Countdown to Part Time…

Spinayarn

Thank you @enthusiasticsaver and yes, you are right @Blackcats, it does become quite addictive!

I had a market day today with my side hustle. It wasn’t exactly a great success but I did cover my costs and maybe made a small profit. Money will simply go back in the side hustle account though.

I currently have £10.64 in my prolific account and I can’t decide what to do with it. I’ve been so used to transferring it to the EF. I know the right answer is to use it to pay off debt. What I might do is put it in a spare Monzo pot which I will have free after Tuesday’s day trip to London, and then use it to add to the overpayment on my credit card at the end of the month. 

I had a subscription come out of my account for £21 for a product I really don’t need a subscription for. Time to cancel that I think. It’s a tight budget this month for everyday items so I don’t need extra subscriptions that I had forgotten about. I’ll have to transfer it out of my incidentals pot I think.

I am going to treat myself and my daughter to dessert tonight though if I can find a 2-4-1 offer on the app.

Spinayarn

Not feeling very well today. Got a stinking cold that the whole family have had. Coming on top of the stomach bug I brought home from Egypt, I am feeling completely wiped out today. I’ve got lots of stuff that needs doing round the house but got no energy to do it. Trying not to stress about it. Hopefully if I can take it easy today, I’ll be able to do more tomorrow. 

Money wise, nothing happening today. I guess it’s a no-spend day! 

Chrystal

Congratulations to your DD on getting into Uni, and also to you on the money front.... you are doing so well.

Hope you feel better soon. 

Blackcats

Hope you feel a bit better tomorrow 

Spinayarn

Thank you so much @chrystal and @blackcats - I have felt quite a bit better today. I went into town to meet friends for lunch. Parking was dearer than I would have liked. The car park I usually use has doubled its prices so it was £3.95 to park. Spend £12.95 on lunch which was a sandwich, drink and dessert so not too bad. Bought some toiletries (£12.34) from Superdrug. 

We went out for dinner tonight to celebrate daughter’s A-level results, plus eldest DD goes back to uni on Wednesday so this was our last meal out together until maybe Christmas. We used some money left from the groceries budget as we had been on holiday and therefore not spent so much, plus we’d had the deposit back from college for DD2 so it didn’t cost us anything over budget.

I'm waiting for some money to arrive into my account from Etsy and sumup, but it might have been waylaid due to the bank holiday. Hoping to have £200 to put into the side hustle account. 

My switch from Lloyds to NatWest should happen this week. The closing date I have been given is 31st. 

Going to be a spendy week but hopefully everything is covered. I have £100 to spend tomorrow for a day trip to London. This needs to cover parking at the train station, lunch (I’m going to suggest somewhere like Pret) and dinner which is booked for a tapas restaurant. We’re going to the theatre for a matinee - I’m going with a friend from work. It’s his birthday this week - I made him a gift (knitted) and will give him a nice card from my Whistlefish collection.

Spinayarn

Had a fabulous day in London yesterday. I was still feeling ill in the morning which wasn’t great, but by the afternoon I felt much better.

Spending was as follows: 

Station parking £11.50
Coffee for 2 £6.10
Tube fares £5.50
Ice-cream for 2 at The Globe Theatre £7.00
Share of Dinner £35.19

Coffee for 2 £6.00

Total £71.29. I had budgeted £100 so I’m very pleased to have come under budget. I’m away in Scotland this weekend so for now I’ve added the £28.71 into the spending pot for that. Obviously I’d like to come in under budget for that one too, but I have got to get the train back from the airport on Sunday and I’m not sure how much that will cost.

Spinayarn

It seems that my current account switch has completed. I’ve had an email and text from NatWest saying it’s all done and dusted and as far as I can tell it all seems to have gone ok. Hopefully I should get my £200 incentive in the next week.

Transferred £12.18 from prolific and I’ve now got a pot named “overpayments”. I think my overdraft is the next payment to be finished so actually that’s where that money should go and then any over payments will go to the 0% Barclaycard.  I’m hoping when I get to the next pay day I might still have about £20-30 left over from this month’s budget that can also go into the over payment pot.

Spinayarn

So, I had a lovely time in Edinburgh over the weekend. Spent pretty much all my spending money but didn’t go over. Seemed to buy a lot of coffee and cake! Also went to a couple of very nice yarn shops and bought Scottish yarn.

Natwest account all good and the £200 arrived yesterday. I’ve put that in my gifts budget for my DD’s 21st birthday. Back to work this week - I’m feeling very tired today. 

Incidentals pot is looking a little low - so I’m aiming for a no spend week this week. It’s over 2 weeks to pay day and I’ve only got 1/3 of my incidentals pot left. 

Blackcats

Glad you've enjoyed your trips to London and Edinburgh.  

The bank account switch money is a great boost.  I did a switch earlier this year and must get around to doing another switch.
ironically now I'm working fewer hours I seem to have less time but I think that's probably because it's summer and we've been enjoying being out and about.  We were strolling in the evening sunshine yesterday until about 7.15 but did managed to pick a nice lot of blackberries. 

Spinayarn

Thanks @Blackcats  

Been working this week and the hot weather sure makes it hard work. I’ve been successful with my no spend week too. I would have gone to the pub on Tuesday but I was so tired still form my weekend away I decided not to go. Tonight’s dinner was a Hello Fresh one and there should have been a spare portion for me to have for my lunch tomorrow. However, the portion sizes were not big so we ended up eating it all tonight and I was trying to work out what to take for lunch instead. Then a notification from Olio popped up on my phone and I’ll be off to collect some cheese and onion rolls in a minute. We have yoghurt and fruit so that’s my lunch sorted.

I think I’ll have a little extra money to go towards the credit card bill this month. I was going to add the overpayment to the debt payoff planner app but I can’t as I only have the free version, so I’m debating whether to pay for the premium version or not. It feels counter-intuitive, but it is an excellent app with impressive customer service when I had a query, so maybe rewarding that is no bad thing. It will have to wait until next pay day anyway as it is not budgeted for this month.

I need to send my parents’ birthday cards and presents. They have already been bought and it occurred to me that the cost of the postage can also come out of my “gifts” budget. I will take them to the post office on Saturday.