling these up in the boost, so will have around £100 for gifts. I'm not even sure that I'll need that many, so will sort out a few birthdays at the same time!

I've also got £100 with the Tesco Christmas saver for our food shop (and an extra £6 from them). I never, ever spend that much on a food shop.......I'm quite looking forward to it!! I'm trying really hard not to go buying clothes, but bought a new jumper and dress the other day for Winter! I've worked out that if I say no to something, I'll want even more down the line. I've decided that I'm going to give myself a clothes budget each month, so that if I want something I can get it if there is enough in the pot. I'm hoping that will mean I won't end up spending a fortune!

I've increased the entertainment budget for the next couple of months. There are lots of things happening with bonfire night, fairs, Christmas lights, Christmas markets etc.

I've also increased our food budget. It was tight every month, and we were scraping pennies together by the last week or so. It also left no room for a little treat or anything. Both me and hubby work pretty much full time, so I figured that surely we can have that extra bottle of wine on a Saturday night if we wanted or a nice piece of meat for our Sunday roast. We're earning the money so why can't we have our little treats providing we're not increasing our debt.

Anyway, only 3 days left until half term