misstara's debt diary 2020

misstara · 5 March 2023 at 7:03AM

Friday I spent £3.25 on milk and rolls for bacon rolls yesterday morning. OH found some tattie scones in the freezer so had those as well, really yummy.

A day off work yesterday and I didn't do much, tidied the flat and the garden a little, went food shopping and then relaxed. Food shopping came to £27.76 plus £9.90 on toilet rolls.

I've added £12.59 to the emergency fund through survey earnings and cashback so it's now sitting at £805.34

misstara · 18 March 2023 at 6:25AM

Haven't posted for a wee while, kept meaning to but for some reason it just felt too overwhelming to write anything. No idea why as there's nothing exciting to post

The emergency fund is now up to £827.23 through a combination of surveys and cashback, PA seems quite slow at the moment but it's maybe just the times I check for surveys.

Work is manic at the moment, I've already worked 51 hours this week and this is my weekend on with a double shift today

I really need to take a step back and remind myself that it's only been 14 weeks since my surgery so I shouldn't be overdoing it. But on the other hand, I feel better than I have done for years and I always feel bad if I'm sitting at home and I know it's short staffed at work. Ach next week should be better and I've got 10 days annual leave coming up at the start of April to look forward to.

I had a day off yesterday so spent the morning visiting someone I know in hospital and getting the food shop done. Me and OH then went for a walk along the beach in the afternoon. Still got £108 left of the food budget so that should easily do us until the end of the month.

Right I better jump in a shower and start the process of getting ready for work. Hope everyone has a nice weekend

misstara · 22 March 2023 at 6:51AM

Emergency fund is now up to £828.53, definitely slower progress with this at the moment.

Few bits and bobs bought food wise, still £82 left to get us to the end of the month.

Managed to knock my cafetiere off the kitchen unit the other night so had to get a new one. Decided to treat myself to a nice one as I still have Christmas money leftover so £22 spent.

Nothing else to report - I'm just waiting for my pay slip to come through so I can start on the budget for April.

misstara · 25 March 2023 at 9:28AM

Pay slip is through so I can start planning April's budget

March bonus hit the LISA today - £37.50 so it's now up to £5395.61

A day off today, weather doesn't look great so I think the plan is to do some tidying up/decluttering of the flat and then a takeaway tonight. This takeaway was actually planned for 2 weekends ago but I felt so hungover from a night out with friends, I couldn't face it. Very much looking forward to it now.

Will need to do a meal plan for next week as well but shouldn't need too much bought as the freezer is still full of ys bargains.

misstara · 27 March 2023 at 5:35AM

Meal plan has been done for this week so £10.13 spent at the supermarket yesterday. Will probably need a top-up of fruit, yoghurt and milk throughout the week but good that it's a low cost week heading towards payday.

Transferred £1.80 cashback to the emergency fund so it's now sitting at £830.33. Just waiting for money to become available to cash out in PA and I'll transfer that over.

misstara · 28 March 2023 at 6:13AM

Unexpected spend of £26.97 yesterday as we went out for tea with one of OH's friends who was here for work. Haven't seen them for quite a while so was a nice evening out.

Still waiting for money to become available to cash out in PA, it's so slow at the moment.

misstara · 8 April 2023 at 7:15AM

The emergency fund is now at £1000

I'm now going to focus on holiday savings as I'm planning a beach holiday with a friend to celebrate our 40th birthdays (I'm 40 next year but she was keen to do it this year around her 40th) and also a European city break with OH to celebrate being together for 20 years! We're thinking either Amsterdam or Rome for a long weekend. So will be quite an expensive year for holidays but looking forward to both.

Paid £240 car tax, covered by the car fund and still leaves £513.13 there for paying for the service next month.

I'm now off on annual leave for a week so heading down to see family

Boodedoo · 8 April 2023 at 7:51AM

Great to see things moving in the right direction, debt down, car, emergency and flat funds going up nicely and your health improving again:-)
Many congrats on the upcoming 20th anniversary!

misstara · 9 April 2023 at 8:05PM

Thanks Boodedoo

I can't quite believe it's been almost 20 years, the time has flown by!

I've been reading through my old diaries this weekend and the difference between then and now is amazing especially in terms of how stressed I was over money and making ends meet. Now I've got savings, I don't have to worry so much about doing extra shifts. I still do lots as I love my job but I could afford to cut down and still manage fine which is a good feeling to have. It also highlighted how long I'd felt unwell for as at various points since I first started a diary in 2014, I mentioned feeling rubbish. Having an ileostomy has completely changed my life, I feel better than I have done for years and although having a stoma comes with its own issues, the decision to make it permanent was an easy one.

Reading my old diaries also highlighted that I used to account for every penny I spent and follow a really strict budget which I'm more lax about now. There's definitely lots of little spends which are avoidable or could be found cheaper elsewhere so going to try to be stricter from now on as any underspend can be used to boost savings. Meal planning has also fallen by the wayside again so need to get back into this.

Today we've been out for lunch with my gran which she treated us too. It was at a cafe in a garden centre so went for a wander round afterwards. I didn't actually buy any gardening stuff although there's a couple of things I need because it was really expensive. I did spend £6.27 on some wee eggs for my niece, nephew and OH. Afterwards we went to @sda as I had hoped to get the gardening stuff there but no joy. Spent £12.24 on a few bits of food and £24 on some new undies. I then put some petrol in the car - £32.99.

I'm heading down the road early tomorrow to spend the week with my family. Really looking forward to this as haven't seen them since Christmas time. I've got £40 and change in my purse so hoping that will do me the week. I've also given OH £20 in case he needs anything while I'm away.

Waiting for money to be available to cash out from PA so will add that to the holiday fund once it's cleared. There's currently £712.39 in the holiday fund which seems a lot but won't go far for 2 holidays abroad so anything I can add to it would be great.