The Mental Debt Struggle...

Cherryfudge

That travel change is a bit of genius - it's not easy to see outside a pattern we've got established, and doing it in the middle of the night (meaning you weren't sitting in front of a tube map working it all out) shows how well you retain and process information (though undoubtedly sleep would have been nice, but you might recoup that through having sorted out this new solution and not having it to worry about).

Loads of good wishes for your time away - knowing you, you will find how best to use what you get in your own situation. I hope you meet lovely people and don't get too worn out.  

Makingabobor2

Isn't it funny how we often have LBM's in the middle of the night. I often wake up and think really bizarre things, or just before I go to sleep. A good saving to be had there though. 
Hope all goes well for you and enjoy your McD's before you go. 

Sun_Addict

Hope the pain management course goes well for you 🤞I have my best ideas in the early hours 😆

LittleMissDetermined

I hope everything goes well for your hospital stay Keedie. Absolute genius move with the travel zones, well done! 

Keedie

It's been a hot minute, but whoah has it been a rollercoaster ride in the last 2 weeks! 

The pain management clinic is going really well and I've definitely made some friends for life and we have set up a whatsapp group, so you were right @beanielou. It's very difficult to do the programme at the same time, because all of those sessions makes you think about your life, how you want to live it and what you can and cannot do in terms of abilities. It's kind of hard confronting how I have been pushing myself too much and the extent to which I have been in denial to a certain extent about my disabilities. But the overarching thing that I am learning, is that I need to be kinder to myself in how I approach and live my life. And when I find myself stretched too thin, to please others, I am going to keep remembering this...



On a financial note, things are a bit tight. But manageable. October will be the first month that I am living on half pay as my September income was half sick pay and so I set everything aside that I've received in September for my budget in October. I've had to dip into my emergency fund for a few things so that's gone right down, but it should bounce back over the next couple of months, but I don't think I'll hit my £750 target 🤦🏾‍♀️. 

I'm in a better position with my understanding of my budget and controlling my spending though, so that's a good thing. I need to get better with food though, so that I can bring those costs down, as I admittedly don't manage my finances vey well when it comes to food. A combination of pain, fatigue and sheer laziness impacts on this area as I end up spending money that I don't need to spend on take aways or sometimes food goes uneaten as I've not had it in me to cook. So I think having a weekly plan of what I am doing, but shopping twice a week would make more sense. So that's what I am aiming for October, as the budget is £200 for all food including take aways and snacks. I figured if I can get on top of my problem area over the next 3 months, then I stand a better chance at hitting my 2024 goals...

Keedie

September 2023 Financial Summary

Starting Balance = £11,208 | Amount Repaid = £608 (2.69%) | Closing Balance = £10,600
Total Repaid to Date = £11,973.30 (53.04%)

Bank of Mum 3 (school fees)
Starting Balance = £2,650 | Amount Repaid = £50 (1.89% repaid) | Closing Balance = £2,600 | Total Repaid to Date= £2,200 (45.83% repaid)
This is the first of however many months that I am repaying £50 a month due to being on half sick pay. I'm still chipping away at it, which is the main thing. I'll be just under 50% by December 2023, but my Debt Buster pot that I am chucking all my spare change into, round ups and cash back is slowly building, so I should be in a position to make a lump sum payment by the end of the year to bring it down a bit.

Barclaycard
Starting Balance = £8,250 | Amount Repaid = £250 (3.03% repaid) | Closing Balance = £8,000 | Total Repaid to Date = £4,096.23 (33.86% repaid)
It's a lot less pressure to have a fixed direct debit of £250 instead of £300, and I will definitely keep it at this rate whilst I build up extra money for overpayments to clear my debt to my mum, then I'll get a money transfer for Barclaycard to keep it all at 0% interest and then aggressively pay off this debt. I can't wait to be debt free!

Sky Mobile
🎉 Starting Balance = £308 | Amount Repaid = £308 (100% repaid) | Closing Balance = £0| Total Repaid to Date = £1,006.03 (100% repaid) 🎉
Yay! It's all gone 👏🏾. I will need to start a tech sinking fund at some point so that I don't have to worry about buying a phone or replacing my iPad (which is getting a bit sometimeish about when it wants to charge). I will definitely be paying for phones outright from now on, and I am still keeping an eye on good deals with Sky Mobile that would allow me to have a cheaper line rental. But I'm also out of contract and open to another network if needed, as I find that my reliability with data and network coverage is a bit hit and miss these days so not sure what is going on with O2 as Sky uses their network, or if Sky Mobile itself is just having issues.

Debt Free 2023 Target = £6,000
Amount Repaid = £5,272.88/£6,000 (87.88% cleared)

Debt Reflection vs Savings Focus

I'm glad to finally be down to two creditors but it's still not reflected on my credit reports as yet as I know that takes weeks to update. I've been thinking of a few different savings challenges that I can create for myself that will allow me to have fun whilst building up my Debt Buster pot.

I think the trick for the next few months whilst my wages are lower and in general for 2024, is to make lump sum payments of £250 towards my debt, but have fun colouring in some savings challenges to accumulate the money for the payments. I get bored and distracted easily, and so I need to have something to motivate me. As the truth is, I'm very bored of budgeting and worrying about my finances and trying to get out of debt. It's all coming down, and inching in the right direction, but I am already so over it 🤦🏾‍♀️.

I'd given up on my Build a Buffer savings challenge and I don't even remember where I moved that money to. I think it was my emergency fund or I put it in my budget, I honestly can't even recall. How shameful! 😂. Anyways, from now on, I will only have 2 goals (yeah, yeah I know that I'm like a broken record with that mantra and yet what I'm focussing on always changes 🫣). But I mean it this time (like I did all the other times 😬) and I will have one goal for savings savings and one goal for debt savings. Simples.

1. Emergency Fund = £324/£750 (43.20% saved) ~ target date of 31 December 2023
Erm, I used this to prop me up in September instead of doing what I have done in previous months and dipped into the money that I have been setting aside for upcoming month's expenses. So I was a bit naughty, but that naughtiness served a purpose. I now have all the money for my October 2023 budget, and I will be in a position to actually save October's universal credit towards November's expenses. For the last few months, since I went to Turkey and I overspent in the summer holidays, I have been trying to set money aside for the next month, whilst dipping into it to survive the current month. So now, I am just being more disciplined and I have got myself into a position whereby dipping into my emergency fund, means that I am finally back on track with having the money for the next month. As the Bills Parachute (my version of my month ahead fund) finally has a surplus towards November's bills as I didn't use the universal credit that was due on 1 October, but for some reason came through on 29 September. 

2. Debt Buster = £50.67/£250 (20.27% saved) ~ rolling target
This pot is funded by surveys when I can be bothered to do them (some of them are really long and nosey for not a lot of money!), cashback from my Chase account and rounding down my account, and from debt repayments from my siblings. I should have my first £250 for an overpayment by mid-November 2023. Then if through my challenges that I design for myself on Canva, I can make 10 overpayments of £250 each in 2024, then I will shave an additional £2,500 off my debt next year.

peb

Good to see you back, yes with pain and fatigue it's difficult building in meal planning and preparation, sometimes unfortunately you have to go for what is easiest.

Pleased to hear that the pain management clinic is going well, does it last much longer?

badmemory

Are you in an area where a lot of people work from home & have updated their internet to fibre?  I noticed that a couple of years ago when they were upgrading a lot of houses locally to work from home, that my mobile signal went a lot worse & it wasn't great before.

dawnybabes

Really glad the clinic helped and how wonderfully to make friends and keep in touch.

I can’t remember but do you claim PIP ? 

Makingabobor2

Glad to hear it was helpful and you made some good friends. Looks like you are doing well.