TravelGirl84's DFD

FootyFanDan

I love the idea of a 5 year plan, i am not so far behind in age and always think what do i want in x amount of years and it always seems forever away but its defo good to plan ahead. I think i need to do similar.

I agree and think its worth paying for experiences over things, i guess things can be purchased once you have experienced all you want to do travel wise. I have always liked idea of travel but not done as much as i would like and i don't think my current work situation helps that. There are so many places i would like to visit, many in UK too.

Things may certainly change in the 5 years but hopefully you will be in a place where you can adjust to what changes occur to keep the direction towards your end goal. I would believe having a plan of action and seeing what you need to do to acheive that plan will hopefully prevent any stress, and if you do you can always look back and see your progress

Good luck compiling that list!

TravelGirl84

Hi All!

Thanks for the comments re the 5 year plan. I've been thinking a lot about it and I think so far it's made me feel a bit better about debt busting. I know that sounds weird, because I'm essentially planning things that will cost money and so debt busting will be slower, but perhaps that just means getting a balance is right for me. If I knew I could pay off all my debts in a year, I'd seriously consider becoming a hermit for the next 12 months, but it just wouldn't be realistic. I still need to get more plans on paper as they are more in my head than written at the moment, and of course my budget needs more looking at to see what I can do where in terms of goals. I've been following a lot of debt/savings InstaG accounts so getting inspiration and ideas there.

So plans for this week:
- I spent 55p today, which is quite frankly a miracle and pretty much a no spend day for me!
- I have enough dinners this week to not need to go to the shops dinnerwise. Might need to get some more milk and bits for work and breakfast for the weekend though.
- I'm signing up for the circus act this week, haha! My friend and I really enjoyed the class. I want to do the Aerial Silks the most (we got to try a few different things) so I'm going to concentrate on that. My budget will need to be changed for that. It's a bit more expensive than I'd like to be honest but it should be good. My arms hurt for about 3 days after last week!
- Seeing a friend for dinner on Sunday so will be some spends there.
- Might try and get some Christmas presents this week. I'm torn between finding the best price possible for presents whilst trying to shop on the high street and keep the shops alive (where stuff can be more expensive).

Signature updated with min payments.

Hope everyone is well and doing great!

TG

TravelGirl84

Hi All

Hope everyone has had a good week!

I'm halfway through the month payday wise and don't seem to have alot of food money left. I have:
£39 groceries
£28 work
I do spread the budgets across each other where I need to but not sure why I don't have as much left as I would like. I do have enough dinners for the month so that's great, but they might be about to get repetitive (lasagne, chicken curry, tuna steak (which last time I didn't cook very well), jackets and pasta), but at least I'm not down to less money than I'd like and no food in the cupboards! Will need to get some soups and bits for work but I can also take pasta to work as well.

Met a friend today for lunch and had budgeted £40 for lunch and parking (parking is such a rip-off!) but I came in at £20.50 :T:j

Next week I am getting a takeaway with my neighbour, an afternoon tea and a family dinner out. They're all budgeted for and I think I should come in under budget. Fingers crossed!

I called the T/card yesterday to check when my 0% ends. Luckily I did because for part of my balance it ends in January! I've requested a balance transfer for that card and also the remaining balance on my other card as I'm not going to get it paid before that balance ends at the end of this year either. I'm not sure the request went through so I might need to request it again next week.

Turned the heating on for a few hours one evening this week when it was right down to around 1 degrees! Was gutted that I turned it on but it was cold and my Mum reminded me that the temperature had dropped. I turned it back off that evening though and haven't turned it back on yet. Who have I become?? lol!

Been mulling over the new budget for next year (anyone bored of hearing me say that yet :rotfl:). Instead of starting my pots in January, I'm thinking of getting my emergency fund together during Jan and Feb (and March if it takes longer than two months). Just an idea at the moment.

Have a good week all!
TG

TravelGirl84

Hi All!

So it's nearing the end of the month and payday is just around the corner, on the same day as my birthday :cheesy:_party_:dance:!

I have decided my financial aims for next year but I am going to start them on my birthday on the 25th of this month - I quite like the idea of goals being birthday to birthday, rather than new years to new years (though I might start some other non-financial ones then).

So my financial aims for the next year are:
Save £1000 in emergency fund
Pay off my credit card £4757.59
Total £5757.59

It might be a bit of a challenge but I plan to consider/do the following:
- Pay the minimum on my CC (0% - just transferred over, had to pay £160 for the pleasure but sure it works out cheaper than the interest I would have gained - signature has been updated), so that I can build my emergency fund quicker. I plan to start off next month by paying £50 in to the fund, which would be great to be able to do around Christmas! Once that it done I can use that to effectively snowball my CC.
- Fingers crossed we will get a bonus and payrise at work next year, if we do I'll see what I am going to allocate where (and try not to spend the whole thing on a holiday even though that's what I really want to do!)
- Look in to side hustles - mystery shopping, selling stuff from around the house
- Budget, budget, budget
- My friend is looking to move to the same town as me, and if she does we should be able to car share to work so money saved there
- Pay any cashback made to emergency fund / CC.

If anyone has any other tips or ideas they are very welcome!

I managed to stay within budgets this month, other than some food I needed to buy for a workshop I did at work but I used some money I had in another pot for that, so all good there!

Hope everyone has had a great debtbusting month!

FootyFanDan

Hey

I hope you had a really good birthday.

Well done on setting the financial goals. I want to set some financial goals and also some general goals to improve my mindset and health. It looks like you have really thought out how you are going to hit the goals you have set as well so it looks like these are really possible to hit if you can stick to the mapped out plan

Well done on staying in budget, looking at the progress you have made since the start of your diary is amazing.

OnlyPariah

Just been reading your diary and you're inspiring. You're debt levels are about the same as mine so it's interesting to read your journey and I wanted to wish you well with becoming debt free.

I've found doing online surveys well worth it. I've been doing them for just under a month and have earned £10 in Amazon vouchers and £25 straight into my bank account. Also Google Rewards with which I picked up an eBook I've wanted to read for ages.

I've currently got £2 waiting to clear at TopCashback which is easy money back for the online spends you need to do.

TravelGirl84

FootyFanDan wrote: »

Hey

I hope you had a really good birthday.

Well done on setting the financial goals. I want to set some financial goals and also some general goals to improve my mindset and health. It looks like you have really thought out how you are going to hit the goals you have set as well so it looks like these are really possible to hit if you can stick to the mapped out plan

Well done on staying in budget, looking at the progress you have made since the start of your diary is amazing.

Hi Dan

Thank you! I had a great birthday thanks!

Thanks for the encouragement also :beer: I'm pretty proud of what I've achieved since starting my diary. I've paid off more than I thought I could and also stayed within budget for months! It's funny how you can turn it around to seeming to have no money and using the CC, to being able to pay off money, have a little bit in the bank saved and also stay within budget! All about mindset and getting your head around stuff!

Totally agree on the mindset and health goals. I'm still thinking about the gym for next year, but not sure about carrying on the circus act as that's £45 a month.

I think one of my goals next year will be to de-clutter 100 items, hopefully I can sell some bits and get some more money in. It's this time of year when everyone wants to know about payrises and bonuses but we don't find out about them until early in the year, so keeping everything crossed!

TravelGirl84

OnlyPariah wrote: »

Just been reading your diary and you're inspiring. You're debt levels are about the same as mine so it's interesting to read your journey and I wanted to wish you well with becoming debt free.

I've found doing online surveys well worth it. I've been doing them for just under a month and have earned £10 in Amazon vouchers and £25 straight into my bank account. Also Google Rewards with which I picked up an eBook I've wanted to read for ages.

I've currently got £2 waiting to clear at TopCashback which is easy money back for the online spends you need to do.

Hi OnlyPariah :wave:

Thank you for reading and responding! It's lovely to hear the word inspiring so thank you

I feel like with the debt levels, I know it's there and I'm dealing with it, but I don't think I always take it in :undecided but I will get it paid.

Thank you for the information in the surveys. I think I'll take a look in to them. How much time do you think you spend doing them?

Off to find your diary :beer:

TravelGirl84

Hi All

Just realised I haven't posted since 23rd Nov!

So a small update:
- Have started an Emergency Fund and there is currently £50 in there. If anyone had of told me I was able to put £50 savings away in December of all months I would have laughed them out the door. It should have been £100 but I seem to have miscalculated this month. At payday I was £50 up which was weird, and then I was £50 down. I still don't understand why.
- I won £35 at work. I'm thinking of putting this in my Emergency Fund
- I got some money for my birthday and have £10 left. Not sure what to spend it on so have put it aside. I need a couple of bits for the bathroom so maybe that.
- In budget for most things for xmas. There are a couple of things I've spent over on but I've been able to take it from other parts of my xmas budget, so still within it.
- Realised today that my Sky contract has come to an end. They had put it up about £9, so I called them and it's down the less then it was before. I don't understand them haha.
- My car service light is on. I will be getting it done in January, will probably be a couple of thousand miles over the service suggestion but will probably do a full service. I have £300 put aside so hopefully that will be enough.
- I need to remember to pay my ground rent by the end of the month. I have the money just not paid it.
- I need to call my phone provider. My contract is ending this month and I'm wondering if they will bring the bill down under the idea that the handset is paid?
- I'm getting paid on the 19th this month but I refuse to use or move any of it until my normal payday. I don't want to slip in to using it before and having to stretch it for January.

I have a week and 2 days left of work until Christmas, and then I'm off for 2 weeks. On the second week I'm planning lots of Netflix and some planning. I'm sooooo excited!

Hope everyone is good!

TravelGirl84

Hi All

Small update today:
- Been off work with the lurgy so been a no spend day (which I don't have many of), and also meant no petrol spent
- My phone upgrade was due today. Have gone with a better phone but for £4 less a month which is great!
- I started the Skint Dad's 1p challenge yesterday which I'm really excited about. It's only up to 3p so far but I'm really excited :rotfl: I'm hoping to not have to touch it all at until I reach the target this time next year. Rather than do it in order though, I'm going to tick off different amounts depending on how flush I am that day/month. The total saved is projected to be £667.95.
- Along with the 1p challenge, I am going to continue saving £2 coins. I don't use cash much really so they might be few and far between, but I've managed to save £10 worth recently, and totalled with what I had in my piggy bank I have £30. I'm not going to touch it, just keep adding to it.
- I have been looking in to my current cashback and rewards cards amounts, which are: Nectar £14.34 and TopCashB £10.22. I need to combine the two Boots cards as I'm not sure what's on those, and I have another petrol one which has a couple of quid on. I'm not sure when I'm going to use withdraw/use the money. I'm not sure if there is a time limit on if you lose the money?
- That £50 that I didn't know where it had gone seems to have re-appeared again, no idea how I've miscalculated it. If nothing comes out before payday I think I'm going to put it in my emergency fund.
- I priced up a trip yesterday which I now really want to go on in June, but I won't know if I can until March time. There are only 2 spots left on the trip so if it's meant to be it will be, and if not I'll maybe do it the next year. I have created a savings pot to put it out to the universe!
- I'm still within budget for Xmas bits, but forgot to budget for stamps. It shouldn't put me over though. I'm going to use this years Christmas totals as a budget for next year and adjust next years savings accordingly, and maybe add on a little extra wiggle room.

I thought this was going to be a quick update :rotfl: