We both got paid today (this never happens. My boyfriend always get paid on the 26th and I get paid, usually, on the penultimate day of the month) So EON bill has been paid (£109 ouch!!), £1,150 in savings and then waiting for the rest of the bills to go out. Once these go out we will have, in the joint account, £103 left. Half of this will probably go in the savings with the other part stays in the joint account just in case we have an unexpected expense.
In my account I have £450 but used some today to buy the last minute birthday bits. I had £12 left from my last pay and then spent an additional £8 as I went a bit over. Once all my DD go out on the 4th Feb I will then be able to make an over payment to my BCC.
I usually wait until my DD go out to decide what to do with the rest and I don’t intend to spend anything between now and the 4th Feb.
It was my partners birthday today so we had the day off from work and it was a nice break to the working week. I don't fancy going back to work now and I'm finding it a struggle at the moment to motivate myself to want to do anything. I am looking forward to having the kitchen done in a few weeks time so that is keeping me going!
We have eaten so much food now that neither of us can move very far and we still have a lot of leftovers to get through so we probably won't need any form of snack foods from shopping for the next few weeks.
I also managed to do a few surveys over the course of the day but I've found they've really dried up lately. I'll keep checking on them.
Back to work today after the day off yesterday. Work wise I felt relaxed and happy today as I managed to get through quite a lot but I didn't feel pressured into working through stuff too quickly. I made sure to actually move and have breaks and I felt better for it - even if it was to go and wash some pots for 10 minutes.
Online shopping had been submitted. It came to £56.30 and included two lots of washing powder. I might look online in a bit and see if any earlier slots are available.
We also stripped the bed, did some hoovering, dusting and cleaned out the fridge after work. Trying to keep on top of the kitchen before it all gets ripped out in a few weeks time.
I also went on a 30 minute walk and did a 30 minute HIIT workout. It made me feel better as I felt so sluggish after yesterday.
Food shopping came to £54.20 in the end. A few items are unavailable and I'll get a 75p voucher back next week as one of my products was a more expensive substitute. I would normally give it back, however, it's toothpaste which we need so will happily accept the voucher to deduct from next week shopping. It's coming in the latest possible time slot so need to think about tonight's dinner.
I like to wait and see what the dates are so I can then meal plan for the week. We don't traditionally batch cook and tend to make all 7 meals on their allocated days and buy fresh rather than frozen so quite a lot of the dates are sooner rather than later!
Meal plan has been sorted for the week. I also earned £2 on a prolific survey last night, hopefully I’ll have enough to cash out come Tuesday.
Did 2 exercise classes, some hoovering and an hour of bird watching (for the RSPB great bird watch weekend). Going to keep an eye on my surveys and I also need to shop around for a better TV/Internet deal as it’s nearly out of contract and we’re looking at a £10 price rise if left. The only thing we would like to have is the option to watch the sports as we currently watch the: football, cricket, snooker and darts.
Well, at least January is done and dusted! Still waiting for my personal DD to go out.
I’m also keeping an eye on the joint account. 3 more DD to go plus to pay for the garden waste bin (already account for as I checked while checking our CTax is over 10 months) The remaining money will be for food shopping with approximately £70 buffer. We should also find out if the Council tax bill will go up - I think for our area it’ll be a 2% increase.
My partner also found out that he has been left half his Nana’s estate so that process is also churning away in the background so a few things to potentially have to think about later in the year.
Have been so busy at work these past few days it’s made me really tired. A pandemic is definitely exhausting at times.
I had to pop into the shops today as we ran out of both bread and cereal so had no breakfast options until Saturday. Probably more expensive than a supermarket, however, we didn’t have to drive and I went in alone and there was only one other person in there so keeping contact to a minimum.
I need to meal plan for the next few weeks and we’re going to save ourselves a bit of money as my sister has a mini fridge we can borrow for when the kitchen gets done. We’ll be able to store some milk, butter and cheese so we’ll at least have breakfast and lunches sorted. It’ll just be the dinner options to have a sit and think about. If it wasn’t pandemic times we would be able to go to my partners parents for dinner as they live round the corner.
Food shopping is in at £46.70. We had a few items unavailable and a 75p coupon to use as well. The few bits we didn't get are not too vital so we shouldn't have to go out of the way to get them (Raisins for the birds and Jaffa Cakes)
Today was treat morning as it's been a long hard week so we went for a breakfast roll each. We had a 50% voucher off too and it came out the joint account.
My BCC direct debit has gone out so I need to adjust my spreadsheet and signature. It's going down slowly.
Hello all. Not too much has been happening lately. Just sleeping, eating, exercising and tidying the house.
We have a holiday booked for May with Tui but we’re currently looking at options. We had it booked for May 2020 but obviously it had to be moved.
It’s looking unlikely we’ll get to go (I personally think) but we need to make a decision. We have a few options: 1. Wait and see if it gets cancelled. If it does get cancelled then fine we will ask for a full refund and if a cash refund isn’t given refund isn’t an option we will take the holiday vouchers as we will go on holiday and some point and are always happy to travel with Tui.
If not and it doesn’t get cancelled we’ll have to go but I have looked ahead and we’ll have to: pay for COVID testing in order to travel (£70pp), travel insurance (£120ish), and spending money (£200)
Or.. 2. Cancel it now (91 days to go) and we will get a refund but minus the deposit. So we’ll lose £400 (but if we go we’ll have this much to potentially pay out anyway) and gain back £966.
We have until 70 days before the holiday for option 2. Then once you hit 69 days or less you lose 30% and so on.. We are going to wait a few more weeks (until 75 days before the holiday) and then decide. We need to see if Tui will update their travel policy as their current one is in place until the 30th April so we are not yet covered by it.
I'd wait until nearer the time. But I also would ask for cash rather than vouchers in case they go out of business which could very well happen if things don't start improving quickly.
Replies
I also managed to do a few surveys over the course of the day but I've found they've really dried up lately. I'll keep checking on them.
We also stripped the bed, did some hoovering, dusting and cleaned out the fridge after work. Trying to keep on top of the kitchen before it all gets ripped out in a few weeks time.
I also went on a 30 minute walk and did a 30 minute HIIT workout. It made me feel better as I felt so sluggish after yesterday.
Did 2 exercise classes, some hoovering and an hour of bird watching (for the RSPB great bird watch weekend). Going to keep an eye on my surveys and I also need to shop around for a better TV/Internet deal as it’s nearly out of contract and we’re looking at a £10 price rise if left. The only thing we would like to have is the option to watch the sports as we currently watch the: football, cricket, snooker and darts.
I’m also keeping an eye on the joint account. 3 more DD to go plus to pay for the garden waste bin (already account for as I checked while checking our CTax is over 10 months) The remaining money will be for food shopping with approximately £70 buffer. We should also find out if the Council tax bill will go up - I think for our area it’ll be a 2% increase.
I need to meal plan for the next few weeks and we’re going to save ourselves a bit of money as my sister has a mini fridge we can borrow for when the kitchen gets done. We’ll be able to store some milk, butter and cheese so we’ll at least have breakfast and lunches sorted. It’ll just be the dinner options to have a sit and think about. If it wasn’t pandemic times we would be able to go to my partners parents for dinner as they live round the corner.
Today was treat morning as it's been a long hard week so we went for a breakfast roll each. We had a 50% voucher off too and it came out the joint account.
We have a holiday booked for May with Tui but we’re currently looking at options. We had it booked for May 2020 but obviously it had to be moved.
1. Wait and see if it gets cancelled. If it does get cancelled then fine we will ask for a full refund and if a cash refund isn’t given refund isn’t an option we will take the holiday vouchers as we will go on holiday and some point and are always happy to travel with Tui.
If not and it doesn’t get cancelled we’ll have to go but I have looked ahead and we’ll have to: pay for COVID testing in order to travel (£70pp), travel insurance (£120ish), and spending money (£200)
Or..
2. Cancel it now (91 days to go) and we will get a refund but minus the deposit. So we’ll lose £400 (but if we go we’ll have this much to potentially pay out anyway) and gain back £966.
*Tesco Credit card - £3604.30* - £0.00
*Finance - £581.91 - £0.00
*Dad loan - £5300 - £3800
*M+S Credit Card - £0
*MBNA Credit Card - £1211.88 - £0
*Virgin Credit Card - £3075 - £0
*Total debt - £3800*
*Sinking Fund - £2500/£2500*
*Emergency Fund -£250/£5000*
*Mortgage Overpayment - £46.90/£1000*
Premium Bonds - £200/£1000
Facing Reality - My Debt Free Diary