Learning to budget and taking control of my life.

Disney_Princess85

So Christmas day came and went rather quickly, DD decided to get up at 4am, tip her stocking on my bed and announce 'he's been!' Needless to say I was not amused. I did convince her to go back to bed for a bit longer so we didn't have to get us so early!

I took DD to her dads yesterday evening so I was able to get a lie in this morning thankfully. It's not very nice here so I've spend the morning doing some washing and cuddled up on the sofa with cats watching Bridgerton on Netflix. It's really good and I'd definitely recommend it's anyone likes costume drama type shows.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Baileys_Babe

Thanks for the recommendation @Disney_Princess85 I will have a look at Bridgerton.

Disney_Princess85

Baileys_Babe said:

Thanks for the recommendation @Disney_Princess85 I will have a look at Bridgerton.

I may have watched quite a few episodes already today, its so good!

WinterWarrior

Another vote for Bridgerton! 3 episodes in and very good 😊

Disney_Princess85

I was woken up at 5am by one of my cats this morning who felt it appropriate to come and lie on my chest and purr really loudly. He's very cute but becomes less so when he wakes me up!

I did however manage to do another prolific survey so my accountnis sat at £4.43 with £3.21 pending. I'll leave it a bit longer before I cash out but I'll transfer that into my Christmas fund for next year I find prolific quite a good little earner for me, the surveys are generally higher paying and more interesting than some others I've done.i also use viewsbank, one poll and yougov. I've also got some receipt scanning apps on my phone and use those to transfer into amazon vouchers. I'm aiming to save all of those this year to add to my Christmas total for next year 

Disney_Princess85

I've moved this month's pay into my main account this evening and I've also moved money into my various pots for the beginning of the month which starts tomorrow. So I'm feeling pretty organised so far, my main goal this month is to stick to my food budget and not go over my allowance for the month, food is definitely the one place that I waste money. I'm hoping going into tier 3 is going to stop me wasting as much money as although I know I can still shop I want to try and avoid it as best I can.

I've also distributed the last little bit that I had left in my account from this month, to my Christmas fund for next year, my simply be account and the credit card. I'll do a post updating on those once the money on the card has cleared. I also worked out today that I could pay my cheque into my starling account by taking a photo of it, so hopefully that will clear in the next couple of days and then I can work out what I'm going to do with it. This has saved me a trip in to town so I can avoid any unnecessary spending!

Disney_Princess85

It's the first day of a new month for me today, my bank accounts are looking good, mainly because its a bank holiday and nothing has been taken yet!

I've got no real plans today, DD is still at her dads until Wednesday so it's just me and the cats. I want to try and introduce a bit of exercise into my life as I currently do nothing, we used to do junior park run but since the first lockdown that hasn't happened. I've also piled on at least 2 stone since we went into lockdown in March which is not good. I'm going to attempt to do the couch to 5k in an attempt to get me out of the house, this should also help with money because I want to start watching what I am eating so I figure if I am being careful and planning what I am eating then I'll hopefully be spending less. Well thats the plan anyway!

I've written it down here so I have to go for a run/jog/waddle now!

Disney_Princess85

I managed to go for a run before the rain set in. I've not run for so long and it definitely showed, it felt like I had weights attached to my legs and I'm also pretty sure someone has shrunk my running gear! If that's not an incentive to lose some weight I don't know what is, I refuse to buy bigger gym stuff.

Disney_Princess85

Off to town today to get a few bits but I aim to spend as little as possible. I have a £30 waterstones voucher and I was also given £20 by someone at Christmas so I've got that to use if I need to. I need to pick up a couple of bits from boots but I want to use my boots points for that,  so hopefully shouldn't be too speedy.

Yesterday was a NSD which was good, I can't remember the last time I had one of those!

Disney_Princess85

The trip to town went well, I bought myself a new book using my Christmas voucher. I also earn £10 worth of credit on my waterstones card for next time, which means I can get a free book in the future!

I didnt spend the £20 so I think I'm going to set up a separate savings account for birthday/Christmas money I receive so that I can keep it safe until I find something I actually want. Otherwise it will just get eaten up in my normal account if it stays there.

I'm currently cuddled up on the sofa, under a blanket because I am freezing. I haven't thawed out from wandering around town yet!