2022 A Year of Change

BalanceBy50

So a long-time lurker who attempted a diary last year but didn't keep up with it but this time it is different.  I am a procrastinator and need to STOP.  I had so many plans for this year and was going to be totally in charge of my life, but the last few years have slipped by, and I am no better off.  I have dreams and goals but no plan to put them in place!  My dad died suddenly a few months ago, my washer died, my car died and all I have to show is more debt and a realisation that I have 20-25 good years left and I don't want to spend them in debt and constantly chasing my tail.  I want to retire in my early 60's, I want to extend my house and I want to pay unexpected bills without relying on my family to bail me out.

My aim for 2022 is to be the Best possible Me (this is instead of a resolution!).  I have 3 stands underneath this:

-       To lose weight and get fit and healthy.  I am classed as morbidly obese, and I was an older mum so still have relatively young children who deserve a fitter mum.

-       To have no debt and savings!

-       To be the best person I can to those I care about. Like any busy working mum time is short and I get stressed very easily and therefore can be quite shouty and sarcastic with people.  I also take on too much and then get even more stressed because I haven't time to do everything!

So my daily goals.

-       Calorie count

-       Close the rings on my smart watch

-       Drink 2litres of water

-       Complete a spending diary and document on here

-       At least 2 NSD’s a week

-       One MSE activity a day

-       Weekly random act of Kindness

-       Try and think before I speak and say yes to everything!

So I need to go and pick the boys up from the childminder so will do an update on my financials later this evening!  I was going to do a post later, but I have been mentally writing this post for days so just want to get on with it!

doingitanyway

I like how open you are to being a better person. 
Your daily goals are great.
Maybe don't say yes to everything
I will follow your progress.

BalanceBy50

So financials!  The whole reason for this diary.  Both DH and I work and have a reasonable income for our circle of friends.  However due to past financial decisions we have a rubbish credit history and rating and therefore do not have easy access to credit or decent rates, but we are working on it.

Debt:

Credit Card 1: £2983.49 with a horrific interest rate of 26.4% - I pay £150pm to this

Store Card: £2329.08 and nearly an equal rate of 23.9% - Pay £150pm to this

Family Loan - £6732 – Pay 204pm to this

Challenges:

Work is really quiet at the moment so I am only getting ¾ of my salary (I am a director of the company so have no choice) this month and I don’t know if I will get paid next month yet! After that cashflow should ease! So to cover shortfalls in my salary and other commitments I have made this month I need to find £1165 by the end of January and £220 by the 10th of February so a grand total of £1385.  I can raid various pots and cut back on things like food which will cover a chunk, but I still need to cover about half of it! This is my focus! Once I get on an even keel, I want to look at growing our measly EF from £200.

So my MSE savings today:

-          I took out of date bagels and smoked salmon to work for lunch – I would have done the sniff test however my sense of smell hasn’t returned since getting Covid last Summer 😂.  The bagel was 5 days out of date, but no mould and the smoked salmon trimmings were a day out and tasted fine and it was flipping delicious and felt a real treat!

-          Coffee is my weakness – I rarely drink alcohol but I love coffee however today I made a big flask up and took it to work and it was lovely.

-          As I took nice, tasty food to work that I was looking forward to I had an elusive NSD – so proud of myself!!

-          On Sunday I made a huge vat of pasta sauce – my fussy 9yr old has just started eating ‘wet’ food so I wanted more variety in our family meals and made a cauldron of hidden veg pasta sauce and then my flipping stick blender broke and is beyond fixing grr so rather than jumping on Am*zon to order a new one I called at a friends today and borrowed hers and I have blitzed all my sauce and have 7 portions in my freezer and one for tea tomorrow and I reckon its less than 50p a portion which will feed 4 of us so I am really happy with that 😁

-          And finally I did a £0.13 survey on PA – I wasn’t going to bother but I thought the pennies soon turn into pounds.

I think that’s it for now… off to make my packed lunch for tomorrow xx

BalanceBy50

doingitanyway said:

I like how open you are to being a better person. 
Your daily goals are great.
Maybe don't say yes to everything
I will follow your progress.

Thank you DIA.  I follow your diary too and I am hoping to be less of a lurker too x

BalanceBy50

So have taken a couple of slices of sourdough out of the freezer so i can have toast for breakfast tomorrow and a loaf so I can make myself a sandwich in the morning.  Have made DH's pack up - he always take his breakfast & lunch to work.  He will be happy as he has left over shepherds pie from last nights tea for his lunch!

I need to menu plan tomorrow for next week and do my online shop.  Hoping i can keep my shop to between £80 & £100 for 4 of us.  I know I need washing powder this week!

I also checked my PayPal account and there was £20 in there so I have transferred that to our current a/c so my shortfall is now £1365 if i could find £20 a day that would make a big difference! xx

BalanceBy50

I made myself a sandwich this morning and have brought a few Christmas chocolates into the office so I don't need treat food!  I did get a bacon sandwich before work as I left my sourdough out to defrost and it was so dry this morning 🤦‍♀️.  I have bought my big flask of coffee into work again so that will save me at least £5 in buying coffee.  I may need to buy extra milk but that will be less than the cost of one take out  coffee and I also need to buy a couple of birthday cards xx

BalanceBy50

Quick update! Just checked my bank account and I have a £60 apology payment from my bank - googled it and it seems legit 😁 a DD bounced last week as the bank couldn't accept any incoming transfers - seems like they had loads of problems in December & early January.  I have transferred £5 to my spending account and £55 has been knocked off what I need to meet this months committments.

Jan Committments Challende - £75/£1385 😁

BalanceBy50

Hmm just checked our account and my husband has been paid £50 more this week (he is weekly paid and I am monthly which works well for us).  He thinks its some tax back but i am not sure - don't know whether to knock it off my January challenge or put it to one side.  I don't have access to his wage slips as they are online but i can tonight would be amazing if there was another £50.

Yesterday I spent £14.70 on coffee and food that was what not necessarily needed when my budget is so tight.  Today i had toast at home, have brought a packed lunch to work and a coffee as well so hoping it will be a NSD.  I need milk but there is £3.60 in the food budget (I top lots of my pots up weekly on a Friday after DH has been paid). I need to work out my definition of a NSD!

BalanceBy50

So its been a busy week and I have fallen behind on daily posting!  I have been paid and have done some money shuffling. Lots of my DD and SO's go out on the 21st so I will be doing some shuffling tomorrow and raiding some pots to try and decrease my shortfall!

January Challenge is currently at £1167.  My mum has offered to pay the balance of my eldest's school residential which is £220 so I may take her up on that offer and that will help with my shortfall.  I managed a 2nd NSD last Thursday and I am hoping for my first of this week today.  I have food and coffee with me.  I have packed snacks for my boys swimming lessons later and I will leave my purse in the car (There is no money in it!) so they can't badger me into stuff from the vending machine!! I will stay strong. xx

BalanceBy50

I have a generous grocery budget which is £130 weekly - I kept upping it as we just weren't coping during the various lockdowns. Last week I managed to save £55 and I am hoping for £30 this week.  This covers all food for the 4 of us plus a cat and then all cleaning products etc.  My oldest has always been a fussy eater however the last few months something has changed and he is eating a much wider range of food (hated wet food so anything in a sauce was out!) and frequently asks if he can have a school dinner rather than a packed lunch (he can choose on the day at his school!) and this week he has had a dinner 4 days out of 4 and i think he will want one tomorrow. However this is more expensive than his pack up £2.35 a day I think.  I have been using the food budget to pay for this which was fine when it was 2 or 3 school dinners a week.  I don't want to say no to him as his younger brother still gets free dinners!

My husband asked if we could have egg, chips & beans again for tea today as it needs to be fairly quick after swimming lessons so i am happy with this.  My family aren't happy with my homemade chips in the air fryer so its back to frozen ones!!

Sunshine_girl2

Hi BB50 just ready your diary. Do you not qualify for a 0% balance transfer card at all ? 

My DGS started on packed lunches in September, but a month later decided on school lunches , it is expensive if you are watching your budget I agree .
£130 seems to be a good budget for food , hope you can knock some off it this week.