“Debt is normal. Be weird.”

browneyed_girl

Long day at work yesterday resulted in some very swollen ankles by the evening - not sure I've had to be on my feet all day for quite a while!  Puffiness didn't go down until this morning so I think we can safely say I've hit the stage of pregnancy where the less desirable symptoms start to make themselves known

Not a lot to report on the money side, at least not from me.  I have been absolutely virtuous this week and not spent a penny on myself outside of food shop and fuel, mostly because I've felt too knackered to even lift my credit card... Having said that, have just had an email this minute from DD2's school to say they have space after half-term to allow her to start the LAMDA lessons she wanted, so that'll be £54 for the remainder of the term.  Still, she has been good about having to choose between LAMDA classes and singing lessons for now so I'm happy to pay it. 

DH messaged me today to tell me that he'd spent £25.16 on paint brushes, filler etc. for decorating DD2's room over half-term.  Already have the paint, some shelves, the blinds and a few bits of furniture that we bought to replace old (including a full length mirror for £11 which should keep her entertained for hours now she'll finally be able to assess her "look" in full!).

DH is also looking at clearing the front garden this weekend and putting down purple slate which he's getting free from a friend.  It seems that he's gone a bit mad over the past week with various DIY projects!  I'll be quite happy once the front garden is done as it does look a bit tatty and I really lack a green thumb, so having slate down and then some potted plants is much more in keeping with my level of gardening skill!

LzzyIsGod

How did the gardening go and did your ankles go down? 

browneyed_girl

Hi @LzzyIsGod!  The ankles are getting a bit better thank you, though that might be because I've taken to wearing stockings like an old woman!  Less said about the garden probably best for now - weather has been appalling and DH is spending today trying to organise getting all the garden waste collected after being let down by a non-working chipper that we hired (thankfully, they are collecting the chipper and refunding us the hire cost).  Never as straightforward as we want it to be!

browneyed_girl

Starting to get really twitchy on the countdown to payday!  Six days to go, which means six days before I can make any sort of progress with the debt that just seems to be increasing at the moment.  I know it's intentional and all on a 0% card but I don't like seeing those figures going up...

Currently sat looking at the numbers left on the budget for this month - not sure we're going to manage to stick to it this time, but trying to focus on the fact that it's still going to be much better than previous months when nothing was being monitored.  Have £88.19 left in food/fuel budget with me needing to use £15 of that for fuel until payday (27th).  If we're really careful, it's possible we can manage with the weekly food shop if I can meal plan for cheaper options and don't let DH go off list!  I'm already planning to get some HM soup out the freezer and I know with just a few fresh bits I can make a couple of meals from what I have in store.

We also have £22.31 left in the "extras" budget after a few spends on things to finish off DD2's room, which is now painted with new blinds, new shelves and a mirror!  All looking very smart and is hopefully grown up enough that it will see DD2 through her teenage years   This would be fine if not for needing to spend £54 on DD2's drama lessons, although I haven't been invoiced for this yet so might just make it to payday - have everything crossed!

One big plus point from today has been getting our £800 tenancy deposit back.  Decided with DH to put half aside in our "home improvements" pot (set up to start saving for some building work planned in a couple of years), £299 to pay off a BNPL item on Very and £100 towards some new furniture for DD1's room which is our next project whilst we wait for some better weather for garden plans
  

browneyed_girl

Super focused this morning on getting our shopping done within budget later.  Accounting for needing £15 fuel, that leaves £73.19 for the food shop to last until Thursday.  We've already changed plans to shop this evening instead of this morning as DH is currently on bonfire duty in the garden.  That means I've been trawling through the freezer to find some things to put together for dinner before we go out tonight.  Found some veggie burgers that I'm going to do for the kids and we have some aubergines in the fridge that I'm going to use to make an aubergine and chickpea curry for myself and DH.  I also have DD1 on banana cake duty to use up the over-ripe bananas in the fruit bowl so that the kids have something for an afternoon snack (absolutely essential since the biscuit tin is now empty!).  This means that I have one less meal to buy today and that £73.19 budget is looking much more doable!

Have updated my signature this morning with figures and added in tracking the EF to keep me focused on that as I think it's probably more important than paying the debt at the moment (4 month countdown to maternity leave - eek!).  Despite paying a chunk off Very, debt total has gone up slightly because of the garden purchases on the new CC.  I do think that I can have it below the £40k mark by the end of March though!

Have moved little bits of money around pots to feel as though I'm being productive.  £8.70 from Prolific and £5 from Rewards account have been added to the holiday pot.  A few more round ups have been added to the car maintenance pot and both of our 1p saving challenges are going according to plan!

browneyed_girl

I feel like I need a drumroll for this next announcement - food shop yesterday was WITHIN BUDGET!!  And well within budget at that!!  DH insisted that he needed more fuel for the week (despite putting in £25 the day before), so we managed to account for this as well.  Spends were £44.98 in L!dl (helped by having a 10% off coupon for spending £250 in the month), £9.08 in B&M and £24 on DH's fuel.  This does only leave me £10 for fuel, but my car has a much better MPG so I think it's doable.  Cue me holding up traffic as I rigidly stick to 40mph on my commute and refuse to accelerate!!

I'm back on night shifts this week so can avoid spending by taking in food from home.  I do have two coupons for free bakery items for L!dl though, so these will be my treats for the week!

LzzyIsGod

Good work on the food budget! That definitely deserves a little dance round the kitchen!

Hope the night shifts go.ok

browneyed_girl

First night shift over and not as horrendous as it could have been!  Even managed a few hours sleep so not feeling as dreadful this morning as usual.  Just sitting down with a cuppa and breakfast (is it still breakfast if you've been awake all night?) before getting my head down for a few hours before kids get home from school and any chance of sleep goes out the window.

Just reviewing spending for this past month in preparation for payday in 2 days (yay!).  Last minute spends on requests from school (drama lessons for DD2, outdoor first aid course for DD1 as part of her DofE and world book day contributions for DD3 and DS) meant spending £66 yesterday.  This has put us over budget on extra spends by £55.69 - and so close to payday too!!  Still, trying to remind myself that this is better than usual given that we never previously gave this a budget and just bought what we fancied, when we wanted it!  It's also worth saying that if the extra spending was for anything other than time-sensitive school items, it would have damn well waited!

Still have £10.13 left in the food/fuel budget for the month which will be used for my fuel tonight.  Am genuinely excited about making it to payday with the possibility of 13p leftover in the budget!

Have taken some HM soup out the freezer for myself and DH tonight.  Kids are having a pasta bake because none of them have ever taken to soup (unless it's Heinz tomato which is waaaay overpriced!).  Preparing their pasta has made me crave my absolute favourite comfort food though - pesto pasta with roasted cherry tomatoes and feta (seriously, it's one of the greatest things ever).  I do have all the ingredients in the house so might suggest to DH that we leave the soup for tomorrow night...

Anyway, going to write up plans for next month tomorrow - already spoken to DH about it and everyone seems to be on board.  Oh, and I bought a new front door yesterday.  Put the deposit on the 0% CC.  Hadn't planned on it right now but opportunity knocked (literally) and the door we inherited from the previous owners is truly hideous, so always planned on changing it this year.  Think it will feel a lot more like our house once the front door and gardens are sorted!   And DH also wants to paint the house - I'm leaving him to figure that one out for now... 

browneyed_girl

Nearly done with the third night shift - only one more to go!  And if that wasn't enough, today is PAYDAY!!  Have been up all night so saw it as soon as it went into my account.  Let myself have a brief shining moment of feeling loaded before sending out £300 to Monzo pots (car insurance, car maintenance, Christmas and kids) and another £300 to the EF.  I've opted to send money to the EF this month rather than Very as we already used some of our tenancy deposit to pay £300 off Very just last week and DH will be paying off another £179 once he gets paid.  That leaves us with about £750 to clear before November when the interest kicks in.

The reason for the focus on increasing the EF at the moment is partly due to upcoming maternity leave, but also because I'm watching the balance on my 0% CC creep up with spends on the garden and now a new front door.  What I'd like to do is put aside more than is needed into the EF (which hopefully won't even need to be touched this year if we watch our spending and keep our Monzo pots topped up) and then use part of this once I've returned to work to pay off the CC.  I suppose it's my attempt at stoozing since the EF is in an easy access online savings account earning 4%.  Not sure what this might equate to in interest earned over the next year, but I like the idea of getting a bit extra wherever I can and with minimal effort!  

Needing to pop to the supermarket on my way home this morning to pick up a few top up items since we really cracked down on our last shop in order to stick to budget.  However, payday has restored our budgets and I can once again treat myself to a chocolate brownie without the fear of repercussions on my accounts!  I do need to check with DH to see if he's made it to today without putting in more fuel (he was making threats to derail our budget yesterday).  Even if he has, I'll take it out of this month's budget to stay accountable.  Short month so only 4 weeks until next payday - I have everything crossed that we can stick to our 'extra spends' budget this time and end the month with more than 13p leftover from our food/fuel budget!

browneyed_girl

Happy Sunday to all!

Feeling in two different mindsets today.  Having sat down to update the spending over the weekend (which is a lot), I'm feeling panic/frustration at the amount spent, but then the other half of me knows it's all planned and my many calculations prove that we're on course and will be fine!  It's a very weird sensation - palpitations one moment, smiling and chilled the next!

The planned income/outgoings for the month are as follows:

•  Income approx £5100 (changes slightly depending on DH's hours that week as he has flexible working)
• Outgoings: £2857.69 on bills/mortgage/direct debits; £800 on food/fuel/sundries; £500 extra spends; EF £300; Monzo pots £300; mortgage overpayment £100 and £179 to Very.  Total spends of £5036.69.

Good news for this month is that DH is going back to his management role after requesting to stepdown temporarily when DD1 was going through a tough time and needed a bit of extra support at home.  This means we should have about an extra £300-£400 each month which he would like to use to start overpaying on his Nationwide loan