Mini meltdown and light bulb moment

AleMrsT

So its been a few days since I've posted and nearly 2 weeks since I did a full update!

So much for trying to check in more frequently.

So we had our week off last week, we went to the hotel that was already paid for, then went to the cinema and used some Tesco vouchers for a meal out. Then we decided to visit the in laws so we booked a hotel room at the local travelodge for £60 and stayed for just one night. It was nice to see the in laws and was also nice to stay in the hotel as opposed to the spare room, although we wont be able to afford to do that every time we go and see them.

The rest of the week off and weekend was low key, we didnt leave the house apart from a trip to Tesco on Sunday afternoon!

We have over spent the last couple of weeks with being away and the unexpected and unbudgeted trip up north, so I did a meal plan to take us up to payday on Tuesday, raided the cupboards and wrote a minimal shopping list, we had £25 spare and the shopping came in under budget at £22 and we have meals and food up until pay day on Tuesday.

This week has been a quiet week, both back at work. Friday OH had worked 7 - 3 then had to go back to work at 6.30 to interview an applicant for a job vacancy, and yesterday he called me after work and said he had to run an errand, he needed to drop a colleague off at a presentation event as the boss had forgot to pick her up, a 120 mile round trip!!! :mad: He said I could go along to save me sitting at home alone, so we drove up and dropped her off. When we arrived, one of the managers told us to head to a restaurant for dinner and work would reimburse us, so we went to a really nice restaurant and had some food before heading back home. It was £40 but we had to put it on the CC as we have no spare money in either of our own accounts or the bills account, when work pays him back it will go straight off the CC, as will the petrol reimbursement.

Its niece 2's birthday party today so I'm off there this afternoon, I hope OH manages to get out of work on time today so he can still join us at the party later on this afternoon, I'll be really annoyed if they make him stay late again, I've hardly seen him since being back at work on Monday. After we got back yesterday afternoon he got a call from the front desk asking him how to fix something, so he had to nip back to work. After starting his shift at 7am, then driving for 2 and a half hours, he then spent another hour at work and eventually got home at 9 and went straight to bed.

He is getting seriously fed up with it all so he's seen another job to apply for, it sounds great and is a £3000 pay increase, with more regular hours so fingers crossed for that!

Once his cheque clears for the PPI and he gets his bonus on pay day, the holiday balance will be cleared.

We have discussed upgrading the hotel room, but I have decided I'd rather use it towards a deposit for a holiday in 2019 or a small break later on in the year next year, I think we'll get the most out if it doing that. Obviously its OH's money so it is entirely up to him. We should really put the money towards the debts, but every year for 4 years he has paid his work bonus off his credit card and we're still back to square one with it. Rightly or wrongly, I think he'd rather use it for 'something' for us, but we'll see how that pans out.

I had confirmation that my updated DMP budget and new payment proposal has been sent to the creditors, it means that my DMP balances and new payments are as follows:

Balances

Loan £497.56
Overdraft £661.27
N CC £1873.77
H CC £1522.66

Current payments New Payments

Loan £39.50 £46.64
Overdraft £12.46 £14.71
N CC £16.93 £19.99
H CC £14.11 £16.66

Total £83 £98

It means my loan will be paid off in September 2018, and the full amount will be cleared in September 2021. I will have to look back at my earlier posts to see what the original DFD was!!

I'm quite happy with how things are plodding along with my DMP, its so reassuring to see two of the balances being in the hundreds of pounds rather than the thousands. I'm going to go back and see what the original balances were and work out how much I've paid off. It won't be an amazing amount but its the least debt I have personally owed in a long time.

I just wish it was easier to manage the other CC's etc that are in OH's name.

Off to quickly clean and tidy the house before getting ready for my nieces party later on, no ironing today as I did that yesterday afternoon! :T

AleMrsT

Payday today, at last. We got our pay slips early this month as the lady in accounts has been on holiday so it feels like it's taken ages to get to pay day, especially as we overspent and have had to scrimp for the last week or so.

Wages in £1251.54

I've paid £800 to the joint bills account
£20 to other half as he transferred that to me last week to cover a DD that was due to come out
I've added £4 to the emergency fund
And £2.32 to the Christmas 2018 savings.

I have £430 to last me the month, but I have £98 to go to Stepchange, £7.81 for the house insurance, £25 for my pension and £16 for a bus ticket.

In other news, the OH has paid the holiday balance off!! :T so he has £600 left from his bonus and PPI payout to pay towards CC1. Things are looking up this month!

AleMrsT

So far the remainder of OH's bonus has paid for a new duvet for our bed, which was much needed and has made going to bed seem like a heavenly experience! I'd have never thought spending £85:eek: on a duvet as a justifiable expense but after the best, cosiest nights sleep I've had in ages, I definitely think it is!!

I've also sorted and paid for the travel insurance this week, it was £50.20 for a single trip cover. I know thats expensive but I have to have a policy that covers my pre-existing condition, and its rare and complicated, so I checked and double checked the policy and spent more money on a policy with better cover. Better to be safe than sorry, I'd rather have paid £50 and not need it than only paid £20 and not be fully covered!

At least its all done and paid for, just holiday clothes to budget for and a small bit of spending money, but we have another 6 months to go yet!

I have treated myself to some new fleecy snuggly pyjamas and some new slippers today in piemark, I spent £23 in total as I also got a new cardigan and top for work.

Need to try and finish off the christmas shopping this month, I have a couple more gifts to get but want to be organised and plan ahead before I shop this year as I hate rushing around in December and it worked quite well getting most of it from AMazon last year.

Still doing surveys on qmee and prolific, nearly at £10 on qmee so when that cashes out I'll put it towards my amazon balance for christmas spends.

AleMrsT

Had a nice weekend, on Saturday we had a lie in then went to see Thor at the cinema, we got into town too late to be able to get food beforehand (my fault as I was on facebook instead of getting ready) so we spent £10 in a restaurant on two drinks (the drinks were only £2 each but because we had sat down as if to eat then realised we were short on time, OH just gave the bar man a £10 note for the drinks and having to set up a table that they didnt need to set up. I was annoyed that he didnt wait for the change!!) Then we spent £21 on expensive cinema snacks as we hadnt eaten. Ouch!

We then planned to stop for food on the way home instead, but we didnt, we just had pasta when we got home so we at least we saved some money there.

In the evening OH went to a wedding reception for a colleague and I went to the local firework display with my friends, I spent £7 on the entry fee and £2.50 on a hot chocolate. I hate fireworks so I'm not really sure why I went along in hindsight, but it was nice to see my friends.

On Sunday OH was at work so a family friend who I've known for a long time came over, she bought some hair dye with her and we spent the morning sorting each others hair colour out. She buys salon dye from ebay but cant put it on properly herself so we decided to do each others. She bought all the dye etc so it didnt cost me anything at all and I now have freshly dyed hair.

I have said I'll buy the next batch of hair colour on ebay and we'll both save money by taking it in turns to buy the dye.

Had a lovely morning catching up and it didnt cost a penny. Then in the evening when OH got home from work, I stuck to the meal plan and made stir fry and we then spent the evening just catching up on TV shows that we are behind on.

I have bought some more christmas presents today so going to update my shopping budget in my signature shortly, spent £16.99 on a clutch bag that mum mentioned she liked the look of, and used the amazon voucher that I got from topcashback to get niece 2's presents, so her gifts have cost me £3.23 of actual money, but monetry value she's had the same as niece 1.

OH and I have set a £30 budget this year, we havent done this in the past and last year we over spent which was totally unneccesary. I'll get him a T shirt that he's been after which is £17 then will see what else I can get him with the remaining £13.

I've been on the phone with my sister discussing our grandparents, we have decided that we are going to do them a personalised hamper between us, we have costed it and it will cost around £50 for all of the things we want to include, so £25 each which is fine as it is for both grandparents and I had planned £20 per grandparent, but this way they actually get more items and its more personal. - The £50 includes the cost of the hamper basket etc.

Then its just dad to sort out, he's so hard to buy for! I usually end up totally overspending on him as I never know what to get so I just panic buy. One year I bought him a toilet roll that had puzzles on the sheets of paper, it was about £6 for 1 roll of toilet paper! :eek::rotfl: I still have quite a bit of money left in my bank so hoping to transfer some to the nieces savings accounts and top up the emergency fund and christmas 2018 savings.

I'm still using qmee and prolific academy, my aim for November is to get to £10 in qmee, £1.45 to go! :T I find I get declined from a lot of them and with the payout only being 50p at most, it is taking a long time to build up but every penny counts.

AleMrsT

I've now ordered OH's T shirt so added £17.10 to the christmas budget spends on my signature.

I've also rounded up the savings accounts.

AleMrsT

Haven't posted in a few days. I've transferred another £3 to the christmas 2018 savings so thats up to £10 now, I've booked a dentist check up so have moved £25 out of my current account to an empty savings account that I use to stash money that I have budgeted for things later in the month, this will be used next week.

We have £600 left in the joint bills account so that should last for 2 food shops, a petrol top up and the car finance payment, hopefully they'll be some left over to transfer to OH's CC1, once his PPI payment clears this will be used to clear his overdraft due to the changes in overdraft charges.

I really want to try and stop OH relying on his overdraft and learning to budget his money, but without instant access to his account, it is impossible to do!

Still working on Qmee, I want to get to £10 by the end of month, I'm currently at £9.32 as I hardly ever get to complete surveys so I think aiming for £10 is doable. I still dont think its worth the effort, it will have taken me 2 months to achieve £10! Although I do the surveys mainly on my lunch break or whilst I'm having breakfast before work, so its not taking too much time in the grand scheme of things, and its time I spend looking at my phone anyway, I might as well be making a few pence!

Off to get ready shortly, supposed to be going out with my friends tonight but not really feeling up to it as I'm having issues with my ear, hopefully it will improve later and I wont feel as dizzy.

AleMrsT

Just a quick post before I'm off out with my mum. I'm up to £13.51 in my Qmee account now :j I emailed them to complain that a few of the surveys I did had errors at the end so I never got the rewards despite completing the survey, and they replied and added the missed amounts on for 2 surveys, and I've just spent a couple of hours doing some more on the PC rather than my phone and I've smashed my £10 by the end of November target! Going to see if I can get to £15 by the end of the month now.

I also have £5.85 with 15p pending in prolific and I signed up to opinion outpost today so have 80 points there.

Not sure how quickly I can build up the rest but going to just save up as much of the points/money as possible and cash it out for a specific item when I see something I want. Maybe use it for a dress for a party I'm going to in February next year.

AleMrsT

AleMrsT wrote: »

Not sure how quickly I can build up the rest but going to just save up as much of the points/money as possible and cash it out for a specific item when I see something I want. Maybe use it for a dress for a party I'm going to in February next year.

After reading Monz's diary I think I'm going to put any surveys money/vouchers into 2018 christmas savings pot instead, which seems much more sensible than just using it to treat myself on stuff I don't need.

AleMrsT

I forgot to post the other day that I paid the £59 balance for the event that I'm going to in February, so my bank balance is now at £64.62.

The only thing that is due to come out is £25 for my pension payment on 30th but I get paid that day anyway. I think I might need a bus ticket top up and I have hospital next week. There is enough in the bills account for a top up shop and to fill the car up, so I should be able to use the rest for the remaining christmas presents.

I've just moved the £25 across that I moved to savings for my dentist check up tomorrow.

Also back on track with the dieting again, I feel like I'm doing ok recently and am managing both things quite well.

OH took himself off to bed for an early night as he's not feeling well so I've just been catching up on diaries and pottering around online. I'm also going to head off to bed shortly as I've been really tired today.

AleMrsT

Well, lots of unnecessary spends this weekend, leaving the week and a half to pay day very tight! Slap on the wrist for me.

Dentist on Friday was £20.60 standard NHS fee. I now realise that the years I've been going to the other dentist has not been NHS charges, I've been paying private fees without anyone ever telling me that I'm no longer an NHS patient, as I used to have to pay an extra £26 for a scale and polish on top of the £25 check up fee, whereas on Friday she did a scale and polish at the check up! So glad I switched.

Saturday
£5.98 for 2 christmas tree decorations (for each of my nieces)
£6.94 met up with my friends and went for pudding, it was worth every penny!

Sunday
£3.99 for new batteries for the scales, I went to do my first weigh in on Sunday and the battery was dead! I thought I'd broken them :rotfl:
£6.13 for two magazines, a puzzle book and a chocolate bar for my grandma who is ill with a chest infection and is fed up stuck at home

Today
£6.57 for the toiletries that I needed, deodorant, washing up liquid, talcum powder, toothpaste

Leaving me with £39.41 until payday next Thursday :eek:

I need a £16 bus ticket top up and I have £25 direct debit for my pension but that comes out on 30th so should come out on payday

Eeek.

No more spending for a couple of weeks now!

Just got a few more christmas presents to get and I know what I need, although there will be little to no bonus this month as last month was so quiet, so I need to plan plan plan and not buy more than necessary!

I'm thinking I may have to use my survey money (£14.88 qmee, £5.85 prolific) and what is in the Christmas fund (£10) to finish off this year, then start again for 2018 on boxing day.

It just shows how reliant I have become on my monthly bonus payment, need to reign in the ad hoc spends and keep better track.