Flo's Debt Free Diary

Florence_J

I forgot to mention it earlier but the 6th of September marked my first anniversary of giving up smoking.

I now haven't smoked in over a year. And it's been over 7 months since I stopped needing nicotine replacement products.

Can I get a whoop whoop?

Smoking was definitely connected to me getting in debt, and was linked to bad life events and my mental health being bad.

Just worked out that I have saved nearly 1350 pounds by giving up smoking. Wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

For any smokers out there I want to say It can be done. I was a bad chain smoker, totally addicted, and yes, i won't lie, giving up smoking was one of the hardest things I have ever done. But if i can achieve it so can you. x

Florence_J

So I guess you all want to know how Friday went.

Well it was my training session for my new role, and it went very well. My OH was one of the people doing the training so I sat with him and learnt what to do.

Nothing seems to have gone wrong, so maybe I can tentatively say I have a temporary job?

Woo woo.

If I am working for the full 12 days I am almost guaranteed then I should earn enough for next months bills. Which will be lovely.

Florence_J

I am planning on doing a 'Money Detox' in October, where I am only allowed to spend money on the following:

Bills
Payments a Day
Food/Items for the home
Football training sessions and travel to football training sessions

Basically I can only spend money on items that have a 8/10+ rating of 'essentialness'

I said this to my OH and made it clear if any social events come up I won't be able to go on them, which made him a bit sad and he said I should have a small budget for 'fun', but I feel like this is cheating. What do you guys think?

I thought perhaps I could make a deal where if I need to spend money on something that isn't essential I have to make the exact same amount of money back through selling something. Again I'd like to know what you guys think.

crazy_cat_lady

Whoop whoop! :dance:
Both on the quitting smoking and the job front. Onwards and upwards.

Karonher

Well done on the job and giving up smoking.

With regards to the money detox, I am less sure. It means OH could miss out on things if you won't go and if the bills are covered the money could be found in other ways. If you don't have a budget for fun, how will you feel if you hear that an event you missed was brilliant and could have been a one off?

Florence_J

Karonher wrote: »

Well done on the job and giving up smoking.

With regards to the money detox, I am less sure. It means OH could miss out on things if you won't go and if the bills are covered the money could be found in other ways. If you don't have a budget for fun, how will you feel if you hear that an event you missed was brilliant and could have been a one off?

Thank you. I know that it is a little strict to swear off any purchases, I mean no one begrudges someone on here for having fun whilst in debt (I certainly don't) but I just feel so guilty over all the times I went out and socialised and bought things on someone elses dime. Either my OH's or my numerous credit cards.

I may allow myself a small budget. Something like 75 quid. Which has to last me the whole month so I will really learn to appreciate the value of every penny I spend.

Florence_J

I did my second 10k of this year and my third overall yesterday. It was lovely. Very warm weather so the conditions were a little tough but I loved every second of it. I am enjoying running more than I ever have before. I'm not up to the best levels I used to have when I was thinner and fitter, but I am in love with running. I take it seriously now, I do everything possible to be good at running. I am in love.

I did it in 1 hour 20 minutes and 28 seconds according to my watch but I will check the official times later. I shaved 6 minutes off my last 10k time that was just 8 weeks previous yesterday. That is fantastic progress. I am very happy.

Florence_J

So it was my first day at work today and everything seemed to have gone well, and I seemed to be able to do the work which has led me to panic that I did everything wrong and I will be told off.

My OH was working with the same team and he heard first hand from one of his colleagues that I was doing well, and second hand from the same colleague that someone else was fine with my work.

Lets hope I didn't do anything wrong and can work for the rest of the contract.

xxx

apple_muncher

Congratulations on the work and on the running!

Florence_J

Hi Everybody,

The good news is my contract has been extended for another week, so that is more money coming in. Every little helps. Just need to do a financial forecast to make sure I have enough money for everything.

Wombled a great deal of stuff at the Freshers fair (I am working at a University) so am pleased with that.

Am hoping I won't have to buy any food tomorrow as we only have 11p left of the food budget. I have admittedly been 'creative' this month with the budget (using coupons and re-classifying some food expenses into different categories) so I know I am only deceiving myself when I say we have 11p left when really it is more like -£20. But I am happy with the deception.

I do generally think I am doing much better with the food budgets since joining the grocery threads and recommend them to everyone.

The living room is all decorated. We have the walls painted and the new curtains are up. It looks lovely. Such a difference a new touch up of paint makes.

Got some writing that needs doing, and I need to get back on my 10k training. That's right, I am going to do another, maybe even another 2!

Have ordered my food shopping for the next month. A MrT and a MrM shop. Will both arrive Tuesday at different times.

OH is doing a half marathon a week today. I hope he does well.

I did my self employed taxes yesterday. £25 needed to be paid in taxes and my National Insurance will likely be about £145 but I have prepared for this. I hate people who don't pay the taxes they should legally pay. There have been points in my life when I or someone I know have needed the welfare/benefit system and if I earn say £500 in self employed earnings and my taxes are about half of that I would pay every pence not because I am a saint or because I have a lot of money to spare (neither are true) but because I will pay to help those in need, whether it is myself, someone I know or a stranger. I will pay for schools and hospitals because I believe these things should be free, and it is an honour to be a British citizen (most of the time) and if I work and live in Britain then I will pay British taxes.

Rant over. Sorry guys.

I am preparing for winter in my own way. I am stocking up on tins, as many as my budget will allow, thinking of wintry meals, getting root vegetables in. I still need to clean the winter duvet and I may take my winter coats to be fixed and dry cleaned but none of these things are essential, so I may have to see what my budget can afford.

Hope you are all well guys.