Three years to get debt free

Willowtree222

StickyTheStickInsect said:

Happy New Year Willow to you and DD.

Happy New Year to you too x

Willowtree222

Happy New Year.

Today will consist of ironing everything I've left to the last minute as always. 

I have a family meal later too.

I've been reading a lot of diaries and one of the things I've found people do that I don't, is budget and then track how they did against it. I have a budget, but I never know if I'm.on track or nor, so I'm going to be doing that. At least then I can see what I'm spending where and adjust accordingly. 

Back to work tomorrow. Very early for us, but it's prevented me shopping in the sales.

All main bills will be out tomorrow and then I'll know exactly where I am.

Have a lovely day everyone x

Willowtree222

Very productive day today.

Completed a huge piece of uni work that I've been working on the last few weeks. It's the set back I had in November, but I've gone back to it and working through the feedback. It's ethics and so not an easy achievement to get through. 

I dropped DD at her dad's and did a 2 hour walk with my sister and her dog before attempting to try a new craft. I didn't manage it as I couldn't find the main item I needed. 

I did a shoulder of lamb in the slow cooker, which has provided 4 freezeable dinner portions, this with the curry last night, will give me over a week of meals. 

I've got my finances hopefully sorted for January. I'm tracking every spend from.tge 15th onwards. I think the money will be there on the 13th as it usually is, but I'll track spends in each category. 

Hope everyone is having a lovely Sunday x

Honeysucklelou2

Catching up on diaries…well done for getting the credit card cleared. Must be a huge relief. The lantern is beautiful.

Willowtree222

Pay day is Monday, but pay is already in. I've put my savings away already and overpaid on the car this month to bring that monthly payment down. 

My pay rise has equated to around an extra £200 a month, which I'm more than happy with. I'm going to try and not include this, though, in my budgeting, so I have continued with the budget as if it was the last one and moved it into savings. DD needs ice skates this month, too. 

I'm tracking spends as before i estimate how much for each, and i think I need an accurate picture on fuel and groceries in particular. Today's grocery shop was £67. I think that's too much so I know I need to work on it. It's hard as that also includes £10 for logs, which saves me double that in heating. It cost around £6 a day to heat the conservatory only. It would cost treble that to heat the whole house, so I'm thinking of not including that as groceries as really it's not. So £57 on groceries. 

Today has been productive. DD had her usual clubs this morning followed by me tutoring, cleaning out the pets and then grocery shopping. DD and I have had a bath and settled in our pjs. I've done some cleaning too and the washing will be on to be ready for the dryer first thing. 

I'm also crocheting a scarf for DD. I have done a bit on that as well. 

I'll make tea in a minute and then fill the air fryer so that I'm not being wasteful of it being on. I always cook breakfast so I just need to heat it up tomorrow. 

Have a good evening everyone. 
X

Willowtree222

Budget planning is going well, however it is only 5 days in! I'm tracking absolutely everything so that I can clearly see where and what my outgoings are.

Tempted to buy groceries online to reduce temptation buys, and long term save money.

Overpaid £500 on car this month. Total interest savings are £249 over the whole term. I'm very happy with this.

I have bought a fan for the top of the log burner to heat the kitchen more. £12 cost but Will save this in a week on heating costs. It's due tomorrow so should be effective immediately and mean I can heat two rooms minimum. Possibly heat three and then it will hopefully travel upstairs and heat my bedroom as it's above the kitchen. 

No grocery money spent this week so far. I've resisted all temptation to call in to a shop. I'm hoping I can keep this up for the next 3 weeks. 

dawnybabes

We’ve two fans pointing to different directions.  They make a huge difference 

Willowtree222

dawnybabes said:

We’ve two fans pointing to different directions.  They make a huge difference 

Thanks, it's due today and I'm hoping it is as good as everyone says. X

Willowtree222

Total change of plans today. Ex was supposed to have DD, but this morning i've ended up taking her and had to cancel my day. No point posting exact reasons. He'll argue I'm not parenting properly and I'll argue he caused an issue that wasn't needed. Either way, I've had to rearrange my whole day. 

It's resulted in a £2.30 parking fee and £2.80 coffee because I wasn't expecting to be here. 

DD needs a new book as she's nothing to read at home. That is a planned spend.

Grocery shopping straight after and I've got an appointment later that DD will have to come to. 

I'll be crafting later on now and hopefully the fan heater arrives to warm up the downstairs. 

Hoping to keep groceries below £50 today. That won't include the wood I buy for the burner. That'll be £10 and will last the weekend and some nights next week. 

Willowtree222

Feeling despondent. Just when I felt like I had a plan and was facing my first year knowing I have planned and my child payment from my ex hasn't arrived, which I'm assuming is his response to Saturday. I haven't asked because right now I'm not in the best place to start that back and forth dialogue that usually result in me being compared to his ex or some other disguised insult as to how I'm money orientated.

I've reduced money I put into DD's savings and my savings as well, but for next month as this month has gone out. I'll have to cut down other areas and that extra pay I have will have to be used. It's £200 a month, which might not seem a lot, but DD has a school residential I've just paid almost £200 for. 

I'm sure I'll figure something out. I've got things to sell if I'm stuck.