Taking control after 4 years

staffiemummy

Small things I did today 

4 hours at my 2nd job after my contracted hours at my main one 
Did a survey on my lunch break which bagged me £4
Brought lunch from home - I forgot how much I love daal and that's something I can cook so definately happy to have that again! 
Totted up how much I have put in my Santander account so far so I know how much to transfer later - I need to deposit 1k to get the switching bonus 

I will be applying for the First Direct switching bonus as well tonight or tomorrow so hopefully that's an extra £375 due next month! 

I'm feeling really confident in the kitchen now which is exactly what I want, I have loads of ideas for different food I can make in about 20 minutes now that will freeze. Feeling really happy and excited to feel normal again! I have been trying to stick to a healthy meal prep routine for about 5 years now so I had a mini LBM with that in the last month or so. 

If anyone knows any really good meal prep containers that are cheap let me know, the Asda ones for 80p aren't all that bad so I might stock up on them! Might splash out on some glass ones if I can stick to meal prepping for a few months at least

staffiemummy

Happy Friday everyone! 

Usually this would be where I start drinking but instead I'm doing a bit of overtime at my second job, should bag me about £30 post tax so not too shabby. 

I have struggled with drinking a lot and I have made a conscious effort to not drink at home any more as it's expensive and sad. I live out in the sticks and no one comes to visit so instead I am sticking to drinking when I'm at an event or am out out. I have a birthday to go to tomorrow but I'm not drinking as I need to drive home after, as the taxi fare is £40! 

I am trying to negotiate a COL adjustment at work - here in the West Midlands everything seems to have shot up suddenly! I know the rest of the UK is feeling it too. 

Today I 

Heated up my leftovers only, resisted the temptation to go out for snacks. Hopefully I will start losing weight soon! 
Didn't leave the house at all so I haven't spent a penny 
Looked into what bank account offers are about - I am waiting now for my Santander £200 to come in as I have now deposited 1k, seeing what else I can bag this month!

staffiemummy

I get paid on Tuesday so I have just checked banking and I had £7 left in my spending account and £70 left in my main bank account. I need to get the bus to work on Monday, which will be £3 and that's me good for the month - the day before payday in December my main account was overdrawn by £1237.96 which is amazing! SO happy with how hard I have worked  

jusferbrowsing

That's a great way to finish the month. Well done. 

staffiemummy

I overspent a little bit at the birthday I went to - the place we were at was cashless so the pennies out of my piggy bank weren't put to good use! All good though as I had already said I might dip into my overdraft by £30 or so - I believe I will be about that by the time my pay hits. I had to send off for a new driving license so it just depends on when they take the money for that! 

Today I worked 4 hours, had a lunch I prepped yesterday so I don't snack - harissa roasted aubergine and zhoug couscous with vegan feta! I'm now starting the task of clearing the garden up, my dog is going to be of no use with that even though it's his mess really! 

I have most of next week off so I am going to aim to declutter my house, haven't decided if I'm going Marie Kondo or Stacey Solomon style yet! If anyone's tried let me know how you went  

staffiemummy

It's my larger payday today! I went through my monthly budget, and put down on my calendar exactly when my fixed bills are coming out. £1847.96 in the bank - and I immediately sent £400 to CC3! Updating signature shortly. My smaller payday I am expecting about £700, and according to my budget I should have £206.57 left by then (the 16th) however I doubt that will be the case, as I will probably want to go to the pub or get a maccies at some point in the next 2 weeks! 

Really happy as I was spending £40.61 on 8 Green Chef meals, for the next 2 months I'll be spending £36.24 on 10 which is really good! I have loads of recipe cards now for really easy, veg packed meals so once I run out of discounts to take advantage of I won't be going back to oven chip based dinners  

My rent is going up about £6 a week which isn't ideal, but it's to be expected. I pay mine on direct debit to the housing association so just waiting on a separate letter about that. I was a month in arrears last year due to payday changing when I got a new job so I was paying more per month than I 'should' have as I arranged it with the HA, so I shouldn't see too much of a change month on month.

I think I will arrange to pay my council tax in 10 instalments this year so I get 2 'free' months, although that's also money I could be putting away monthly so I'll see how I go this month. I think I should be able to pay off CC3 in full on the 16th, and still have about £300 left to tide me over to the next big payday. We shall see.

I would love to be able to have enough saved to pay my car insurance in full this year - I pay £78 a month on direct debit right now which I know is really high but I only have 1 year NCB as I'm only in my 2nd year of having a car. I haven't had an accident and don't plan to, obviously the rates might go up before July but I think I'll be paying around £800 for a full year. I'll see what my renewal price is like, I'm with Boom at the moment and my cover is Markerstudy, from when I worked in insurane I think they have a pretty good renewal discount! 

Today I'm going to declutter my kitchen, cook some good food (scrambled tofu burrito bowl!) and then I have a talk to go to in the city tonight! 

 

staffiemummy

Went to the talk, it was about physchology and it was really good! I did my kitchen, all I need to do is hoover and wipe the floors then I can move on to decluttering the living room.

The bar at the venue tonight charged me £8 for 2 coke zeros so no maccas for me this month! 

Having a glass of rose and reading other people's diaries  

TheMillions

Just read through, what a great start and mind set you have!
Keep tracking everything and sticking to your budget. Well done on the the 2nd job income. You have great motivation. Would not worry about the Mc, you can make yourself a great burger at home for less.

foxgloves

Great start @staffiemummy. Keep up the good work. I can tell you from experience what a fab feeling it is when you pay off the last chunk of debt & all your income then becomes your own.
It's well worth persevering. 
F x

enthusiasticsaver

You are doing really well both with the organising at home  and repaying the debt.  I am addicted to that Stacey Solomon decluttering programme too although my bit of the house is pretty decluttered anyway.  DH on the other hand  .  I made him sit and watch it the other day and it might be my imagination but he does appear to be more willing to let stuff go.