Vegan, Bipolar and in Debt.

August M£10AD challenge. ...so far.
Art Commission deposit £20
Supper Club deposits £20
Supper Club profit £10
Shopetize cashout £5.60
Quidco cashout £2.78
Tesco vouchers £6 (they count, right?) Up to!£64.38

Finally got round to checking out my tesco clubcard points online. I have £37 worth of vouchers in my account. Now that they no longer do boosts, I'm guessing we'll just use them for meals out. I also have 495 Eon points - 5 points away from a £5 Bonusbond voucher which I'll be able to cash out shortly after the 16th (bill day). Plus, I updated the meter readings and we're £1.81 in credit.!Hoping to add those to my total by 31st.

Today was a NSD bringing my total to 3 so far.

Been offered some more life modelling for next week which will hopefully bring a bit more money in. I'm hoping to only spend the£6 vouchers on food this week to try to make up for my £9 overspend on my social life this month.

Hi Helena, I'm struggling to figure out exactly what my annual usage is if I call customer services will they be able to let me know?

I bought all my shopping on Monday from Tesco using my clubcard vouchers (paid 15p over) then used shopitize to get an extra 90p off. So it was a NDS in my opinion.

Hello cool cats and kittens.
I went to the pub quiz meet-up last night and my SO bought me a ginger beer (booze free) and I paid £2.50 for a pudding (it’s rare to find places that do vegan puddings) everyone at the meet-up had a meal there but we ate before we came out to save money but I caved in and got an orange treacle tart. BAD EVKIZZY!!! I paid 50p towards the pub quiz so that evening out totalled £3 for me.

I think I will have to give Star Trek a miss (even though it is only £2.13 at Odeon with the Meerkat Movies deal) as punishment for going over my budget.

This tight-belted month has taught me that the reason I have been getting into debt is because I seem to spend more than I think, on food and fun, by putting things on (C & D) cards and not keeping records. I decided to create super small budgets for the month £95 for food and £40 for social life. I’ve estimated that these amounts are around half of what I usually spend but I think my usual spending may be even higher. According to my records this month I’ve spent £53.66 on shopping so far (not including£32.37 on bulk buying T-roll and K-roll and soy milk from Makro). My SO Paid £15 towards this so I’m not counting it as money spent.

£53.66+£17.37= £71.03/ £95 spent = £23.97 left
If I add money I’ve cashed out from cash back apps (£8.38 so far) and my Tesco club card vouchers (£6) leaves me at £23.97+14.38 = £38.35 with £15 days to go.

All the money from my social life budget (£40) has gone with an overspend of £12.50.

My M£10AD challenge (after paying for things like supper club food/art materials/cashback payouts being used towards food budget) has brought in £26.41 so if I pay off my social life over spend I’m left with £13.91.

I very naughtily impulse bought a dress for £8 (from a local one day pop up) and a coffee for £1 (where the pop up was held) yesterday, after a job interview which I got to via the bus £3.10 to and from (as my knee was really aching and couldn’t face walking a 1.5 hour round trip). So there went another £12.10 so I have £1.81 in actual profit from my M£10AD. I suck at being strict but at least I made the extra money to cover my overspending.

I have contacted my dad again and asked him for the money he still owes me (£550.17) on my credit card. Getting a bit annoyed at his lack of responding. Yes he’s in Spain, scraping by as a handyman but it was promised back a few weeks ago and he only gave me £100 back. I’ve decided not to lend him money again. He usually pays back promptly in full but I can’t afford to do it anymore. No matter how desperate he is. I’m supposed to be the child. I will just have to look after myself from now on.

Also work was cancelled today so that will be a small setback in next month’s pay but if I’m not needed, then I’m not needed.

Now some good news....
I got the job that I interviewed for (life modelling).
I start tomorrow at 10am for a 6 hour session which will be a much needed £90 cash injection. I’ll be required every few weeks so that can stop me panicking so much about my (tiny) income, as I know my new WTC payments will be much lower than before (not even covering my loan) but this is due to my SO getting a better job. I feel awful to ask but I will have to request that he pays me the difference as his success has left me with less to buy our food and we are a team! :beer:

We work on the percentage based system. If he earns 80% of our combined income, he pays 80% of all the household outgoings. If we earn equal amounts we pay equal amounts. It seemed the fairest way to deal with our financial situation. And, by the same logic, I am home more so I have more responsibility at home. I do most of the cleaning, (all the) cooking and gardening etc. It works for us, though, my super-savvy, debt-busting is squeezing us a little bit but we still have a life outside the home. We’re going to throw a party towards the end of the month to celebrate month one of super thriftiness!!! and make it a potluck (which is free) so I’ll make a big of Mexican vegetable rice (I have tonnes as I stockpile 10kg bags when they’re on offer).

4 NSDs so far. I need to do better to hit my 16 NSD target.

I really need to get on with the pet portrait I’ve been commissioned for so I can get paid for that too.

I’m such a terrible procrastinator...
I’ll get my sh** together...
eventually. Haha!