GAP and LMG, can we become mortgage free?

beanielou

Doesn’t know that you got a £5 scratch card. 

We did £2 ones this year. 

beanielou

Oh, have you tried curious cats for surveys. 

You can cash out at a £1.  

EssexHebridean

That's a great idea to use the envelope money for - what a good incentive to keep it going! 

savingholmes

EssexHebridean said:

That's a great idea to use the envelope money for - what a good incentive to keep it going! 

I agree. It sounds like a really good use of the £ - and hopefully that will keep you going. January is always tricky anyway.

debtfreewannabe321

I also had to stop my PAD the last few days before payday because of overspending at the beginning of the month. Finally been paid so back to it, it's a fun way to remind yourself of what your goals are daily!

girlatplay

beanielou said:

Doesn’t know that you got a £5 scratch card. 

We did £2 ones this year. 

It was getting difficult to think of little presents for the table that weren't too expensive but we think £5 gives a decent card and isn't too over the top.

beanielou said:

Oh, have you tried curious cats for surveys. 

You can cash out at a £1.  

I have not heard of this. I'll take a look. Thanks.

EssexHebridean said:

That's a great idea to use the envelope money for - what a good incentive to keep it going! 

Thank you. It really depends on where she goes. America is a ridiculous amount but the rest of the world is more reasonable.

savingholmes said:

EssexHebridean said:

That's a great idea to use the envelope money for - what a good incentive to keep it going! 

I agree. It sounds like a really good use of the £ - and hopefully that will keep you going. January is always tricky anyway.

Thank you. January is tricky, although it shouldn't be as it's the same length as any other 31 day month. I think the darkness and weather have a lot to do with it. December wasn't this slow when I was trying to get Christmas organised!

debtfreewannabe321 said:

I also had to stop my PAD the last few days before payday because of overspending at the beginning of the month. Finally been paid so back to it, it's a fun way to remind yourself of what your goals are daily!

I miss it when I don't do it but at least I'm realistic now. If I don't have it then I know I can just stop for a bit, whereas in a previous financial life I would have pledged the PADs to myself then moved the money on payday. Or worse, I would have PADded from the overdraft.  Getting rid of that was one of the best things I ever did.  As it is I will be PADding on payday but I do that every month anyway as part of my "pay yourself first".

girlatplay

Well, I haven't PADded anything since I last posted and I've been keeping a low profile.

I paid for the coffee with bf on Wednesday using the cash in my purse.  We went out for dinner last night using gift cards we got for our birthdays last year. I was apprehensive going out the Friday before payday as I didn't want to spend money I didn't have but the gift cards covered what we ate and drank apart from £10 so we put in £5 each. Luckily we are both not big drinkers so it was a cheap night out. We even went out early enough that we could get the bus home which is £2.

I have £16 and some change left in my purse which I am quite happy about. That has to last me to Wednesday. Not sure if I'll see bf tomorrow or not and if not then I'll stay in the house and potter around so no spending. Other than work, for which I don't leave the house anyway, I have no plans during the week this week so should easily get to Wednesday with no other spends.

I've mentioned this on previous diaries but I need to mention it again to explain this story. I have two credit cards, which I only use to get points. I have budgets for everything and when I get paid I fill the various budget pots. When I spend on the cards I move the spent amount from the relevant budget pot to a holding account and then when the bills come in I pay them off. It means if the provider ever demanded the money there and then, I could hand it over (not that I think that would happen but I like having it ready). I managed to pull myself out of paying the credit card from the following month's pay after years of living payday to payday. Anyway, sometimes, when I feel that there is enough in the budget, I round up the amount I send to the holding account. A bit like a Tilly Tidy (a reverse TT maybe?)  I did that a few times this month so when the bills came in I paid them off and I had £7.87 left in the holding account. Great excitement! I had enough in my purse so didn't need to top that up. I didn't want to PAD it as I knew that Random Pick Friday was coming up and I might have to go against what I just said previously and pledge the amount to myself, to be paid on payday. I decided to TT the 87p to my TT account and pray that the random number came in at 14 or less. Well, I was so busy I forgot to transfer the TT then all of a sudden it was Friday. I thought I would just do the random number selection before moving anything.  Lo and behold, not kidding here in the slightest, the number came out at 15.  I just sat and stared at it for a good few minutes.  So then I moved £7.50 to the RPF account and TT'd the 37p.

The next thing (not quite so coincidental) was, last week I picked up something from the shop for my sis that cost £2.55. She said she would transfer the money to me. I told her not to bother as I could account for that from the grocery budget. We both forgot about it and then when I saw her earlier today she suddenly remembered (no prompting) so immediately sent it to me. She sent me £3 and told me the 45p was interest (laughing). I've already accounted for the £2.55 in the budget so I can declare a PAD today of £3!

We had lunch at my sis' house today, my folks took a turn of paying for the bacon and rolls, and I didn't need to go to the shop for anything so NSD.

I just want to take a few minutes (to myself) to appreciate just how lucky I am that I have a lovely, warm, safe and secure home, food on the table, clothes on my back, enough money to pay my bills and a family who love me, who I love back very dearly. I've not always had all of these things and I really do appreciate them.

savingholmes

Nice win on the PAD - and lovely gratitudes too.

beanielou

Such lovely things to be grateful for. 

Glad that you had a lovely dinner. 

girlatplay

savingholmes said:

Nice win on the PAD - and lovely gratitudes too.

beanielou said:

Such lovely things to be grateful for. 

Glad that you had a lovely dinner. 

Thank you both.  I stop to smell the proverbial roses every now and then.  I was just really feeling it yesterday.