Everything's An Opportunity

LookingForPeace

Evening! 

Lovely to see you back savingholmes and Bekah, thank you! 

Yes, really happy with the CT situation. I put off doing it for so long, for some weird reason it felt hard to take her name off and see it on a bill that it's just me.

HOWEVER - I've grown a bit since then  Just me is more than I need right now 

Today has been pretty good - I've just got back from some dinner out. It was partly the trap of being hungry, but not having much for dinner in so I was heading to the supermarket anyway. As I'm walking there, I may as well use some of my eating out budget and save cooking when I'm back  I loved it though, and had the budget there. If anyone is ever scared of eating out alone, take a book in case you can't find any chatty people and you'll be just fine 

Dinner was £21.45 and shopping was £17.95 - half for lunches/dinner this week, half towards Christmas. Also received a £15.99 refund for a veg box that didn't materialise, twice!

LookingForPeace

I almost forgot - today's good news is the water bill came today, and the DD is going down by £10 a month! 

Sarahwithlove

thats great news about the council tax, I did mine this month and now only have a small partial payment left. its nice knowing I dont have to pay for a few months. I'm guessing you must be on a water meter if its gone down so that's good as well. I'm in process of trying to get myself switched to one as well. I cant remember what you said you do for work, is your job at risk? if not i would probably suggest a 1k emergency fund then work on the debt side of things. being 3 months in advance will be the ultimate goal but paying off debt is probably priority. 

LookingForPeace

Hey Sarah! 

Yes I've found the meter to be way, way cheaper. Originally it was costing £55 a month - then £35 on the meter for 2 people, and now £25 for just me. And I drink way too much tea for it to go down much further  Has the process been easy for you?

I'm a software engineer, with a permanent contract. I think my role is pretty secure but we all know these things can happen. Thankfully we're quite in demand and it can only take a day or two to pick up a contract if needs be.

Having said that, my plan is to build a 1 month buffer of essential expenses, then add more to the debt repayments if the budget allows. I think I'm looking at around 17/18 months until I'm debt free, but anything I can do to reduce that I will do! 

Really appreciate you stopping by

joedenise

That still seems quite high for your water.  There are 2 of us here and our monthly bill on a meter is £20.50 and we also drink a lot of tea/coffee.  I'm sure you can get that down lower - perhaps it will go down further once the water company see how much you're actually using on your own.

Perhaps cut down the number of machine loads of washing you do; shorter showers/shallow bath.  Check out your water board's website for lots of ideas.  They may even have some free gadgets which will reduce your water bill further - some give away Water Hippos to put into the toilet cistern (a brick works just as well if they don't!); something you can put on your shower hose to reduce the amount of water.  Definitely worth having a look.

savingholmes

Well done on the water reduction 

LookingForPeace

Thanks for the tips @joedenise ! Much appreciated. I think I still use less than the £25 but it hasn't had time with just me to calculate fully.

And thanks for the encouragement @savingholmes!

Today was quite non-eventful, a NSD. I did plan on heading out for a couple of things I need from B&M but didn't in the end. Instead, I did a work out and used up some dinner bits that needed, well... using up! 

Christmas veg box arrived today, but it's severely lacking in brussels so I'll have to visit a supermarket again before you-know-what! 

Oh, and so did a new toaster! The old one made a big loud bang and, to be honest, I was too scared to try it again  So I hunted down the ideal one and got it cheapest on eBay as an "opened but not used" option directly from Morphy Richards. Before-me would have spent at least double on a nicer looking one with the fastest delivery.

On the subject, WHO is buying these toasters that are £80...£100...£150?? 

bekah89

I love eating out on my own! Done it lots locally and on holidays, love just people watching! 

Ouch I wouldn’t want to pay more than £20 for a toaster 😆

LookingForPeace

This is getting strange now - same debt amount, eat out alone, same toaster budget... 

I just stood in JL the other week and laughed my head off. One Smeg toaster was £199 - I mean, does it produce its own bread as well? Absolutely crazy   

Today was another low-to-no spend weekday for me. £13 on a couple of cleaning bits and snacks as my Dad is coming to stay over Christmas. I'm becoming a bit of a Mr Hinch - can't stop cleaning  I guess it's a good, cheapish hobby!

Work paid us early, and this is the first year I have not needed it! I'm so proud. I've allocated it all to next month's outgoings, savings and debt repayments in YNAB, all ready and waiting for January.

Half day tomorrow then off in to town to people watch from a coffee shop. Will also need to grab some nicer cards for my parents as the ones I ordered (in 1st week of December) haven't arrived. 

bekah89

Haha we must have accrued the same debt amount from eating out alone and having too low a toaster budget so they go bust then 😆
199… I would expect it to be buttered and whatever else on it as soon as it comes out! 😅 
Well done on not needing next months pay yet! 

Enjoy the coffee shop I also do that too 😆 well I’ve cut down as couldn’t afford all the coffees I was buying haha