Afternoon all! Not too much to report on money wise.
My direct debits should all go out tomorrow and Tuesday. I should then have £195 left for the month but £70 of this is to go towards 2 gift vouchers for Christmas. Once I buy these I will be all done present wise. I only have 3 gifts to wrap as well but have all the time to do this now I’m on mat leave.
I cashed out £30.99 yesterday on my PA and this went towards buying the final two stocking filler gifts for my OH last night.
The only other spend has been £2.60 pm bus fare to get us to the football. We parked up in town and then got the bus there, however, we did walk the 2 miles back to the car. This was the compromise as a 4 mile walking trip is too much for my 35 week pregnant body to handle.
Sainsbugs also gave us a 10p substitute voucher back.. very generous. I also have £23 in nectar points and a £10 Sainsbugs voucher from the ONS. These will both be used in the next few weeks as we are going to buy some Christmas food/alcohol in with our weekly shopping.
I’ve also set myself another £30 target for PA for November.
Still not much to report money wise. Today has been another NSD and so should tomorrow and Wednesday.
Thursday is a planned spend day as I have a waxing appointment and then have plans to meet my sister in town for a coffee. I have £10 budgeted for this as I need to buy a day ticket for the bus as well.
I also have a planned takeaway for Thursday night as my OH is going out, however, I’m tempted to just pop to the local supermarket and grab something I can pop in the oven as it’ll work out cheaper.
I feel like I’m losing track of the days. I made it to my waxing appointment which goes out on a direct debit scheme (£43)
The other spends were altogether £39.50:
£4.40 for the bus pass £6.45 in Lush (two bath bombs for Christmas box) £1 in Greggs (donut.. healthy!) £2.20 in boots (5 photos) £3.95 for a Costa hot chocolate £14 takeaway (half with my sister) £7.50 in M&S (I used a £20 gift voucher I to replenish my socks and pants)
I’ve also got the food shopping locked in for tomorrow and then have no further spends planned. I’ve been trying to find motivation to do surveys but they are few and far between plus I’m starting to get really tired.
The days seem to be flying by on maternity leave. I’ve done so many loads of washing (including all the stuff for the baby) I’ve also done a lot of general house tidying to keep on top of it and storage sorting and prep work for future events (Christmas presents all done and wrapped, started organising my OHs party for the end of Jan and done all the big enquiries for our wedding in April 2023)
We are also surprised by the lack of heating we’ve had on in the house. I’m not sure if this due to us having new windows and doors fitted or having the heated floor in the kitchen and bathroom but since November started we have only had it on twice and that was for 50 minutes each time. I’m not sure if it’s the pregnancy factor as well.. I’ve asked my OH and he also doesn’t feel cold!
I still have to use my £10 Sainsbugs voucher and we have £25 in points to use. I’m trying to time it so we just do one giant shop at one point to cover a week shopping, Christmas bits and baby bits but it’s judging when will be the right time to do that.
Hi all! Just a quick (and hopefully final update) but I have paid off the last bit of my credit card with the help of my OH so I am now officially debt free!
This is the first time I have been debt free since being 20.. I am now 28.
Since August 2019 I have cleared £7,690 down to £2,000 and my OH helped me pay off the remaining balance for which I am grateful. This was my final month of being interest free before the 19.8% interest was due to be applied and as we have money between us, my OH agreed that it seemed the sensible option to pay it off before the arrival of our daughter.
Since paying off the final part of my card on Thursday I have:
- Closed down my Virgin CC that had £4,000 available credit - I am in the processing of closing down my Barclay CC that has £8,000 available credit - Looking into closing down my Argos card that has £2,330 available credit as I no longer use this.
I will also be doing the following:
- Keeping my Halifax CC as I can see the balance daily (£0/£2,700 limit). This will be for big joint purchases only. - Re-allocating the £150 a month I had allocated for debt repayment into: £50 savings account per month for our daughter when she is born and £100 into our joint saver account for now (with the purpose of looking to overpaying monthly on our mortgage starting in the New Year) - Keeping up with the PA surveys as it’s nice to have a bit of extra money per month to use as a treat.
I want to thank everyone who has read, left a nice comment, or offered me any advice on this journey. I found the forum really useful
Replies
I cashed out £30.99 yesterday on my PA and this went towards buying the final two stocking filler gifts for my OH last night.
The only other spend has been £2.60 pm bus fare to get us to the football. We parked up in town and then got the bus there, however, we did walk the 2 miles back to the car. This was the compromise as a 4 mile walking trip is too much for my 35 week pregnant body to handle.
I’ve also set myself another £30 target for PA for November.
£4.40 for the bus pass
£6.45 in Lush (two bath bombs for Christmas box)
£1 in Greggs (donut.. healthy!)
£2.20 in boots (5 photos)
£3.95 for a Costa hot chocolate
£14 takeaway (half with my sister)
£7.50 in M&S (I used a £20 gift voucher I to replenish my socks and pants)
I’ve also got the food shopping locked in for tomorrow and then have no further spends planned. I’ve been trying to find motivation to do surveys but they are few and far between plus I’m starting to get really tired.
The days seem to be flying by on maternity leave. I’ve done so many loads of washing (including all the stuff for the baby) I’ve also done a lot of general house tidying to keep on top of it and storage sorting and prep work for future events (Christmas presents all done and wrapped, started organising my OHs party for the end of Jan and done all the big enquiries for our wedding in April 2023)
We are also surprised by the lack of heating we’ve had on in the house. I’m not sure if this due to us having new windows and doors fitted or having the heated floor in the kitchen and bathroom but since November started we have only had it on twice and that was for 50 minutes each time. I’m not sure if it’s the pregnancy factor as well.. I’ve asked my OH and he also doesn’t feel cold!
This is the first time I have been debt free since being 20.. I am now 28.
- Closed down my Virgin CC that had £4,000 available credit
- I am in the processing of closing down my Barclay CC that has £8,000 available credit
- Looking into closing down my Argos card that has £2,330 available credit as I no longer use this.
- Keeping my Halifax CC as I can see the balance daily (£0/£2,700 limit). This will be for big joint purchases only.
- Re-allocating the £150 a month I had allocated for debt repayment into: £50 savings account per month for our daughter when she is born and £100 into our joint saver account for now (with the purpose of looking to overpaying monthly on our mortgage starting in the New Year)
- Keeping up with the PA surveys as it’s nice to have a bit of extra money per month to use as a treat.
I want to thank everyone who has read, left a nice comment, or offered me any advice on this journey. I found the forum really useful