misstara's debt diary 2020

misstara

Shop today cost £67.78 which was quite a bit more than I'd hoped for but it included a few things that can be used for meals next week.  I'm trialling a new squash as the usual fizzy juice I drink (zero sugar pink lemonade) has gone up to £1.50 a bottle and I can easily drink a bottle a day.  The squash is lemon and raspberry flavour and is £1.75 a bottle so if I like it, that is a good saving.

I did a sort out of the fridge and cupboards this morning before doing the meal plan/shop so it's all looking very organised, probably not for long!

Heading off to bed now as need to get up early to go to the nurse to get my wounds checked, hopefully all will be well.

misstara

Wounds are looking good but one is still not healed up properly so it will be twice weekly trips to the nurse for the next few weeks at least.  

I also went to get my eyebrows done today - £18.  Walked there and back so that's my exercise for today.  Thinking I might go back to the gym next week, obviously taking it very slowly and carefully.

Inspired by reading Martin's email this morning plus getting pitiful interest from my savings accounts (around £7 for the last year!), I spent a few hours researching various savings accounts and have now moved most of my savings pots to somewhere with better rates plus opened a LISA for the flat deposit savings.  Feel like I've had a productive day ☺️

misstara

Forgot to say yesterday I've requested the credit balance from the credit card and once it hits my bank account, I'll transfer it onto the balance transfer credit card.

misstara

A NSD today, went for a long walk this morning and then relaxed on the sofa for the rest of the day watching films.

Fairly busy day tomorrow, nurse in the morning and contact lens appointment in the afternoon.  The GP practice phoned earlier to change the appointment to a different surgery so it's a 10 minute drive away instead of a 5 minute walk.  It's next to a big @sda so I'll pop in to get a few things - need some cleaning products and a few food items, mostly cheese and crackers as OH has his appetite back and has been snacking a lot.

misstara

Absolutely shattered this morning, woke up at 4.15am and couldn't get back to sleep   Ah well I can always have an afternoon nap later if needed.

Credit balance hit my account this morning so has been transferred to the balance transfer credit card.  I've paid £100 of my budgeted £200 off the credit card and the other £100 will go out by direct debit but I'm not sure what date this will be yet.

Have been trying to do some calculations for the LISA that I have just opened.  I set it up so £100 will go to it on the 1st of each month plus £25 each week.  I transferred an initial £2800 to it as I wanted to leave some money aside for the weekly payments this month as they have not been budgeted for.  The first payment will go out on Wednesday and every Wednesday after that so 3 payments = £75 this month.  After that, there will be 9 weekly payments plus 2 x £100 to be added before the end of the financial year which will give a total of £3300.  There is a maximum of £4000 allowed each financial year so my challenge is to try and add an additional £700 to it before the end of March.  I can make additional overpayments of £100 or above so will put aside any spare money and transfer when it hits £100.  So far I have £62.45 (£31.45 from the put aside money, £25 Christmas cheque and £6 transferred from OH).  The money from OH is to get him some toiletries while I'm in town today, I have heaps of points on my b00ts card so will pay with them and put the money aside.  I also have an additional £100 Christmas money which I'll hold onto just now to see if there's anything I want to buy, if not, I'll add it to the flat deposit.  Hopefully all of that makes sense and I've got my figures right!  On checking the LISA this morning to get all the figures, I noticed that 20p had been added in interest

misstara

Spends for today are £19.10 on food and £14.85 on cleaning supplies.  I moved another £12 over the pot for the LISA, £2 as I bought a deodorant for me while I was in b00ts with my points and £10 from the Christmas money.  When I was telling OH my plans this morning, he reminded me that I'd already spent £10 of my Christmas money on a pair of gloves.  I then checked my bank account and I'd paid for them out of normal money.  

I've just signed up for a survey on PA that will pay out £45 if I complete it daily for 2 weeks

misstara

NSDs both days over the weekend.  Had a very relaxed weekend, mostly just in the flat.  Went out for a nice long walk both days, did a bit of cleaning, cooking and baking.

Today I've done a wee food shop (£14.66) and went out for a coffee with a friend (£5.20).  Meal plan has been done for the week and shouldn't need anything else this week apart from milk and possibly bread nearer the weekend.

My lovely dad has given me £2k, he said this was due to helping out my siblings recently with house moves.  I've put £500 into the LISA and will have a think about the rest - credit card, emergency fund or more into the LISA?

beanielou

Half to debt & half to LISA seems good to me

misstara

Thanks beanie  

Had a discussion with OH this morning about it and we decided that we would each take £100 to spend on whatever we liked, £700 to the LISA, £700 to the debt, £200 to the emergency fund and £200 to the holiday fund.

We went into town today to have a look at the sales as we both got vouchers and money for Christmas.  OH spent all of his plus the £100 as above whereas I only spent my vouchers.  I saw lots of things that were nice but nothing I really needed or wanted so will save the money for now.  I got some new running clothes with my vouchers, looking forward to starting C25k again once I'm fully healed up.  I ordered a beauty box from the b00ts website as well and paid for it with my points.  Other spend for today is £2.50 on parking.

I cashed out £5.65 from PA today which has been paid to the credit card.  I'm waiting for some more money to be available to cash out and will pay it to the credit card.

Back to work tomorrow so about to get everything organised and then go for an early night.

misstara

Work went well, really enjoyed seeing everyone but I'm tired tonight   A NSD today

Since getting home, I've done a few surveys and taken out a new SIM only contract for my phone which is £9.60 cheaper a month for exactly the same as I have now.