Everything's An Opportunity

LookingForPeace

@FootyFanDan That is very kind of you to say, thank you 🙏 A mindset change is a great way to sum it up.

Who's your team by the way? 

LookingForPeace

Evening everyone  Hope everyone is doing well! 

Dinner wiped out the eating out budget as expected, but was well worth it! We had a lovely meal and laughed until it hurt. I can't tell you how lucky I feel to have the friends I do.

I'm planning on a no-spend all midweek to add some breathing room, but all I'll need anyway is bread and soya milk at some point. I've been mostly baking my own bread recently, but need to spend the time learning some bits for work this week I think.

I've also reused a pot that some truffles came in at Christmas to put little cards in, each with one thing that needs cleaning/changing per week. The idea being I pull out a couple randomly each day and keep on top of it  It was all a bit random before, but I'm finding cleaning is relaxing me these days.

I also avoided Waterstones today as I'm turning my attention to all the books I have that I need to read before buying any more   

savingholmes

No idea on the tax think. Google it.

FootyFanDan

LookingForPeace said:

@FootyFanDan That is very kind of you to say, thank you 🙏 A mindset change is a great way to sum it up.

Who's your team by the way? 

Leeds is my team - followed them ever since my dad took me and brother aged 7 and I have been hooked ever since lol - unfortunately it isn't always kind on the budget! 

LookingForPeace

FootyFanDan said:

Leeds is my team - followed them ever since my dad took me and brother aged 7 and I have been hooked ever since lol - unfortunately it isn't always kind on the budget! 

Ah I can understand that!  It's a long time ago that I remember paying £12 for a Luton ticket...

Popped out for a haircut and bread/soya milk/topups this evening. The barbers is now £25  But it does make me feel brand new which is helpful at the moment...! I'll only save a fiver looking for somewhere else, and she took years to find so I'm at her mercy  It's also, of course, in the almighty budget.

I saw mention of Dave Ramsey on another diary and decided to give him a look today. An American shock-jock type radio host, but it's rather addictive  There's a touch of the "PC gone mad" about him, but I'll look past it...

I'm also going to start ramping up development of my personal YNAB replacement this week, to free up the cash going to that 

Gettingmyshiztogether

Hello Looking for Peace/ Matt, 

I ve hopped over to read your diary and have just finished! You are doing so well 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽

Cheering you on, I have a funny feeling your debt with be all paid off this year 🙌🏻

LookingForPeace

Ah thank you @Gettingmyshiztogether!! Great to have you here. Thanks for your kind words and encouragement 

LookingForPeace

Evening everyone! 

Hope you're all getting through January OK 

Thought I'd pop a quick update though it's quite quiet on the spending front (woop!). Popped out for soya milk yesterday, and that's it for today/yesterday.

Psychologically, knowing I don't have the overdraft or second income as backups anymore, I think it helps me try and keep as much as I can until I'm nearer the end of the month "just in case". It's a bit irrational, I won't starve - and I have £550 in the emergency pot so far - but I'm going with it because it's probably quite helpful right now.

I've also started flirting with what I'll do with the debt repayment money once I'm down to zero. I might just try and buy a home for myself. I think this will be huge, in a strange way I've never thought about it, and I'm not sure why. I think I assumed I'd never have the money to. Now I'm thinking I could be quite excited by the idea, and it might even be enough to push me that little bit more to get the debt gone this year.

Lots to think about! 

savingholmes

I think having a strong vision of the future helps you clear the debt faster - and stay on track.

bekah89

You’ve made great progress 1k in a month! 

That’ll be great to be able to start saving to buy! That’s what I’m planning when this is cleared. I started saving in a LISA before the debt which gives me 25% on top. The max extra I can get is 1,000 a year! You could look into something like that for when you start saving