Chubby Keto lady working towards Debt Free and Healthy Frugal Life!

juicyjackieb

Narola1976 said:

Hi, just subscribed to your diary to cheer you on. I have also popped onto your YT channel and watched a bit and subscribed too. I am so far off the path at the moment, just waiting for a bit of motivation to get going. It sounds like you have a good plan and are focused, so looking forward to your successes

Ahhh thank you! I see my channel the same as the debt diaries, helps to keep me accountable. Mostly 😆 

Counting down the days until Friday so I can see where my minimum spend week is taking me ( I know it’s only Wednesday!) . I didn’t realise how much I have to concentrate to just not casually buy stuff on the fly. 

Groceries are ordered and booked in for Sunday, my OH and I feel we need a night out even if it’s in the corner of an empty bar lathered in hand sanitizer and wearing our masks. Although we are both WFH and see each other all day it’s not quality time as a couple. I’m permanently in scruffs and having nowt to look forward to now our wedding is pushed back to March ( if we are lucky!) we need an excuse to get dressed up a little and take a breather from the house. At least when it was summer I could spend the day in the garden. Our local bowling alley is apparently exceptionally good with their hygiene and constantly cleaning so might suggest a date night there in a few weeks, again doused in sanitiser etc 😷 - I do accept their is a cost to this but I think it’s important as a couple and for own mental health. 

I’m so looking forward to my time off.... want to hit the gym, declutter, sell things and maybe bust out my paints and enjoy some time relaxing a bit. I want to bash the surveys too. And more decluttering the loft of doom!

enthusiasticsaver

You are doing really well on the finance side. Lots of goals which is great. An emergency fund is a must to stop you using cards or your overdraft and now you have a plan to sort the card and it is at 0% why not split spare money between emergency and overdraft?

juicyjackieb

Thank you @enthusiasticsaver - I’ve been giving it lots of thought all day about how I will do it, it’s all such a long slog but I know it will be worth it in the end

Today is payday eve! I’ve looked at I managed to avoid spending this week and chuffed to say I had £130 ish left over. I have decided to pay £35 on to the CC and drop £50 into my overdraft fund and top up my EF to match it so they have £50 a piece. I have around £35 left to put to one side towards Christmas. Food money is already set aside it’s just money for gifts. I am gonna cap it at £200 for OH, stepson and cats - yes I do buy them gifts. We don’t need decorations etc so gifting is the only thing in my mind this year. One of our cats has started to sneeze in the last few days; he seems chipper enough, no runny eyes or nose but if he starts to get unwell he’ll be whipped up the vets. 

Also got my statement for the CC that I cleared with my balance was expecting a small fee for the partial months interest but I am actually in credit by £1 which is a bonus. Looking at my debt calculator I should clear my debt goals by January 2023.... gonna try and beat that though!

Plans for tomorrow are to make another CC payment and start compiling a gift list and picking up bits. So looking forward to our date night! 

I feel suspiciously motivated right now... so I’ll brace myself for something to go Pete Tong. 

juicyjackieb

Time for a wee check-in!

Went on a date last night to an all you can eat restaurant and then the pub with the OH  - we desperately needed some quality couple time and it was good; a bit more spendy than I planned circa £50 but it was our first proper night out this year. It was odd in the pub, its usually heaving but just a few couples and kick out at 10pm on a Saturday so it felt quite weird. We are planning another fully masked night again soon, no food just a tipple. 

Been looking at grown-up stuff - wills and life assurance. Which? have a £50 deal on wills for another week so I have that planned that for next weekend. Got a few quotes for life assurance, I am digging my heels in that if I get it I also want critical life cover too. I have used a comparison doo-dah and it's spitting out £22 for Legal and General which I think is pretty good. Again, another job for next week, another budget rejig but it's worth it for the peace of mind for me for the critical and for the OH. 

The groceries were due today but I accidentally picked an expired card and they text to say it, of course, was declined. It took 30 minutes to get through to their call centre and to resolve it and because of this we lost our delivery window and they rebooked it for Wednesday. Yes my fault but also irritated with Sainsbury's they have no solution to this other than call in, I know its not the staff's fault there aren't enough people to man the phones so I was trying to be pleasant. 

Sat and started setting up my new yearly planner, plotting all my bill due dates and my payment summary, I saw a tip to break your goal into 100 pieces and to mark off each piece in your journal so I am going to do that too I think - 100 x £47 chunks looks a bit better I think.

One more week to go and then I am officially off work for 2 weeks, although I have agreed to dip on and help out and recoup some hours which I will roll over into next year. I am looking forward to 2 weeks getting the garden ready for winter, maybe building the flatpack shed that's been sitting there since July and decluttering my office living room for the decorator that is coming in December.  

After all that waffle actual money talk!  This week I managed to pay £35 on my CC and balanced out £50 each into my overdraft and emergency funds. I have also already made this week CC payment and hoping there will be enough left over in my account next Friday to do another OD / EF drop, but I also want to start buying Christmas gifts here and there too. I am really pleased that I have started doing this and excited to carry on. Along with a few little overpayments on my CC before my balance transfer happened I have made a small dent. 

Anyhoo, time to update the signature!

Balances:
CC was £2774 - now £2678
OD Fund £50 / £1000
EF £50 / £1000
Total Since 03/10/20 = £196

juicyjackieb

 A bit of a mixed one but mostly good I think!

I decided to jump in and start on the Christmas shop and took a massive slice out of it so I am really pleased. I am keeping a list rather than just keep adding to it; most years I would go out at lunchtime and buy bits and keep piling it up but 2 things are different this year. The total fund is capped at £200 and I am not taking responsibility for my stepson's gift arrangements. Every year I run around physically and financially but I am not doing so this year. We usually get a big chunk of his gifts in the double Nectar event - games, books, etc but there no games being launched so that's out and you can't buy gift cards. Fortunately, my OH has been able to get OT during the pandemic so he has funds and the time to get the gifts so I am going to pass it over this year with a lot of support of course   - I only need to get my OH a couple more bits, probably undies... why do men keep them till they are falling apart?? I have about £65 left in the budget, lets see what pops up in the black Friday sale. 

Because of the Christmas buying what I was able to squirrel away was a lot less than I wanted, and this week is going to be the same too. I managed credit card payments but only £30 each in my EF and overdraft fund, this week will be a similar story. BUT that's a big dent of Christmas done so after now it should be bigger numbers I would love to end the year with £500 in each pot!

Financial plans for the week are to cancel my packaged bank account (I will check in case there's anything I am truly benefitting from having it). I also have some old currency lurking about so I may as well put that into my savings account and get rid. I also need to buy that life assurance which is about £22 a month but at least I will get some quidco back. I am also gonna cancel my gym membership. I was planning to do so anyway because I am working out from home and not wanting to walk 20 minutes in the cold and dark, but they have already emailed to say all memberships will be suspended from Thursday so not sure how a notice period would even work.  

I have done a couple of surveys, been scanning my receipts, syncing my steps for pennies and I have some rewards for my phone bill which I will all cash out at the end of the year too. I am also due to have my final CCJ drop off my credit file next month yayyyyyyy!!! 

Wow that was a long update - sorry for the dullness! I have meal prepped for the week, will hit the gym tomorrow while I still can and try and wrestle my way around the supermarket for things to throw in the freezer so I don't have to go in again for a while. We cant get a slot now, just like last time. 

Balances:
CC was £2775 - now £2643
OD Fund £80/ £1000
EF £80/ £1000
Total Since 03/10/20 = £292

Sarahwithlove

Just caught up on your diary. Doing great so far. Good news about the ccj will be good to see that gone. One of things I have learnt in last 6 weeks is the importance of an emergency fund sadly. Washing machine, two boiler repairs, car mot, service and repairs along with insurance renewal and now a new sofa and damp on walls which still need survey for mine is taking a battering and the 0% card has come back out for the sofa. Deffo aim to get 1k as soon as possible especially if you have 0% on your card as with ccj gone there's a good chance you could get another balance transfer in future if needed. If not then you're EF will be sat there at end of the 0% to clear the card. Good luck. 

juicyjackieb

Thank you @Sarahwithlove

Its been a good mostly week this week, I overspent last week due to getting Christmas gifts so was only able to up the EF and OD funds by £10 each so they sit at £90 each, not terrible but I can't wait to get them nice and chubby 

A couple of financial wins - I called and canceled my packaged bank account with Natwest and spoke to a very nice lady who offered to do a financial review, she suggested that I swap the £18 platinum to a reward account. That account costs £2 per month instead but give me £4 per month if I have 2 DD's and another £1 if I use the app which I do; so I will be earning £3 a month instead of paying £18 which is a nice change after 15 years!

Even though my gym is closed and membership suspended I have decided to cancel it anyway; I wasn't going enough since the weather turned; its a 20-minute walk in the cold and dark. I have used an app on and off for the last year which I loved but it was a bit steep at £14.99 pm. I looked a little deeper and they actually offered a half price if you pay a year in advance which I decided to do this week. They sent an email offering an additional 20% off that price too! So its gone from £14.99pm down to the equivalent of £5.75 pm - to think I was paying full price before!

So I am paying for that this week plus one of my OH Christmas gifts will be charged for Tuesday BUT OH is paying for the groceries this week meaning I should have a little left at the end of the week to put into the my OD and EF pots.

With £65 left to payout for gifts between then and now I do feel I am getting myself into a better long term place. I checked back and compared where I am and I am today £40 a week better off than I was 2 months ago, just pulling things back and tweaking here and there. That's quite a lot, really so I am proud of myself. 

I will likely increase that though as I have been getting quotes for life assurance; I have never had it before due to cost and well, to be frank, not have a significant other that I wanted to benefit when I die. He has 3 policies and the will in which I would benefit exceptionally well so I have no issue with giving him peace of mind. Because of my weight, I have been getting silly quotes, Vitality seems to be offering the lowest circa £18 but it has been referred to an underwriter due to again, my weight so I expect that to go up (Legal General went from £22 to £51 after asking my weight!!!). I will look at my will in the new year I think, only one lot of adulting at a time, please!

I also think setting up a sinking fund will help with things like birthdays and Christmas next year, that will keep my weekly outgoings fairly stable. Will give that some more thought!

Looking at my outgoings, the only other place I have wiggle room is a monthly subscription box that I pay full price for BUT I always do a full unboxing video for and IG stories and they have never reached out to me, they haven't even given me a discount to offer the subscribers that now purchase it because of my reviews. I am gonna reach out to them and see if they want to work with me, it can't hurt. Am I being rude though?

Thats it for now! Hope all is well. Today should have been our wedding day, it could be a lot worse though so not moaning about it. 

enthusiasticsaver

You sound very organised and changing the bank account sounds worthwhile. We have a reward account too so even though there is a fee of £1 a month we get cashback  on direct debits of almost £10. 

Sorry your wedding day had to be postponed. 

Sarahwithlove

Some simple but effective changes by sounds of it. Well done. I had same issue with life insurance but seeing as I have no one to benefit at the moment I haven't bothered. 

caeler

What a great start @juicyjackieb you sound so through with your monthly outgoings making sure they are all essential spend and on the best deal. Good luck with selling, I did a bit on Facebook and will do a bit more. Good luck with your journey!   PS. I follow keto too.