Becoming debt free and saving for the future.

DebtFreeMonkey

Yesterday was payday and happy to note that my estimated wage was under so got a bit extra to play around with. Paid a chunk off my CC and, when my SF comes in in Sept, I'll pay the rest off (and somewhat pay it back into the SF pot) to avoid more interest charges.

Did a few bits of shopping for the holiday but 2 tops I got were half price and I do actually need them for the holiday. Hoping not to spend too much more before we go.

Yesterday was a lovely, albeit busy, shift at work. I got given a lovely card by a regular guest with such a lovely message, a bunch of flowers from a family that have stayed before and £5 tip for just helping out and somewhat looking after a guest for 5 minutes. It always amazes me how much people appreciate what's, in my opinion, basic kindness. Also had my yearly review and my manager is happy with me so happy days

Ended up finishing with £16.80 of my shopping budget left and I've rolled that over to this week since, apparently, with the surplus of food I'm working my way through, £30 is too much. Still have over £50 in my money jar which is not budgeted, now because I put £50 in my Christmas/Birthday fund...I've also put £200 in my savings and if all goes to plan, I'll be able to pay £225 extra on my bank loan.

I might keep back the money jar money for Sept and then, at the end, bank it and put it towards a debt. Just want to keep it just in case I budgeted wrong (new budget so ironing out the kinks this month).

Anywho, hope everyone enjoys the bank holiday weekend. I'm working again today and tomorrow but at least I have Sunday off and it means two more NSD which will bring me to my NSD target of 12 for this month.

savingholmes

Your budgeting sounds like its going well. Nice to be appreciated with flowers and a tip too!

hugheskevi

Just read through the thread, a few things in particular struck me.

(1) There was, unsurprisingly, a big emphasis on debt reduction. But it is good you are also taking steps to improve income through education. Increasing income has huge potential to improve financial position compared to saving when on a low income, although it does have to be combined with financial discipline.

(2) Diet. I'm also a vegan, and very active (about 80 miles cycling, about 20-25 miles of running each week and some strength/flexibility sessions). Weight management is a crucial part of being in good shape, and when you get physical evidence (eg missing periods) that your body is deficient in something, that is a serious concern about nutrition. You may not be getting as much benefit from gym as you could if your body is choosing to skip natural functions. Personally I try to keep my weight slightly above my ideal running weight (which is about 7kg lower than NHS consider my ideal weight to be, so quite lean), and within 1kg most of the time, by having a base of 3 meals which meet nutritional and calorific needs, and then having a variety of snacks to meet additional calories used in exercise and which are also designed to provide useful additional nutrition (eg walnuts, berries, etc).

(3) Pension. There is no mention throughout the thread of pension contributions you and your employer are making. It is an area frequently overlooked, but make sure you are taking advantage of everything on offer from your employer.

DebtFreeMonkey

savingholmes wrote: »

Your budgeting sounds like its going well. Nice to be appreciated with flowers and a tip too!

Yes, it's been a nice weekend on the compliment/appreciation front. Just today to get through before a day off! wahoo!

Hope you're having a good weekend

DebtFreeMonkey

hugheskevi wrote: »

Just read through the thread, a few things in particular struck me.

(1) There was, unsurprisingly, a big emphasis on debt reduction. But it is good you are also taking steps to improve income through education. Increasing income has huge potential to improve financial position compared to saving when on a low income, although it does have to be combined with financial discipline.

(2) Diet. I'm also a vegan, and very active (about 80 miles cycling, about 20-25 miles of running each week and some strength/flexibility sessions). Weight management is a crucial part of being in good shape, and when you get physical evidence (eg missing periods) that your body is deficient in something, that is a serious concern about nutrition. You may not be getting as much benefit from gym as you could if your body is choosing to skip natural functions. Personally I try to keep my weight slightly above my ideal running weight (which is about 7kg lower than NHS consider my ideal weight to be, so quite lean), and within 1kg most of the time, by having a base of 3 meals which meet nutritional and calorific needs, and then having a variety of snacks to meet additional calories used in exercise and which are also designed to provide useful additional nutrition (eg walnuts, berries, etc).

(3) Pension. There is no mention throughout the thread of pension contributions you and your employer are making. It is an area frequently overlooked, but make sure you are taking advantage of everything on offer from your employer.

Thanks for such a detailed response.

Yes, BMI is usually a load of rubbish. I'm technically in the 'healthy' range but I need to be 3-4kg ABOVE the minimum to have my body working properly and I'm about 1kg off that so time to put in some work. It's hard because I eat a lot of food but any sign of stress, good or bad, immediately throws my system out of whack and I dropped weight like it's no one's business. Thanks for the tips, though.

Pension? I always forget because it comes out of my wages at 5% and my employer matches with 3%. Planning to up this as soon as I'm DF. Thanks for reminding me about it.

hugheskevi

Yes, BMI is usually a load of rubbish. I'm technically in the 'healthy' range but I need to be 3-4kg ABOVE the minimum to have my body working properly and I'm about 1kg off that so time to put in some work.

I find my ideal running weight is pretty much the centre of the 'healthy' BMI band, around about 21. I think the BMI bands are extremely wide, and I wouldn't want to be down near the minimum healthy level, nor anywhere up near the top of healthy (25) as I don't think I'd be in good shape in either case.

Remember when you drop weight quickly you will be losing muscle, and when you gain weight rapidly it will probably be fat, so fluctuating weight isn't a good thing.

Pension? I always forget because it comes out of my wages at 5% and my employer matches with 3%. Planning to up this as soon as I'm DF. Thanks for reminding me about it.

Sounds like statutory minimum, which isn't a surprise.

When you are in a position with more funds, go over to the pension board before taking any action such as increasing contributions. Unfortunately pensions are needlessly complicated and whilst participating in your employer's pension scheme will almost always be a good thing due to the employer contribution you might find, for example, that contributing to a Lifetime ISA would be better for extra funds that don't benefit from employer contributions.

The pension board is very good for explaining options to consider in particular circumstances. A lot of folks find that stuff boring and don't engage, but it is very rewarding to have a well designed long-term financial strategy and understand how things like cash savings, mortgage, ISAs and pensions should all fit together. Once debts are cleared it will be a natural progression hopefully.

Also, if you move to a new employer, always consider whether you should transfer your existing pensions to their scheme (or to a pension you set up yourself), otherwise you end up with lots of pension schemes all over the place.

DebtFreeMonkey

hugheskevi wrote: »

I find my ideal running weight is pretty much the centre of the 'healthy' BMI band, around about 21. I think the BMI bands are extremely wide, and I wouldn't want to be down near the minimum healthy level, nor anywhere up near the top of healthy (25) as I don't think I'd be in good shape in either case.

Remember when you drop weight quickly you will be losing muscle, and when you gain weight rapidly it will probably be fat, so fluctuating weight isn't a good thing.

Fluctuating weight is definitely not a good thing. Luckily, I'm always quite lean, particularly my legs and biceps so it's not too much muscle loss and I regain strength quickly enough but it's a whole heap of unhealthy! Thanks for the reminder of why I need to tackle this issue head on.

hugheskevi wrote: »

When you are in a position with more funds, go over to the pension board before taking any action such as increasing contributions. Unfortunately pensions are needlessly complicated and whilst participating in your employer's pension scheme will almost always be a good thing due to the employer contribution you might find, for example, that contributing to a Lifetime ISA would be better for extra funds that don't benefit from employer contributions.

I'll definitely be doing that. I'm happy that I'm at least paying something towards a pension for now but I really need to look into this in A LOT more detail when I have more money to play with. There's so many options that I may well start tentatively dipping my toes into the forums to have a read so that I'm more prepared when the time comes.

DebtFreeMonkey

Not much to report! I managed 12/12 NSD for this month and survived this bank holiday weekend which was hectic at work. I had today off and spent a lot of time out on my bike cycling around. Almost another NSD but had to buy a first aid kit because I came clean off my bike when the path rather suddenly turned to gravel. I knew I should have switched from the road bike to the hybrid!

In other news, my period came back so happy days! Still a little on the light side of my weight but pretty happy that all is functioning well. I also had one of my favourite meals for tea which is always dead cheap: Homemade hummus and homemade wedges! Who says veganism is expensive? Haha! Breakfast/lunch was a huge smoothie bowl and I snacked on some fruit/veggies.

A busy week seeing people and the like before I fly out on Friday. Hope everyone has had a good day and this week is a good one for ya!

FootyFanDan

Well done on the food front, hopefully the weight will pick up. Hope you are not too sore from the fall.

Hope you have an amazing holiday

Doing_it_my_way

Hope you're not too sore from your fall. Enjoy your holiday