Coffee, Cake, Yarn - Chapter 2

CoffeeCakeYarn

November Payday

Original Debt: £26218.58
Now: £19123
October Payment: £922
Total Payment: £7095.58

27.06% Paid

LISA: £1029/£4000
Emergency: £1000/£1000

CoffeeCakeYarn

Another great month, helped by the full return of the deposit on my old flat and the fact I wasn't in the country for two weeks spending my usual spends.

Lets start with the bad. :mad:

• I had a last minute Primark splurge before holiday and spent some money I hadn't intended to

And the good:

• BC is clear! Ready for hopefully a balance transfer in the next few months
• Over 7k paid and now below 20K debt
• Stayed under budget on holiday
• Managed to fill up my emergency fund and top up the depleted pots
• Didn't overspend on craft supplies :rotfl: A miracle!
• Managed to pay some money into the LISA thanks to holiday underspend

Last months objectives: :cool:

• Use the deposit to restock car and emergency fund - DONE!
• Do not overspend on holiday - DONE!
• Pay off the BC on November payday - DONE!
• Stick to my budgets with planned spends - Almost, little overspend in Primark
• DO NOT GO OVER THE MONTHLY CRAFT BUDGET - DONE!!!

Next Months Objectives :A

• Don't overspend on presents
• Don't overspend on food
• Don't overspend on craft supplies
• Don't overspend on Christmas nights out
• DO NOT GO OVER THE MONTHLY CRAFT BUDGET
• Get filling up the LISA!

Focus now is maxing out the LISA for the 25% bonus, so need to find the rest by March payday, totally doable. Happy Coffee in Money land today :T

[Deleted User]

Glad you had a great holiday.

Your debt figures are looking great x

twiggy86

Everything sounds positive! Well done!

TravelGirl84

Hi Coffee!
Welcome back! Glad you had a great holiday and WOW your progress this month is amazing! I know like you say you haven't been in the country for two weeks, but you could have easily spent that money instead of saving it. High five to you!

Lemon_Tree

Glad you had a great holiday and came back to bust your targets

CoffeeCakeYarn

Thanks all Really happy with myself that I've come back all positive and in budget, and admittedly I do feel a little smug about it! We went somewhere that it would have been seriously easy to overspend, but kept it really sensible and frugal. We went to a local supermarket and got stuff for lunches so we were only having snacks/treats and one meal out. We stuck to the cheaper options for meals out and only had two 'nice' dinners that we spent a little more on. We didn't go mad with trinkets and stuff, and I'm so glad. We've had such an amazing time though I think we want to go back in 2021, and do more and maybe slightly differently, but we will see. I'll keep putting money in the holiday pot regardless, as we have some mini breaks coming up in 2020, no big trips planned, but I would love to be able to go back and do it on less of a budget when I've cleared my debt.

In today's news, Christmas shopping has started! I've taken advantage of black friday to make a start on some presents, and got a few good deals so far. Trip to town needed tomorrow to get bits, and hopefully most of it will be done. Nowhere to hide it this year though, as I haven't got my own place so will have to wrap OH's stuff as soon as I get in haha.

Happy Friday all xx

CoffeeCakeYarn

Happy December! Managed to crack the majority of the Christmas presents at the weekend, with only a few last bits to get. OH is a pain, we have anniversary, Christmas and birthday all within the same month, and he's very hard to buy for!

Minor social spends at the weekend which is good, trying hard to keep it low where I can as Christmas nights out start now. One tonight, one tomorrow, one on Saturday this week! All partly subsidised but all will require a little bit of a spend. On a positive, I'm only actually working in the office one day this week, so have saved almost a weeks worth of petrol. On the down side it finally got so cold yesterday I had to put the heating on for a bit to take the edge off. To be fair in my old place it would have been on for a few months by now!

Have been so busy at work catching up that I haven't had a chance to do any PA or QMEE for extras since I've been back. But I also haven't made any unplanned spends yet either I really should try and make some time for a little extra though, as debt repayment will be very lean until I fill up my LISA, so the quicker I can get back to it the better.

Hope everyone is having a good week!