Debt free by 40

WinterWarrior

😢 I’m sure plants are still safer at your house than at mine! 

jokono

I killed a few but I'm getting better at looking after them. 🙃

I'm taking the boys to the cinema tomorrow. I was looking for vouchers or discounts to try and make it cheaper and found out that you can get discounts with The cinema society via the Lidl Plus app. I saved £8.40 which will not cover even half the snacks but it's a good saving.

jokono

Happy Sunday! 😎
Today is not as bright as it's been this week, I hope the sun comes out later.

Payday tomorrow - this month my debt went down by £2,157.92!! Could've been more but I left some in the EF and bought a big batch of PB.
I've been fiddling with the numbers so much, there's no excitement left for the shuffling tomorrow. Boy1's been off 2 weeks because of covid so his lunch account won't need topping. I moved that to the 'Boys' pot which was completely empty. We're going to see a film today, I paid for tickets from the weekly pot, I'll buy the popcorn and slushies using that again but that leaves very little for any other spend until Friday so I might take some back from the Boys pot. I'm not planning on spending too much anyway.

OF is away so I'm in charge of dinners. Bad news is I have to cook. Good news is I will use stuff we have in the freezer. OH is the usual evening cook and he prefers to cook with fresh, this is my opportunity to make some space for more ice cream 🍦🍦🍦
I got some chicken thighs out of the freezer, will roast them and the left over cauli, broccoli and other veg in the fridge. I'll probably just buy some more fruit and veg, but only after Tuesday's community larder. I think I will even bake some bread, let's see if I can get to Friday without raiding the boys pot!

Looking forward to the council tax rebate, we got the bill but no specific details about the rebate, we pay by DD so it will go into my account but no idea when. I think I will put £50 more in the Boys pot, £50 to debt and keep £50 for some new shoes. I don't *need* new shoes but I really want to try the V!vo b4refoot, I might try some reconditioned ones from their Rev!vo website. 

I also have 2x£150 bank switches but one of them is expected early June, the other one might be early April.

WinterWarrior

That’s fantastic progress! Enjoy the film ⭐️

jokono

Thanks WW, the film was nice! 

Been paid today, money shuffling done and I have fully paid off one of the CC that had a 0% BT ending next month. Feels good! I will close the account as soon as the payment goes through. I was thinking maybe keep it for future BT but my main cashback CC also offers me BT all the time and they have about the same limit so no point in having both.

Next month will be the last payment for my phone, I got it on a 0% deal with Virgin 3 years ago, looking forward for that one to be gone.

I have 2 more CC on 0% until October, I won't be able to pay them off by then but worst case scenario I think I will just swap the balances between them. One of them has no fee, which is great, the other one is 3% I think. Maybe I'll apply for another one with no fee when the time comes, so I don't add anything more to the existing balances.

EssexHebridean

I wouldn't buy another FitBit anyway to be honest - their quality has gone right downhill in the pat few years and they have no interest in providing any form of customer support for older models. I had a Charge 3 which had a fault - they replaced it with another with precisely the same fault, then when I complained again they basically said that all they were prepared to do was to keep sending replacements. They were well aware of the faults as it was one of many that was constantly being reported by numerous people on their user-forums, but in spite of it clearly being not fit for purpose they weren't prepared to do anything. Very poor. I've now replaced with a Garmin which is a far better and more reliable device. 

jokono

I had a Garmin forerunner before this, it was very chunky compared to the charge 4 I have now. The size and built in heart rate monitor was why I switched. I was looking at charge 5 reviews and I will definitely not get one of those. My husband had a second hand Ionic, the battery of that model had some issues, apparently they were getting as hot as to burn and fitbit sent emails to all ionic users to stop wearing it and that they will give a $300 refund. We didn't get the money yet but we'll be in profit when we do, I think we paid around £30 for it.

I was left with £15 pounds after the film. 😏 I should've had more but had to buy an extra box of popcorn after Boy1 knocked his over as he was taking his seat. Went to the shops today for cat food and some fruit and bits and am now left with £5 until Friday. I only need thread for my next project, so if nothing urgent pops up I will end the week with £3.05 left. 🤞

Boys dinner tonight is left over chicken from last night with some rice and veg. For me I'll make saag aloo with some tinned potatoes best before last month (probably bought in preparation for Brexit 😅), wilting spinach from the fridge and kale from the community larder. I have shop bought samosas and bhajis that need using and naans from the larder, although I might skip the naans tonight, they're still in date for another week. I'll have an Indian feast which I'd love any day of the week, but more so after fasting today.

EssexHebridean

I've got the Vivoactive 4S now - I was worried it would feel massively chunky after the Charge3 but actually it's more comfortable to wear than that was as it has a slightly flatter profile on the reverse. It's also definitely a LOT less chunky feeling on my wrist than my Forerunner 35 was. I've got silly skinny wrists so I'm always really conscious that a larger watch can look ridiculously huge on me - the Vivoactive is fine though. 

Your planned Indian feast sounds amazing! 

jokono

I had a Forerunner 260 which was super chunky and very plasticy looking. The Vivoactive looks nice, very much like a 'normal' watch and I see it has gps as well. I don't want a replacement yet but I will look at Garmins when the time comes, probably when I'm debt free.
My wrists are skinny too, I think that's one of the reason the charge strap connector broke. The actual watch part is almost as wide as my wrist and the straps are being forced away from it when I tighten it. It's a design flaw, the Garmin system with the spring bars is much better.

Indian was great, Boy2 joined in and loved the samosas and pakoras. Boy1 is less adventurous with his food.

jokono

Thread went up by almost 20% - £1.95 to £2.30 🥴

I popped into L!dl to get 2 bags of GS apples (the one I bought yesterday is gone already) and 2 bottles of sparkling water, so I went 2p over the last £5 I had. Could've bought one bottle I guess...

Sh3pper had a £4 task in my local T3sco and I went for it. There's a 60p withdrawal fee for under £20 and I had £16 in my account for a couple of months, once this clears I can withdraw. I was thinking what to do with the ££ but when I got back home I had an email that my company will double any donation to the Red Cross for Ukraine so I think I will donate it.