Third time's a charm!

SusieT

Even ignoring what your parents wrote off, you have got rid of a big amount of debt, and still a couple of bits on their way to either pay this month or next depending when they arrive  

twiggy86

Thanks @SusieT

Weekend felt fairly spendy although actually the majority came from allocated pots! Pooch needed some bits which comes from the "pet pot" and I needed a prescription which came from the "health pot". I think I'd just hoped to build these up more before spending from them! 

Pay day tomorrow which will mean all the money shuffling can happen as per the budget! Won't be making any CC payments until the statements come in though. I'll be doing the same as last month re parents - paying them £100 at start of the month with the last £50 set aside, which I'll hopefully be able to send to them during the month to clear that debt all being well! 

Weekend was nice - finished an embroidery and a crochet present! Plus me, OH and pooch went for a 7 mile walk... which ended very near a restaurant with golden arches and neither me or OH had eaten (and it was getting on towards 3pm when we got home!)! On the walk OH started making noises re getting something "small" but I gave him the choice of crumpets or a bacon sarnie when we got home and actually he didn't mention when we were passing! 

Today I have printed out a couple of crochet patterns (paid for) at work ready for me to start my next projects using yarn which is not only already in stash but actually I won it last year! I'm going to make my nephews little easter bunny pouches to put some little chocolates in plus a new project bag for me. No crochet tonight though as I'm going to a friend's for dinner! 

twiggy86

My payday today!!! All funds have been shuffled off to the correct pots so everything is sat where it should be! Debt payments have been put aside for now until the statements come in. 

Of course I haven't paid council tax the last couple of months so I have tentatively started my budget for next month when everything is started to go up - plus I think that's the end of the government energy help so DD for that will go up too! So debt payments may have to go down moving forward but I'll keep chugging along this month! 

Also my reward scheme for my bank account is ending at the end of March - I get £5 a month based on a few things, but from end of March one of those "things" will be to have £5k in my account!!! So I'm going to make a note to look into new bank accounts - hopefully one with some cashback plus a monthly reward (I don't ask for much, honest!) 

I had a lovely dinner at my friends last night! Plus I got her to sign up to TCB and will get £25 once she earns £10 cashback and she gave me a chicken chilli that she made at the weekend and had frozen a number of portions! So actually I got 2 dinners out of her! We were meant to be going out for dinner with FIL tonight but unfortunately he's been called in for some hospital tests. I will rejig the meal plan for this week so it's not an issue, more of a concern is waiting for news re FIL as the C word was referenced.

twiggy86

Received £3.29 from TCB so sent that straight to CC as my first debt payment for the month! Also requested another £2 which had become payable so will send that to CC when it comes in. Plus has a further £62 pending plus another £30 which hasn't yet appeared from when I did my insurance in September!! All of this will be used for CC overpayments as and when it comes in.

I've also sent £100 to parents today - with a further £50 set aside to hopefully send to them later this month.

I'm currently at 17% of my goal for the year - definitely a good idea to track it this way!

twiggy86

Back from a fairly quiet weekend - although I spent more than envisaged. We ended up going out for lunch with FIL who hadn't been to the bank to get any money out (he's very old school and only deals in cash!) so I paid - total was £71. Whilst this wasn't envisaged, FIL has just been diagnosed with cancer and so it was important to OH that we went out. (Plus OH will fingers crossed give me some towards it). 

I've been helping my aunt with some power of attorney forms which I finalised on Sunday morning - just need to remember to post them! She has said she'll pay me - which I declined, but she is insisting so I'll see if she gives my mum anything to give to me (another one who only deals in cash!) I'll forget about it for now and if she does, I'll consider then what to do with it. 

My other thing over the weekend was frogging a nearly finished top that I crocheted but the sizing was wrong and I had remade in a different colour. I'm using the frogged yarn to make a bag plus other yarn I had in stash. I'm also making my nephews an easter bunny each - again with yarn I had in stash. And actually some of this yarn is stuff I won!  

This morning I have updated my spreadsheet (will be a bit tight in light of the above) and have made a CC payment of £80, as the statement had come in. (Plus I sent the £2 from TCB to CC when it appeared over the weekend). 

Nothing else to report so I won't waffle on!

Humdinger1

@twiggy86 you are doing brilliantly! Keep going and good luck with finding a new bank account.  They want 5k sitting in a current account?! In what possible world.....

twiggy86

Thanks @Humdinger1 - although I re-looked and realised I had the option to select to either have £5k in there or spend £500 per month! So I renewed the reward but will still consider switching. 

All my CC statements have come in now, so I've made a payment to each. I have another £150 set aside for payments but leaving in my account in case I need it (although hoping I won't!) Currently I'm sitting at 22% of my target for the year! 

twiggy86

Monday morning check in! 

I slipped up on Friday and ordered takeaway! Damage done, tracked on my spreadsheet and moving on from it. Other than that I didn't spend much over the weekend. I did have the unplanned expense of needing a new bulb for the tortoises as it blew - as did the spare when I put it in!!! I also bought bulbs with the wrong fitting so had to go back but the switched them over no problem (plus a walked the pooch there second time!) This does mean the "pet pot" is at a minus for now as I hadn't envisaged this given that I had a spare, so will have to balance this next month. 

I also found a gift card which annoyingly had got to the point where they had started deducted 90p a month so I was determined to spend my £11.90 before they took another bit off! (It started at £20) So I went to Home Sens* and bought a new pasta bowl to replace an extremely chipped one - further reduced from £7 to £4 - and a new washing basket to replace our extremely cracked one - further reduced from £12 to £8! So I spent the grand total of 10p!!! 

Crochet-wise I finished one of the Easter bunnies for my nephews and then spent most of the weekend working on a long-term blanket project. At 9:30 last night I then decided that I think my mum would like the bag I had started making so now have a week to finish it for a Mother's Day present! Would have been useful to have this revelation earlier in the weekend as I'd have worked on that instead!!! Other than that I bought her some crochet hooks that she'd asked for, paid for from the "present pot". 

My Aunt said she's giving the money for me to my mum today (again told her she didn't need to) so I'll find out later how much. I'm debating treating it as a present and so will set aside to buy myself something nice (like the yarn needed for my blanket) but I haven't decided anything for definite yet. 

Think that's everything for now!

twiggy86

So I made a decision to pay the £50 to my parents meaning that debt is cleared!!! Woohooo!!!! 

I decided that if I needed the £50 plus the additional £100 I have set aside as a potential CC over-payment then that means I have decided to throw the budget totally out of the window! I may need to dip into the £100, but to go £150 over budget means I'm being careless (as opposed to still trying to get used to managing the budget). I still have some left in my personal pot and some in the grocery pot so I need to be as careful as possible to avoid going over budget (or at least going over as little as possible). Although the number one aim is not having to use CC card at all - which I can absolutely achieve, especially with the £100 currently sat as a buffer.  

I did receive the £5 reward from my bank account so that did get sent as a CC over-payment so that's a positive! 

twiggy86

Small CC payment of £5.86 made this morning as I topped up with petrol and that was what was left in the pot! This also meant I could colour in another star in my goal tracker, so now up to 23% paid! 

Weekend will consist of panic crocheting my mum's present! (Haven't had as much time this week as I envisaged!) Also getting my haircut (long overdue!) - have enough in my pot to cover it as just having a wet cut as will only be going straight home anyway! As I'll be going to see my mum on Sunday, I will find out what my Aunt gave me as it's in an envelope so not sure yet! 

So hopefully as that is the event of my plans, the weekend will be frugal!