Positive Balance: Focused on Budgeting

pidge04

You’re doing well chipping away at the credit card debt!

PositiveBalance

pidge04 wrote: »

You’re doing well chipping away at the credit card debt!

Thanks pidge - it really doesn't feel like it!

I'm feeling it a bit this month, TBH. I've got two house disasters on the boil at the same time plus money that has been lent, none of which has made its way back to me yet (although the lender is helping me with the house disasters, which is greatly appreciated and I know it will come back to me eventually).

Add this to the stupid amount of working I have been doing for what seems to be for nothing and I had the beginnings of a *fine* pity party for myself yesterday!:rotfl:

Its OK, though - I went on Yootoobe and watched a few motivational videos. I know I am doing the right thing for me and that it *is* working, even if it taking time (Rome wasn't built in a day and all that) and that it is absolutely worth the sacrifices I am making, but I really felt it when I went to get my hair a much-needed cut yesterday (last one much have been about a year ago!) and there was a woman in the place who had immaculate everything and was about to get her nails done and even though I am not that high-maintenance person I just felt really hard-done-by in the moment and wondered where people seem to get the money to have beautiful regular haircuts/highlights/tasteful HD brows (never thought those would be words out of mouth :rotfl:)/nails/facemasks or whatever.

I know there are lots of people with much worse problems out there and I think this is just my tiredness showing cos I'm not normally mardy like that.

Oh, one of my lovely neighbours is watching TV all through the night at a reasonably high volume as well, which is keeping me awake and probably isn't helping any, either! :mad:

Still, I can do a lot of those treatments at home for less!;)

I think - now that my work life is a bit in order - that once I get my house in something approaching order - that a bit of TLC may be on the cards. I really have been burning the candle at both ends and giving it a bit of a squeeze in the middle!

Hope you are well, pidge. xxx

PositiveBalance

pidge04 wrote: »

You’re doing well chipping away at the credit card debt!

I made a typo, pidge: I put that there was only just over £1200 owed instead of just over £2100.


No wonder you thought I wast doing so well! :rotfl:

PositiveBalance

Hi guys,

It has been a bit busy hence the lack of updates...

Last month wasn't my best month, financially speaking. As I previously mentioned, my fence has blown down and my washer needs a fix, so I didn't pay anything extra off my debt. Fence panels are on order through a relative, but I don't know how much they will cost, which is driving me up the wall, but until they find out or tell me, there's not a lot I can do. Also, the washer is still unrepaired. I'm going to have a go at doing it myself tomorrow and if not, I'll look at buying a cheap second-hand washer as the person supposed to help me has other things they need to worry about at the minute and I can hardly impinge on their time under the circumstances.

In other news, this month I have been paid a record-breaking £1844. Again, until the fence and washer are dealt with I can't allocate any extra to debt-busting and it is driving me mad as I try to zero-balance budget and it's easier to get rid of any excess at the beginning of the month rather than have it hanging around to tempt you into dipping into it for some reason or another. :mad:

In other news, I finally joined a gym! :rotfl: (If you know me in RL, you would understand that emoji! ) Amazingly, I'm really enjoying it and I think it is well worth the money. The people there really know what they are talking about and if anyone can get me fit, it's them. :cool:

Right, I need to go. I have a lot to do tomorrow and it is nearly here already.

Hope you are all well. x


P.S. £4.50 paid off the CC due to expenses refund.

Puddleglum

Way to go PB!

I can't say that a gym is for me but if I had a membership, I'd darn well use it!

How are you coping without a washing machine? Is there a handy laundrette nearby or are you having to tramp everything up and down in the bath?

Your doing great. That is an impressive pay packet :j

PositiveBalance

Puddleglum wrote: »

Way to go PB!

I can't say that a gym is for me but if I had a membership, I'd darn well use it!

Hi Puddleglum! :wave:


That's what's so funny about it and why I used to the :rotfl: emoji....if there were a list of Last People on Planet Earth You Would Expect to Find in a Gym, I would totally be at the top. :rotfl:


What I like about it is that there is no minimum contract like at a lot of the chains; I paid £15 for an induction and there is a set amount per visit/week/month. There's no 12 month contract or anything like that, so if I stop going, I stop paying. Result!

Puddleglum wrote: »

How are you coping without a washing machine? Is there a handy laundrette nearby or are you having to tramp everything up and down in the bath?

Friends and relatives have been kind. :A Someone I know reckoned they know what the problem is as they have had similar issues with theirs so I spent a fair amount of time this afternoon with my head inside it sorting it out. It has nearly sorted, but I think I will have to dismantle it again this evening as I did a short load in it this afternoon once I thought I had fixed it and it wasn't 100% sorted. I think the diagnosis is right, though, but it needs another tweak.


I really, really hope I manage to make it work as I don't fancy shelling out for another one right now.

Puddleglum wrote: »

Your doing great. That is an impressive pay packet :j

I genuinely think that's the most I have ever earned in a month in my whole life! :j It's due to a happy circumstance of temporary extra responsibility at work and overtime. The downside is that due to the way overtime is divvied up at my work that my payslip next month is highly likely to be my basic wage or only a few pounds more, so it's swings and roundabouts and making the most of what you get when you get it. I'm not expecting to earn even a fraction of that next month, but I hope that I put all the money I get to good use.


Work colleagues are trying to get me to go out with them this month so I think my socialising outgoings are likely to be a bit more than normal this month. :eek:



Anyway, I better go....I have dinner to make, a washer to repair and a book on the Life Changing Magic of Tidying to read! :A (That's as funny as the gym thing if you knew me IRL! :rotfl:)

PositiveBalance

Hello!

Socialising is turning out to be a bit more than usual, as expected and I'm going out again tonight (should be cheapish) and tomorrow. It never ends! *Rolls eyes*

The fence issue is driving me up the wall: my panel supplier has gone suspiciously quite and I am starting to get very cross!

The worst thing about it is that I can't pay anything extra off my CC until I know how much I need to leave to one side for the panels! :mad:


My CC min payment has gone out today to leave a balance of £2098.00. I should definitely be under the £2K mark at this point but can't throw the money at it until I have know how much I have spare! :mad:


Anyway, need to get ready for going out so see you soon. xxx

PositiveBalance

I'm probably going to regret this, but in a fit of I've-had-enough-itis I paid off the excess money I had left over this month off my CC.


That's £580.44 off my CC bringing my debt down to £1517.56. :T


(I have enough in my pots to lend for the fence panels, if required, but at the rate it's going they won't arrive forever so it's not going to make much difference.)

PositiveBalance

Pants pants pants pants pants....I knew something didn't seem quite right but I couldn't put my finger on it...

I moved the remaining money from last month (£177.07) plus a little from the excess of this month (£91.93) to savings account where I store my 'pots' money to make up for the missing January pot due to lending money to a relative.

A while later, while deciding to pay off the CC I looked at how much I had 'left over' and forgot about the 'extra' I had paid into the pots, paying the whole £580 'extra' onto my CC.

I've now left myself over £90 short for the rest of the month. D'oh! :doh:


I can pull it back out of the pots if I need to,but will try to avoid it if I can (probably not realistic - I only have £171 left for everything apart from my bus pass until the end of the month).


Double d'oh! Knew I was being over-enthusiastic, but couldn't see the flaw in the plan until it was too late! :doh:

enthusiasticsaver

Best laid plans and all that.

Hope you come up with a solution to shortfall.