Hedgesparrow stretches her wings again

hedgesparrow

Natwest Rewards cashback came through. I feel the need to point out that Natwest have labelled this scheme really weirdly. It's got the same name as the account you pay £3 to have which gives you cashback for your bills. I don't have that.

I have a normal current account with this rewards scheme (used to be called something else) that gives you cashback for paying by contactless or with specific organisations. BP is the only one of them I spend money with. There are cheaper places to get fuel but they are far away from where I live so I am happy to get the cashback at least.

Anyway I've paid it off the card which makes it 1% more paid than yesterday which has cheered me up a bit.

hedgesparrow

Weekly update

Personal spending this week: £1.40 - car parking when visiting a friend
Present spending this week: £8.30 - birthday gift for friend

So I've been pretty good. I hate this end of the month though. I can't make any more payments on the debt till next payday. I feel grumpy.

I'm gonna poke around to look at challenges on here. So I feel like I'm getting somewhere. I just want everything to happen straight away, which is the problem I'm trying to beat.

I'm the hare when I need to be the tortoise. My whole life.

hedgesparrow

Okay, I'm feeling more positive today!! (I was in a bad mood, wasn't I?!) :rotfl:

I've joined the no toiletries challenge, the no dvds challenge, the wombling roadkill challenge, and signed up for some free seeds, a krispy kreme donut and a bottle of lemon drink!

I've also invented, wait for it... "Hedgesparrow's Loose Change Celebration"

I still hadn't decided what to do with my leftover personal spending from last month. Then our ancient microwave blew up and (after checking it wasn't just the fuse) I bought another one second hand for £8. This could have come from the joint account budget but I was feeling proud that I'd "saved" the money so I spent it on the microwave.

So I have £1 something left. I really love EssexHebredian's idea of saving it till you have enough to substitute it for a regular amount you take out and paying the excess on the debt. But I realised I'm also going to gather a bunch of loose change. Here came my idea!

At the end of the month:

*Any cash in my wallets that is in £10 or £20 notes stays in the wallet and I get £10 or £20 out less for that budget. The money I would have taken out goes on the debt.

*Any £5 notes, £1 coins or 50ps goes into a box. When I get to £10 worth I do the same substitution as above.

*£2 coins already go into a money box. I'm saving this up for a trip away at some point.

*Any 20ps, 10ps, 5ps and coppers go towards the loose change celebration. This involves counting them up and taking them all to a supermarket with a self service checkout. I will spend them on some sort of treaty food or drink of my choice. Some months it might be enough for a chocolate bar, maybe one month I can get a bottle of bucks fizz! I will then dress in a posh outfit at home and eat or drink whatever the loose change bought me with enough pomp and ceremony to make me feel ridiculous. I will be celebrating not overspending on my budgets and being one step closer to being debt free.

I know it's silly but I'm hoping playing this game will keep me motivated through to the end of the month.

P.S. Does anyone know if there's a limit to the amount of change those self-service machines will take?

kirtsypoos

Hedgesparrow I love your celebration idea!

I've got loads of tins too - one that counts as you put money in which has my £1, 50ps and 20ps in, one that has only coppers and one that has 10p and 5ps in. I don't even count them as 'money' as to me they are my fun funds - ie I am going to Venice and Edinburgh next month so the counting jar will be my spending money. The 10 and 5p jar is joint mine and OH and is towards the next thing we want done in the house - currently working towards a patio door I might implement your celebration for my 1p and 2p pot!

hedgesparrow

kirtsypoos wrote: »

Hedgesparrow I love your celebration idea!

I've got loads of tins too - one that counts as you put money in which has my £1, 50ps and 20ps in, one that has only coppers and one that has 10p and 5ps in. I don't even count them as 'money' as to me they are my fun funds - ie I am going to Venice and Edinburgh next month so the counting jar will be my spending money. The 10 and 5p jar is joint mine and OH and is towards the next thing we want done in the house - currently working towards a patio door I might implement your celebration for my 1p and 2p pot!

Thanks Kirsty! My favourite thing about it is I'm feeling excited again - the last time I felt this excited about loose change I was probably eight! That can only be a good thing, I was much better with money back then

hedgesparrow

Weekly Update

Personal Spending this week

£9 drinks out with friends
£5.50 cardigan in charity shop

Present Spending this week

£19.50 - birthday presents for some Feb birthdays

Still in budget for the end of the month. This month feels like it's lasting forever. Come on payday!! Can't wait for the Loose Change Celebration - gonna do that next Monday.

hedgesparrow

Hooray for the end of the month! Hooray for payday!

I'm preparing for the end of month Loose Change Celebration. I didn't think I'd want to do it on Sunday night but I really do. I emptied my wallets out.

I have:

* £30 left in notes (this was in the present money wallet so is being snaffled away towards Christmas)
* £13.50 in pound coins and fifty pences. Ten pounds of this is going back into the wallets and I will get £10 less out in cash and put it on the debt. The £3.50 I will roll over till the end of next month.
* £3.68 in twenty pences, ten pences, five pences and coppers for the Loose Change Celebration!

I went to the supermarket and they had been doing a lot of yellow stickering so I got a good haul:

* British chicken legs reduced to 30p
* English muffins 60p
* Two bunches of spring onions 10p
* Sushi 25p
* Chicken curry and rice ready meal 36p
* Pringles £1 something - they were half price.

I have some money left for next month too!

So tonight, for the celebration, we are going to dress up and eat the delicious (if very random combo) of:

Starter - Sushi

Main - Roast chicken legs, stir fried spring onions and buttered hot muffins

After dinner movie snack - Pringles

:rotfl:

But I did it! I didn't go over budget this month! I think I should celebrate this. How many times in the past have I just beaten myself up when I'm money saving instead of realising I'm making progress? My celebration, while silly, is affordable and fun!

I paid money off my debt. I stuck to the budget I set myself. :beer: Cheers everyone!

hedgesparrow

Forgot to say the chicken curry and rice I will have for lunch tomorrow. The loose change celebration carries over to Monday which is nice!

hedgesparrow

Beginning of the month. Got a bit of overtime. Most of it is going to be used to pay for the hen do coming up. I'm not totally happy about this but I've committed to it now and at least I'm not going into more debt because of it.

Paid £120 off my MBNA
Paid £10 off my MBNA from money left over from personal spending last month.

£50 is staying in my current account to act as a buffer - I still am slightly over what I started with in my overdraft and that has to stop. I stupidly forgot to include the interest on my overdraft in my budget. I also forgot again that the minimum payment still comes out even though I've made extra payments. My fuel was less than I budgeted for last month but my phone bill was 60 pence over the £20.50 I set for it!!! Everything else was spot on.

All in all that put me out a little bit. So I'm learning. Need to rejig the budget to include the interest.

So my new total is £1245 debt in my overdraft and £209.22 in my credit card. I now owe £1454.22 and I've paid off 33% of my debt

hedgesparrow

I'm doing what I used to do as a child, feast and famine. It's the beginning of the month, I felt all deprived at the end of the month so I splurge at the beginning of the month. This is a vicious cycle.

I'm gonna take what I've got left of my monthly personal spending money and split it weekly. I can't be trusted! Gonna have a think and make up some other goals too.