£67,031.92 is a frightening number indeed....

debtaghh

Well done on your first year and keep it up. I enjoy reading your diary as it is but do what suits you.

Thanks for the tip Cumbria as it's been bothering me so I have done what you said.

DawnW

Just a suggestion TOPM, but if you didn't want to include your lists in your diary thread (though I can't see why not, it is your diary after all), you could join us on the Small Things thread on the main DFW board. We all post up our lists there every day

Chrystal

:bdaycake: Happy 1st Anniversary TOPM!

Yours is one of the diary's I love reading.... seeing the changes you've made (kicking and screaming at times :rotfl:) has been illuminating to say the least.

I so admire your determination to do what is best for your family, and the debt busting is FANTASTIC when you think of how much more there would have been on your total without your 'lightbulb moment' :money:

I'm really looking forward to the next year and cheering you on all the way. X

poddle911

Massive congrats TOPM for keeping on track for a whole year! To a bystander (lurker) it’s seemed precarious at times, but your determination has kept you on the straight and narrow, and your writing and self-awareness has kept us all here. Good luck with the next one!

Cheering you on from the sidelines :j

Suffolk_lass

Treadingonplaymobil wrote: »

YEAR 2: Week 1: Day 1

My diary this year
I have been contemplating restructuring the way I write my diary. I'm not sure whether my daily lists are of any interest to anyone here, now that they tend to be more about my daily life than MSE stuff. Although the two are kind of inextricably linked these days - menu plans, daily work etc. I know some bits of it help to keep me on track (noting food shopping and menu planning etc) and I quite like sharing the rest. Any thoughts? What do you lot find helps keep you on track in your own diary? What do you like reading here or in other diaries? Maybe a daily MSE list, and only checking in with weekly and monthly lists once a week.

I rather like your lists - I sort live here as your nagging conscience, ready to remind you about things you once said, if you show signs of slipping back (sorry, you know I mean well). I share the sentiments of others, you write well and are always a good read. Have you considered blogging like slowlyfading (Frugal Cottage)? She makes small amounts of money from that with the advertisers and links, as well as plotting her progress towards FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) having paid off debts first.

I love the way you defend your position, then quietly rethink it and compromise and it is your mindset shift you should be most proud of. Never has the "been on a journey" reference been more pertinent (however corny and overused as an expression). Keep it up TOPM A- for year 1 - great balance between living and debt.

apple_muncher

Congratulations on your year of slowing down, turning and re-directing the tanker to head in the direction of your choice. Well done to all the TOPM clan!

enthusiasticsaver

I like the lists too and well done on the debt reduction over the last year. I look forward to seeing your progress over the next 12 months and hopefully towards your extension plans. I don't always agree with your approach but I definitely think you have improved your situation.

I agree with Suffolk Lass that you are an eloquent writer, humorous sometimes and self deprecating. You mostly consider advice, although don't always follow it but that's ok. It is your debt, your life and your journey.

Misslayed

Happy Avinersary!

Treadingonplaymobil

Week 53: Day 2

Good morning! What a horrible wet and stormy morning it is here.

The weekend turned out a little more expensive than planned as we ended up getting dinner in a services on the way home - had been hoping to make a packed dinner at my dad's and just bulk it out with a treat or something from the services, but there wasn't anything readily available so we had to fork out. Hopefully I've sufficiently rejigged the budgets to cover it without leaving the rest of the month unmanageable.

The DC are on half term this week, so inevitably life won't be as productive, but I'm looking forward to having a few not-too-hectic days with them. We are going to a scrapstore today (place where they have loads of bits of fabric, paper, scraps etc that local businesses donate and you pay a fixed fee for a basket full), which was a Christmas present for two of the DC. Hopefully that will keep them occupied for the afternoon once we get back too.

Need to go food shopping too. Aiming to do a pretty small shop in an ongoing effort to eat the freezer contents.

Menu plan
Tuesday - sweetcorn fritters
Wednesday - dal and rice using up various leftover lentils/mung beans
Thursday - leftover frozen veggie burgers/cauliflower cheese
Friday - egg, frozen veg and chips
Saturday - columbian black bean stew
Lunches - frozen packed lunch bits (will make a fresh batch on Sunday), homemade pitta, houmous and veg, leftover frozen soup portions
Snacks - hm biscuits, fruit, hm scones and jam.

I have a big heavy parcel in the hallway which I am assuming is my bulk purchase of vinegar/bicarb etc for eco friendly cleaning. I will report back on the concoctions.

I have decided to check in with my longer term lists once a week (maybe more often if I'm making good progress and want to note it), but to keep my daily 'three things' list and to try to update my spending/saving list in the evenings (although it's the morning today, for yesterday).

Three things to do today
1. Menu plan.
2. Food shopping.
3. Plan work for this week for maximum efficiency in minimum time.

Savings/Spends:
- £20.53/£28 February 'rounding down' overpayment pot
- £1,046.80/£5,000 2018 debt repayment goal.
- £21.85 in services on Friday night during the drive from hell.
- £4.20 knitting pattern for cardigan for friend's new baby. Excessive, but I was in a rush to find a pattern I could knit at my dad's.
- £33.39 YNAB subscription (paid the price for not having savings pots and had to juggle things round to cover this, but managed it without trashing the other savings pots. I feel I've already posted this, when I first got the email saying it was coming out. Never mind)

Treadingonplaymobil

February's lists

Since I'm going to keep a longer list and check in with it weekly, I'm going to divide it up into sections so I can more clearly see how I'm getting on in different areas. I'm sure I'll add to these in the coming days.

Home/Family
1. Play around with designs in preparation for the architect's visit in early March.
2. Eat the contents of the freezer and defrost it.
3. Declutter and organise the utility room.
4. Sort through all the stuff I've decluttered from various rooms and store the children's stuff that needs to be kept for a month or two to see if they ask for it. Charity shop the rest.
5. Keep on top of packed lunches and make sure we have sufficient for a few days at any time, especially as the freezer gets lower.
6. Repaint the bathroom tiles - the tile paint is peeling off (we are avoiding doing any proper work in this bathroom until we know whether it is being moved in the course of the extension). I HATE the bathroom, find it utterly depressing.
7. Spend an hour tidying up outside the front of the house. I need to do some proper gardening once the weather warms up, but it needs a bit of TLC before then.
8. DH finish the fencing at the front of the house.
9. Sew buttons and loops on DC1's new coat to hold the inner fleece onto the cuffs (DC1 loves the coat apart from this).
10. Plan veg planting.
11. Put the word out about needing a little trailer for camping.
12. Mend DC3's dressing up costume (Elsa's plait is coming loose...).
13. Buy cheaper spoons for packed lunches - the DC have been taking in our proper cutlery and I'm fairly sure we've lost one or two of our nice (not cheap) spoons.

Me
1. Stick to three things on my daily list at any one time.
2. Keep it SLOW. A steady half term without too much over-commitment and then taking lots of care of myself the following week, which is very busy with work.
3. Keep up a fuller yoga practice - it has been a real challenge to get back into this after neglecting it horribly at the end of last year, but I feel I'm settling back into more of a routine.
4. Finish handmade presents for friend's imminent baby.
5. Plan handmade presents for DC2 and 3 birthdays in March and ensure I have any supplies needed.
6. Try to plan in a night away from the DC with DH. We haven't had an evening out or a night away from them for over 18 months and I think we should try to make it happen. Maybe they could go to my mum's in the Easter holidays for a couple of days, although I'd like to do something a bit more 'special' than just loiter at home without them. But needs to be on budget :cool: .

Work
1. Go through who I'm following on social media for work and make sure they're relevant to my business so I'm not wasting time when on social media.
2. 10% growth on my main social media platform (293 followers).
3. A new blog post for my website.
4. Declutter my work cupboard and clear out any un-needed junk.
5. Confirm childcare for March and April so I can make dates available for clients.

MSE
1. £28 minimum overpayment from rounding down YNAB pots.
2. Sort out the Partnership/Virgin balance transfer and change name of Partnership card if necessary.
3. List wooden marble run on eBay (as you all know, I loathe the hassle of selling things, but this might actually get some sensible money).
4. Don't raid the savings pots!
5. Move my rounding down savings pots over from my business account in the middle of the month and again at the end (I operate the same system there, with rounding down split between a debt overpayment and an extensions savings pot).
6. When doing March's budget at the end of the month try to put some money by for train ticket to London for my dad's birthday meal. I have the price of the meal covered.