LonelyRat's (not so lonely) Road to Riches

dustydigger

you are doing so well,Lonelyrat! You are sticking to plan and doing a grand job of paying off your debts.And I like the way you list your daily tasks and tick them off. I was intending to do that and do all sorts of decluttering etc,but real life is bogging me down at the moment and its just mini steps at the moment,though my savings side has done very well.
I arrange my finances fortnightly and sometimes it seems to be forever before the next time period and seeing changes.I can only imagine how long a whole MONTH must seem to you:(
I have similar problems with meals as you.Mr Dusty eats mostly fresh food very little convenience or tinned at all,but lots of meat,and he has set tastes and wont deviate at all,and so often his meals,though delicious and tempting dont fit in with Slimming World and I end up making totally separate meals for myself,which is expensive in both time and money. I spend huge amounts of time in the kitchen. He eats a sort of meat and two veg meal twice a day ,or casseroles which are in the oven for hours,so energy consumption for cooking is high. Oh for sticking a ready meal in the microwave for 6 or 7 minutes.Once a fortnight I use a frozen chicken curry from Her*n,as a filling for a chicken pasty,but I still have to make the pastry!And once a week he will eat an Iceland tikka masala,but bulked out with broccoli in peanut sauce,so I am still fiddling instead of just shoving the curry in the microwave for 9 minutes. Plus he wants potatoes mixed in with the rice,with onions and tomatoes so its still fiddly.
Oh,and the washing up for his meals is enormous too!:rotfl::rotfl:
Oh well,he's extremely healthy for a 79 year old,so he obviously thrives on it,so its worthwhile I suppose.He going abroad for a month on 19th Feb,so I regard that as a holiday. I will be reading and chatting online all day with all those extra non cooking hours:j:j:j

Silver_Queen

:There's nothing "only" about a £350 reduction in debt in one month! That's amazing and really something to be proud of. I hope you have an amazing time in Copenhagen, it's important to get away from the stress of life sometimes. And remember, whilst you're away, you're saving on the cost of spending and food that you would usually spend in the UK! Good plan to pay any extra spending money onto your cc!

As to the bank switching, at the end of the day if things are too stressful as it is then I think it's totally fair enough to not want to deal with the faff. Personally it's worth it for me, as the amount I get is 1/10th of my monthly salary for only about 15 minutes work and I have a weird obsessive desire to plan things and control things to a T so it makes me feel like I'm in control. :rotfl:

Hope your day today was better than yesterday and hope you, OH and the ratties are all good x

lonelyrat

Thanks Dusty it's hard work but I'll get there eventually. I used to work in a bar and I got paid weekly in cash and I actually really miss it. The work was fun and I could organise my finances a lot better. Trying to stretch the whole month is definitely hard! Purely just because I'm so impulsive as I spend too much in the first two weeks then end up skint for the next two! :rotfl:

I like the idea that Mr. Dusty's trip is a holiday for you! I hope you enjoy yourself and all that time without so much cooking/ washing up

lonelyrat

Thanks as well Silver Queen - I do feel like I'm not doing enough BUT come March I should be able to make a big dent in it as I'll have my bonus. I know £350 isn't bad but it also isn't as much of a reduction as I would like (here's my impulsiveness again!) I really cannot wait until I'm debt free and my money actually goes to my future rather than just meaningless rubbish.

I was looking through my transactions yesterday on the Santander card to see how on earth I managed to ring up £2800 worth of debt on it and it was mostly just food shops after OH left his job :eek: There were a few big purchases like a sofa and bits and bobs for our flat when we first moved in and a really big council tax payment.... But mostly it was just day to day shops. Looking back we were 100% fooling ourselves we could afford our flat. We were just about managing to get by when my OH was working as well but once he stopped it all went to pot.

I think I did a lot of trying to kid myself we were OK but we really weren't. If OH's parents hadn't offered to let us move in with them I have no idea what kind of pickle we would be in now

With regards to Copenhagen I've stopped feeling guilty about it :rotfl: A break will be lovely and I do feel we deserve it for getting to where we are. Obviously we aren't at the finish line just yet but hopefully we can come back from it recharged and ready to bust some debt.

Yeah, I think I will just leave the switch. It's turning down free money but I can't really be bothered right now. It's just the fact I would need to open another dummy account to switch and then contact Natwest and ask to remove OH from the application and then I don't know if I would have to do another application. I just didn't go about it in the right way at all :rotfl: Maybe a few months down the line when we're debt free I'll give it a go again, if they have any switching incentives at the time ... I think I will need to consult with you first to make sure I am doing it the best way. You will be a seasoned pro by then anyway :cool:

I really like that you have an obsessive desire to plan. I'm a bit like that too... Control freak sounds really awful but it is kind of a fitting label haha! It's just so nice having a plan in place and something to focus on.

Yesterday was better. I was in a bad mood because of how bad Friday was but it definitely wasn't as awful. Off today though so feeling good. Going to take doggo to the loch when OH gets his !!!! in gear.

Tomorrow is our hotel stay which I am very excited about. Going to meet OH in town when I finish work and take a trip to Lush to get a bath bomb then walk to the West End Then on Tuesday we're going to have a massive big (free) breakfast and go to the Art Gallery and have a walk along the river as well. There's some lovely cafes in the west end as well so am considering taking £20 out of my savings for spending. I can top it up again when I get paid on Thursday or Friday. We shall see. Maybe I can get OH to pay hmm...:o

He's doing well, not doing quite as much for his dissertation as he should be though and I'm worried he's falling behind. He seems to spend a lot of time playing Counterstrike and not a lot of time doing research. I was thinking of maybe trying to get him to come into town with me when I go to work then go to the uni library. I know when I was doing my dissertation I had trouble working on it from home and did my best work in the library.

Half the ratties are doing fine... the other half not so much. One of them has a mammary tumour and it's getting really large and starting to get in her way and her cage-mate has been acting really slow and dopey so I'm worried that both of them will need to cross the rainbow bridge soon. Me and OH were maybe thinking of taking them both before Copenhagen to get PTS as I think I would be concerned being away from them. I really don't want to but I think it's probably for the best. I just really don't want either of them to be in pain

lonelyrat

Today has not been an NSD. I bought OH a Valentines day card and it was £3.00 :eek: Took it from the £20 I have in my direct debit account. I also paid £5 to the Santander card (just because I wanted to make some kind of debt payment). I wasn't going to get a card, I was just going to give him a cuddle, but he always gets me really lovely cards for Christmas/ birthdays/ Valentines so I felt I should return the favour.

Been fiddling with my spreadsheet again and feeling motivated. Payday in 4/5 days so we're almost there!

Today
1. Take doggo to the Loch
2. Sort laundry (Everything is clean but is all just sitting in a pile on the sofa needing put away)
3. Sort overnight bag for hotel
4. Shower and straighten hair

Short list today. Planning an early night tonight. Think we may watch a few episodes of The Walking Dead. I used to be really into it but I thought the last season was fairly rubbish and watched one episode of the most recent one and gave up A friend at work said it gets better though so will give it another go. Sometimes I think certain shows only work if you binge them.... Then the poorer episodes sort of get lost in amongst the good episodes, whereas if you are watching every week you have a long time to ponder how bad something was!

Got food in for dinner so ideally don't need to go to the shops - going to have Quorn mine tacos. OH may want to go though to get actual mince as he isn't keen on the Quorn variety.

127 days

lonelyrat

Today
[STRIKE]1. Take doggo to the Loch
[/STRIKE]Was a really lovely day. Walked around the Loch then went on a woodland walk which was really fun. She was having the best time, paddling in the water and chasing birds. I'm quite exhausted but would love to go again and go another route.
[STRIKE]2. Sort laundry [/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]3. Sort overnight bag for hotel[/STRIKE]
Got my clothes and bits in a wee pile and will get OH to bring with him when he meets me after work
[STRIKE]4. Shower and straighten hair[/STRIKE]

We did end up going to the shops as OH wanted some beer and spicy chicken stuff. OH bought me some Sanex bubble bath stuff that's clear and scentless so I can add it to the bath with whatever I get from Lush tomorrow. Very, very excited for this bath :cool:

OH playing computer games with his friends so I'm watching some rubbish TV and going to paint my nails

lonelyrat

Payday has come and gone again - £749. Slightly more than last time but really not enough to make impressive headway with the debt. It's still reducing just more slowly than I would like.

Current Debt / Debt at first DFW post

Santander CC £1650 / £2770.90
Virgin CC £750 / £700
RBS Loan £102.81 / £770
Very BNPL £100 / £288.98

Total Debt £2602.81 / 7203.13

Down £516.30 from last month which is way better than I thought I was going to manage this month. Not sure how thats come about? I will need to consult the spreadsheet. (Edit: Just read through some of my previous posts and checked my spreadsheet and I made a payment to the Santander cc at the end of January of £150 and a few other little ones which I completely forgot about. I also made a payment at the beginning of Feb - Im very scatterbrained).

Was in for overtime today - only 3 hours but its better than nothing. They posted some today so Ive applied and if they approve I will have 7 hours next week and 8 the week after. Should work out at an extra £170/£180ish which is OK. Next month is a bonus month as well which is ideal. That should be when Im able to make more significant headway. Frustratingly they have posted loads of Overtime for when Im away on Holiday. Grumble grumble.

I had wanted to have the Santander card down to £1600 but it was wishful thinking. I really couldnt find an extra £50 to throw at it unfortunately.

This month is potentially going to be rough. Ive got £100 left after direct debits and credit card payments to last until the 1st of March then whatevers left from the Copenhagen savings will have to do until next payday. Its not awful but its not good.

Hotel stay was lovely, although we overslept and missed breakfast! Ended up getting brunch (and a mimosa ) out which was really nice, but not budgeted for. Art gallery was very good though and, most importantly, free. The bath was amazing. Had a glass of Cava in the bath with my bathbomb (£3.50 :eek:) and watched a TV program about the Burj Al Arab. Was very chilled and we got a takeaway pizza to munch in bed (free as OH bought it).

I also got very lucky on Valentine's day. OH made me a card and got me some truffles and lilies which are very beautiful. Theyre my favourite flowers so was a lovely surprise.

No plans for today. Feeling quite tired after my early start so am considering a nap . Have messaged my old flatmate to ask if she would like to catch up soon as Ive been meaning to do it since the 3rd of January. I genuinely dont understand why I am the way I am Not replying to messages makes me feel so guilty and crummy and it genuinely only takes a few minutes to do, so why do I not just do it? Ghhh. Anyway done now and I feel a massive wave of relief. Messaged my dad as well as we havent spoke in about a week. I am planning on heading back down to Surrey in April for a few days as its his birthday. Ive already got the time booked off work so its just a case of monitoring the flights for when theyre the cheapest.

Tomorrow
1.Take doggo to the Loch
2. Organise wardrobe (somehow its a mess again?)
3. Organise kitchen cupboards as they are also a mess
4. Tesco / Aldi shop
5. Get up to date on a few people's diaries (creepy). Been off for a few days so am sure I've missed some stuff.

I also need to decide what to do about Natwest. I got the application through the post from them that we just need to sign and send back. I cant decide if we should go ahead or not. Im still leaning towards not but at the same time would like £125 hmmm. Will mull it over tomorrow. OH not much help as it's "up to" me.

120 days

(Checked when payday falls in June and it's the weekend so means I will get paid early. So have shaved a few days of my DFD. This debt busting is so easy, right? :rotfl:)

lonelyrat

Just edited my post and was hit with the blasted "!!!8217;ve" everywhere. I thought I was safe :rotfl: Have had to go through and delete all my apostrophes. Im not very happy though as I do love an apostrophe. Was fine when I first posted so I must have done something when I was editing it

lonelyrat

Not managed a single thing on my to do list... Am feeling really rubbish and sick. Nauseous and got a bad cold and just generally feeling like poop. Work today was abysmal. I kept having to run to the bathroom as I thought I was going to be sick Fingers crossed I get over it sooner rather than later.

Good news is it's been two NSD's. Am finally getting the hang of them - although that could be as I just have no money :rotfl:

Had a nap after work today then helped OH move his desk out of our bedroom. He's going into the spare room with it as our bedroom is a bit too cramped. Bedroom now feels lovely and big and tomorrow OH will hoover it and we will maybe have a shuffle round with the bed and see if we can better make use of the space.

In bed got my knitting out and am going to watch some crappy TV then fall asleep. I'm so shattered! (Even after my nap).

118 days

indigowarrior

I have just read the whole blog. Your doing so well!