Happier Nat's debt free diary

natlie

Morning, 
Had a good weekend, we went for a lovely walk around a big lake yesterday and I wish I was still there now! 
Saturday a friend paid me £15 to make a box of brownies for her, that was nice and I put the money in the emergency cash jar. 
Its my daughters 20th on Wednesday so I sent her birthday present (she is living at her dads over the summer) and I will be sending her some brownies and cards in the post today. 
I have ordered my quarterly stash of oat milk, I buy in bulk as its expensive in the shops and managed to find a 20% code and cashback on Quidco. I had a pot for that so theres still money in there for next time. 
My decluttering has gone quiet now that my PayP@l is frozen, looked into alternatives but no luck and nothing going on FB, Free @ds or Gumtr*e. 
I have £15 left in my food budget until the 31st but we should be ok, I will need to get things like bread but theres plenty here for meals. I really don't want to go over on my first month. 
I am finding work really hard at the moment, I am recruiting someone for a post at the moment in my team and the HR team have put the job on the same grade as me (they refuse to re-grade my post) they said there is plenty of room in my grade for both of us but I am right at the bottom? Also found out our gender pay gap is over 45% which is disgusting! I actually reported in to comms team as a mistake I was so shocked! I really don't want to change jobs again as I have only been here for just over a year but its not a great place to work. 
Nat

natlie

Hello
My Payp@l DMP payment finally got credited to my account today but they've credited it to my standard Paypa@l account and not my credit account so not sure what that's about but it explains why they've blocked my account as I could withdraw it otherwise I suppose. 
I am tempted all the time to pay off the £475 overdraft and I have to keep reminding myself that Christmas is coming and I need to save for that. 
I have £610 in my Christmas saving pot which includes the food and visiting family budget. We also have 4 birthdays in December so its a really expensive month. 
Picking up some more free food later collecting super noodles, mini cereals and porridge pots from OLIO snacks for the kids which keeps us on budget for July. 
Nat

natlie

Morning, 
So happy! Tesco reversed all the charges and interest they put on my account. I assume this means that they have actually stopped interest and charges now, yay! 
My grocery budget for the month is spent! I am going to need to get squash for the kids and some Flora Buttery but other than that we should be coming in at £404. I managed to pick up two loaves of bread for 40p each yesterday so one went in the freezer. I am looking forward to a bit of a store cupboard challenge. 
It was my daughters 20th yesterday and my sons birthday is next, he is 9 in August and he has picked an on budget birthday present. 
I sold some clothes yesterday for £4 on FB so thats gone in my decluttering cash jar which now has £90 in it. I am going to take some better photos of my items on the weekend as the FB ones don't always look great, they crop them weirdly. 
Work is really busy at the moment and I have 7 meetings today, I need to get some analysis done first so that's my next job. 
Have a good day
Nat

Naomim

Good news from Tesco!  My grocery budget also gone, had to pinch £40 from the child benefit account this month. Win some lose some 😕

Naomim

natlie

Morning, so I went onto my SC account today and my debt balance has gone up by £200? not sure if a miscalculation in the first place, none of my totals look different but gutted at it was £29,990 yesterday and is now back up to £30,205.
Just over a week and it will be back under £30k as my next payment goes in, this has been a fast month!
Nat

natlie

Hello,
I've had to go grocery shopping today. I spent £58 that now well over my £400 budget but still under £500. Disappointed but we have to eat I suppose. 
This month has been very expensive, I've spent around £700 from my various pots on things like car insurance, gifts for birthdays and a deposit for a weekend away in Cornwall in December. Next month will be much cheaper.
I've also made over £90 decluttering so not all bad. 
Excited for pay day and starting a fresh month. 
Nat

natlie

Morning, 
bad news today as my debt has increased by £53.55 Paypal has added to my account but as my statement hasn't been issued I am unsure what this cost is, I am imagining it is interest over my payment holiday period which has just ended? 
Reading others diaries I have discovered that July was a 5 week month which explains my overspend, will budget for longer months in the future. 
I was woken up by extremely loud thunder this morning which was exciting! 
Nat

natlie

Morning, 
My child benefit came in today so £140 added back to the EF and its only 4 days until pay day!
Not much else to report! I did a couple of surveys yesterday and someone is coming around today to collect a potato masher I gave away free on OLIO as part of my decluttering. 
The food is stretching which is good, need to manage until Friday and I still have half a sack of potatoes. Today I am making an enchilada lasagne hybrid with an enchilada kit I found in the cupboard some ys veg and a tin of refried beans, 
Off to work now
Nat

natlie

Lovely surprise from my gran today, £200 in the bank! My sister and cousins had the same. I have sent £20 to my eldest daughter, put £20 in my sons CTF and I have moved the rest into pots, mainly clothes which the kids will need soon. 

natlie

Morning, 
It's pay day! All my money has been moved around into the appropriate pots and I have my first grocery budget August ready. The rest of my grocery budget will come from my UC on the 10th Aug. I will also pay my Help to Save £100 and my xmas fund top up out of UC and thats all my budgeting done for the month.
I have created an August spreadsheet. My only planned additional costs in Aug are my son's birthday and my haircut, both budgeted for.
SC payment goes out shortly. Will be glad to see the total go down again. I checked my credit score and it hasn't been impacted by the DMP yet though its been on a low 726 for years. 
Nat