The big NSTurtle March to sea!

The_Only_Girl

Hello, it's been an interesting month, my first month here on MSE, and what a journey!

Just totted the budget for March and I am pleased to declare a savings of £374. Now deciding whether to put that amount towards a savings account/emergency funds or put towards last debt (Halifax cc). Paid £100 last night to said account and will pay further £1000 tomorrow to reduce it to £1122.05 plus any additional interest that my beloved creditor will add on to it. The end is getting nearer and nearer in sight.

Managed to achieve 9 of my target 10 NSD's and took LTW most days (sorry didn't count).

Been out of the loop during the last week because I had a lot on my plate with working on shifts, having family friends over last weekend (made me fall off the diet wagon completely) and made us spend a little bit more than normal (savings would have been over £400 but hey ho friends make our lives and our journey colourful so a little spend is necessary sometimes as long as it is not on a daily basis.). My dad's sister who is also my godmother died last Friday and made me go off the rails even further with my diet. She had a heart attack whilst having a dialysis and succumbed to it 3 days later. She lived abroad so grieving felt a little bit strange and somewhat detached but I feel so sad to lose such a kind, warm, loving person such as my aunt.

Had an interesting car boot find last Sunday. Bought a slightly used Next jacket for £1 which I thought was a very good deal (bought another item, originally priced at £1, for only 50p) and when I got home to admire the goods, a silver watch fell out of the pocket. It's not a branded watch and it needs a battery but it's almost as if I got the jacket for free. It reminds me of a winter jacket I got for my husband for £4 at a cat boot 2 years ago. My husband loved it and even better, when he inspected one of the secret pockets, he found a £20 note. Is this considered wombling bobarella?

Synonymous

Hi everyone, hope you're all good!

I've been absent for a looong time, although I've read everything, and most people will be on the new thread now, but thought I better wind up this one first with a last check-in (I haven't looked at the new thread yet, but thanks fmess!)

I got a bit snowed under with work and deadlines and stopped tracking my finances (seems lots of us went off the rails this month!). I had to track back through my bank statements to see what I've spent in total although the cash withdrawals I haven't tried to account for! I did still come in under budget, with two weekends visiting friends and my parents over for Mother's day so pleased with that.

I've definitely brought lunch to work every day and I drove once when I was going straight to my friend's after on the other side of town. Otherwise was total cycling to work and between things in the day, including in high winds and hail earlier this week!

The one day I used my car for a short journey, someone drove straight into the back of it whilst it was parked at the roadside. Came out to it a few hours later totally crushed at the back, window smashed, and a note on the windshield - shocked was not the word! So now I have a courtesy car I probably wont use (but just in case :rotfl:) and they have accepted blame and the car isn't a write-off, so should be fixed in the next few weeks.

After months of research and dithering, I finally pulled the trigger and opened a stocks and shares ISA before the end of the tax year and started passive investing. It's a very small start, but in 15 years time it should give me a bit more financial freedom. I know if you're debt-busting then investing is not on the agenda, but I'm mentioning it because once the debt and the emergency fund is covered, it's worth considering and it's something that I wish had been put on my radar a few years ago. (reading MMM got me to this stage, I think I'm up to April 2013!)

Thanks everyone for your support and motivation, I'm back on track for April and looking forward to seeing what the first challenge is. Hope everyone enjoys the long weekend, congrats on all the successes in the last few weeks and hugs to those feeling down or receiving bad news.

See you on the other side xx