Little bit of Wales; living in sunny Surrey

catlady1990

Hello,
Thought I would start a dairy again as I have been trying to get debt free since I was 26 and I'm now 30. I am currently living in sunny Surrey but spent most of my life in Wales so the price difference is a shock even though I have lived here just over a year. Myself and my partner moved down here so I could follow my dream of being a registered veterinary nurse. This is going amazingly well, as I became a student vet nurse in April. Yay!!!! Life this year has been different for me (as for everyone with Covid 19). Both my partner and I were furloughed back in March. (Myself for 2 months and him for 3 months). Which was tough on both our finances and mental health.
I've been back at work since June and although I love my job so much. It has been a hard slog as we are so stupidly busy at work, plus studying, trying to keep my flat clean, pay off my debt and lose weight. 

I love living in Surrey but it is more expensive than back home. We both have a stable income coming in each month and we are very lucky to live in a flat owned by my work so the rent of £220 comes out of my wages. But we don't have to pay gas, water or council tax. 
We split the cost of rent and the additional tax between the two of us. Which means our cost of living is much lower than most people in this area and the only way we could afford a place of our own. 

I run a car for work purposes and our weekly shopping trip plus occasional days out ( not done much of those because of Covid19) so tend to go out for local walks instead. 
I am flat out broke although my debt has definitely come down since last year, its a long way off being DF. 
I have a loan owing £8287.71, car loan £3500 and one credit card £682.35. This time last year I had two cc of around £1100 and a £200 overdraft, so it's slowly getting there. 
I find it hard to do an soa because we have a joint account which covers Netflix, internet, contents insurance, food and any extra bits like days out, takeaways, holidays 
etc. This is budgetted down to the final penny and we even have joint savings in there. It works really well and I just wish my personal account looked so good. 
I constantly stress about money and it stops me sleeping. So I thought if I put a dairy up maybe I can rant a little and feel better. 
I should really be using my only day off this week to get the flat straight and do some studying. 
But I'm shattered from a six day week and lots of exciting emergencies. Well exciting for me as every day is a learning day but sad for the animals, as I hate seeing them poorly. I love nothing better than to be out back bonding with any inpatients so they trust me. We also have two kittens who I adore, as I really missed having pets when we lived in a shared house. 
That's it about me.

catlady1990

I should add why I want to get debt free. I really, really want to own a property, preferably buying down here. So I can move back to Wales/ Shropshire and get a plot of land with some goats and chickens. My partner also wants us to get engaged, which I do too but the cost of a wedding (even a cheap one is scary money). So I have asked him not to propose, until I am in a more financially stable position. 

It would also be nice to be able to afford to do veterinary volunteer work abroad and have proper luxury holidays. As our current holidays involve going back home to visit family or doing mini breaks to see friends. 

catlady1990

I guess one can but dream but oh to be DF so I can live a proper life. Instead of paying off debt each month. 
I have a budget and I'm pretty much on point unless I forget my lunch. Or have chocolate cravings at certain times of the month. 

We have had a spendy time of it recently. We bought a new mattress, first time ever!! Due to both of us complaining of back pain and me waking up so stiff I would literally have to crawl off the bed. 
It was a proper silent night mattress. Thankfully we used our savings but now we are having to pay our savings back. So we owe our joint account £900. Thankfully we can pay it as and when so we are planning on paying £50 a month each and more if we can afford it. I also bought cat insurance for both of our rascals which is an additional £35 a month. Totallyworth it but it is an extra cost which means my individual account is empty my the 21st of the month so I spend 6/7 days nsd until payday comes back around. I do overpay my cc at £80 a month starting this month to try and pay it off faster. I think the minimum is around £23.

catlady1990

So I decided to move my credit card onto a 0% using a balance transfer. I had previously tried to do this with my normal bank account but they didn't let me. 

I have 14 months to clear this off but I know I can clear it in 6 months. The question is should I balance transfer part of my car loan on this? As they have given me a really big balance. Or do I just keep plodding along paying £204 a month until it is paid off in December 2021. Decisions, decisions. I will get debt free hopefully. 😀

storybookgirl

Goodness your rent is amazing for Surrey!  I went to uni in Surrey and was paying £750 for an absolutely tiny 1 bed house with no outdoor space and that was about 8 years ago!  

catlady1990

I know it's because it's through work so classed as a benefit in kind. It means my monthly tax is higher but I'm more than happy to pay extra tax for cheap housing. We got really lucky when the flat became vaccant. 

catlady1990

So today I have remembered to make my lunch!! Hopefully get my new card for the 0% cc in the next few days. I can that pay off over the 14 months and put the extra money on my car loan. Which only has a year and a half to pay it off completely. But the sooner it's paid, the sooner I can put an extra £200 a month in to my personal loan to get that gone. Here's to a happy Monday 😀
Actually feeling a bit positive about money today
In other news, I didn't get the energy to clean my flat and I have put weight on this weekend as I drank alcohol on Saturday night. Ahh well guess you can't always win. 

catlady1990

It's the weekend again!!! Very excited as I might actually get out to a pub garden for a nice social moment with some work colleagues tonight. 
Been very quiet during the week as trying to get up to date with college stuff.
I have definitely had some woopsies this week as I had two days where I spent money on lunch and I might have accidentally slipped a bottle of wine into my shopping trolley on Friday night. We try not to spend our joint money on alcohol so usually pay our joint account back if we put alcohol in our weekly food shop.
We are supposed to be going away for a few days at the end of August but it's seriously going to be tight for me. But it's my partners birthday. Thankfully, we are only going back to Wales!!!!! Yay!!! Party time!!!! To see friends and family. So planning to stay at dad's to cut costs. We also have a bit of money in the holiday pot as we haven't been anywhere since beginning of March. So hopefully food will be covered. 
Kittens are kindly being looked after by some neighbours who are also work colleagues so no spending there apart from some chocolates or something to say thank you. 
Anyway, nothing else to report as still waiting for my new credit card to balance transfer the money over to the 0% interest. 
Then it will be lots of no spend days until the 28th which is payday!!
Hopefully next month will be a bit better financially, especially as I am doing a non alcohol month to help my waist line and my bank balance. 
Although I find I tend to eat more snacks or pudding at the weekend as I think I subconsciously don't snack if I have an alcoholic beverage or two. So my waist line actually goes up. I'm rubbish at exercising which is my main issue. I love going out for walks but I don't do anything else. I sometimes follow YouTube videos but I can't seem to stick at it for more than a week at a time. 
I used to have a lot more spare time in Wales so I would pay for a gym membership with a sauna and swimming pool. But here it is almost double even as a student and covid has got in the way. Maybe next year I will reassess, if I don't lose anything by Christmas. 
Anyway, hope everyone is good and surviving.  I will sign off for now. Toodle pip x

catlady1990

Been very quiet as busy with work and studying. 
I was so good this week with zero spend days then Saturday hit and guess who popped wine into her shopping trolley 🤗
Thankfully my 0% cc from mbna came this week. So any money left at the end of the month will be squirreled onto that (probably £5 / £10) but there is also a dd of £80 a month set up so the extra bits will really help it come down quicker.

Had a lovely leisurely Saturday yesterday with my partner. Went out to breakfast as we haven't done a bit food shop this week so there was spare money in the pot. We were going to go out further a field but it started pouring it down as we were walking back home so decided to stay home and just have a duvet day. It was very needed and we both woke up so refreshed today. 

It is hard balancing getting out on the weekend to make the most of the area and having quiet days at home. I love to be out and about doing things but sometimes I really need that recharge time. 
Today I am having a potter around at home so another no spend day as I know from Wednesday onwards might be expensive with our budget mini break. 
Think that's all for now this week. 

catlady1990

So been really quiet on this dairy as been busy with life. Had a budgeted for girls weekend at the end of September that was much needed. 
We had a couple of days eating at the lodge and two meals out, which meant I came in bang on budget including fuel for the journey. 
This month I'm having a quiet month as got a lot on with my course and I try and save in October ready for my mot and service in November and Christmas. Christmas is probably very different this year as I actually have time off but I don't think there will be big plans because of covid 19.
I didn't over pay my credit card last month as I was trying to get back on track after having a spendy August. 
So far day 6 of the month I have only paid for my bills and putting money into the joint account for food etc 
I have popped £100 to one side this month and I'm hoping not to dip into it so I can use it for my mot and service next month. 
I am looking at trying to over pay my credit card this month but I'm waiting to see what chip saves for me by the 27th of October as that is the money I will put straight on mbna. Other than that I have just paid the normal amount on car loan and personal loan. 
I have been doing a lot of reading recently, as I find it good escapism from studying and working. Been reading lots of female empowerment poetry and I some trashy chic literature. 
I normally hate this time of year as I start to feel restricted because the weather turns and it gets much darker earlier. However, I'm feeling pretty good at the moment, probably because the whole year has felt restricted. 
I am on early shifts this week, so I actually get to cook 😀
Yesterday I made a pad Thai for the first time in a long time, slightly overcooked the noodles but really enjoyed making and eating it. I think this evening I will make enchiladas with the left over beef from our roast dinner on Sunday  
Got very excited the other day as got money off vouchers for both Mr T and Mr S. We tend to buy slightly over £50 on each shop but we make enough meals that some can be frozen, so our food shop the following week is much lower 😀
Not much else to report apart from our kittens are eating us out of house and home, including eating cake out of the bin! They are cheeky little whirlwinds and I think they are teething as they both keep chewing on hard materials. So will look at getting them some toys to chew on instead. I am also buying them bat wings for Halloween. They probably won't tolerate them for more than 10 minutes but I would love to get cute pictures for Instagram. I know some would say it's a waste of money but what is the point of having pets if you don't play with them. They will obviously be fed plenty of dreamies to treat them while they are wearing the wings. 
I will try and check in more frequently from now on..... I always say this

another_casualty

Nice diary . 

Wish you well in your journey 😼