misstara's debt diary 2014

misstara

I'm currently on a bus heading home after having a lovely time away. Going back to my parents for a visit always seems like a complete break from RL. Heading back up with plenty of veg from the garden, enough HM jam to keep me going until christmas and a good stockup of toiletries

I also had a good time in Glasgow with my brother and future SIL. I have a few pounds left from my £30 budget so happy with that too. I'm not back to work for a few days yet so plenty of time to relax but also to think about how I'm going to manage my budgeting better as it seems to have gone a bit pear-shaped recently.

misstara

I came back yesterday to a surprise from my lovely gran - a cheque for £250 :j she decided to give all her grandchildren a wee present. I will pop to the bank today to put it into my account and once the money clears, I plan to put £150 to the wedding/electricity fund, £20 to cc1, £30 for things for the flat and £50 to buy some new work clothes.

It means I no longer have to stress about trying to save lots more money in the wedding/electricity fund, budget for new clothes and find the extra money to cover the rent increase as well as trying to keep my debt repayments the same.

I will continue to put some money each week towards the wedding/electricity fund as I will still probably need a little bit more. Any money I have left from the flat/clothes budget I will split between the fund and cc1.

The loan payment went out today, as usual I will wait for the interest to be added before updating my signature.

I have been thinking of ways to stick to my budgeting better especially my food budget. I haven't been properly meal planning recently and I think it does make a huge difference. I will make a meal plan this morning before going to the supermarket later. Other than that, I think just generally being more organised will hopefully help. Any suggestions gratefully received

giblet1979

Hey MT,
What a lovely gran, and lovely surprise.
I totally echo what you said re: menu / food planning. It's too easy to give in to buying 'convenient' things otherwise (or takeaway not that I would do that *ahem)....
You're going great guns x

misstara

giblet1979 wrote: »

Hey MT,
What a lovely gran, and lovely surprise.
I totally echo what you said re: menu / food planning. It's too easy to give in to buying 'convenient' things otherwise (or takeaway not that I would do that *ahem)....
You're going great guns x

I know, I couldn't quite believe it when I saw the cheque. I'm going to see her today so going to buy a wee bunch of flowers to say thank you.

I went a bit overbudget yesterday with the food (despite my meal planning) and spent £34.87. OH came to the rescue though and gave me £15 towards it as he got paid yesterday. We needed washing powder, toilet paper, etc so this contributed to the overspend.

OH needed some toiletries so we went to Bo*ts. He got a No7 voucher because he spent over £5 so I got that and plan to buy some of their face wipes. I love them but would not buy them at full price.

Today I have made a £5.01 payment to cc1 and the mobile broadband direct debit went out.

misstara

Just realised that I've paid off over £2000 of my debt since my LBM in January :j:j

giblet1979

£2000 is fantastic! x

misstara

Spends for yesterday were £5 on a card and a wee gift to say thank you to my gran. Today I'm going to round to see my friend later so will need bus fare there and back. I was planning to walk but it's so miserable outside, maybe it will clear later.

I will also need to buy some more cleaning products as I've started a big clearout/clean of the flat. Yesterday I did the bathroom and half of one shelving unit. From that alone, I have a black bag full of junk to chuck out. My plan today is the rest of the shelving unit, the tv unit and my side of the wardrobe.

The interest for cc1 and the loan was added on today so I have updated my signature, now just over 20% paid :j I now have £84.77 to go to reach my mini target by the end of July. I will make my usual £75 payment to the credit cards at the end of the month so really just £9.77 to go

misstara

I'm really struggling with budgeting at the moment in the last couple of days I have spent around £20 (some on stuff that was needed but mostly just rubbish) and had OH not given me money for food, then I would have overspent by around £35 this week.

I know its not a massive amount but it would soon become a problem if I did this every week. Ah well I'll write it off as a bad week and vow to do better next week.

Between the money I put aside (now down to £80 thanks to my overspending this week) and my wage, I will have £101.47 tomorrow. I need to pay tv licence (£5.50), contact lens (£15), phone bill (£13.35) and gym (£16.99).

My brain is too tired to attempt to write a budget just now, will do tomorrow.

misstara

Actually had £101.92 in the budget this week, feel so much richer with the extra 45p so after all the payments detailed in the above post are made, that leaves £51.09. The contact lens direct debit went out today and I paid the tv licence. I also made a payment of £21.09 to cc1 (£20 from my grans cheque).

This leaves £50 for the week, £30 for food, £10 for bus fare and £10 for anything that comes up. Hopefully I will be able to stick to this . Today I spent £4.30 on bus fare, other than that a NSD.

dawnybabes

Wow, just read all the way through, you're doing great ! .