Mini meltdown and light bulb moment

AleMrsT

Wow I've not posted in so long, I'm so rubbish! I've just updated my signature with my new totals, Ive paid off nearly £2000 of my debt which I'm so happy about! End of January and we're really struggling this month, January is the worse! 3 days to pay day and I've spent the evening contacting people who owe me money and chasing them up. One has paid straight away (yay) the other said she'd do it the other day and has now apologised that she forgot and said she'd do it now (an hour ago) so hopefully that will be received soon too.

We now have £0 savings as we used them for Christmas and January birthdays, but hopefully I can start to build this back up again, it was so handy having a small pot of money set aside for Christmas presents.

In other news, the new job is going really well. I feel a lot happier and less stressed, its the best decision I've made. Less hours for the same money and a lot less stress, I just wish it hadnt taken me so long to find something but it all worked out for the best in the end.

My husband has agreed that we should book a holiday! He decided this after we watched 'How to be Single' and she just follows her dream and visits the grand canyon at the end of the film. He's said that if we try and save up we'll be saving forever, we'll never end up going and will always regret it, and seeing as we didnt have a honeymoon we should book a dream holiday for our 5th anniversary next year I'm so excited! We haven't decided what to do or where to go yet, but we want to get something booked sooner rather than later so that we can start paying it off.

I'm off to catch up on diaries, I must have missed loads of stuff because its been so long since I've been here!

AleMrsT

So when I changed jobs I went in to the bank to change the date of my standing orders because my pay date has changed, and its not been updated correctly (I don't know whether it is the banks fault or my fault), so my standing order to our joint bills account went out today but I don't get paid until tomorrow so I am currently £500 overdrawn!:eek: I don't have an overdraft facility on my account as it is a basic account, so I went to the bank today to see if they could cancel the transfer but because its a standing order she said she cant so the payment is going to bounce and I'll incur an £8 charge. She was really helpful though and has now changed the standing order to the correct date (last working day of the month which I'm sure is what I asked it to be moved to previously) and when I get my bank statement through with the charge on I can take it in to the branch and the branch staff will be able to refund the charge.

It did mean that the money I've had back from my SIL and friend has completely gone now, and luckily I had some change in my purse so I was able to get the bus to and from work and buy some lunch. I usually always take lunch to work but didnt today because we have no sandwich filler so I planned to buy it with the money I'd had back from SIL. Luckily I had enough money to get a £1 sandwich from boots and a cheap packet of crisps and chocolate bar from the post office next to work. I'm hoping OH can take me in to work tomorrow as I now have no change left for bus fare and nothing in my account to top up my travel card before tomorrow.

Its made me realise though how much progress I have actually made since my LBM. I used to be scraping by like this every single week, with bank charges and being overdrawn, Its so stressful.

AleMrsT

A small update as there is not much going on with debt repayments at the moment, its just slowly getting paid off. The Halifax credit card has now been sold to Lowell so stepchange have transferred the payments across to them, the outstanding balance is less than I thought though which is good.

We have a busy week next week, we're off on a Haven holiday with my sister, BIL and two nieces, then we have a concert and a comedy show the weekend that we get back so we're staying in a hotel for two nights in the city. I've booked the monday off work so I can catch up on the washing and sleep!

There is quite a lot booked in for the rest of the year too, I'm going to see Craig David with my SIL in April, our wedding anniversary in May (we havent booked anything yet), a hen do at the end of May, another gig in June and then in November we are seeing Lady Gaga! It was quite expensive but we probably wont get chance to see her again so it will be a once in a lifetime thing for us. I just hope she focuses on her old stuff as I really dont think the latest albums are great!

Mum and dad have given us some money for our holiday spending money so this has helped us out, although I have been putting little bits aside for it anyway.

Going to update my signature and catch up on diaries, I havent been on for a while so cant wait to see how everyone is getting on!

AleMrsT

Well today was my first 'normal' Wednesday off in a while, the past few weeks I've spent my Wednesdays at a hospital, on holiday or at work, so it was nice to have a long lie in with OH and catch up on our TV shows, then this afternoon my mum popped in for a cup of tea and I'd just set up the ironing board so she did some of the ironing for me whilst I cleaned the flat. Then I've spent time reading my book on the sofa, its been so lovely.

Its been a busy few weeks so its good to be back to normality, I've had a great time with the little holiday, our time in the city seeing the two shows then last weekend having SIL stay with us as we went to see Craig David.

On the money front everything is plodding along as normal, so I'm happy. The payments carry on going out, the balances keep going down so nothing to report. The one thing that is getting me down recently is my weight that keeps creeping up and up and up as I'm just lazy and like eating. I desperately want to get healthier and get back into exercising but I cant seem to stay motivated and I keep making excuses. I know what I need to be doing but I genuinely cant be bothered! Although at the same time, I'm horrified that I'm the biggest and unhealthiest I have ever been in my life. I need a big boot up the bum to get me into gear!

lucielle

I feel for you re weight loss. I need to get in the zone as well.
L

AleMrsT

I downloaded the Transform app onto my phone, its by Chris and Heidi Powell, I'm so tempted to pay for the 3 month 'plan' to try and get fully on board with it all. My mum has been doing slimming world and shes done really well on it, I just couldnt get my head around the diet as unlimited pasta and potatoes seems counter productive to me. I have all 3 body coach books and love the recipes so I might dig them out and create my own 90 day plan. I just find it expensive keeping the fridge stocked with all of the ingredients he uses!

CocteauTwin

Enjoying the Debt Diary but want to make an 'already realised' point. If you are in a partnership then they HAVE to be part of the plan. For every pound you save they will spend and you may feel less inspired to continue. Sit them down and TELL THEM!
You will most probably be surprised. Frame it like a game or competition. Who can live of the least for less? Otherwise if you carry this weight alone it may increase stresses.

Good luck though ;-)

AleMrsT

CocteauTwin wrote: »

Enjoying the Debt Diary but want to make an 'already realised' point. If you are in a partnership then they HAVE to be part of the plan. For every pound you save they will spend and you may feel less inspired to continue. Sit them down and TELL THEM!
You will most probably be surprised. Frame it like a game or competition. Who can live of the least for less? Otherwise if you carry this weight alone it may increase stresses.

Good luck though ;-)

Thanks for stopping by Cocteau, I'm a bit confused by your comment though but its nice to see people are still reading.

AleMrsT

We have booked our holiday for our anniversary/belated Honeymoon for May next year :j:j I'm so excited! 11 nights all inclusive in Italy. :T We have until 5th February 2018 to pay off the balance, OH paid the deposit on his CC. We probably cant really afford it but it works out at £85 a month to pay off for each of us. I'll be able to pay it with my monthly bonus that we now get, last month was the first time I got the bonus and it was £100, the lowest it would be is £20 and then upto £200 on really good months. Its just going to be a struggle paying OH's credit cards as well as the holiday, but I'm going to see if we can get another 0% deal to transfer the balance to again so that we're not paying interest.

In the meantime, I have 12 months to lose 2.5 stone! Booking the holiday has given me the motivation I needed to seriously do something about how lazy I have got, and looking back at my wedding photos has given me a goal.

I'm going to change up my signature and take out the individual balances from my stepchange debts, and add the holiday payment and weightloss targets instead, and try and post here to keep me accountable. I know this isnt a weightloss page, but as the two things are connected I think it will help to keep me on track and focused!

My friends have told me to email the hotel and tell them that the holiday is our honeymoon as they sometimes upgrade the room! I doubt we could wangle that as it will be our 5th wedding anniversary so it seems cheeky to say 'its our honeymoon' even though it technically is! :rotfl:

AleMrsT

Little bank holiday update! I have joined a gym (£99 for a whole years membership, including classes so it was super cheap!) I'm hoping it will keep me on track as my colleague also joined so hopefully we'll be able to go together. Looking forward to getting in there tomorrow! Since last week I have lost 2lbs, and today I have paid £53.44 off the holiday balance to round it off to £1500 left to pay. I have also moved some money into my savings account to cover the hen do at the end of the month. If I dont spend it all I will pay it off the holiday. I've been out this afternoon with my mum and my niece, now home to read a few chapters of my book whilst hubby is asleep after a night shift last night.