Sashybo - Back Again

DancingInTheRain

Hope you feel better soon x

sashybo

Have been MIA as still have the cold, feeling better than I was but still not great, really feeling drained.

Housework wise I have done a bit of hoovering and kept up with the washing but that’s about it. Back to work for 3 early shifts tomorrow so won’t be doing much more until the end of the week.

DH behaved on his birthday night out & used his own money. We went out for dinner the next night and a few drinks. We used our allowance money to take turns paying for drinks, I spent £17 & DH around £15.

Dinner cost £66 including tip, I have £30 survey money I can pay off that as well so it could be worse. We went to a Japanese restaurant and the food was amazing. We had some salmon sushi that was just lovely.

In worse money news my car had its MOT & service yesterday which came to £366. 😭

As DH had a higher pay this month we can pay £200 to it straight away and had £80 in the car account that will also go towards it. Leaving us with £86 to find.

Then DH’s car is going in for its MOT & service at the end of the month so we will probably have to find a similar amount from next month’s pay. 😩 So our council tax free months are mostly paying for the cars. 

I have used some survey money to pay extra off both of my 0% CCs and a bit off my car loan as well. Will mainly concentrate on the smaller CC balance for now though.

sashybo

Payday was yesterday & we were “only” £205 into the OD - this was due to the mortgage coming out 2 days before payday. So actually that’s really good for us.

Next pay will be the same with the mortgage coming out 2 days before payday but hoping we won’t go into the overdraft this time as no council tax this month. However that money is now paying for my car MOT & service so maybe not. 🤔

We do get 2 pays in March due to 4 weekly pay so hopefully that will balance us out with the OD.

I have already increased the cat spending amount from £50 to £60 as we spent £58 on the last CC statement on their food and the next statement (closing on the 15th) has £70 on it as I bought food & litter for them.

We’re looking to track our spend on diesel with DH back at work so driving more. We need to see what’s realistic for the fuel budget. I think possibly around £130.

The food spend from 16th January to present is sitting at £248. Hoping to have a couple of smaller spend weeks.
 

I did spend a bit more this week as bought Ingredients for DH’s birthday cake. I made a red velvet cake (and ran out of red food colouring so it was more dark pink). It was a bit messy looking but tasted good and DH seemed happy with it.

We also bought some salmon & chicken in our weekly shop so that brought the cost up.

sashybo

My Christmas fund is sitting at £135, I have been adding odd amounts from surveys, cashback & things sold on v!nted on top of the £50 each payday.

Pleased with that and will keep doing the same.

DancingInTheRain

Definitely sounds like your finances are turning a corner, keep going x

beanielou

Would think about his debit card actually being a DEBT card if you are going into the OD? 

Cake sounds lush.

sashybo

Thanks both, we are mainly now heading into the overdraft due to the timing of bills coming out vs 4 weekly pay. 

Hopefully we can build up to having a buffer in the current account so that doesn’t happen. 

For now I’m trying to build a more detailed picture of where the money is going and on what.

I have used the house money from the  last pay (£40) to order a curtain pole for the spare room & a deep fitted sheet for our bed. 

Once the curtain pole goes up we can hang the curtains that used to be in the living room. We currently have 2 fitted sheets that aren’t deep enough for the mattress we bought last year so am replacing one.

DH has earmarked some of the next amount of house money for a water filter for the fridge. I want to then save it up to buy more paint for the hall/stairs and upstairs hallway. 

I have used some of my allowance money to buy my facial spf, it was on 3 for 2 so as one bottle is £16.99 I bought 3. 1 bottle lasts approx 3-4 months so 3 bottles should hopefully last me the rest of the year.

Also bought 2 tubs of face moisturiser as I had a gift voucher from surveys plus subscribe & save discount & voucher. In the end got both for £4.35. Going to look at the night cream on my break as they are BOGOF and then I would be stocked up for the next few months.

After work yesterday I did a big pile of dishes then put a washing on/hung up and put 2 washings away, then got the kids clothes set out for the morning.

sashybo

Have had a busy day today as had to take DS to the dentist for an emergency appointment. He had a dental check at school and came back with a letter saying he might have an infection so needed to see his dentist.

One of his front teeth had been bruised when he was 3 and went grey, then brown and was wearing down. We thought it had fallen out then noticed the root was still in there a few weeks ago but he said it wasn't sore etc. One weird thing is that DD has bruised the exact same tooth and it has been going grey for the last few months. 🤦‍♀️ Hoping it won't get as bad as DS's as it looked terrible as though we were feeding him sugar straight and rotting his teeth. 😱 

Anyway took him today and the dentist said it looks like a bubble is forming on his gum and it could be an infection so he has antibiotics now.

He was really good at the dentist and jumped into the chair no problem, he loves going there. 😂 

I managed a good amount of housework today after being at work the last 3 days. Wiped all the bathroom sinks and bleached the toilets, did the big clean of the litter trays, did the big nappy wash and put another washing away. Brushed and hoovered the couches and turned the cushions, put another washing on and got DH to hoover upstairs.

I have patches for DD's leggings that I repaired badly so want to get them on today if I can. I'll need to try and get DS to do some homework after school as he basically just did his reading last week and nothing else.

Sarahwithlove

As the ccs are all 0% could you try and focus on paying min and then getting a emergency fund and a payday ahead in your bills? Then do Overpayments on them. I know you only go into overdraft occasionally but it sounds like you don't have enough put away in pots/funds to cover any car emergencies etc. 

sashybo

Sarah, I’m really not sure what’s best to do. I feel like it will take such a long time to save enough to get a month ahead with bill payments, we never seem to have much left over tbh. 🤔

We are working on this with trying to budget and stay out of the overdraft. I have reduced the CC’s down to minimum payments already as well. 🫤

Everything is still in a bit of a mess after DH’s mad spending towards the end of last year plus his secret CC then Christmas. 

Then 2 lots of servicing & MOT’s plus my car tax (thankfully only £20 for the year) are due within the next month. We only had £80 in the car account due to my recent puncture costing £112 for a new tyre.

The overpayments we make are from survey money/selling the odd thing so it’s not much either but I feel like at least it’s doing something if it’s being paid off a debt. 

We have next to nothing put by for emergencies, especially the cars as something is always going wrong with them or the services/MOTs/car tax is due. 

Hoping the new budget will sort this out in time, although the car savings amount will probably need to go up (if possible) as we will need to pay servicing/MOT’s again all at the same time next year!

I’m considering putting my overpayments towards the smaller car loan as it’s interest bearing & overpaying will shorten the term. But it would also be a nice boost to get rid of the smaller CC. 🤔

Debt repayment is costing us over £700 p/m which is why I want to get rid of it asap.

I think we need to get on that even keel in March of not being in the overdraft when the next pay arrives and not having any more ridiculous amounts to pay out on the cars (bar the loan payments 🤦🏻‍♀️).

Then we can see what is actually left over to pay towards debt or save.