STOPPING robbing Peter to pay Paul...my journey...

kindofagilr

Hey, hope you are ok hun xx

blubella

Oh dear...I have been AWOL for sometime but really need to get back to posting before I end up adopting bad habits and returning to the dark side! Thank you kindofagilr for being concerned...I momentarrily lapsed and took my eye off of the ball..

Story upto date: I have managed to remortgage and increase the mortgage to pay my parents the £4300 owed on my car, it also cost me around £800 for MOT, service, insurance etc and I also paid some lump sums on the DEBT cards. I have approx £12,000 left which I put into a savings account as I felt I could make some interest on the money while the creditcard is on a 0% and I soooo want to complete my kitchen!

Life has improved financially with an increase in earnings, switching to full time hours and a lodger moving in...this is the problem, as I have started to spend a bit more here and there...

BF is skint as he pays his ex £1000 a month and continues to live at his parents during the week and mine at weekends (he refuses to sort his financial agreement out with his ex at this stage)...he has no budgeting skills whatsoever which is a bit of a concern. He says he is not materialistic but appears to spend money like water on what he wants to buy, that confuses me...surely that is materialism? I'm sure he thinks I am stingy but I am starting to notice that our weekends have become more expensive and as he does this bloody fasting all week, then completely binges at the weekend!

I guess as I have been there once...no more than once and am still dealing with the aftermath, I just don't want to end up on my a**e again, so felt it time to get back to my diary and some money making ways to keep me on track.

I will be back...

blubella

Trying to execute good habits in regard to YNAB, it is quite time consuming but really useful if eveything has been meticulously entered and is all correct. It's those little errors and trying to balance everything that get me completely frustrated :mad:. I can't keep count of the times I have re-started from scratch!

An extra payment has gone on DEBT card which apparently shouldn't have gone out..was a little concerned as in the process of switching accounts and was advised to make a payment at the bank to avoid missing a payment! Hey ho...two payments..which will mean I have to budget even harder until the end of the month.

Off to a festival in 2 weeks, other halfs kids coming so we are going to try and budget and take as much as we can ourselves..always a concern the extortionate prices for a tray of noodles!

kindofagilr

Great to see you back

And well done on the extra earnings and the lodger

It's a shame the BF seems to be not interested in sorting his money out I hope he changes his mindset soon?

The festival sounds good though xx

blubella

Wow, what a beautiful day yesterday, the sun shining, not a cloud in the sky. We decided to chill at home rather than go off camping...

So love our little wild camping expeditions. Finding a beautiful spot on Dartmoor or the Brecons, camp fire, barbecue and lying out under the stars. Mind you, they have not all been that idylic...fog so thick you can't see 10m in front, sharing a spot with the cows....and i am a mahoosive cow phobe. Would have been perfect this weekend but we opted to save a few pennies and lounge at home after getting a few provisions.

Having said that..I had a really productive day (with a little lounging, nose in a book, glass of wine)..Four loads of washing completed, cut in all the paintwork on the garage, just need to purchase a roller to complete it now.

Also, trimmed the hedge and cut the grass and a bit of weeding. The veg patch looks amazing, although something has gone badly wrong with all of my tomatoes..so annoying...have had to pull all of the plants and have saved as many of the unaffected tomatoes as possible. Green tomato chutney it is!! Never tried it before, doesn't sound particularly appetising but I will save judgement..promise.

Went to freezer the other night, thought i'd get a shift on with the sloe gin so defrosted the sloes ....ooops BF's Dad had substituted sloes with blackcurrants!! I think i'm going to attempt a cordial! Wish me luck.

Have a good day, hope the sun is going to shine today! One can hope...

blubella

Another great day yesterday...remember waking up thinking it was Monday morning and BF had overslept for his shift...such a nice surprise when I realised it was still the weekend....yay . I think slowing down a bit has actually helped me relax a bit more..I can't ususally stand to sit still, feel I should always be doing something or going somewhere to make the most of my free time...

Was a little more windy yesterday with lovely bursts of sunshine.. managed to complete the garage painting job (apart from neighbours side..) Also made four large jars of green tomato chutney yay...hope they are nice...need to wait a good few months to find out...the last batch of plum chutney was delish, when it finally mellowed..which was about 6 months down the line!!

I need to conquer jam making now....that was a complete disaster last year..I burnt it and it set like concrete in the jar...ooops BF sait it would be good for flavouring food, I think he was just being nice!

So, off we go...another week, so wish I could spend it at home. Trying to have a really good spring clean while lodger is on hols for 3 weeks. I think I need to do some ironing and try and get down to some ebaying again..

Have a good day all..x

blubella

Popped to Morrimans last night to grab a few things and and ended up bagging loads of bargains for the festi next week. ...we have kind of agreed a meal plan!

Spent £2.27 in total on festi food and that includes two lots of pasta!! Seriously 2p for a bag of rolls, 9p for a seeded loaf, 2p for chapattis...15p for apple pie :rotfl:...I did not stop there, my freezer is full to the brim! Deffo have the carbs covered.. which will hopefully keep the boys nice and full and not wanting to buy expensive festi food..!!

Made a batch of blackcurrant cordial before work yesterday...just call me Delia hehe...I really think I should get up and go for a run this morning...just gearing myself up for the 20 mins solid run :eek: trying to motivate myself..

Have a good day peeps x

blubella

Just been inputting my receipts on to YNAB...i can't believe it...everything tallies :j...i hope i haven't spoken to soon...?! Well, i thought I was overdrawn but according to my sums I have £50 until the end of the month!

The festival is drawing closer and it's supposed to rain from Thurs-Sun...fab.. :mad: ...can see me coming home early, especially if it's cold and wet. British summertime...

blubella

Son has been visiting from abroad for last 2 weeks and boy have I overspent....going to have to really budget next month to pay it all off. Paid for his flight in February when I increased hours and pay. It's been over 2 years since his granny has seen him so has been a lovely surprise. Thankfully I have submitted my expenses for the month and lodger will return so hopefully get rid of overspend in full when the bill arrives...

Have been having second thoughts about remortgage money...previously decided to put into account to try and make interest, but i'm now having second thoughts. I am concerned that it will get frittered away while it is there and that I will end up deeper in debt that when i started! All the banks are currently reducing their interest rates, so I have decided to use what I have to pay off as much as possible off of the DEBT cards. Have three cards, 2 with debt but 0% and a third card for 'emergencies' . I am planning on keeping £2000 locked away as a safety net. I'm guessing I will be left owing around £7,000 ...seems never ending ...but the goal is to clear within 2 years!

Going to try and get back to selling on the bay this week, make a few more pennies to throw at the debt...have had a great summer of wild camping, a few festivals, trip to Amsterdam and have a holiday at Christmas to save for...back to soup making!

blubella

Just completed a 5 hour round trip to Gatwick and back...have spent such a lot on fuel this month.. i'm counting the days until payday! I'm on a drive to have a few SFD's until then. I have the rest of the day off of work so going to get some cooking done and having a big clean up and declutter before the lodger re-appears!

Going to dig into the depths of the cupboards and use up some staples.

Menu for next few days:
Quorn and veg egg fried rice
Parsnip soup
Jacket potato and dirty beans
Lamb tagine and giant couscous
Pasta and pesto

Now I have put it into writing i'd better commit!! :A