It's not a lot, but it's enough

SpekySquarehead

Morning,

Done some quick maths this morning and paid £723.78 to my CC so my balance is now at £2,252.33. Feels good to make the payment but the milestone I'm desperate for is to get it under 2k.

joeyjimbles

Yay, you made the payment - that's fab and almost 1/4 of the debt paid off. Well done, gold star.

SpekySquarehead

Morning,

Feel like I didn't have a weekend as I was working on Saturday all day. It did mean that I didn't spend a penny though.

Yesterday, was a deserved lazy day. I say lazy, I did manage a productive couple of hours where I washed and dried the bedding, hoovered then mopped the floors and cleaned surfaces including the toilet, managed to file away some letter and do some meal prep for the week ahead.

I rose at 5.45 this morning and met my friend for some training. We met at a football pitch and done some pre-season like drills and afterwards I went to my gym, quick workout, shower and off to work.

I also had the call from my new employer to discuss the terms of the new job. Unfortunately I've bit the bullet and had to take a £1k paycut for the first 3 months and thereafter it'll rise to my current pay plus a healthy bonus. It doesn't sound too much but I will have to drive much longer to my new place of work and so petrol costs will be a concern. Nonetheless, I'm delighted to be offered the job and I'm eager to start. I'll hand my notice in today once the boss comes in, my stomach is doing somersaults.

It's the start of August and I'm pleased to say that my determination for the month ahead has rubbed off on my GF and she too is looking to make changes; both financially and with her health/fitness. I'll be buying some Herbalife from my friend for £30 and that'll do me my breakfast and lunches for the month, so a combination of healthy and MSE!

Watch this space.

SpekySquarehead

So far I aint spent a penny in August and I should actually manage that today too!!! Told you I was determined.

In doing my daily checks I saw that my minimum payment for my CC also came off the same time as my big payment, so I paid £62 extra but instead of worrying, I've adjusted my YNAB and I'll get by for the month.

I officially handed my notice into my work and made it known to the team of which there is only 10 or so. I need to work my 4 weeks notice but I'm sure that'll fly by. In the meantime, my new work want me to start asap and to use any remaining holidays I have to leave earlier. We'll see, discussions to be had.

joeyjimbles

Well done, hope working your notice flies by and that you don't get too bogged down in politics in the meantime. Some companies can be funny when you've decided to quit.
Are you doing the PAD challenge? I can't remember if you said you were going to or not. Personally I'd have to get rid of that £5.37 on your barclaycard balance - it would nag at me.

SpekySquarehead

Joey - I had a look at that challenge and IIRC you pay the odd number on your account? The reason I didn't was that I thought it'd be too much hassle to do simultaneously with YNAB, constantly having to mark payments and check when they've cleared etc.

I'll have a look again on the challenge and see if it's something I can do as I'm really enjoying the NST challenge.

joeyjimbles

Do have a look at it, but I'm not a YNAB or even a PAD expert so I don't know how they'd marry up. Tilly Tidies are where you round off odd numbers in your accounts - and they work well too. PAD is payment a day - which can be a few pence or pounds that you put to your debt daily, some people do it straight off their debt and some put it in a pot to pay once a week/month etc.
I don't do it all the time but did use it to get rid of a small balance on my Next account and an overdraft. I used every penny that came in from surveys/mystery shopping/gpt sites and paid it straight into my account to rid myself of them, it pushed me to keep getting to redeemable amounts on different sites. And it was a better use of 'free' time than just watching tv or sitting around.

SpekySquarehead

Ahhhhh…I think I was confusing the 2. Thank you for the consideration but I think YNAB will allow me to budget for a chunky amount each month. I’m on track for £250 to be paid at the end of this month which is on top of the previous payments I made a few days ago.

Really appreciate the thought though, very nice of you.

joeyjimbles

Oh, you're doing really well anyway, it was just an idea. And if you can manage that payment then you'll be well under £2K at the end of the month. Which is excellent progress.

SpekySquarehead

Morning,

Yesterday I bought my Herbalife that’ll see me by this month for breakfasts and lunches plus protein bars for after the gym to satisfy my sweet tooth too. £40 which I paid in cash, cash which I had still sitting from my birthday as depositing cash into First Direct is a bit of a nightmare, so it almost feels like I’m paying with money I never really had anyway, happy days.

Tonight it’s my friends turn to buy dinner, not what it’ll be but I do know I’ll get another NSD, so depending if you count the above transaction as a spend day then it’s either 4 or 3 for the month which I’m happy with. I think I could feasibly not spend on the weekdays and only spend on weekends for the month, which would be 23 NSD’s although the target is only 16.

Need to get the thinking cap on for my GF’s birthday. I’ll start checking groupon coupled with the sale section on here. On top of my GF’s birthday I’ve also started a spreadsheet for Xmas. Just so I know how much money I’ll need to have put aside. I’m not enjoying being organised financially.

Progress indeed Joey. When teaching my GF about YNAB I explained that I check my bank account every day and she responded by telling me she is always scared to look and rarely does. Changed days as that was the position I was in a year or so ago. Although I still feel there is this huge grey cloud of debt following me, it’s beginning to clear up and I can see hints of blue skies and happier times to come. That’s enough motivation for me.

Have a nice day everyone.