The Money Diet

Lauralozzle

31st January 2018

I have been very quiet but still plodding along.

I had a surprise trip for my 30th birthday, DH whisked me away to Edinburgh for the weekend so it has been a spendy month. We used some of the holiday fund to help pay for food/treats and it was nice to have that money there to spend and not worry.

I went over my shopping budget by £30. In the grand scheme of things, I do not think that is too bad and the float (emergency fund) has managed to end up about £3.00 better off!

Today is pay day and I have allocated all my money out and updated my signature. The wedding fund is looking healthy too. I havealso started saving some of my money and at the moment I have £140 saved. I do not want to dip into this if I can help it.

February will be (hopefully) a cheap month, it should be possible as it is the shortest month so we will not have to stretch our money so much.

I have even allocated myself £20 spending money a week. ::beer:

Lauralozzle

February 2nd 2018

Yesterday was a very small spend day. Today has been a NSD so I am pretty pleased with myself!

MBNA (Credit Card number one) has had its overpayment and it now sits at £45. That will be cleared next month and then I will move to Credit Card no. 3 (number 2 is currently getting largest overpayment).

I have had a nice day today - fairly relaxed as I working from home. I have got a lot of work done which I am pretty pleased about too. I am working from home on a Monday too so that should be another NSD in the bag.

Lauralozzle

February 3rd 2018

Credit card no.2 is now updated. The balance is higher than I would have liked at this stage but we had some trouble moving the direct debit so hopefully it will start coming down soon. It ideally wants to be under the £2,000 mark next month.

I have had a conversation with DH today after I was worried about a possible damp problem in the kitchen. We have discovered some kind of leak/condensation/water problem in the bathroom as the flooring is bubbling around the toilet and radiator. This needs looking at and the bathroom needs replacing. I spotted some bubbling artex in the kitchen (directly underneath toilet from upstairs) on the wall, and was worried the bathroom problem was causing this. We poked at the bubble but the plaster underneath appears to be dry so not sure what is causing the bubbling there.

We have decided the sensible option is to take out a home improvement loan once the wedding Rings/Credit Card no.2 is paid off and make sure it the monthly repayments equal what we are paying at for these two expenses which is affordable. That will probably be next year (Rings will be paid off in June this month) and we will attack credit card 2 with the ring money until the card is paid off.

From March payday I will attack credit card no.3 with the money I was spending on credit card no.1 as that will be paid off then.

The house is slowly falling apart and by the time we have saved enough money to fix it, it will be ten years away. It needs sorting soon, especially as we plan to have children within the next five years. If it is not done by then, it will never get done!

Main rooms/jobs to target are:

- bathroom, including sorting the floor, replastering, new tiles and new bathroom suite.
- kitchen, including removing artex, replastering, new units (same layout to keep costs down), new tiles on floor/splashback tiles.
- new boiler - removing old water tank heating system and replacing with energy efficient system. Probably com i boiler to create more space in back bedroom.

We are thinking a loan of £20,000 to cover this. If there is any left, then removing artex from hallway and replastering, new carpet up the stairs and landing.

I am feeling positive about this, like we are actually going to get somewhere in the next year! I love a plan.

Lauralozzle

February 11th 2018

NSD are looking good. Budget is looking good too so I'm happy about that.

I don't have much to report this week to be honest, it's very much been work work work. I have now made up for lost time in my flexi at work so I'm trying to build some hours for a couple of days off in April.

Lauralozzle

10th March 2018
Today I have hit a milestone! I have made an overpayment on Credit Card no. 1 and now that credit card is gone! :j :j

This leaves credit card no. 2 and no. 3 to clear! Credit card no.2 is now below £2,000 (just) - it took a little longer than I had anticipated to get to this point as we had some issues with the direct debit but that appears to be all sorted now. So, the balance should start dropping nicely. Small steps but we are certainly heading in the right direction.
From next month I'll start making £50 overpayments on Credit Card no. 3 as I want that gone by the end of the year.

Lauralozzle

Monday 12th March

I had a good day yesterday. Went to see my mother, then visited my grandparents. My grandad is in hospital at the moment but hopefully he'll be able to leave this week!

Work was okay today - nothing new to report, just the daily slog. I've had a really relaxing evening though, had a bath, finished my book and now starting on the next in the series. My aim is to finish the new book by the end of the month.

Today was spendy - we don't have much for lunches as we need to go shopping so ended up eating out. Also had a hankering for chocolate and ate too much of it. I've added it all to my app but let's just say I've eaten three days worth of points in a day.

My Fitbit has also broken! It's past it's warranty as well! Literally just snapped. So, I've found my very old one and I will charge that up. I really want to hit my 10,000 steps a day this week. It's old and gritty but better than nothing.

onedaysomeday

Congratulations on paying off CC1 :dance:

Afternoonnapper

Try contacting Fitbit as they might be able to help or as least might give you a discount on a new one.Always worth a try.

Lauralozzle

Sunday 29th July 2018

I've been quiet for a while, so what's been happening?

We saved enough for the honeymoon - we had a fabulous time, and was careful with money. We did not overspend, and had a little left over which we changed back to UK Stirling. Very pleased with our efforts there.

Our wedding rings have now been paid off, and I'm using that money to overpay credit card no. 3. This credit card will be paid off this year, as I've also been overpaying on this credit card with my old credit card no. 1 payments. Credit card no. 2 is still the hefty card, and to be honest, it feels like this card is taking a considerable time to pay off. Would like this credit card (no 2) to be under £1,000 by the end of the year.

For the first time in my adult life, I had enough money saved to pay for my MOT and car insurance up front. No payment plans/monthly payments and no credit card. It has wiped out my personal savings and Christmas savings but I have a plan to recoup the Christmas savings and I am very proud of myself for not realising on credit for this.It has meant July has been a very expensive month, but a positive one, nonetheless. I am expecting a bonus of £500 (I imagine after tax £350) in October, and I will use this for my Christmas spend when it comes through.

What hasn't gone so well? I've stopped keeping an eye on our shopping spend, which is getting ridiculous. July's spend has been well over £300 (£356) which is far too much for a x2 person household.

I've also had fraudulent activity on my debit card, which was spotted on Thursday. Someone had a shopping spree in TX Maxx. I anticipate this stemmed from an online purchase I made prior via Apple Pay, and this has made me a little concerned with online purchases. I have contacted the bank and have had a refund, but the experience was horrible.

The last shopping trip for July was today - I've made a meal plan which will get us through the week. Ive just prepped a Quorn/lentil lasagne. It's the first time I've really cooked with lentils as I wanted to bulk out the Quorn mince. Hopefully it'll taste alright when we eat it tonight. I had a little of the sauce left so I've mixed that with a tin of baked beans and popped it in the freezer - it'll be a base for a veggie cottage pie.

Lauralozzle

Monday 30th July

I did not have a good night sleep last night. Someone's alarm went off all through the night. We were not sure if it was ours as it didn't sound like ours usually, but I noticed this morning the intermittent flashing light on our alarm is no longer flashing. I hate our alarm, when we moved in there was no manual, just a post-it note stating the code, nothing more. We have no idea what all the buttons/settings are and do. We've googled the company on the box but they no longer exist! One job this week is to call an alarm engineer and get it completely disconnected.

No sleep, coupled with too many lentils and my body not being used to them has left me feeling sick and tired with stomach ache, nausea, headache and loose movements (If you get what I mean). I left work early (only done five hours) so will have to make up that time lost.

We can't stomach prawn Thai curry tonight so will move that to tomorrow. Tonight we're having toast and boiled eggs. The plainer the better.

It is, however, pay-day tomorrow which always makes me feel better (for at least a day, until it all gets moved out!)