Muchin's diary of recover; becoming debt free and being happy

rising_from_the_ashes

Hi Munchin:D just spied your diary so will be sitting down with a cuppa shortly having a read through.....

Glad the envelop system is working for you :T I do something similar with online savings accounts which is working well (but struggling with some of them atm ) but really have nothing in place for those little errrrr impulse / incidental / misc spends:eek:

I've joined the Weekly Spend Challenge again to try to get a grip .... pay day on Friday & thinking I may take out £50 and have £10 / week for treats (and £10 emergency!) .... but it's December so .... :eek:

*subscribes*

Munchin

Hi Rising,

Thank you for your support. My diary is a bit repetitive......"I'm going to do all these things"............"or maybe not":D:o. Hopefully we will both get there in the end.

I know what you mean about the little treat/emergency/unexpected spends. I'm such an impulse shopper but I'm not as bad as I was.

I'm going to head on over to your diary and have a catch up (I'm assuming you have one:).)

Made it back from hotel and we are having bangers and mash. Last night was hotel dinner tonight is back to basics:D.
Spends today £6. OH popped into TKmaxx which left me with B&M bargains. All but the kinder chocolate was needed

Munchin

Have to tell you this - OH knows I want a watch but as he is supersticious he wont buy it for me as it is a sign that the relationship is over???????.

I said to him that when I'm debt free I'm happy to spend a bit extra on a quality watch. I've just looked at one of the tabs on the computer he left open and it's on ladies watches at.......£3995 and that was it reduced:eek::eek:. I meant £100 - £200. If only I had 4 grand to throw away:D

rising_from_the_ashes

*wipes brow* - not quite made it all the way through yet (started at beginning & then jumped to middle:o & read to end)

Loving your lists - I'm doing something similar on the daily "what DFW things will you do today" thread (which I did years ago) but I just don't manage to do it when I'm at work so it will probably fall by the wayside again when I go back

Munchin wrote: »

I've also joined a kettlebell class and we'll see how I get on with that.

What's Kettle Bell?

I have honestly never heard of that ... but it sounds interesting!:)

Munchin

Hi Risin - oh you don't have to read the whole diary:D, but thank you. I've found yours and well done for being debt free (not read it all but I'm at the start ). I love reading other people's diaries as they give me hope and a few good ideas.

Kettlebells are weights which you can do various exercises with. It's really important to have a good instructor or they can really hurt your back.



Sorry I can't make this image any smaller and I wish I looked like her. It's really good for your stomach, arms and bum:o.

Oh well pay day tomorrow. Time to go to bed and hit the budget spreadsheet tomorrow evening.

rising_from_the_ashes

Ahhhh I've seen them - just had no idea what they were called!

DF .... well errrr - kind of slipped a bit recently - had to change my car (long story) so have a bit of an OD going again. I guess I'm still technically DF as I could clear it (just!) with savings but really don't want to go there .....

Yay to payday .... mine's not until Friday!

Munchin

Morning MSE world,

I got paid today and it was more than I had hoped:D. I had calculated my increase and then erred on the side of caution in case I had got it all wrong. This morning I checked and it's £70 more than I thought :j. This does come in handy over Xmas but I hoping to sign up for an ISA today and I'll put £50 into it to start with. I'm not doing anything until this evening when I've checked my spreadsheet.

Hi Risin - my car is such a big expense and it's how I found myself back in debt, well that + because I took my eye of the ball:o. Will read your diary in full this evening. You've cleared your debt before and will do it again:) so good luck.

Today's plans.....work. It's my first day in since Friday past and usually I get an avalanche of complaints as soon as I get in. I'm off the rest of the week apart from a couple of hours tomorrow so I'm sure I will get a higher & louder list than usual.

I still have no idea what to buy OH for Xmas and he's not making it easy for me. I've told him a couple of things I want so he should at least give me a clue.

Ok I better hit the shower and head on to work:). Have a good day everyone.

rising_from_the_ashes

Munchin wrote: »

I'm going to withdraw money tomorrow and put it into 7 envelopes -

2) Groceries - £15

How on earth do you manage on £15 for a fortnight?

My grocery budget is totally out of control just now (have been in hospital & currently on a very strict & unfortunately expensive diet) but even normally it's on the huge side .....

Munchin wrote: »

I got paid today and it was more than I had hoped:D. I had calculated my increase and then erred on the side of caution in case I had got it all wrong. This morning I checked and it's £70 more than I thought :j. This does come in handy over Xmas but I hoping to sign up for an ISA today and I'll put £50 into it to start with.

:j:j Brilliant news - & you've reminded me I need to have a look around for a new savings account for the boiler fund (was a 12 month monthly saver that's finished) - debating whether to start a new ISA ....

Munchin wrote: »

Hi Risin - my car is such a big expense and it's how I found myself back in debt, well that + because I took my eye of the ball:o. Will read your diary in full this evening. You've cleared your debt before and will do it again:) so good luck.

Yup, would love to be able to do it but 7 miles from nearest town .... 40+ miles from elderly parents ...... bus to work would be £8 / day - compared to £3 fuel :eek: & getting to parents would take approx 4 hours & cost £60+ - compared to 45 mins & £15 fuel so :eek::eek:..... not feasible to get shot of it unfortunately.

Everything went wrong in September as I had to change my old car (paid for) for an automatic (failed surgery on foot meant I couldn't use the clutch properly unfortunately ). Hadn't planned on changing old car for at least another 3 years so it kind of messed everything up.

Guess the positive is that new car is .... slightly newer (won't need MOT in 2013 which the old one would've done) and it's fully paid for - without the need for a loan but that's where the OD has come from .....

Munchin

Hi Rising, £15 for groceries was a one off as I was broke:D and I new I only needed odds for lunch. This month it will be more:D

I'm the same as you with the car front. The nearest bus stop is 5 miles away and I would then have to catch 3 buses to get to work as there are no direct routes so a car is a necessity rather than a luxury.

If it went kaput again it would put me way back into debt. So my plan is to try and put away money into savings to have a safety net in case things go wrong again.

Hope your foot sorts it self out and I now have a mug of hot chocolate and I'm ready to start your diary:D

So envelopes are sorted for December -

Xmas/birthday presents - £240
Kids swimming - £30 (+ £11.20 from last month)
Groceries/Entertainment - £230 (+£5 from last month)
Clothing - £10
Xmas dinners - £80
Fat fighters - £10
England trip - £80

Total - £696.20

Again, I'm going to try and come in under budget but it is Xmas:D:o

rising_from_the_ashes

Munchin wrote: »

Hi Rising, £15 for groceries was a one off as I was broke:D and I new I only needed odds for lunch. This month it will be more:D

That makes me feel a little better!:)

Munchin wrote: »

I'm the same as you with the car front. The nearest bus stop is 5 miles away and I would then have to catch 3 buses to get to work as there are no direct routes so a car is a necessity rather than a luxury.

Oh my - that's worse than me!

Munchin wrote: »

Hope your foot sorts it self out and I now have a mug of hot chocolate and I'm ready to start your diary:D

Oh lordy ..... - a word of warning .... there are bits in it when I get very obsessed with figures ..... and ramble a lot

I have OCD and obsess about things - when I'm really stressed, I obsess about my budgets and things .....

Please skip those bits!:) In fact .... you'll need to skip most of it as I prob go on a lot about these things .... hope you're not bored rigid & I won't mind if you don't read!


*sigh* hot choc sounds really good - about to go off for a bath to defrost (went to put the bins out & it's absolutely freezing out there - car solid already :eek:) & put warm PJs on ..... will have a HC when I'm out!