The Last Leg; 6 years later, debt free in 2021

Kakiste

Lovely. Thanks for that. 

greensalad

Payday budgeting complete!

I've been able to pay off a bit of credit card and stash more money in the house fund.

Also we're going frugal this month. We've given ourselves a pocket money budget of £200 each. I'm ashamed to say it's usually double that! But pandemic has helped me learn to reduce what I spend massively. And it means £400 more going into the house fund each month.

Virgin CC from 38.3% to 47% paid off. 
£2,080.49/ £4,427.73 = £2,347.24 left

Smart watch from 33.3% to 44.5%
£82.68 / £185.99 = £103.31 left

Boyfriend's MBNA from 1% to 2%
£111.67 / £5,499 = £5,387.33

Total house fund is now £2,443.34,  about 10% of our target. I haven't put the extra into LISA yet because we are waiting to find out if our grandparents might consider doing the Springboard mortgage for us which means no deposit needed... we'll find out on Thursday when they speak to their financial advisor. If they say no I'll move it into the LISA so we can get the better bonus.

Also paid off our friends for Italy next year and put £500 in the US holiday fund. I have a few things I do need to pay for in advance but will wait until next year probably before I actually pay in case the US is not looking so good!

lantanna

All sounds really good. Enjoy spending your £200

greensalad

Got a few more cat sitting bookings. Got a nice bit of extra income coming in in August (hopefully!)
£105 from the cat booking I'm currently doing
£45 from one that starts mid-month
£65 from someone who contacted me this morning
£100 from a client I did some work for a few weeks ago
£250 second payment of the web work I did for a friend's family business (they liked what I've already done, which was the first instalment). 

So if everything gets paid this month it'll be an extra £565 this month! Really good, but unlikely to see this much again in one period (normally my August cat bookings about equal this but obviously they have been massively down).

greensalad

Got an expense from work paid back. The expense was covered in my budget long ago so I've resisted using the exciting extra funds to buy something fun like I usually would and have put it in my house deposit fund. Fund value is now up £70.99 to £2,514.33

lantanna

Also saving for a house deposit for hopefully next year, inspired by your £200 ive given myself £100 for next month to spend on whatever I like lol

greensalad

I definitely think it's the best way to do it. I categorise cash into all different pots but I have to make sure I have something for general spending (clothes, socialising, hobbies) and then I know I can put anything leftover into the house fund.

So far I've spent £44 of my funds and it's not even the end of the month yet.. oops! But I do tend to set aside things I want throughout the month so expenditure is always higher just after payday. I bought my partner a small birthday present for next week (£7), a dress pattern, and a new mini iron to use on my dress patterns downstairs because getting the big one out is such a faff. 

Also set aside £46 for a payment for my new desk (I bought it on a spread of 3, no interest), and for my personal bills/subscriptions which is really just my Nationwide fee (for their insurances) and some Google Drive storage I pay for.

greensalad

Client finally paid me, another £100 in the house fund. 10.5% of the way there, up from 10.1%

greensalad

Moved this month's savings into our LISAs today also, so I've updated my target in my signature. Was £851 saved in LISAs now £2,418 (pretty much all our house savings in there). Excited about the next bonus it's so fun receiving them.

Also got a bargain. My three year old Birkenstocks finally . gave up (they are depositing chunks of cork everywhere I walk) so decided to look for some new sandals. Considering it's August I didn't want to spend too much, but I'm also the sort of person who wears sandals deep into October haha.

I found a pair of leather sliders with a chunky sole in my size on eBay for £15.50 (inc postage). Worth it! Leather so they will last and stretch, and only worn once apparently. Very pleased.

I also finished sewing a new dress today to wear out for my boyfriend's birthday meal along with a pair of fancy sandals I got from Depop for £12. 

greensalad

Dinner last night for boyfriend's birthday. We ordered whatever we wanted, but I still managed to get within £3 of the budget I'd set! So perfect! Though that was with the £20 discount for Eat Out to Help Out, but then BF did have a £32 steak... it's his birthday afterall. I gave him the book I bought him which was only £7, and promised half a Playstation whenever it comes out. 

Started using my new Curve card which means I can push transactions onto my boyfriend's Virgin Atlantic credit card (not the MBNA one we're paying off, this is just his regular monthly spending one). We're hoping to get enough points to get a free companion flight. Every time I make a spend I add it to a pot on Monzo so the money is allocated to pay the bill.