Balancing the Books and My Life….

Squirrelz92

Great news regarding the fb sales! I can completely empathise with the big spends for the rest of this year. It is also too late for me to set up pots so hoping that my EF will cover some of the necessary expenses (MOT/service/repairs) and shall muddle together the rest out of spare funds at the end of the pay period. It's a stretch but fingers crossed doable! 

Defo recommend the PAD. I am recently new to this myself but I find that making a PAD towards debt really encourages me and keeps motivation up!

savingholmes

Just caught up on your diary. Well done on sales

Lykke

Morning,
Time to creep in ready for a reset 😫 - we’ve just got back from our weeks holiday and it’s left us with a very tight remainder of the month. It was just a uk holiday postponed since 2020 and I’d got about £300 set by, but it was a bit naive. We must have paid on average £7 a day in parking, increase in petrol use (£200 + to get us there and use across the week) food (both for self catering and eating out) and that’s before we even had any days out. On top of that needed to pay for livery for the ponies whilst we were away too. I fully get now how a holiday abroad may have been the cheaper option! Definitely need a holiday pot for next year! 

Anyways we did have a good time which I guess was the main thing - time to move on! 

In other news - my wages have gone up by £30 thanks to the NI change, better than nothing but still a drop in the ocean compared to how the cost of living is increasing. Our gas and electric comes off the fixed rate shortly and I’m still so confused as to what to do. We’re being very conscious with our energy use now. It will be going up from £230 to £328 a month, the cheapest fixed I’ve been offered is another £160 on top of that. We are currently in credit by at least a months worth of payments so I’m tempted just to stick with the standard rate for now as only saving £30 a month based on martins estimations for Oct increase (and in effect paying £480 for the privilege based on the £160 a month increase between now and Oct). Would welcome any thoughts on this! 

savingholmes

I think Energy is an impossible call right now. It feels like whatever we do - other than reduce usage - is going to make very little difference.

enthusiasticsaver

Energy bills seem to be impossible to get on a decent rate at the moment.  Every so often I try with our supplier but they say the SVR which we are on is the cheapest at the moment.  No fixed tariffs available. Reducing usage is the only way to go really. My DH wants a new BBQ and I have suggested we cook on that when the weather good as no doubt charcoal is cheaper than electric at the moment. 

Saving for holidays is the only way to go really.  I get why most people say they are essential but they are probably responsible for a lot of the debt occurred and most of us have the mentality that we need a break from work etc etc but unless we can afford to save for it monthly it might be apt to do as we used to and have one every other year and a staycation with cheap or free days out instead. Doubly essential for you to save if you have livery/dog kennel fees to pay for on top of the actual holiday. 

Is your £1200 OD really on 0% btw?  They are usually the most expensive sort of borrowing. 

Lykke

Morning, in I creep again……

I’ll hold my hands up, I’m feeling massively overwhelmed by everything at the minute. The debt doesn’t seem to be going anywhere, I’m the heaviest I’ve been (3-4 stone to lose), my house is in chaos and right now I’m lacking the motivation to tackle any of it. I wake up each morning thinking “Right - let’s do this!” but run out of steam by lunch time. I’m desperate for a slower pace of life but realise until I get my current life in order this isn’t going to happen. Doesn’t help that I’ve had the realisation that I’ve potentially got less life ahead of me than behind me (cheery ay?) and I need to start making it count rather than going through the motions. My DS deserves better from me. 

Anyway that’s the pity party out the way, time to look forward…..

bigbeff

I'm sorry you are feeling like that. Small steps, you are making progress. I had a bit of a down few days a little while ago and things that helped me... 
1) look at how far you have come, not what is still looming. Focus on what you have done, not what you need to do.
2) lists - a to do list and make sure you tick off 3 things a day. You don't have to do everything all at once. 
3) Allocate time for you - a half hour walk in the evening or an hour with a book. Time for you without fail. 
4) and lastly, think about what you are grateful for. I found the more I focused on what I've done and what I am happy doing, the less overwhelmed I felt. 

Hope you have a good day today - please reach out if you need support. We are all going through this. 

fern44

Just realising you need to stop increasing the debt is a positive step 
Your debt is not huge  and i assume you own a house which will be worth alot 
And you possibly have pensions 
List all the positive things too 
Lots of good advice here on this forum and if you read other diaries you will see lots of people have their ups and downs 
Good luck

Lykke

@bigbeff and fern44 - thank you so much for your advice 😊 I really do need to focus on the positives more and to be fair there are a lot of them, I just need to stop the negatives overshadowing them. I’ve pulled out my old journal and am going to use that to help get me in the gratitude mindset and to keep my lists in order.

So, taking onboard bigbeff’s advice, I started the day with me time and a steady 5k. Not run in a couple of weeks as I hurt my foot and knee after slipping and trying to save myself so have rested until they felt back to near full strength. It was good to get out before it got too warm - great way to start the day.

I then spent a lovely couple of hours at the park with a friend and her son. It was great to have a long overdue catch up and to see the boys playing so nicely together. Today, we’re popping to another friends in the afternoon, so I’m hoping to use the morning to get a few jobs done around the house before heading back to work tomorrow. 

Today’s focus:
MSE
1. List 3 items on fb / Vinted 
2. stocktake of cupboards / freezer ready for food shop at the weekend. 

3. Update budgets

Home chaos
1. Ds bedroom 
2. Bathroom
3. Hoover throughout

Have a great day x 

bigbeff

Yay, good to hear you are feeling more positive and got out there for a run. Keep up the good work. I think I might set myself weekly targets - daily doesn't always work for me because some days are silly busy! Keep thinking positive 😊