Mrs S.....life after debt

MrsSave

Almost 2 months since my last post!! Where has that time gone. I've actually spent a lot of it in hotel rooms, I've started travelling more and more for work. I've spent 7 of the last 14 days in 4 different hotel rooms!! The one I'm in tonight and tomorrow is definitely a plus though, I struck lucky!!!

The last 2 months have also been emotionally draining. My dad has spent 4 weeks in hospital and ds2 also decided to pay a visit. Thankfully ds2 bounced back pretty quickly, 4 weeks on my dad is thankfully starting to improve.

Once I get back from this break away, I have no more work trips away until the new year. That's good news as I really need to catch up with office work before the Christmas break.

Money wise, things aren't brilliant, but they aren't awful either. I think I'll always wish that they are better but can always see that the could be far worse. I mentioned a little pay rise in my last post, there's talk of another by the end of January. Nothing is guaranteed, but I'm super happy that there's even talk of it. Don't get me wrong, I'm far from earning big bucks now, but every little payrise means that extra little bit each month which I'm so amazed at!!!

Christmas is under control, and was thankfully saved up for during the year. It's also ds2's birthday very soon which has also been saved up for. I've looked at and adjusted my budget for 2019 so I'm hoping it will be a good year!!!

debtaghh

I was wondering where you had gone.

Sorry to hear about your dad and ds2 x

debtaghh

Hope all is well Mrs Save x

MrsSave

Thank you for checking in Debtaghh

We're 2 weeks into the new year and things seem to be going pretty well :dance: I know how quickly things can change, though, so I'm just counting my blessings. Another 3 weeks and I will have been debt free for a whole year. That just feels so amazing. I won't lie and say it's so straight forward staying debt free once you're out of it, I think it will always be a struggle as I'm a spender by nature, but I feel far more in control of things at the moment.

I did receive the pay rise I mentioned in my last post (will see it in my pay at the end of the month). I also had a Christmas bonus and I've increased my hours a little, but to be worked from home whenever suits me rather than going in to the office. I'm looking forward to my wages at the end of the month to see what the pay rise and extra hours will mean.

I'm really pleased that where I work don't pay early in December so I feel on track with January's budgeting. It's a 5 week food shop month so I'm going to have to be very careful from here until February, but it's definitely do-able.

I think other than that life is just plodding along! All pre-Christmas illnesses are all in the process of being put right. Things are going really well with Mr S (well, we didn't kill each other over Christmas :rotfl: ) and I've only got 3 days in work (and a couple of hours at home) to do before I have another week off :beer:

MrsSave

Check me out.....checking in twice within a week :rotfl:

I have started dedicating 30 minutes or so every Saturday morning to checking through our finances and making sure everything balances on YNAB, etc. I have also started skimming the accounts and moving the excess to the mortgage overpayment account. I'm trying to over pay the mortgage by a little every Saturday morning. So far this month I've managed to overpay by just under £40 so I'm happy with how that's going. Obviously the more the better (within the limit!) but I paid £0 in December so an improvement!

I've got 2 more food shops to do by the end of the month and £79 in the pot. That should be perfectly do-able (will be Aldi shopping instead of Tesco) but will mean keeping an eye on it and not throwing in the odd treat. I've also got £29 left in the entertainment/fun spends to last until the end of the month. Usually by this point of the month I'm moving money around the categories to cover overspends....yay for January :rotfl:

I do need to fill up the car with petrol, which I'll do later. I have £49 left in that pot which should see me through to the end of the month. I am travelling for work right at the end of the month, but I have allocated a pot on YNAB for work expenses which has £50 in it, and when I get reimbursed I'll top it back up to £50.

I think that pretty much sums up where I am at the moment......I've managed to change another insurance from monthly to annual which is a little saving. The monthly ones I have left now are car insurance and car tax. My car insurance is due for renewal in October next so it would be great to be able to pay that in full by then and then I'll look at car tax in 2020.

I'm cancelling sky at some point over the next week so another nice saving there. I have started paying for netflix at £7.99 a month, but will be saving £24.50 ish from sky so the overall saving will be £16.50 ish a month. I'm determined to get these bills down as low as I can which leaves more for enjoying and saving. We'll get there.

Right......I now have a week off so I may treat myself to a book (or head to the library for one) and have a bit of me time!!

Have a great weekend

Homegrown0

Looks like you're in a good place Mrs S! Well done on all the bills savings and pots in tact.

MrsSave

Week Tuesday I will have been debt free for a whole year :j :j :j

I planned to put £40 in my car last week which would leave a £9 emergency buffer. Of course I ended up putting in £40.01.......I can never stop at the exact penny I want :rotfl:

One more food shop to go this month, and I have around £35 left. I'm doing a Tesco click and collect (they're allowing £25 instead of £40 for a couple of week as a minimum basket before paying the £4 charge) so I'm hoping to come in under budget.

We're down to the last few ££ in the 'fun' spends, but I'm sure that will last until Thursday! We've actually eaten out quite a bit this month so I'm hoping to cut back a little in February (though it has all been within budget, it would be nice to have some money leftover!!).

I have cancelled sky. We still have it until the middle of February, but haven't switched it on for 2 weeks now. We're watching plenty of Netflix and Freeview though!! :rotfl:

I hope everyone has a lovely Sunday

MrsSave

My 1 year debt free Anniversary was yesterday :j :j :j and I forgot until now :rotfl:

January payday came and went. I managed to stick to both the food and spends budget for January :j

I'm in a major de-cluttering mood here, and nothing is safe!!! I have a load of clothes thrown onto the landing to be sorted now between eBay and the charity shop. I'll hopefully make a few ££ from the eBay bits which I'll split between our mortgage overpayment and savings to redecorate ds1's room.

I can't remember if I mentioned (and can't be bothered to go back and read through :rotfl: ) but my hours in work have increased and I'm doing the extra from home. So far so good, but I think I need to work out a proper schedule for myself. I try to squeeze too much in on my 2 days 'off' and end up shattered by the end. I fell asleep on the sofa at 7:30 last night and went to bed just after 8. I'm already in bed typing this tonight. I use my 2 days off to spend time with ds2, do the food shop, clean the whole house, fit in any appointments (dentist this week), complete any other 'admin' home tasks, empty the laundry basket and do the bedclothes/towels etc, and do half a day paid work. It's all a bit too much!!! I shouldn't complain......I'm lucky I get that time at home with ds2.....it's just I need to come up with a schedule that works better!!!

Wow, that turned into a bit of a moan........wasn't expecting that :rotfl: Right, a bit of diary reading and then an early night here.

debtaghh

Congratulations on the one year anniversary. How are you and mr save getting on ( hope you don't mind me asking)

MrsSave

debtaghh wrote: »

Congratulations on the one year anniversary. How are you and mr save getting on ( hope you don't mind me asking)

I don't mind you asking at all. Things are good. We've decided to give things another go so are trying to find our feet and work out who is responsible for that. I think that's a lot of my problem now, I had to do everything in the house and it's hard to break the habit.