Coffee, Cake, Yarn - New Start

CoffeeCakeYarn

Hey Joey *waves* Good to see you!

Writing all that down for me was really cathartic. I spent some time reading back through my diary and I'm astonished at how frenzied I sounded. I understand why I was though, I was teetering on the edge of financial ruin. The car stuff petrified me, and I'm so thankful that I now have a strategy in place which means I haven't added to my debt at all since then.

I think there's a lot to be said for having funds in the bank waiting for the recurring expenses, and not having to resort to the credit card, even if that has meant I've paid off much less than I wanted to. But for the first time in my life last Christmas was paid in cash, my car expenses were all paid in cash, my holiday was paid in cash. I'm so grateful that I have managed to work to get to a position where I am able to do this. And whilst I'm not out of the woods yet, I'm certainly a lot further away from the edge of ruin than I was.

I'm excited for the next step. I had a cash out on prolific last night and got properly excited about really getting to grips with this stuff again and being more proactive with earning more. It's exciting to switch from a 5 year plan to a 2 year plan, and I'm really happy to be back :beer:

CoffeeCakeYarn

September Starting Point

Original Debt: £26218.58
Now: £21233.80
August Payment: £187.47
Total Payment: £4984.78

19.01% Paid

LISA: £678/£4000
Emergency: £803/£1000

joeyjimbles

I can imagine that it does feel good, you should celebrate what you've achieved and your emergency fund in place. That's good. And isn't it nice to be able to cash out Prolific at £5 rather than waiting? I burned out on surveys earlier in the year, so I absolutely understand where you are coming from but I've kept on with PA and I've just restarted some others including e-Rewards as I have quite a nice stash of Nectar but want more for Christmas.

CoffeeCakeYarn

Love being able to cash out prolific at £5 - always felt like it took too long to get to £20. Still dipping into that, as they are by far the least mind numbing ones, and do a few qmee under 10 minute ones. The burn out was so real!

NSD today - working from home and eating from stores, big food shop needed in the next day or two though, and I need to stock the freezer back up and do some batch cooking.

Missed an opportunity to earn some petrol expenses with work, but I'm not too upset as it would have been VERY long day. But the joys of having an economical car means I always feel like I'm being payed too much when I claim back 45p per mile. Happy enough to work from home and save the journey to be fair, and there's no temptation to pull in for a Costa when I'm indoors

[Deleted User]

I keep getting these burning desires to go to Hobbycraft, I think there's a subliminal effect at hand

How fab that you've got cash to cover recurring expenses - I think we often overlook having that level of security when trying to pay off the debt. You're doing really well

CoffeeCakeYarn

[Deleted User] wrote:

I keep getting these burning desires to go to Hobbycraft, I think there's a subliminal effect at hand

Don't want to encourage you buuuuut... Aldi have their wool coming back in soon, it's lovely quality and much better value than hobby craft I've got some pennies in my 'craft' fund ready for it's return. Not that I strictly need anymore, I've just moved my craft supplies over to OH's house, which was quite the job! Thanks for popping in and for the encouragement.

Got a £10 referral for Revolut (the bank) last night, which was nice and unexpected! Already assigned out to the CC, LISA and emergency fund New fridge is coming today, YAY! So will be a large Aldi shop tonight and I can actually batch cook for here (OH's), which should bring the food bills down a bit for the time I spend here. And yes, Bolognase will be back in rotation :rotfl:

Very quiet weekend coming up, lots of sewing, chores and chill. OH is working all weekend so no outings planned, and in all honesty I'm looking forward to it, we've been very busy recently!

Happy Friday all x

CoffeeCakeYarn

Happy Monday. I've just spent three hours driving to a meeting that has been cancelled. Wonderful. I shouldn't complain too much, I'll get the petrol expenses, but I really could have done with an extra hour in bed this morning!

Weekend was nice and quiet. New fridge freezer arrived at OH's (his expense!) So finally a proper shop and batch cook could take place. I was so excited, there's 10 dinners in the freezer, meals are planned, and it just felt really good to be properly in control of the food spend. Apart from the shop, the only other spend this weekend was a cheeky little trip to B&M for tuppaware. Living the life Happy for a very low key weekend though as a rather busy week with travelling at work this week.

Hopefully get a little dink off the debt when the expenses come in

CoffeeCakeYarn

Forgive me MSE for I have sinned. £2.40 on a costa on the way home last night. I was in hour 6 of driving for the day, with another 2 to go, traffic was dire, and I needed a stop. But expenses coming tomorrow, so will be mitigated.

Going to an event at the end of the month with optional fancy dress, and was looking at dresses last night when I got in. Decided to not get a dress, and just go in normal clothes, and save myself about £25.00. I've got other things the money could go on, and £25 for one days wear is meh. Maybe next year. It would have been fun to dress up, but the budget isn't there for it this month.

Last weeks food shop is still going strong, going to see if I can hang out on doing a little top up until Saturday. Got Chilli going in the slow cooker tonight, so another meal for the freezer. More travel for work tomorrow so more petrol miles, this one is a much shorter journey though, even though it will be a longer day, 4:30am start! Horrific! Early night tonight.

Another busy day on the cards at work today, didn't finish until 8:30pm last night, and whilst I don't get overtime, I will take some TOIL back. Hoping I can squeeze in a QMEE or two today

Have a good day MSE land

CoffeeCakeYarn

£5.85 from PA and £1.30 from QMEE, Yipee! Good day

joeyjimbles

Just think if you could do that everyday - c£210/month - shame it doesn't happen like that but it's a great motivator - well done