Debt Free by 40 - let the countdown begin!!!!

GlendaSugarbean

I can relate to the chimp! It's always z balance between placating current me and planning for what future me needs. Don't try to change everything at once though. If you can tweak one thing at a time it's much more sustainable in the long run. Like leaving your purse behind if you don't need to spend anything :rotfl:

pidge04

That would pretty much describe me too!
Is it possible to change?

seahorsey

I hope so pidge04! I'm guessing awareness is the first step.

Not much to report on the finances front - 5 days until payday. All dd have come out so it's just a case of sitting tight and keeping the purse closed. There's enough in the bank for fuel and a weekly shop at the weekend so I'm reasonably happy with that. Can't wait til payday now and a chance to really get started.

DS & OH are still fast asleep so I'm going to take the opportunity for a short run- have a good day all x

Honeysucklelou2

Some of my. NSD s happendue to leaving my purse at home, sometimes quite by accident other times quite intentionally!

pidge04

You are in a good position with 5 days until pay day!

seahorsey

Morning all!
Managed a steady 10k yesterday. I've got my 4th half marathon coming up in 10 weeks and currently feeling very underprepared. This mornings run was the furthest I'd run since my last half at the beginning of June. This hot weather has just wiped away my running mojo. Best get back on track asap.

So the chimp escaped again yesterday :mad: the pop to the supermarket for milk and a couple of other bits, resulted in £20 spent, plus the same again in Iceland as I was near it and I "needed" to stock up on a few bits, plus £20 in fuel, £15 spent on food and drink on the go for DS and me (why :mad: he left half of it anyway!!!!) resulted in £75 parted with :eek: . Yes the food will get used and most was on offer (half my problem is I can't resist a bargain!) and hopefully it'll mean less spent on our weekly shop at the weekend, but I'm so cross with myself. Fortunately I've had some good ebay sales over the last couple of days so am still in a reasonably good position for payday, but I'm still frustrated with myself as that extra should have been saved or paid off debts. No wonder I'm not getting anywhere if I'm spending every penny that lands in the bank. Note taken and hopefully I'll show a wee bit more will power next time. On the plus side, being honest and writing it down really opened my eyes........

So despite the chimp, I did have a lovely day with the little one. Must admit I was pretty smug as I'd got an afternoon at a local heritage centre planned with free entry - there's no such thing as a free day out with the chimp around :rotfl: this WILL change though.

So in light of yesterday's supermarket sweep I'm going to sit and meal plan for next week to ensure only the essentials are bought. Difficulty in our house is that I'm cooking 3 meals each night. I have one very fussy toddler (who to be fair eats earlier than us anyway), one equally fussy OH who is typically meat and two veg, no sauces, no mushed up food and myself who in all honesty is probably just as much of a pain in the bum as I'm a veggie following slimming world! But I'll do my best to plan it out. I'm usually pretty good at batch cooking my stuff, but that's slipped over the last few months. Maybe it's time to take stock of the freezer and drag the slow cooker out of its semi retirement!

Debating a quick 2 miler - I'd set myself the target of 25k for the week. I'm currently on 18.4k with 5k planned for Saturday at my local parkrun....

seahorsey

So the 2 miler didn't happen. No sooner had I logged off little man woke up. Did manage a very wet 5 miles yesterday though, so managed my 25k target for the week.

Grrr! So much for being in a good position pre payday :mad: - firstly a number of dd's came out that I hadn't budgeted for (~£50). OH changed jobs not so long ago and no longer has a fixed paydate, it's the penultimate working day of the month. Therefore all the dd that were scheduled to come out the day after his old pay day sometimes need paying twice in one pay packet depending on how it falls. Granted it also means we get the odd month free from them too, but it bit me on the bum this month! Secondly, I need glasses Been struggling particularly at work for a while, got given a voucher by work for the eye test but have had to pay £155 for two pairs of glasses. Admittedly I could have gone for a cheaper option but I wanted some that I was happy with as I'm feeling really self conscious about it having never worn them before, so know if I didn't like them I wouldn't wear them. As a result of all this and the food shopping, the OD has temporarily increased :mad: . Prior to this I did pay the next account off using eBay sales though - small victories :rotfl::rotfl:

So next months budget has been juggled a bit to enable us to pay to glasses straight off and return the OD to pretty much where it was. I get the feeling progress will be slow as also have car tax to pay out for but I'm focussed and planning on remaining so.

Have a great remainder of the weekend x x x

seahorsey

Good morning!!!!
Pay day at last. I've sat and juggled the accounts round, made payments to cards etc and come to the realisation that this month is going to be tight - very tight. Not helped by the fact that a simple plumbing job for OH has escalated and we now need a plumber to sort it :mad:

Never mind.... onwards and upwards (or hopefully in the case of the debt downwards!)

This month I'm looking to focus on the food shop and hopefully bring it in under £300 for now. First step - stocktake what we've got, second step meal plan......lets see how it goes.

To be honest I'm a wee bit flat this morning after faced with the realisation that on day 1 of the financial month things are going to be extremely tight. I've put £200 away towards my £1k and am determined it'll still be there come month end but realistically I'm not so sure. Need to keep the purse shut and stay offline as much as possible in order to resist temptation.

Have a good day x x x

seahorsey

Good morning....
It's chucking it down here. I know we need it but it could have waited a couple of hours until I'm safely locked up in the office for the day! Really not embracing the thought of walking the woofs and seeing to the ponies.

I've realised that this journey will be about celebrating the small victories - I'm not going to wake up tomorrow and everything is paid off - it's going to take baby steps and recognition of the little things.

So victory number 1 - work are paying £80 towards my glasses, which cushions that blow immensely.
Victory number 2 - £40ish worth of ebay sales yesterday.

Spendy day yesterday as needed to put fuel in the car - a necessary evil unfortunately. £1.29 a litre :eek::eek::eek: should last a couple of weeks.

Right really should get up and brave the rain - have a good day x

seahorsey

Soooo, after the small victories reported yesterday, a couple of small blows.

One of the woofs needed to see the vet- without being too graphic, he'd left me a mess and there was a considerable amount of blood in it. Cue panic stations from me. Fortunately, our lovely vet had an appointment free, gave him a good going over and thinks it a touch of colitis which should clear up with a change of diet and a short course of anti biotics. Also got prescribed some meds for a potential pollen allergy as I mention he seems to be constantly licking and chewing his paws at the minute. Fingers crossed both kick in and make him more comfortable. Also paid for the ponies monthly meds whilst I was there (£16) so parted with £86 in total which was largely unplanned. I don't begrudge it though as it's well worth it to make my fur babies more comfortable.

So knock on effect is that I've had to dip into my newly formed savings pot ( didn't last long did it!). I'm setting myself the target of replacing it by the end of the month - let's see how that goes.....

Have a good day x