Happier Nat's debt free diary

natlie

Hi

Update from me. My mum has her operation on the 5th Jan, they will be doing a full hysterectomy and removing tumors from her bowels and muscle from her peritoneum, it's a big op and she'll be in a sealed ward for a week with no visitors so it's going to be a difficult time. 

Christmas was good, we've enjoyed and December on the whole we had a really good time apart from that flu/cold hitting some of the family worse than others. I managed to do the clean up instead of the house being a mess all week which has been great. 

Yesterday I spent the day listing things on Vinted and clearing all the stuff I had to list out of my office ready for going back to work next week. I sold 4 things straight away so trying to be organised and pack things up ready to send straight away. I don't imagine I'll make much money but it all helps. 

I finally managed to get hold of my landlord today, its been 7 months since I last messaged her and got no response but our gutters need cleaning desperately the dripping water woke me up at 5 am, I am shattered and it must be annoying the neighbours too, water is bouncing off the metal rail on our living room door 

I have done my budget for Jan but I still need to move some money around and have some Christmas cash to pay in to my account, this will be the longest of months. 

Nat 

natlie

Wow it's been so long since my last post and my mum had her second major operation last week, She is now missing several major body parts but is in excellent spirits, all things considered. 

The last few weeks have been extremely difficult emotionally, both at work and at home. I am attempting to take a more positive approach to the new financial year so Happy New Year to anyone reading!

My gutters were cleaned but the landlord managed to make the dripping issue worse, hopefully, we won't have too much rain in the next few months, and I'll save up for someone more professional to come and fix them. Warmer days will also help with energy costs. 

I paid off another debt recently, now 3 of 7 debts are paid off and another one will be paid off in June. I am so bored of the DMP  it feels like ages now since I started it, so I am going to try to make some settlement offers on my two smallest debts which are both just over £700. 

I am looking forward to warmer days and cycling more, we have recently ordered an electric car on a lease scheme to replace our old car it will cost a bit more monthly about £114 a month but we won't be having any nasty surprise costs to fix it after Christmas again in January we had to pay £600 as mice had eaten the electrics in our engine and the air con and pollen filter.

 

vampirotoothus

You are doing really well, hopefully you will get some good settlement offers. Best wishes to your mum for a speedy recovery V x

natlie

I enjoyed some lovely bike rides last weekend and visited my mum when she came home from hospital. Monday night was really bad so I stayed there a few nights to help out. 

My Payp*l Credit account is now closed woo hoo! Lovely to have that gone. 

Struggling for dinner ideas so going to have a look what's in the freezer tonight. 
Washing is on the line and energy costs are down hooray

Nat

natlie

So mum is back in the hospital with an infection, hoping I can visit this evening.

I've listed a load of items on Vinted but no luck so far.

Going to make a curry now so dinner is ready in case I have to rush off to the hospital.

Getting ready for back to school and cleaning my office

natlie

It's been a while!

In the past 2 months my mum has recovered from her operation and infection and is now awaiting Chemo - starting Weds

I sold my car and have set up several pots of money. 

I paid off my debt to HSBC so now I have 3 debts remaining in my DMP total debt is now £5,401.84 and I have 1 year left of debt repayments exactly.

My landlord is putting my rent up £200 a month in August which is huge! shes only put the rent up £150 a month in the last 10 years so our focus will be on reducing other costs to help with increased rent

Nat 

natlie

Hi

11 DMP payments remaining. My DMP is now £4941.84.

My landlord is fixing some faults around the house including repairing my shower which has been broken for at least 5 years.

I have been suffering with Gastritis for 2 weeks now, but feel a little more human today so doing some chores, need to do a shopping list and pop to Ikea for a new shower head as they won't replace that.

My daughter has recently moved into a new flat and I did let her borrow £355 which she now owes back, I would clear it but she is awful with money and I want her to learn the hard way that she can't keep borrowing. 

Nat 

natlie

Hi

The last few weeks have been tough, lots of stress and illness. I have to have some minor surgery privately which will eat into my emergency fund but the family agreed it's important. 

My shower has been fixed and I have already seen a decrease of around £20 in my gas use. In light of my landlord increasing my rent I reviewed my DMP and I not paying £100 less per month but my DFD has changed from June to September. I am only shopping at Lidl or Approved Foods not except for a couple of things I can't get at either. 

I made £49 on Vinted this week, going to refresh my wardrobe on there, add some new pics to older listings and raid the kid's wardrobes for items. 

No news on our pay award from work, it will probably be in November again. I can't really describe how stressful work is. I am on my second restructure of my team now and dealing with some fairly complicated HR issues. 

It's my daughters birthday today so we are going out for a meal, I bought her present in the Christmas sales, so well done to past me for that one. 

Have a nice weekend everyone
Nat

Baileys_Babe

Well done past you 👏

natlie

It's been 3 months since I last posted, and reading my post back I must say that things at work have not gotten easier, though we have had our pay award and I have put that away for Christmas. 

I have 9 payments left on my DMP, I am trying to look at it way as 9 months sounds longer  I could really do with the £435 I'm paying toward that (and have been since 2020) being available given the cost of living. 

I'm still selling on Vinted and it's slow but ticking over, I am trying to shift items by lowering the costs again. 

I'm getting much better at making food from scratch and freezing leftovers, my freezer is full of soup, dal and curries ready for seasonal lunches and dinners. I had 6 leeks in my veg box this week so going to make some leek and potato soup today. Any other leek ideas welcomed. I need to go through the veg drawers and plan some meals for this week before I do any shopping.