Oh pants I messed up BIG!!!

Broke_Bear

Well it is all over for another year...
Positives -
Car repair paid - EF
Christmas paid - just about all my other pots!
No increase in debt due to my spending
4 out of 5 debts defaulted (so can no longer add interest/charges) and DMP running smoothly so far
Had lovely relaxed Christmas with OH, DSD and families
Have not touched wages that were paid early so have full wage for January making it a less scary month

Less positive -
I have £21.00 to my name and have no EF left and need to rebuild this along with my other pots
Have broken a tooth and need dentist (probably will need a crown so will be £260 ish that I don’t have!)
Total debt had gone up to £30,341 over last few months as I started my DMP and creditors charged interest and added additional charges to the accounts

On the whole more positives than negatives so I will head into the new decade with the plan of being both debt free and mortgage free by the end of it

abba1772

Hi broke bear :hello:

Glad to see the positives outweigh the negatives xx

Here's to 2020 xx

Broke_Bear

Well the dentist cannot crown my broken tooth, he has managed to fill it but it is still sooo sore. Now on antibiotics to try and kill the infection but if that doesn't settle it down the tooth will have to come out :eek:

On the up side it has so far only cost me £60 plus prescription so better than expected money wise.

I did really well and did not touch any of January's money from being paid early but am now broke again with 3 weeks to go thanks to the dentist and family meal out which I could not say no to without causing a fuss so it was easier to just be poor :rotfl:

Have YNAB'd to the max and have made the rest of the month workable (just) with a small contingency for further dental if needed.... 21 Days to Payday!!!

Broke_Bear

Well I made it to the end of January by the skin of my teeth and February so far is going so much more smoothly thank heavens! 

Well the tooth ended up having to come out as the filling was sat on the nerve and oh my Lordy the pain!!  As ever with me things did not go smoothly with the extraction which took about an hour. I ended up with lockjaw and was off work for a week unable to eat anything other than soup, it took 4 days just to be able to open my mouth wide enough to get a medium slice width of bread past my front teeth! OH thought all his Christmases and birthdays had come at once as I couldn’t talk either   

DMP is plodding along nicely with 4/5 creditors defaulted and budget seems to be working now Christmas is well and truly done with.

i have also managed to get some seeds started on the kitchen windowsill too, jalapeño chillis, sweet peppers, winter lettuce and rocket, cerinthe and bishop’s children dahlias have all germinated and are almost ready to pot on...spring is on the way hurrah!

off to the garden centre with Mumsy tomorrow so I will have to be on my guard for those things that seem to leap into my trolly  and stay within my monthly gardening budget of £15 no matter what! 

in_need_of_direction

Love that you have a gardening budget that will also help with food costs

Broke_Bear

Thanks INOD, I find that we spend too much on salad leaves so if I can make some savings here by growing my own it will help. OH likes growing new potatoes and chilli 🌶 plants and I always do tomatoes.  I find if I don’t set a budget I will spend all my pennies in the garden centre because I always  “just need ...”

Well I overspent are the garden centre but only by £5 so not too bad for a lovely afternoon out with Mumsy.  Bought a viburnum to replace the buddleia that was taken out in the autumn (though it will take a few years to get to full size!), some garlic to go in the veg bed, some snap dragon seeds, multi purpose peat free compost and some seed compost. 

Today has been an ‘in’ day where I have only ventured out of doors to get a couple of newspapers for making plant pots (sadly we don’t get a free local paper anymore) so £1 spent on this. OH bought me a lovely kit to make plant pots out of newspaper for my birthday last year and today was the first time it has been used. So far so good and all the seedlings 🌱 with true leaves have been potted on ready to go in the greenhouse (once OH has set it upright again and attached it to the fence!).

Well it’s work in the morning so I had better get myself off to sleep so I am not a complete zombie in the morning. 

Goodnight all x

Broke_Bear

Not too bad today for a Monday, only spend was £2 for work coffees (our little office buys a particular kind to make the afternoon cuppa special along with all butter shortbread or a toasted teacake... we spoil ourselves 😂

Still blowing a gale out there and same expected all day tomorrow, no snow yet though. Am off for a shower then to curl up under the duvet with Monty Don (in book form I hasten to add!). Early night for me as didn’t sleep too well over the weekend so looking after myself a little now. 

Hope everyone stays warm and dry xx

Sarahwithlove

Hello! Caught up on your diary. I am glad you have managed to get a DMP and that there is now a light at the end of the tunnel for you. 

Broke_Bear

Thanks Sarah,

Thanks for reading, I am trying to post more but feel like I don’t do much that is post-worthy, pretty much eat, sleep, work and repeat with a little gardening and the odd attempt at C25k thrown in for good measure.

Getting rid of my BSN (big scary number) will be a long road but at least I am on it and no longer at the bottom of the ditch!!

It is such a weight lifted even this early on. 4/5 creditors have defaulted me and the 5th will hopefully do so very soon.  

I am also getting used to budgeting with no back up plan (credit) and although Christmas, car repairs, vet bills and my dental work all conspired to wipe out the EF I had built, it is beginning to build up again and I can see that I will get there ...eventually! 😂

On the gardening front, the cosmos seeds I sowed on Sunday have already started to germinate 🌱 so I think spring is definitely on its way 🎉🎉

Sarahwithlove

I feel a bit like that sometimes but even if it's just a simple post to say you had a NSD or to say what you have spent money on it becomes a way to hold yourself accountable. It's certainly helped me cut back on buying lunches and takeaway coffee