Evasive action! Stop the trench becoming a hole.

Aimingforthegoodlife

Have read your diary, liking the plans for this coming year, sounds promising! Best of luck!

KeepOnKnitting

Aww, thanks for reading @Aimingforthegoodlife

I've taken my lunch to work every day this week. I didn't even buy breakfast on Friday morning when I woke up with no milk in the house for porridge or coffee, I just walked over to the shop and got milk with my joggers and coat over my jammies. 

I do need to spend some money this weekend. I've got a headlight out on the car, and I've worn out my spare fitted bedsheet. I really don't want to have to go back to washing/drying/remaking the bed all in one day in January, so I will have to take the cost of a bedsheet out of the debt payoff money. The kitchen door handle broke the other day, but I might put that off until next month, and the same with more command strips for hanging pictures after I painted a wall over Christmas.

The debt that annoys me the most is my student loan, because of the interest rate. It is actually not very big, and I do have to pay towards it every month. I know that ML advises people not to pay off their student loan as it is the one commitment that stops if you get ill or lose income, but I've been very lucky and not had any major health concerns, and I have no plans to take time off for parenting or anything like that, so financially it probably does make sense to pay it off faster. I do know however, that I would really like to have my emergency fund back before I pay extra toward my loan. So to deal with the energy and frustration, I have added it to my long term plan that I will start to pay off my student loan in 2025. That way I am planning for it, but just prioritising other things first.

KeepOnKnitting

Replaced the headlight. I did pay for fitting, which came with the fitter letting me know my coolant was really really low. Of course, that meant I had to buy coolant as well, but I'm viewing it as money saving as it means my car is better looked after. Going to have to keep an eye on it though as now I am worrying that there is a coolant leak on the system somewhere that needs repairing. Better to find out while it is possibly still in the 3 month warranty from the dealer though.

I half wanted to get a posh ready meal this evening as I didn't feel like cooking, but I was sensible and finished up some salad leaves and christmas cheese and other bits instead.

Sent off the cancellation for my current gym membership so I can change to the one nearer home. I have been going to the one near work, but I will be able to use the one near home even at the weekend or on days off, plus there is less organisation needed as I can go home to shower, so I will get more use out of the membership overall. 

Also set up the cancellation for an internet service I don't use much so it doesn't renew in May. 

I've been giving making a sourdough starter a go. I'm doing it in the kitchen where it is only about 10 degrees max, so it is very slow. Most of the online instructions require temperatures over 20 degrees, and my house is just not that warm anywhere. I started it 12 days ago, and I think I am at about the "day 5" stage. Hopefully I will get to make some nice bread around February, and at least it keeps me out of trouble.

KeepOnKnitting

I had a day off work on Friday, but Friday is a gym day, so I started the new gym membership on Thursday night. The membership I want was £15 (although it looks like it has gone up to £16) but they charge £10 joining fee as well.

The most expensive membership was on offer for 50% off for the first month, plus a reduced first month to the middle band price, taking it to £11, with no joining fee. I've taken out that membership on a one-month rolling contract, so I should be able to switch to the cheapest membership before the end of the first month. Money-saving win! 

It is a much smaller gym with less equipment, and I can't work out how to set the treadmill to do what I want it to, but I'll get used to it. It's the only one near my home that is open early enough for me. 

In other moneysaving, my mum has decided to buy an airfryer, and it turns out that I can get a 15% discount at lakeland for her because I can get a graduate discount. If good things come in threes, I'm excited to see what else is happening.

lucielle

I’m an air fryer convert love it. 

L

KeepOnKnitting

I'll see how the airfryer is when I visit next weekend. I've not got one, but I do wonder if it would be useful.

I nearly fell off the lunch wagon yesterday when I didn't have any bread in, but I managed to get a tin of soup and two rolls from the supermarket, so I'm counting that as taking lunch to work. 

Finances are looking tidy, although I'll see for sure when I get paid how much progress I have made. YNAB has me as overspent by about £220, so I think that is about my current credit card float, which is a massive improvement.

I've cancelled the direct debit for my old gym. My payslip has arrived so I know how the change of national insurance is going to work out for me. The down side thing is that it looks like my car really is leaking coolant somewhere. I've just had to top it up again. I hope it is leaking from a tube and not through the head gasket. It isn't misfiring, so I don't think it is that.

KeepOnKnitting

I have had my card paying for a service that the team used in my last job since we took the service out. It just needed someone to make a decision, and I was bored of the bureaucracy to get it sorted, so I set up the payment for £5 per month to just get the ball rolling in about April 2022.

I left the job in Feb 2023, and asked my former boss to please sort it out so that it isn't coming from my account going forward. I've reminded a few times, and had a big conversation by text in early December about how if I stop paying for it they will stop getting the service, but that it is her responsibility to log into the account to change the payment details as I no longer have access to the email linked to the service. 

This morning I finally rang my card company and asked them to please block the payment going forward. Hooray!

I worry a little that it will end up leaving customers vulnerable without the service, but at the end of the day it is not my responsibility. I've told former boss that I have cancelled the payment. The biggest part is not the £5 per month saving, but actually that I stopped taking responsibility for something that isn't mine to fix. Hooray!

KeepOnKnitting

One of my car wheels is making a funny noise, so it is booked in for a repair tomorrow. That's probably all my savings goals put back by a month.  

WinterWarrior

Well done on cancelling that £5 charge. Will you be able to get back what you are owed?
I hope your car wheel is a cheap fix.

KeepOnKnitting

There is pretty much zero chance that I will get back the money I should be owed. 

The wheel bearing, combined with brakes as they were nearing the end of their useable life, plus repairing the leak on the coolant totalled £450.  To be fair, not as expensive as the initial quote. 

Water bill has just come in, and it is £4 per month cheaper than before. I'm blaming the excess charge for the last 6 months entirely on the water used by the bathroom fitters when they left my garden hose running full blast for an unknown number of hours last spring.