Keep calm and carry on....

South_coast

I wish someone would eat KFC - it's been an available story on Streetbees for flippin' weeks now and I'm fed up with it!!!

newgirly

Hi sc, lovely pics from Midsomer murders there 😁 

South_coast

Thanks NG 😀 

South_coast

Happy Sunday all 😀

Feel as though I should do an update, although I don't really feel like I've got a lot to say as there's not much going on. 

Had my wage slip for tomorrow, so have set up transfers ready to fill up the pots when it goes in. There's a bit left over after bills, living/commuting costs and the standard monthly savings, but not much 🙁 Still, better than just depleting savings. And I really must try and remember that the standard monthly savings still count as savings 🤣!

It's mortgage payment day today (although the payment won't be taken until tomorrow and the balance reduced yesterday - love weekends!), I haven't sent an OP this week as I thought I'd give them a chance to catch up as they're still running behind with applying them. I think I'm looking at a balance of about £10k-£11k by the end of the year once I've sent what I've got set aside, which is pretty epic given I was out of work for 3 months. No more windfalls coming my way though, the rest will be hard graft. Speaking of hard graft, if my pending surveys on Prolific approve before the end of tomorrow I'll tip over the £100 mark for the month. I haven't put a great deal of effort in this month, so this is more down to things happening to reach payout in the month!

I've ordered some more seeds for my milkshakes this morning, as eBay were offering a £5-off voucher. I got 3 kilos of sunflower seeds (wouldn't normally buy that much in one go, but the seller was doing a great deal!) for £12.39 - £5.00 = £7.39 😀 The same quantity would have been £18.00 in Asda and £30.00 in Sainsbury's 😮😮😮! I also had a 10% off voucher from M&S as I'd filled my basket up with underwear a couple of weeks ago and then decided against it. I went through and chose some more this morning, but the code didn't work as I'd deleted the items I'd left in my basket and chose new ones so I've cheekily left them in there for now and will see if they do the same thing. Not sure they'll offer it two times in quick succession, but worth a try. If not, then I'll order at full price as I really do need some more (I have a reasonable amount, but with living between two houses I need enough to have some in the wash at mine, some in the wash at BF's and some in the drawers in both houses ready for when I need it!)

I haven't bought a single Christmas present yet, and don't really know what I will be buying if I'm honest 🤔 BF and I don't exchange gifts, and I mentioned to my parents about not doing gifts this year as I haven't a clue what to get them and can't think of anything I want either (must follow up and see what the verdict was on that). I'll need to get something for my niece, but that could potentially be the only gift I end up buying this year. That makes me sound a bit bah humbug, but I don't really get excited about Christmas. Christmas for me just tends to mean the chance for a decent run of days off from work and the opportunity to eat a lot of cheese. Will try and be a bit more ho, ho, ho for my next update 🎅!

killerpeaty

Eating a lot of cheese sounds like a pretty awesome holiday!

I think most of us feel like there isn't much to update with, can't do very much can we?

Having monthly savings is brilliant, you've been through a lot so you really should be more forgiving of yourself.

debtfreeoneday

I think gift giving should be more intentional. I’d rather buy a few well thought out present for a select few rather than feeling we buy for people we hardly see. To be honest we do buy for very few people anyway but there is always this pressure isn’t there. 

South_coast

Thanks both x

I am definitely looking forward to the cheese, KP 😀 Need to get it out of my system before 2021, which I have dubbed "the year of health" (not quite sure what that's going to look like though 😮!)

South_coast

In tonight's Midsomer Murders, we have Oscar, Golden Globe and BAFTA award-winning....Olivia Colman 😀😀😀!

South_coast

Oh, and I remembered this morning that I've still got £20 of Arcadia vouchers in my purse 😮 They've been in there so long (probably about 2 years) that my brain doesn't even register them any more. I got them from Consumer Pulse so they didn't cost me anything, but I still don't want to lose the money! They're paper vouchers, so I can't spend them online, so will have to see if they're still accepting them/still trading even when the shops are due to open again in a few days!

South_coast

Well, Prolific didn't come through for me, so I didn't quite reach £100 in free money in December. However, I did completely smash my target of £51 😀! The scores on the doors are:

£0.83 bank account interest 
£1.00 Lidl scratchcard win 😀😀😀
£2.00 Storewards
£2.47 Qmee
£2.88 TopCashBack
£5.00 Shoppix
£5.00 Huyu
£5.00 i-Say
£10.00 Shop & Scan
£10.00 Consumer Pulse
£16.74 Prolific
£17.50 cashed-in Nectar points
£19.50 Streetbees 😮!

Total £98.25 😀😀😀

Target for December is....dunno 🙄 Shall we say £50?