misstara's debt diary 2014

giblet1979

Hey misst,

As always I'm very impressed by your precision! Maybe keep the target the same, put the extra in the wedding fund, and then if you don't spend all the fund, reallocate the money to paying off debt? This would give you the bonus that you meet your targets, have a bit of breathing space with the wedding, and may still have an extra overpayment at the end?
You're doing great! Well done for being ahead of the game x

misstara

giblet1979 wrote: »

Hey misst,

As always I'm very impressed by your precision! Maybe keep the target the same, put the extra in the wedding fund, and then if you don't spend all the fund, reallocate the money to paying off debt? This would give you the bonus that you meet your targets, have a bit of breathing space with the wedding, and may still have an extra overpayment at the end?
You're doing great! Well done for being ahead of the game x

Hi Gib, I was thinking along the same lines. I don't really like the idea of stopping overpayments to cc1 but it's only for a month and I'll still meet my target anyway.

I went out last night for my friends leaving do and had a fab night, however, I went totally overbudget and came home with very little change from £50 :eek: Socialising is something I used to spend an awful lot of money on and I still find it difficult to rein it in sometimes.

Me and OH went to the supermarket this afternoon and spent £21.54 so have gone over my food budget this week too (serves me right for going food shopping with a hangover, I bought so much rubbish )

Tomorrow I'm working a double shift so I better go and get myself organised and off to bed fairly soon. My shifts for the rest of week are not too bad so I plan to go to the gym on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

misstara

Nothing much to report from past couple of days. Yesterday was a NSD and today would have been except a friend texted me to go for coffee so £4.70 spent on coffee and cake.

Payday tomorrow

giblet1979

Sometimes a 'blowout' is fine, especially if it gets it out of your system for a while. The positive thing is that in the past, lots more would probably be spent without a thought, but now it's almost painful to spend £50

Hurrah for payday! x

misstara

giblet1979 wrote: »

Sometimes a 'blowout' is fine, especially if it gets it out of your system for a while. The positive thing is that in the past, lots more would probably be spent without a thought, but now it's almost painful to spend £50

Hurrah for payday! x

You're so right Gib. In my early/mid 20s I would think nothing of spending well over £100 on a Saturday night out including buying a new outfit but now... the thought of spending that much money on one night makes me feel a bit sick.

Yay to payday! I've made my payments to the credit cards and updated my signature. I'm now under £8230, next target £8000 by the end of August. I have decided during August that any little bits of money left in my bank account, I will pay the pounds to the wedding/electricity fund and the pence to cc1. That way, I still feel as though I'm overpaying the credit card.

I got my payslip through from 2nd job today and got a nice surprise, only 40p lost for tax I must have got a wee tax rebate as I would usually lose 20% (basic rate tax) so very pleased with this. I'll get a budget sorted this afternoon.

Today I have spent £4.67 on a few bits from the supermarket, need to have a think about the food budget again I think.

misstara

Yesterday afternoon I went to the gym and then in the evening I went round to a friends for tea. I took some wine (which I had gotten as a present) so a free night - this is the kind of socialising I should do more often

Today I went a wee look round the charity shops and bought 5 tops for £15.50 really pleased with this as they are all good quality tops which will hopefully last a while. I also spent £3.50 on socks from Pr*mark. I have decided to keep the rest of my £50 clothes budget and buy a pair of jeans from N*xt. I find N*xt jeans fit my figure really well and last ages. The ones that I bought from Pr*mark around 6 months ago, well I've already had to chuck one pair out and the other pair I don't really like so have decided to go back to N*xt jeans.

I have paid the TV licence today (£5.50), made a wee 50p payment to cc1 and spent £4.86 in the supermarket on the way home. Had a discussion with OH last night so we have decided to try a new food budget. This week we are going to budget £60 for food and buy plenty of meat, rice, noodles etc so that each week we only have to buy fresh stuff. This is the plan anyway, will see how it goes.

So budget for weekly wage tomorrow - £156.98
- £60 for food
- £46 to wedding/electricity fund
- 98p to cc1
- £40 put aside for direct debits later on in the month
- £10 for anything else that comes up

misstara

Payday today so this morning I transferred the £46 to wedding/electricity fund and made a 98p payment to cc1. I was then able to transfer another £2 to the fund and 72p payment to cc1 after going food shopping with OH.

We spent £57.28 in A*di which is a lot of food (also stocked up on toilet roll, washing powder etc so hopefully won't need to get those any time soon). I'll probably need to buy some bread and milk after the weekend but that should be it. Will see how it goes but am (cautiously) hopeful that this might be the way to go as the cupboards and freezer now have plenty of food in them and we should only really need fruit and veg next week (fingers crossed anyway).

The rent and christmas savings direct debits went out this morning. I suddenly remembered yesterday evening that I hadn't upped the standing order for the rent so quickly sorted it.

I spent £5 on a battery for the smoke alarm as it started beeping away last night. I also spent £2.49 on some new tea/coffee/sugar canisters for the kitchen. Seems to have been a super spendy day today but it's just because I'm not used to spending that much money in a supermarket in one go! I'll go and pay the council tax tomorrow and then aiming for a few NSDs after that.

I've been to the gym yesterday and today and am going to go tomorrow morning as well. My plan for this week is to try and go Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. I managed to resist the lure of any biscuits/sweets/chocolate in A*di earlier so pleased about that although a 4 pack of pear cider managed to sneak into the trolley so I guess that's my treat for the week

giblet1979

Sneaky pear cider x

misstara

giblet1979 wrote: »

Sneaky pear cider x

I know Had one last night (yeah rock and roll Friday night ) and it was lovely.

OH is working a long shift today and I'm really enjoying having the flat to myself. It sounds awful to say but because he tends to work short shifts (and usually when I'm at work anyway) he's always in the flat when I am so it's nice to get some peace and quiet

The electricity bill came in today and it was £133.35 can't believe it was so low. Obviously my moaning at OH to turn lights off and appliances off at the wall has paid off :rotfl: I transferred £134 over from the fund and paid it today. This is the first time EVER I've paid it the day the bill was generated with my own money :j so really pleased with this.

I paid the 65p to cc1 and also paid my £5 reward from my bank account to cc1 because the electricity bill was lower than expected. After the wedding, I will then start putting money away for the next electricity bill due at the start of November.

I've been to the gym this morning and also done a little bit of cleaning. Plan for the rest of today is to do a little more cleaning and then get organised for work. I'll nip past the shop on the way to work to pay the council tax.

giblet1979

Ooh....brilliant news all round. What great progress. That must have been nice just paying it all off like that And straight on to the overpayments to. Love your focus!

Your Friday sounds very rock and roll actually. I had sausage and mash, a cup of tea, and was in bed by half ten x