Facing reality

Sarahwithlove

September is here and what a stressful end to August I had. My housemate is away and gets back tomorrow. But whilst she was away her cat got into a massive fight with another cat and ripped one of her back claws out on Friday. So quick ring to emergency out of hours vets as this was at like 7pm I discovered it when I saw the blood all over my bed. Spent most of night checking on her every couple hours and got an emergency appointment on the Saturday. Pain killers and something to clean it with was given and £70 later. Waiting for housemate to get back from holiday for her to give me the money back. So she's been kept indoors all weekend and isn't happy that she's having to use her litter tray again and that she can't go outside. So just whines constantly at back door and windows. Trying to get her to let me clean it is virtually impossible as ideally you need someone to hold her and someone clean it but I've been making do with one hand holding her against me and other cleaning it. I've also had a tummy bug and a tension headache so been laid up in bed myself. She's a good snuggler for those purposes. Just don't appreciate the paw to face at 5am because she's hungry. Bunny hasn't liked that the cat has been roaming around indoors as she's in her pen but she would just pee on my bed and chew my wires so can only be let out in front room which has been bunny proofed. I've tried tk do this as often as I can but she hasn't been happy and taken to kicking the contents of her litter tray out. I'm so ready for my housemate to get back.

On the money front I really need to stop moving money around but I can't help it. I look at my bank balance and realise I could almost clear my credit card but then I wouldn't have any of my funds for car etc. I have done sknr jiggling around and paid a large chunk of my card off in August so its now down to £2500 but have £500 assigned to this month to go across. I won't do most of it until end of month and I know nothing is going to crop up. I've done this by assigning some money from expenses that won't be until mid next year to the debt as in 4-6 months I will have no credit card and £500 a month spare to go on other things. Slightly backwards way of doing it I know but I really want this card paid off so all that's left is my dad's loan which I'm happy to plod along with and then start saving like mad. I noticed i need to reign in the takeaways and mcdonalds I have been having. Spent a lot last month on these that could go towards other things. Only one birthday this month and it's my housemates. I have money in present pot for a pressie and will assign some of my spends money to whatever it is we end up doing for the day. Going to ring hairdressers and put it off another 2 weeks as its still OK now that it's gotten longer. I still need to sort and trade in my old electronics even if don't get much still better than nothing and will all help. Massage booked for tomorrow and footy is due to start again soon so that will hopefully cheer me up and curb the boredom. 

DrSpendingLittle

I know how it feels to want to pay off the credit card with the cash sat in the bank. It's so, so frustrating and it drove me insane a number of times during my debt free journey. But don't be tempted. You will just end up needing to use credit or an overdraft for a 'life gets in the way' moment (like your flatmates cat!!) and will feel even worse. To make you feel better, you could calculate your net worth on paper and use that as a way of motivating yourself further and feeling some satisfaction.

Sorry to read about your various flat mate problems - I remember when I was paying off my debt getting annoyed at how other people behaved that thwarted my debt free goals. My DF was generally good but he did slip up occasionally and assumed I'd be able to go halves on some thing or splurge on others. I hope you have no hassle getting the £70 back. Do you think she has debt problems too? I can completely understand you getting frustrated at her skimping on paying for food yet going on holiday with her boyfriend, especially as you're trying to pay off debt and ultimately, you're the one who is having to pay! Hope it all calms down soon for you. Have you tried hiding some of your non perishable items in your bedroom, or changing up your routine when you cook and eat, just to experiment and see whether it forces her to buy her own food? She may be under the false impression that her rent includes food, like some parents do when they let their adult children live at home? Anyway, good luck!  

Sarahwithlove

DrSpendingLittle said:

I know how it feels to want to pay off the credit card with the cash sat in the bank. It's so, so frustrating and it drove me insane a number of times during my debt free journey. But don't be tempted. You will just end up needing to use credit or an overdraft for a 'life gets in the way' moment (like your flatmates cat!!) and will feel even worse. To make you feel better, you could calculate your net worth on paper and use that as a way of motivating yourself further and feeling some satisfaction.

Sorry to read about your various flat mate problems - I remember when I was paying off my debt getting annoyed at how other people behaved that thwarted my debt free goals. My DF was generally good but he did slip up occasionally and assumed I'd be able to go halves on some thing or splurge on others. I hope you have no hassle getting the £70 back. Do you think she has debt problems too? I can completely understand you getting frustrated at her skimping on paying for food yet going on holiday with her boyfriend, especially as you're trying to pay off debt and ultimately, you're the one who is having to pay! Hope it all calms down soon for you. Have you tried hiding some of your non perishable items in your bedroom, or changing up your routine when you cook and eat, just to experiment and see whether it forces her to buy her own food? She may be under the false impression that her rent includes food, like some parents do when they let their adult children live at home? Anyway, good luck!  

I know I have rejigged my budget again and put the money into an emergency fund and top up my pots think that needs to be my focus now and just accept that my credit card will be cleared before end of the 0% period.

No she knows it doesn't include food just when we go food shopping or I go I get stuff and she says she won't use it or want it and then later in week will be like can I have a bit of... And I struggle to say no. My fault really, I just want an easy life so say yes. I won't have an issue getting the £70 back she's quite good when comes to this sort of stuff. She's not in debt as such but she was made redundant in Feb so has been borrowing money off her dad and gets UC. I think she's also been putting stuff on her credit card when she wants it but doesn't think something like food is important enough to warrant it. She's due some compensation from when she was in accident at start of year that wasn't her fault and she got whiplash and was off work for a bit. So that will probably cover any debt she has from this. It's just priorities really. To her living her life and doing what she wants is more important then paying for food. Whereas for me I'd rather give up things to pay for food. Oh well. Just me ranting really. 

Sarahwithlove

Can you believe we are a third of the way through September already. Thing are going ok for me, had to put the car in the garage as brakes were feeling a bit soft. I have been expecting this though as had it on an advisory for last two years on my MOT and guy at garage said i would know when they need looking at. £170 later which is a lot less then I expected I had budgeted £400 to get them done and cars MOT which is due in October. Garage thinks it should pass through without any major issues. The front brakes will need doing in 6 months time though most probably he said but that gives me more time to save again. I have been poking at my Tesco credit card after i got an email from them saying my chance to transfer to 0% is coming to an end and it doesn't actually end until October 2021 whereas I thought it was August so have redone my calculations and rejigged the budget a bit. Due to th overpayment made last month my minimum payment for this month is nil so i decided to put the money into other saving pots. I had been paying £250 a month onto the card and now with the time extension and by not paying anything this month and only £100 next month it brings the monthly payments down to £200. This has allowed me to refill the pots i took money from last month for the overpayment and allows me to top up car maintenance next month with money i spent this month. Going forward my repayments would then be £200 a month and hopefully by Novembers payment i should know what my new wages will be as our pay increase has finally been agreed and will be backdated to April 2020 which should get in November's pay. Just in time for Christmas. Not that i need it as i have been saving for that as well. I am really getting to swing of things with YNAB have all my goals set to have the money for yearly expenses and have got them on repeat. I have budgeted the rest of the year including losing extra spending for Christmas period and feeling really positive about it all. Now this does mean my debt free date will be pushed back but i am ok with that as i knew it would always be the case due to my loan to my dad who is still insistent that i only pay him back £100 a month. I think he is basically using that and his small private pension to live on until he gets his state pension. I think once i have cleared the credit card next year i will start saving the extra in an account until i have the outstanding loan amount and then just pay the last off.i can always set up a standing order for him from his own savings account for the £100 if needed. He wont be eligible for his state pension until Feb 2022. He does have an annuity but the value has dropped significantly due to the current climate so as he doesn't really need it and its only a small amount yearly i am waiting for it to go back up a bit before cashing it in for him. 

This month is my 3 massages month as have them every 2 weeks so have adjusted my budget to allow for this going forward. Also have my hair cut again this month, but i did push it back 2 weeks to the end of the month. Part of me does feel like the massages are a bit of a luxury but they are really helping with my back and by the end of the two weeks i can really feel its needed. I guess working at home from a desk all time is probably not helping as i used to be out and about before so at least i was getting regular breaks and a chance to get moving between visits. I have cut down my spending allowance by £50 a month to cover majority of the massage expenses. This is the first month doing so and i am having to be careful with money a bit more and avoid having takeaways so much. That has meant living out of the freezer and cupboard a bit more which isn't necessarily a bad thing as its much better for my health and waist line. 

Think that's enough rambling for now. Back to work for me.

[Deleted User]

Oh I could do with a massage! My work is constant shuffling and moving. Non stop. I can feel it in my shoulders and I've dropped the hints to my OH haha! 

Sarahwithlove

Can you believe we are almost at end of September already? I'm currently led in bed writing this with the cat curled up by my feet and her face resting on my leg. So cute.

September has been an expensive month for me, was my housemates birthday so got her present from my presents fund but then we went t on the zoo, got ice creams and then a takeaway in evening for dinner. Was a lovely day but it wiped out my spending allowance. This week has been all about keeping it cheap and cheerful. Luckily I have a lot of food in freezer and still have about £20 left in my food shopping fund which I will use to top up my salad.

I have gone ahead in ynab and done my budgets right through to March and providing nothing unexpected crops up I should be able to clear my credit card at start of March. Its very exciting as I will then have an extra £250-350 a month spare to save up. It also has reassured me that when my housemate eventually moves out I can afford to live on my own without another housemate. Whether or not I eventually get another one I don't know but at least for a bit I will want some time to myself to be able to then decide. I think I would only have someone move in if they were the right person. There's deffo pros and cons to both.
We've had our pay rise agreed at work and it's gonna be backdated to April 2020 but won't get it until November's pay. Crazy really as in January they will start the process for next year again. In some ways I wish they would do like did a couple years a go and agree payrise percentage for next couple years but I know with things the way they are at the moment it's not likely to happen.

Been having a lot of issues with my back this month which has led to some tension headaches and me booking in an extra massage. Luckily I managed to move some funds around (petrol as still have half a tank) and just had wash and cut at hairdressers so that saved some money as well. Final one for this month is booked in tomorrow and I cant wait. Just hope I can go back to two weekly after it though as its becoming an expensive habit. 

Narola1976

Just thought I would comment to say I have really enjoyed reading your diary, You are doing so well and have made a lot of progress. YNAB is great. I have a category for everything. I prefer specifics, but I know some people find that exhausting. But I like it. I even have a category for my passport that will need renewing in 9 years lol, 93p per month 

Sarahwithlove

Narola1976 said:

Just thought I would comment to say I have really enjoyed reading your diary, You are doing so well and have made a lot of progress. YNAB is great. I have a category for everything. I prefer specifics, but I know some people find that exhausting. But I like it. I even have a category for my passport that will need renewing in 9 years lol, 93p per month 

Thank you sometimes it does feel like i am writing for just myself but I don't mind as helps me clear my head. 
YNAB has deffo changed my life and way I look at spending I track everything on the app religiously as soon as I spend it and it makes me get receipts for everything as well which is only a good thing. I'm not quite as bad as you with the categories but I have one for every bill and yearly expense such as my amazon prime, ynab renewal and car etc. I have a food shopping allowance which covers all laundry and cleaning stuff too and then a house fund which covers like garden or the storage baskets I had to replace this month for example. The one I do need to add is my boiler service its only about £50 usually but that's quite a bit to find when you have nothing saved for it.

I'm still debating between paying my card off early and saving emergency fund. I have now got it to stage I could clear it with February's payment and still have my £1k ef or I could clear it much earlier and wipe out my EF. Downside is no EF but on other hand I have a 0% credit card if needed or my dad would lend me the money if something went wrong. I could regroup the money within 2-3 months and be just my loan left by next summer. I don't know what to do for best. I'm also in process of charging up my old phones and tablet to sell for a bit of cash. I think for now I will keep saving the extra in my EF and then when that matches up to amount left on credit card I can decide then as to which way I want to go. 

Sarahwithlove

October is here and its scary how close Christmas is. September was an expensive month for me, my back has been playing up and caused me to have regular tension headaches and trying to get hold of the doctors for the to give me something has been virtually impossible. So instead i have been having extra massages and then my hair was also cut this month as well. So my usual £70 a month that's budgeted ended up being £110.

It was also my housemates birthday and i ended up spending slightly ore than planned on her presents, then there was the takeaway and trip to the zoo, along with having her family round for a BBQ at the weekend as well. So my spends and food budget were both over by £36 each. I also ended up doing a lot of work in the garden because it had been allowed to over grow and really needed sorting before winter came. That ended up being a total of £127 last month on the house funds, i did have to buy a few extras like some new bowls as broke some and tea towels. 

Car had to have its brakes done which was £170 but i managed to use my car fund for this and now had to top it back up from September and Octobers pay ready for my MOT and service at end of October. The brakes would have needed doing for then anyway but its lasted me well as been an advisory for last two MOT's so i cant complain really. 

October i plan to get back on track with things, i have my £1k in emergency fund, my credit card is set up for £250 over month repayments so should be clear by next summer and 0% doesn't end until the October. I'm going to try and do a no spends October, not sure how well i will manage with it but i am going to try. Plan is to ignore bills and food shopping because they are two things i have to spend money on and ignore my two massages that I have planned every month.  Now these seem a bit of a luxury for a no spends month but without it I wouldn't be able to do my job so to me they are essential. I've gotten my physio plan back out and going to start doing the exercises again as clearly they are needed. Hopefully this will help and make it possible for me to go two weeks in between. I'd like to get back to the point where i only need one once a month just for a mixture of pleasure and to help with the pain. If i cant get myself back into the physio exercise on my own then i might have to cancel the massages and pay for the private physio again. I don't want to as its more expensive and its something i should be doing myself. 

On slightly happier news my housemate has been offered a new job and should start either this Monday or following Monday she is just waiting confirmation. It's about 15 min drive from our flat, 25 in traffic so it means i will have the flat to myself during the day again and i can start being more strict about food shopping etc. I'm hoping this means i can get the budget back down to £200 per month, which giving up Pepsi max will help with as I'm spending about £35-40 a month on that at the moment. Admittedly i am buying a slightly nicer squash to encourage me to drink more but even still its going to save me about £25-30 a month and much better for me health wise and means i am drinking more fluids. I have also got back on the diet again so that's making meal planning and shopping easier in some respects as i eat the same for breakfast and lunch most days. I have several ready meals in freezer for me to eat on days my housemate isn't here and this will help me avoid takeaways. I have to say after the takeaways and eating out last month just the thought of one is making me feel sick. Safe to say my body is rebelling and telling me no more. 

I have rejigged my budgets on YNAB up until the new financial year so that by that time i should have in savings the same amount as i do on my card so would be debt neutral in that respect. Depending on if anything crops up between then and now the plan is to pay the card off and keep the emergency fund £1k. At that point i will then have £250-300 approx a month free to go towards increasing the emergency fund. Once that's at 3 months wages i then intend to save it alongside my regular payments to my dad for his loan so that once i have it saved up i can just send it as a lump sum to him as he is being funny about me repaying more a month to him. 

Sorry seems i have rambled on for a bit, but thanks to anyone who stops by to read.  

shoppingobsessed2020

Sounds like a good plan,  I don’t know if it will help but I have a massage chair, must have cost about £80.  When my back is niggling I sit in that and it does the trick meaning my osteopath visits are few and far between,   Could be worth looking into if your finding you are needing more massage.

fab news on the debt free plan for the credit cards, Will be here before you know it.