Day Dreaming to Debt Freedom

MrsDaydream

Quidco money hasn't come in like expected but hey ho, it's on its way I'm just wanting to colour more balloons in on our debt repayment savings tracker! I'm really pleased with how we've cut back and saved this month, a big chunk (£300?) was Christmas money but even discounting that - we've done really well so far! Just hope I don't jinx us by saying this as obviously £220 of that was cancelled trips with lockdown. Imposter syndroming myself here..
Was tempted to sign up to a resources site for Bug this morning but managed to find what I wanted (and near identical) for free. So that's £5 potential spend curbed! 

Had an email from our energy supplier wanting to increase our monthly DD. And here I was pleasantly surprised our meter readings were "that low!" when I submitted them..

My parents have also really generously bought Bug an attachment for his indoor climbing frame I bought recently as part of his birthday gift. Makes our budget friendly book present seem very poor indeed*, but needs must and I'm sure in 10 years when he's after a console or something pricey I'll look back on the year we got away with a book and lots of imaginative play in lockdown fondly! We'll also hopefully be at the building wealth stage of our financial plan and will be able to afford him a console and not just a framed photograph of one.. 

*should state, just to appease mum guilt here, with his birthday being SO near Christmas he was very lucky he got all of his 'wants' ticked off then so even when he's asked says all he'd like for his birthday is to watch Peter Pan. 

hugglemonster

Hi  just wanted to pop in and say well done, you're doing great. Definitely agree with the low spend birthdays when young, they're not interested in lots of things or even expensive things but just the good things like dare I say big boxes! A real cliché but so true. 

Keep going, H x

MrsDaydream

Morning Hugglemonster! Thank you, just trying not to lose momentum. He's very excited at the idea of a sleepover downstairs for his birthday, and if we can getting fish and chips for dinner/tea. He's definitely at the age of being happy with a big box! I made up some aquabeads over the weekend in a baking dish that got 3 days of quiet play out of him, lost track of all the things they were.

Quidco money came in so that's £115 to one side for debt repayments.

Spent £4.30 on ebay on 3 audiobook CD's for Bug. Paddington x 2 and a Roald Dahl one. Very little sleep last night, he goes through phases of being upset waking up alone which is fine but I think us staying with him reading until he falls asleep isn't helping matters. Only got him back to sleep with an audiobook on youtube last night but I use my phone for an alarm so that backfired Cost of audio CD's outweighed the cost of an alarm clock, and hopefully I'm helping someone else trying to make a bit of extra money through January with buying from ebay.

Tea will be very easy and uninspiring today. Last night was steak pie, mushy peas and my new fangled home made oven chips. Tonight will be something mystical from the depths of the deep freeze. Very tired after last night!

MrsDaydream

Guess who's JUST realised that as Bug has Hubby's old ipad, so I could have just downloaded youtube onto that for audiobooks 🤦🏻‍♀️ Had a few nights of bad sleep and not thinking as near-straight as I normally do. Did go to cancel the orders but theyve already been posted. Will still be useful, however. Just a little frustrated with myself.

MrsDaydream

Afternoon!

£22 spent on the top up shop. Sent my friend her birthday present and throughly resisted anything that wasnt on our list.

Hubby and I have both been a little off our food this week, not unwell but I think we're both so run off our feet atm - DH's new job is fairly intense and I'm handling Bug as if I'm a single parent at the minute if I'm honest. Food is falling to be the last thing on our minds, so we have quite a bit of meat left from last weeks shopping that we'll hopefully spend very little this weekend 🤞

Had a membership expire which was £50 to renew for 18 months, so paid that from our savings. Currently at £870 😊 might actually be able to make it to £1000 after the weekend, just depends on the grocery shop. 

CDs I bought for Bug have arrived, narrated by Stephen Fry so cant complain! Sleep is still not great, and I think one of the reasons I'm feeling a little uninspired when it comes to tea time! 

MrsDaydream

Paid £30.97 off our debt yesterday but also have two developments!

First being the Argos card is higher than I thought, £1548.43 despite what we paid off this month and second being I completely killed my phone Friday evening. Quotes for repairs were around £250 plus needing to post off as all repair shops aren’t deemed essential, for a phone I was planning to replace as I wasn’t happy with it, so we decided to buy a new handset which will also get me out of the constant contract phone cycle when my contract is up.

So two financial set backs! To tackle this I’ve done this weeks food shop for £22.16 and reassessed what’s important with this years buy local goal, which I’ve decided is the meat. Everything else I’ve reverted to getting from the shop as long as it’s British produce (which, in all fairness with the EU, is probably the best course of action so supermarkets stop faux running out of things) Less miles is way better for our environment and it’s shocking to see how far food comes to be sold for so little. The farmers across seas must get such a raw deal for their hard work. Have £3 to one side for spends this week. Will only need bread and milk.

Still have £500 to overpay and with buying the phone I’ve decided 1) definitely passing on Hubby buying me a birthday present this year and 2) any birthday money I get will be funnelled to the debt. Just a little frustrating as the one step forward two steps back approach is a little demoralising. It has really slapped me in the face that until we stamp this out, debt will always be our fall back. Had I not been squirrelling money away we sure as heck would have put a new handset on credit. Eyes are open now, trying to grasp onto a silver lining if you can’t tell 😄

Plan for today is to stay home, bar our walk. Bug is making noises on building a post office so I’ll see what I can conjure up there. Will strip beds (Bugs is ready for the wash) cook a roast, prep dinners for next week, finish my book and the two most important ones - Do Not Drop Phone. Do Not Spend Money. 🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️

Sarahwithlove

Do you have a tempered glass screen protector for it? That's saved me several times along with a good phone case. Maybe start putting away £5-10 a month for next phone replacement? 

MrsDaydream

Sarahwithlove said:

Do you have a tempered glass screen protector for it? That's saved me several times along with a good phone case. Maybe start putting away £5-10 a month for next phone replacement? 

I’ve ordered one this time, my last phones touchscreen didn’t work with one on. Frustratingly! A little saver for the next phone does sound like a good idea too, Hubby’s phone is almost 4 years old so for either of us it’s probably wise to have a back up option.

Also our car insurances are up in May, so had a couple quotes for mine today that I think will be around the ballpark of £250-300. Will see if my renewal is competitive nearer the time.

Lovely little bike ride with Bug earlier, but frosty! Roast has warmed us up nicely, just about to settle down for a movie. Also got all the beds changed, washing basket empty and as much prepped as I can for next week.

Double payday this Friday so will see the debts jump down, will still be in the 18k’s before February despite this weekend. Just not as far into the 18’s as I’d hoped. Have a refund of £10 pending so once that is in the bank I’ll move it to debt repayments.

MrsDaydream

Payday x2 tomorrow so getting a couple numbers together to do our budget. Will be a bit more wiggle room this month as I’m not anticipating £200 in fuel etc.

First spend of the week today was £7.49 on a top up shop, which included some baking bits as Bug saw a recipe he’d like to try. Also making burgers for tea, my yeast has gone funny so bought some buns from the bakers. Other than that just a couple veggies and milk was needed.

Given the house a good clean this morning, completely on top of laundry as well so feeling quite organised. Bug has also taken a sudden interest in Vikings so we’re running with that and making a long boat this afternoon. Will be able to leave him to play in that while I work on our budget. 

£510 on top of wages towards repayments too which I’m pleased with! February is our birthday month but I have enough organised I just need a card for Hubby’s Grandma and a card and present for mine to buy so budgeting £20 will be plenty as will need to included postage. Was a big unexpected cost of last Christmas with being unable to travel through tiers so I want to make sure I’m well prepared this time!

hugglemonster

All sounding good, loved the Vikings as a topic when I was at school - I remember going to York and visiting the museums.

Great news on the budgeting for repayments and birthdays.

H x