misstara's debt diary 2020

misstara

A NSD today again but will need a few bits tomorrow.  Did 6 hours at work and then went to the gym afterwards for a little bit.  Pretty tired again so heading for an early night.

£6.73 cashed out from PA and sent to the credit card.  My brother also transferred £50 which was for his share of a Christmas present I bought.  I've popped it into the present fund as have 5 family birthdays coming up in the next month or so.

misstara

Managed to stretch out what we had to avoid the shop today but will definitely have to go tomorrow.  I found a £25 sainsb*rys voucher which I'd forgotten about - got it from work months ago so I'm going to use it tomorrow for the shopping.  I have transferred £25 to the flat deposit fund.

My credit card bill came in today and I discovered that the direct debit isn't actually due until 6th February so I've sent the other budgeted £100 to it today.

misstara

Went to S*insburys yesterday and spent an additional £13.64 on top of the £25 voucher.  Managed to get some yellow stickered meat products which have gone into the freezer and a pizza which we had for tea last night.

I also spent quite a lot on presents (£111.50) but that covers 3/5 birthdays coming up including OH's.  All covered from money in the presents pot.  Went through topcashb*ck for one of OH's present so will get £5.83 back at some point.

I signed up for a ch*se bank account a few weeks ago which gives 1% cashback on all spending for a year so I have been transferring money from my usual account and using this card for spending.  The cashback seems to track very quickly and looks like it can be transferred at any time so I thought each time it gets to £10, I'll transfer it to savings.  The account also rounds up any purchases to the nearest £1 and transfers it to a 5% savings account.  So far it seems to be working well.

I think for the time being, I will stop making overpayments to the credit card as it is 0% for 16 months and I've set up a £100 direct debit to it each month so it will almost be paid off in that time.  I want to focus more on building up the savings pots in particular the car, emergency, holidays and LISA. 

I've got some money available to cash out in PA and £3 per day is being added to it from the 2 week survey I signed up to.  Once today's money is added, there will be £11 so I'm going to transfer £10 to the emergency fund and £1 to the LISA.

misstara

Me and OH went for a nice walk down the beach yesterday then to a cafe for a cuppa and shared cake, £6.85 spent.  Today has been a NSD other than some bits I bought for work but I'll be able to claim the money back.  

misstara

Haven't posted for a few days but there's not been much to report. 

Did my 3 days work at the start of the week and now off until Monday.  Next week I'm working 5 short days, same the week after then it will be back to my usual rota.  

My dad came up on Wednesday so spent the day with him and my gran yesterday which was lovely.  He is heading home today so meeting him for brunch before he goes.

The last few days have been NSDs but today won't be as we need milk and also some batteries for the thermostat.

I cashed out £17 from PA this morning so have transferred £10 to the emergency fund and £7 to the LISA.

Got the nurse at 8.30 so better get a shift on!

misstara

Spent £22.09 on food and batteries on Friday.  Now only have £8.85 left in the food budget for the rest of the month which is not good with 9 days to go!  I think I will have to up the budget for next month.  Will see how we go, there isn't much we need but I haven't used all the money I'd budgeted for food/drinks out this month so can use that if needed.I

Bought some coffee beans online out of my Christmas money, treated myself to some nice ones.  £16.86 spent, got 10% off for first order plus some cashback through topcashb*ck.

Cashed out £11.67 from PA - £10 to the emergency fund and £1.67 to the LISA.

misstara

NSD today but will need to get some bits tomorrow, probably will have to use some of the food/drinks out budget as need more than I initially thought.  

Received a letter today with details of a pay rise - 3.8%, better than nothing   

I also got my pay slip today and it was much better than I thought it was going to be.  For some strange reason, I seem to have gotten a tax rebate so didn't lose any tax and actually gained £10.25.  No idea why but it means that I have about £450 more than I thought I would.  Payday on Friday so will do the budget at some point over the next few days.

misstara

Spent £13.20 yesterday, still £12.34 left in the food/drinks budget which could be used as don't have any plans between now and the end of the month.  NSD today.

Cashed out £11.48 so £10 added to the emergency fund and £1.48 to the LISA.  A £700 bonus has also been added to the LISA

misstara

Up at stupid o'clock this morning so thought I'd finally type the post that I've been planning to do for the last few days.

Payday was Friday I put £150 to the car fund and £60 to the emergency fund so they are both sitting at £400.  I put £100 into the holiday fund and have budgeted £100 for presents which is to cover the 2/5 family birthdays plus a takeaway/meal out on OH's birthday.  I have also budgeted £100 for credit card repayment and £187.54 to the LISA.

I've ended the month with a £30.23 underspend this is mostly leftover from what I'd budgeted for petrol and £1.88 from the food/drinks out budget.  Very happy with this as it's been months since I have managed this.  I have moved £25 to the LISA and assuming I get through today without spending anything (possibly will need milk), I'll make a £5.23 payment to the credit card.

I've budgeted £260 for food, cleaning supplies and toiletries for February.  We spent £272.80 in January so hoping this will be plenty.  Proper meal planning will be key to this.  

I'm continuing to do PA surveys and am currently waiting for some money to become available to cash out.  

Work continues to be fine although struggling to fit everything in with the reduced hours.  I'm back full-time from next week.  February's pay will just be my basic wage so there won't be much spare after all the usual household bills are paid so any underspend I can manage in February would be good.  I've picked up a few OT shifts in February (which will be paid at the end of March) but nothing like I would usually so will have to be really careful with money.

In non-money related news, I've lost 8 pounds since the start of January so really pleased with that.

Think that's everything, was hoping I'd feel tired by now and go back to bed for a few hours but don't think it's going to happen so today will be fuelled by lots of coffee.

Which reminds me I got a survey through from an online coffee place that I sometimes order from and it gave you a 25% off code for filling in the survey.  The code needs to be used in the next week so will get some ordered either for myself or one of the family birthdays.

Sarahwithlove

I love my chase card so easy to use and I have a saver with them and like you use the round up function too. I've hidden that account so I don't get tempted to use it. Surprising how quickly it builds up. With the cashback I transfer it to the saver every time it gets to £1 as figured might as well get some interest on it rather than it sit there building up. 
Great news about payrise and tax refund!