misstara's debt diary 2020

Boodedoo

I too missed you and am pleased that all is well.
More than well,  look at those emergency and car fund pots! That's got to be so good to know that you have 'breathing space' should the unexpected happen.

in_need_of_direction

Good to see you back posting. Take care

misstara

It's been a really long time since I last posted anything but I feel I need to start posting regularly again to keep on top of things.  I'm still debt free other than car payments but recently have not been paying much attention to money matters and have been overspending.  Food as usual is one of the culprits, totally got out of the habit of prepping meals and batch cooking so have been eating far too many supermarket ready meals/takeaways.  I have also been a lot more social recently which has been lovely but expensive.

The car fund is still at £1000 MOT and insurance are both due next month so this should hopefully cover these.  The emergency fund is practically non-existent, partly because of needed spends (new TV and hoover) and partly due to overspending.

I'm currently 5 weeks into a 3 month secondment in a new role at work.  Parts of the role are good - 10% payrise, weekends off, flexible hours and being able to work from home sometimes - but the actual job is a bit boring and samey.  I'm still doing some shifts at my old job to help out and for a bit of extra cash.  Plus my new role is more paperwork based so enjoying my shifts supporting the service users.

I was off on holiday last week, me and OH went to Edinburgh for 3 nights which was lovely, the 1st time we've been away together since before Covid.  We did spend a lot though   I was due back at work on Monday but came down with a horrible cold at the end of my holiday so have been working from home the past 2 days while waiting on a PCR covid test result.  All fine thankfully, I'm still not 100% but feel much better so will go into the office today.  

I've got my meals planned out for the rest of the week so hopefully shouldn't have to do any shopping until the weekend.  Payday tomorrow so need to get ynab updated (have got a bunch of receipts to enter in) and sort out a budget for November.

Better get myself into a shower and start getting ready for work, hope everyone is well

Boodedoo

Pleased to hear all is well. 
Given the circumstances over the last couple of years, I'd say the holiday expenditure was money well spent :-)   
Lovely to see that the debts are still a thing of the past and the savings are progressing.

misstara

Thanks Boodedoo.

All fine here over the last few days, did a small shop on Saturday but just bread, milk and toilet rolls.  Will do a proper shop today but don't really need all that much, should get everything for under £20.

Ynab has been updated and I've done the budget for this month, will post later as better get ready for work.

misstara

Never got round to posting the budget for this month but there wasn't much to it.  I chose not to put anything in the flat deposit savings, instead putting extra in the presents fund and also we've decided to go down to Edinburgh again next month so put money aside towards that.

Shopping on Monday was £17.12 so pleased with that. Going to pop to the shop today but only really need tissues (can't seem to shake the last of this cold), milk and a baguette to make BLTs for lunch.

I've just dropped the car off for its MOT so fingers crossed there's nothing major.  I took a days annual leave as I've got some holidays to use up and OH is off college so will be nice to spend the day together.

monz

Good luck  

Boodedoo

Hope the MOT went well (and cheaply!)

monz

How are things Miss Tara

misstara

Soooo.... it's been a really long time since I posted.  I'd given up posting as I felt I was doing fine and didn't need the accountability.  Turns out I do need it!

Update for the last year - I went back to my original role after my secondment ended, I had the option of making the secondment permanent but I didn't really enjoy it so decided against it.  I became an auntie again   Me and OH are still together and living in our wee flat, still saving for our own place but it's slow going.  My health took a turn for the worse about 6 months ago and I've just undergone another operation.  I'm currently off on sick leave and will be for at least 5 more weeks.

Since I've got more time on my hands, I thought it is a good opportunity to try and get back on track.  I've just paid off my car loan but have wiped out what was in the car maintenance and emergency fund pots paying for car insurance and recent car repairs.  There's a balance of around £3000 on my credit card, this is due to general overspending.  The period between July and November were probably the most stressful months I have ever had due to work stuff, my health and OH's health and I completely stopped paying attention to anything money related, it was just a case of making it through each week.  I haven't updated YNAB for months so not really sure what is going on with my finances.

So first up, I need to check the exact balance on my credit card and update YNAB so I have a clear picture about my finances.  Once I've done that, I can make a plan.