A new debt free journey

lcc86

Survived the weekend with my allowance in tact :beer: and all of my direct debits have gone through this morning so I've updated my signature to reflect where I am now.

No plans this week for anything spendy until potentially the weekend. No plans yet for the weekend but that may change, I'm unsure. If not, that's more money in the kitty :T

I also signed up for a 10k run in September, looking forward to another challenge and great motivation to stay on top of my fitness!

I need to buy a bottle of champagne for a relative's birthday, I've seen some half price in tesco and have a £4.50 voucher so am taking a very MSE approach to it hehe.

Must get off to work, busy day ahead. Happy MSEing everyone :money:

lcc86

It's been a really busy week at work, but a really good week in general. Had some great feedback as part of my appraisal process, and my visits with clients were all great. I know this job didn't work out for me and I am now leaving, but at least I am leaving on a more positive note.

I didn't spend any of my £10 unallocated budget last week, so rolled it over to this week instead. I'm having coffee with a friend today, and another friend tomorrow, so that pretty much covers that cost completely. I did have to buy a cream for a rash at £3.50 but when needs must and all that...

My OH has gone on holiday this morning with friends so am on my own for a while :rotfl: just me and the guinea pigs lol. On the plus side, it means I get to indulge myself and do what I want around the house without feeling guilty lol.

Next week I am finally starting one of my zero hours jobs, it's only three hours but it's extra money that I can put towards my debt eventually. I'm also volunteering one day after work and am going to a meditation session one evening as well, something I've never done before but am desperate to try.

I have a million and one chores to be getting on with today before I meet my friend so better get cracking. For the most part I feel on top of my finances this month. I've got enough money after all my bills have gone through to enjoy myself and have also put some money aside for my car insurance. The only area I may have miscalculated is in my food budget. I'm trying to be much healthier, so instead of buying crisps and chocolate as snack I've bought nuts and fruit. And I've cut out chips and similar things as sides for my dinner and have been getting stuck into mountains of salad instead. While this is great for my health no doubt, it's not so great for the budget but I should be able to scrape by this month. I will make sure to allocate a little extra to food from now on as I enjoy eating better food and feel better for it. Anyway, off to do my chores!

kittycatfan

Hi just wanted to say well done on the jobs , i have read your whole diary and your deffo sounding much happier and positive lately i hope you enjoy your new main job in july

lcc86

Thanks kittycatfan, I definitely feel much more positive recently. This forum has been a huge help, not only for giving me an outlet to share with like minded people, but also it's made me realise I'm not alone and I can make mistakes as I'm only human!

supersaver1000

Just poppin in to say hi. Had a whistle-stop tour of your thread, wow I'm exhausted just reading it, you have had a lot on your plate. So pleased you have your new job and wishing you the best of luck. I gave up two lovely part-time jobs and ended up in a carp job, which was my wake up call. However I'm hoping it will all come good in the end, as it will for you I'm sure. :T. Very best of luck on your journey.

I took about a 35% salary cut last year to save my sanity and had to really take care of the pennies. Then just as things turned around DH was made redundant. However that 'training' last year has made us both really appreciate our hard earned cash and we both feel better than ever about money. I don't know where it's all going to end, but although it's good to have a long term goal, Ive found it best to focus on the short term wins - I think your signature says something about slowly but surely. :T

I'm fascinated to find out if you learned the ukulele or if you kondoed it to preloved and paid it off your debt. Also did you get your emergency tax back from your second job?

Sorry to hear that you gave up your studies. I did the same when I was partway through a professional course then never got back on the study wagon until it was too late. I tried to convert it to a degree but didn't want the expense and couldn't spare the time. More than 10 years later I'm doing a top up degree now for a final year costing less than £3k and funded by a student loan, although my new employer may part-fund it plus support further study. When the time is right it will come good.

If you want any second hand furniture ideas try the shabby chic thread, although I appreciate in a small apartment you need things that fit just so. We are in a country cottage so eclectic is great and has saved us a fortune.

Have subscribed, so hope to hear all about your new job. You'll be great. :T

lcc86

It's always the way supersaver1000, life will throw something at us when we least expect it! I 100% agree with you about saving your sanity, I've felt this way recently too. Life is good at reminding us that we need to prioritise those people, hobbies and things we love!

Ukulele wise, I have to confess that that has fallen by the wayside I got as far as buying new strings and fitting them, but haven't gone any further!! I will keep it as it was a holiday souvenir, it's beautifully made and I WILL do it one day!! Plus it doesn't take up much room, I hang it off a wall

Furniture wise, after my kondoing I think I'm pretty much set in that respect. I don't necessarily need anything else, so I just have to keep myself in check and not get tempted to buy stuff for the sake of it!

Thanks for the good wishes for the new job, I'm starting to get excited. It will undoubtedly be difficult but I'm relishing the challenge, and the balance it's going to bring. Hopefully we can motivate each other moving forwards, we have similar-ish debt free dates

lcc86

Okay so at the end of the weekend I'm still well within budget. My friend cancelled our lunch date as she's not been well recently, so I spent my time working out instead feel better for it although very achey lol.

Got a busyish week ahead, but not particularly spendy. Need to buy some salad and yogurts tomorrow but no other spends planned really for the week, with the exception of vegetables for my piggies, but this comes out of their own budget so no worries there.

Managed to get all of my chores done this weekend which has helped keep my anxiety down, as I know I freak out unnecessarily if I feel jobs piling up.

On the money side, I was given £7.53 by music magpie recently so paid that off my card. I'm still waiting for about £50 worth of expenses from my volunteering post. That will go straight towards my debt too when it eventually comes in. I think that's the only overpaying I'll realistically be able to do this month, but I'm not too worried as next month I can really start making some inroads :T

supersaver1000

Sounds good lcc.

lcc86

Very quiet day at work today. I was just in the process of updating my budget spreadsheet, checking my bank account and reconciling my goodbudget app when I remembered I got a parking ticket on Saturday morning!!

Essentially outside my house is a small strip of private property, where I'm allowed to park. Then adjacent to that is further private property where you must have a permit to park. I was in my side and a new ticket guy came along and gave me a ticket! So have just had to appeal it and sent them pictures of the plans of the land which shows where the boundary is etc. So annoying because I know what this company are like, they claim on their website to be reputable but I know they're not as I've seen them waiting for people who make mistakes and park there, and instead of warning them they just ticket them once they've walked off. Even more annoying that they ticketed me when I wasn't even on their land!!! :mad:

So anyway, now I have to wait for their response, which I'm sure will be a standard rejection, but no way am I paying something when they were in the wrong, I'll happily go to court to defend myself.

Anyway, should probably get back to work. I'm struggling to fill my day as I've kept on top of stuff but now that I'm winding down and closing cases getting ready to leave, I don't have as much to do. Still, could be worse, I could be snowed under and panicking! :rotfl:

My good deed for the day was registering to become a blood donor and booking an appointment. Eek!

lcc86

Nearly had a big mess up in the last 24 hours. I've been wanting to try something new with my hair for a while, and thought I'd "treat" myself before my leaving do in a couple of weeks time. So I booked a cut and colour with a salon for £90!!! :eek:

LUCKILY I came to my senses last night and thought what the heck am I doing, I don't have the money for this!!! So am going to make up an excuse and cancel it. I'm so glad I caught myself before I did something stupid as I would've paid on my credit card, and that's the dumbest thing I could've done. I've still got my card for emergencies as I can't build up my emergency fund properly for a few months, but a hair cut is MOST DEFINITELY NOT an emergency!! :mad:

Anyway, on another note, I worked for 3 hours last night so have earned myself some extra money which I think I'll receive at the end of July. And that will be going to the debt not to silly hair cuts lol :rotfl: