Aligning the Stars

Starmummy

Whoops! I've not updated my diary at all this month. Naughty me!

To be fair to myself we were away until the 9th and then we have both been bulldozed with work deadlines this week.

Mr Star has even been bombarded with two long work trips before Christmas. That's 5 weeks where I will be flying solo with Star Child. aghhh. At least the food bill should go down. :rotfl:

Not much to report money-wise.

We went slightly over on the holiday spends. We decided to hire a better car and I was so glad we did, we needed an allroad to cope with the crazy mountain roads.
Between holiday spends and it being Star Child's birthday this month the joint account is already looking dire.The balance is sitting at £135, we still have 2 1/2 weeks of feeding ourselves as well as fuel and the £80 balance on star child's party, as well as her birthday present and cake.

No pressure then :eek:

Due to the above I've not managed to increase my £400 in savings (although I have paid into Star Child's account and my LISA) I think my first DD for the loan payment is due to come out on 15th so at least the debt will have gone down.

Feeling positive due to the Mr Star induced health kick, it's amazing how much you can get done when you just get on with it. The very active holiday helped give us all a kick up the bum I think..

So all is well with the Stars.

how are you all?

Take care

SM

Starmummy

Happy Friday folks.

It's going to be an expensive weekend for the Stars! It's time to replace my car. The motor for the retractable roof has gone and the back window is stuck in an open position...not ideal now Autumn is here. We could pay to fix it but i only paid £1600 for it 2 years ago and it has served me well. It's at an age where things are just going to start falling off now so we may as well bite the bullet and replace it.

We have always had 2 cars but decided not to replace Mr Stars old banger when the gearbox went in the spring as I walk to work etc anyway and having one car has worked perfectly well.
Mr Star has had the money set aside since his car died so I don't have scrape around. It also means that if Mr Star buys it I no longer have to pay the tax and insurance so saving me around £60 a month. YAY.

In other news we got a bargain for Star Child's birthday. Star child is so hard to buy a gift for as she never wants anything, we had a brain wave on holiday and decided to buy her a swing. It's always the first thing she heads for at the park and could quite happily spend hours and hours playing on them. It seems like a no-brainer.
A little hunt on Bay of E and we have won a lovely wooden one locally for £16. we can pick it up Sunday while she is at a play date.
So birthday party, cake and present all for £180. Now I know that's still a lot of money but she is an only child and we don't do a party every year.

I've had a really good week this week, nothing is really any different, i'm still just as busy but I've had a change of attitude. It's like a switch has flicked and I'm now able to take the emotion and the guilt out of the things i can't control (Star child's Dad) and taking responsibility for the things I can (work, studying etc) Just little things like getting up when the alarm goes off instead of snoozing, sorting lunches out the night before, putting my phone away when studying to stop procrastinating.
Sounds like all obvious stuff but we all know saying you are going to do something and actually doing it are two very different things.

Have a fab weekend lovelies.

Take care

SM

Starmummy

Hi Lovelies. Monday is here again!

Well we didn't buy a car, but we have a month until the insurance ends on my car so no huge rush. The car is still sound mechanically.

We picked up the swing for Star child... a lick of paint and it will be great.

In not so good news I need to have a filling removed and redone so I have a return trip to the dentist this week and a £118 bill. double ouch!

Star Child's Dad has paid maintenance this month though so that is an unexpected bonus. Also the first payment for the consolidation loan doesn't seem to have gone out yet. So my bank balance is looking far healthier than expected.
Other than paying the dentist bill the money will be put away...just in case the load DD does come out later than the 15th as in the agreement.

here's to a busy new week

Take care
SM

Starmummy

Hi Folks.

Not much money news today.

I'm in a reflecting mood.

I am so pleased with how far I have come these past 9 months. I have managed to reduce my debts by £6400...I have savings that haven't been touched (£450) for the first time in my life...and also for the first time in my life money worries don't keep me awake at night.

My very complicated spreadsheets show that by the end of this year I will have paid off £8000!!! I will also have £950 in savings and about £10k in my pensions... and I've still managed 4 holidays this year!

I would like to point out that this was made possible by starting a much better paid job, but also by learning how to budget properly, rather than just thinking why not spend on things that make me happy I'm never going to get out of debt anyway.

Goals for the rest of 2018:
* get savings over £1k
* save for trip to visit friend in Sweden
* pass 2 of my final 3 exams.
* finish my on the job software training on the 3 new systems my team are implementing.
* continue not taking my daughters fathers behavior personally.
* make the most of counselling appointments.
* talk to Mr Star more effectively- don't get so bloody emotional!
*manage my time more effectively.
* set a new fitness goal.
* take more pride in my appearance (especially at work)

I think that will do for now.

I'm feeling so positive and strong at the moment. long may it continue.

Take care you lovely lot
SM:o

Lucifa73

Starmummy wrote: »

Hi Folks.

* take more pride in my appearance (especially at work)

I hear ya on that one! We have a casual dress policy at work and I have definitely been sliding down to the more casual end where previously I tried to maintain business casual at least.

And you have a lot to be proud of. Many of your goals you mention are really just a case of keeping on the track you are on now. I have no doubt you can absolutely nail all of them.

Luc x

WelshKitty85

Really lovely that you're feeling so positive. Long may it continue!

Starmummy

Thanks for the support Lucifer and Welshkitty,

It's so nice having friends along for the journey. It's so good when you are faced with a challenge to remember how far you can come in a relatively short time.
I can't believe how much my thoughts and feelings have changed in just 9 months.

I'm feeling so positive for the future, for being financially free, for being able to save properly for retirement, for being able to tick off a few bucket list goals, for being able to travel, for being able to learn.

My focus for the next 12 months is to finish my studies and to be financially solvent, shortly after that i'd like to be in a position to pay £10k a year into my pension.

Then I can focus on some real life goals:
* I'd like to add another star to the family
*I'd like to write a book
*I'd like to be fluent in another language (i think french as I have some basic language skills there)
*I'd like to become a wife.
*I'd like to learn to ski

I suppose I should mention finances a little given this is a money blog.
The balance in my current account is £255.82 and pay day is just 8 days away.
I have £23 of expenses to come in at the beginning of next week too.

the money is assigned as follows:
Counselling (2 sessions) £80
filling at dentist £118
Hair cut £44 (it's been a couple of months and I'd like to give it a tidy up before winter, it's had a lot of sun this summer and i'd hate to get split ends creep in before the joys of winter heating getting their horrid claws on it)

That should leave a balance of about £37.
I do need to buy a new swimming costume as the elastic has gone in mine and i swim 2-3 times a week but I should have money left in my account on pay day!!!

The joint account shows a balance of £145
The balance on star child's birthday party will be about £80
we need to do a smallish food shop and buy her cake.
We should survive the month

Take care
SM

Treadingonplaymobil

Your goals sound amazing SM, how great to have them to look towards to help keep you motivated. Something I did that really helped me recently was to write a couple of paragraphs as a 'snapshot' of how I would like my life to be in an ideal world, how I would spend my time etc. I now look at it at least once a week and it's a great reminder of where I want to end up whenever I'm tempted to go completely off track.

Starmummy

Thanks TOPM,

The paragraph thing sounds like a really good idea. I daydream about it a lot so it makes sense to put it down on paper.
I just caught up on your diary, I love the charity shop bargains and it's such a relief about the car.

Starmummy

I can't believe it's Monday again. Where are the weeks going?

We had a reasonable weekend. Star Child had her usual swimming on Saturday and Sunday, I took her to meet up with a friend of mine and her daughter in the park and we stopped in the local tea rooms for a sweet treat. I also got quite a bit of studying done for my December exams
The rest of the weekend was a bit of a write off, I've not been feeling myself for a few days now, I can't quite put my finger on it I'm just tired and a bit dizzy/nauseous.

Had a bit of an argument with Mr Star too, not really sure what about just letting out frustrations really. He can be so blinkered about things, everything is so black and white and he is always right. Sometimes it's like living with a robot. We are ok though, just always so occupied.


I'm so determined to focus on finishing my qualifications it seems to take over my life a bit. Just 5 months to go and I'm free...until i decide to go and do something else.

Money wise we are ok.
With the visit to the tea rooms and the purchase of a new swim suit i should still have about £7 in my account when payday hits on Friday.
The joint account is tight, Star child's birthday this week being the main cause (as well as the holiday we had at the beginning of the month) We seem to build a buffer in the account over the winter though so i'm hoping that's the case (less holidays and living on cheap root veg)

I've decided to start on one of my 'life goals'....the learn a new language one. The company I work for is owned by a French company and I think it would really benefit my job to be at a conversational level with the board. So I've signed up for a 3 month trial on babel. I'm sacking off social media for a bit...it's not good for my head space. That should spare 15-20 minutes a day to be more productive.

I need to sit down with Mr Star and make some plans for winter this week so I don't get too depressed with the dark, damp and cold that is winter.

Here's to a fab new week.

Go out and smash it DFwannabe's

Take care
SM