bobble_hat's Debt Diary

bobble_hat

Thanks for looking in LA Hope all is well with you?

Dropped of the wagon for a little while there, not hugely, but enough to make me too guilty to update. Splurged on food and stationery items. Think the move to new employer was stressing me more than I wanted to admit.

Am back on track though. Trying to continue with the Flylady way challenges. Need to update there too.

Paid £560 extra off my Student loan this month, so I'm on track now for April DFD. Am trying to keep February really low because have some outings planned in March and really want to be prepared for them. Have nothing booked in this month so have real opportunity to save for events I know are coming up.

Bank accounts are almost working as I want them too, but still have some tweaking to do over the next couple of months. Have a good stock of groceries so should be able to manage quite well for two weeks without major splurges. Have some cosmetics to buy this week but are essential. To ensure that they are I've raided all my little corners and discovered as yet unused products and placed them in a prominent location, so I will check before buying.

LookingAhead

Good luck for the April DFD then bobbly. £560 off the student loan - that's pretty impressive!

I hope the new job goes very well for you too.

bobble_hat

Did not go running last night as felt absolutely shattered. I don't feel guilty about it either, which is a bonus. I was too tired to care.

Well I had a good day today, I've resorted to not taking money or debit cards to work with me. I put £1 in my purse today and I only spent 18p on a jar of cranberry sauce.

I got paid by my new employer today, so transferred the money straight into the correct account, my weekly spending cash won't be transferred into my cash account until the beginning of next month so I'm all organised. All my standing orders worked properly with amounts being squirrelled away into the correct accounts. I've just got to make sure that the new employer pays into the right account next month, then I won't need to look at my accounts again for quite some time, because they'll be like clockwork. Oh except I have to pay my extra debt payments manually.

I'm going to redo my soa at the weekend as part of Tondella's Flylady challenge. I'll keep ya posted.

CAFCGirl

Am v.excited (does that make me sad?) to see your new SOA and see if anyone can give you any bright ideas that I can steal! lol

Well done on getting all the accounts working, sounds like a logistical minefield! Glad to hear it's all worked out and things are where you want them to be.

Keep us informed how you're getting on with your dfd!

bobble_hat

Well today was a good day, I only spent £6.09. I forgot my lunch and had to buy in town, and I had to pay for swimming this evening. But I had an epiphany of sorts.

I realised that I don't have to carry emergency money, that I will be tempted to spend, as I have £5 in Tesco vouchers and £5 something on my advantage card, so if I leave my sandwich on the side at home and have no money in my purse I can still buy lunch. Woohoo.

CAFCGirl it's not sad to be excited, I love reading everyone's threads for groovy new tips. I do sometimes worry that I'm getting a bit fixated with this site and the challenges, but I like being challenged.

I swam 50 lengths this evening and feel fantastic!

Oh and the Fishing thing....

....I've joined an internet dating site as a bit of an experiment, and it's quite interesting. I had a date on Saturday, but I've decided not to see him again. It was very scary but exciting to be doing something proactive about trying to meet people. I'm chatting to a few maybes.

dizzy_lizzie

Hi bobble_hat...you seem really positive at the moment, really glad things are going well. It's a good feeling isn't it. (I have exerienced it once or twice):D
Really pleased you're giving the veggie meals a go. I was vegetarian for 32 years. My mum was so exasperrated with me I think I lived on beans on toast. Not only a veggie but a really fussy eater, not liking mushrooms and courgettes etc which seem to be the basis of a lot of veggie meals! Last april I went vegan and have not touched dairy, eggs, honey etc since. Even when we ordered a new carpet I said it can't be wool, much to the salesmans bemusement! A really lovely dish is sweating a chopped onion off in olive oil for a few minutes, add a tin of tescos chopped tomatoes, I find them tastier than napolina ones, add a teaspoonful of sugar, to sweeten the tomatoes then pour over some cooked broccolli. It's yummy and so delicious especially on a winters night.
Keep up the good work bobble_hat.

bobble_hat

Dizzie Lizzie thanks for your kind words, and the broccoli suggestion, I bought some at the weekend and couldn't think what to do with it. I have all of those ingredients in my cupboards. :T

bobble_hat

Ended up making a huge pasta bake with the brocolli, it did for 4 meals!!

Shouldn't really be online at work, but needed to share. I've just paid off my Student loan! :j :j :j I had the money sat in the bank and realised I was hoarding it instead of getting rid of one of my remaining debts, so I bit the bullet and did it. I've still got a month's buffer in the bank.

I've also redone my SOA as part of Tondella's Flylady way challenge, so here goes:

Monthy Payments
Mortgage / Rent - £300.00
(Includes all bills)
Mobile Phone Bill(s) - £10.00 PAYG
Food & Household Shopping* - £129.90
Nights Out/weekends away (far flung friends)* - £73.61
AA / RAC Membership - £4.13
Bus - £40.00
Car Maintainence - £10.00
Car Insurance - £18.21
Car Tax - £10.00
Petrol / Diesel / Gas - £30.00
Credit Card Repayments - £614.00
(2 More payments to go)
Swimming* - £13.42
(Once I've got some spare cash I can get a card for £15 Per Annum which will give a reduced rate.)
Cost of Christmas - £42.00
Cost of Birthdays - £10.00
New Clothes - £20.00
Work Clothes - £15.00
Dentistry - £22.79
(Denplan - treatments and insurance for extensive dental treatment due to accident)
Haircuts - £13.00
Optical Bills - £26.00
(Contact lenses and sight tests, I've researched this and for my prescription this is a really good rate.)
Odds & Sods* - £43.30
Monthly Account Totals - £1,445.36
Income - £1,457.79
Disposable - £12.43
Debt
Credit Card @ 0% - £1,215.00

*Weekly Allowance Breakdown
Food & Household Shopping - £30.00
(I am trying to reduce this but this covers all household items including toiletries.)
Nights Out/weekends - £17.00
(This is my weekend nights out fund. I don't use it every week)
Swimming - £3.10
Odds & Sods - £10.00

I do need to check on all the car payments but the MOT is due in May and I don't think the car will get through so I may be selling it. I'll revise these then.

1_step_closer

Hiya!

You are doing very well! And i think you have a lot of courage to do what you did - sell everything and move to house sharing. I shared houses for several years before moving back in with parents, meeting hubby, etc etc I don't think I could ever house share again!

How is kitty doing in her new home?

dizzy_lizzie

Hey bobble_hat... great big well done to paying off the loan. It must be a great motivation. Keep up the good work