Final steps to debt freedom 9 December 2020 at 5:09PM in Debt free diaries 147 replies 6.6K views

gymgirl11

I went into town to meet my sister for brunch. This cost me nothing as my sister owed me £20 so she paid for my part, which was about £12 and I just said call it even. She is on a lower income than me, due to her disabilities, so I always try and be firm but fair with her. 

For example, I’m always happy to lend her money (if I can afford it) but this is on the basis that she always pays it back the same day she gets paid, which is once every two weeks, and she doesn’t borrow from me beyond her means (which we capped at £30) Every now and then I’ll send her over between £5-£10 in extras if I know she is meeting a friend for a catch up drink. 

She hadn’t asked to borrow money off me for about 4 months which is good going for her. 

We did go round town afterwards and this was a bit spendy. I ended up with a new jacket from, 2 pairs of maternity leggings (£17.99) and a t-shirt (£5.99). My OH kindly paid for the jacket for me, which is nice of him. 

In return I paid for the parking (£3.50) and I will pay for the next set of drinks or takeaway to balance things out a bit.

I also managed to squeeze in a 2 mile mid afternoon walk which made me feel better as I’ve been slacking in the exercise department. 

gymgirl11

We had our antenatal class today. It was such a long day (10am - 5pm) but it covered everything in one session rather than 1 session a week for 3 weeks. 

We paid for this months ago so the course costs us nothing today. We did take our own food and drink but we underestimated how hungry we would get so at lunch we went to the corner shop and grabbed some extra snacks for £4.52.

We’re now in for the evening of chicken Kiev & mini garlic potatoes for dinner. Then watching Strictly, followed by a shower, a hot chocolate and an early night. 

We have a chair delivery coming tomorrow between 7:30-9:30am, again, ordered and paid for about 10 weeks ago! We only have two dining rooms chairs as we got them on offer two years ago from the Next ex-display clearance for £60 when they are normally £240 a set so we thought now was the time to finish the rest of the set off. 

gymgirl11

Happy Monday all I'm starting to get tired as the pregnancy comes to an end. I'm trying to rest as much as possible and only have 10 working days left until I have two weeks of annual leave followed by 1 year of mat leave.

We have a number of parcels and deliveries coming this week! It's a mixture of Christmas, my birthday stuff, baby shower stuff & the final bits of baby stuff!

I've got all deliveries on a sticky note on my phone so I can track when things have arrived.

I also got my £10 voucher from the ONS so I used this to get a Sainsbury's voucher & we'll use it in December to top up with Christmas bits (I.e food for a buffet or towards alcohol)

The surveys have dried up a bit on prolific but I keep looking twice in the morning, afternoon and evenings. I'm still hopeful of achieving my £30 target.

gymgirl11

Hi all! It’s been a slow day today, we have had internet problems all day so I haven’t really had chance to do much in my work or personal life Internet related.

I’m still keeping an eye on prolific but everything at the moment seems to require a desktop/laptop which is not something I have. 

I’m keeping on top of the food shop online as we go along. I’m not choosing to breastfeed so I’m trying to factor in how much it’s potentially going to cost in formula. I might also see if I can bulk buy it from the retailers or from Amazon and see if it’ll work out cheaper to do that once a month. We have factored in an additional £50 a month (in the 0-6 month) for milk, nappies & other essential baby items. 

For us, this just means £50 less into the savings account moving forward. We will see if this is an achievable amount though moving forward. 

I feel, because this is our first baby, it will all be a bit trial and error price wise, however, we’re lucky that my mat pay is quite generous and we do have savings to help us through. 

gymgirl11

Morning all! I'm having major access problems to the work connection today which has sent me into a bit of a meltdown as I have so much work to do but nothing is working and it's driving me crazy!!

No surveys on prolific today either.
 

I also have the majority of my Christmas stuff being delivered this week. I have enough wrapping paper to get the whole lot wrapped. I can then just store them in my wardrobe and basically forget about them! Also, it stops my OH from trying to sneak a peek at his Christmas stuff!!

gymgirl11

Still having work related stresses. My work profile is basically corrupt so it needs to be built. This means I have to go into the office on Monday to get it fixed so hopefully going to pick up my final Christmas stocking fillers at lunch time. I’ll also budget £5 to spend on lunch. 

I’m still waiting on a few outstanding deliveries to arrive as well, I just mark them off my notes when they arrive. 

We are also going to the cinema on Sunday to see the new Bond film. We managed to get tickets for £4.99 each. We’ll take our own sweets and drinks with us as last time for snacks alone it costs us £17, which is ridiculous. 

Lookafterthepennies2020

Hi, Just had a good catch up and will be cheering you along!!!

Congratulations on the baby, I bet you are counting down the weeks now, it can really seem to drag towards the end.  You seem very organised so hopefully that will keep you busy I am a little jealous of all your xmas deliveries as I am usually mrs xmas and finished by now, whereas I have only bought a few things so far this year!

I also have got back on prolific, It has been busy today but everything seems to be on Desktop hopefully you will meet your target

gymgirl11

Lookafterthepennies2020 said:

Hi, Just had a good catch up and will be cheering you along!!!

Congratulations on the baby, I bet you are counting down the weeks now, it can really seem to drag towards the end.  You seem very organised so hopefully that will keep you busy I am a little jealous of all your xmas deliveries as I am usually mrs xmas and finished by now, whereas I have only bought a few things so far this year!

I also have got back on prolific, It has been busy today but everything seems to be on Desktop hopefully you will meet your target

Thank you so much! I think I’m super motivated by Christmas this year because knowing my due date is in December, and she could potentially come late, doesn’t fill me with joy. I like to plan and prepare so I said to myself I’d rather just do it all early and have a stress free maternity. 

I’m slowly getting there on prolific but you’re right, everything seems to be on desktop and it just gets a bit frustrating when you have the free time to do surveys.

Lookafterthepennies2020

Sounds like a good plan, I amended my Mat leave with my first son to leave 2 weeks earlier than planned to have a few weeks rest and he came 3 days later   

gymgirl11

My mat leave starts the 8th November but I have two weeks of holiday before it begins. If I didn’t have my planned holiday I would have had 20 working days before the baby could come and that kind of scared me! 

I have a friend who finishes work 10 days before their estimated due date!!