Countdown to Part Time…

Spinayarn

Just spent this evening working over time - also got a few prolific surveys done. There weren't any surveys for days then tonight I've done 4 or 5. Waiting for most of them to be approved - I like to use the money from the for PAD into the emergency fund.
Spent £5 on family groceries in ALDI tonight, plus £2 out of my incidentals on some chocolate from there.
I have a work expense next week - one that I can't claim back and is my choice whether to spend or not. I've decided I am going to use some of my overtime pay to pay for it rather than trying to take it out of my usual wage. That way I can enjoy the event without worrying about the money. Will probably be around £50 in total. I am hoping that I get an overtime payment this week - but it might be next week before it arrives. They can be a bit slow in processing these payments. Looking forward to getting it though as I have so many saving pots to add into from there to pay for lots of exciting trips later in the year.
Bought a birthday card for a relative in Card Factory this weekend - even with the cost of a stamp (which is already paid for), it's still cheaper than using Moonpig which is my usual default for sending birthday cards.

outoftheviciouscircle

I'm a bit of a loser with cards. In April, I bought all my birthday cards, fathers day cards from Funky Pigeon with a 50% discount code and cash back. It worked out about £1.68 per card but makes me feel good seeing that people can see I've put some thought into their card and haven't dashed for it last minute. I do worry about tempting fate though lol

Spinayarn

@outoftheviciouscircle that sounds like a good plan - to buy all the cards in one go. Very organised!

Paid extra to CC1 today and the last minimum payment goes out on it tomorrow and that will be a CC paid off.

Found out today that we’re having a bring your own buffet type lunch thing at work tomorrow so I had to go to Sainsbury’s. Bought a few yellow sticker bits and spent £7.00. Also went out to Starbucks to meet up with my knitting group. Cost me £8.00 for two drinks. 🙄 I don’t even like Starbucks that much but it was nice to meet up with friends.
I took a break from overtime tonight. 

Need to have a tidy up of my budget spreadsheet.

Spinayarn

Excited this morning as I got a decent overtime payment drop into my bank account today. Transferred some into my Monzo account and then into my holiday pot. We have pre-booked an amazing day trip while we’re away and I now have the money for that put aside. That would have been on a credit card before.

I have left some of the payment in my current account - this now means I technically have no overdraft. Not actually true as the money covering that is earmarked for other things later in the year, but the next debt to repay is the overdraft so hoping to minimise interest by keeping the earmarked money in my current account for as long as possible. Anyone remember Father Ted - “the money was just resting in my account”. 

My debt payoff app says the overdraft won’t get paid off until 9 months time but I’m hoping my side hustle will give me a couple of lump sums in the next few months which means I can clear that more quickly.

Still plugging away at the emergency fund too. I keep arguing with myself about whether I need this but I know it does make sense to have it. Once my overtime finishes I can sort out trying to sell a few things that will give me maybe £300 towards the EF.

Spinayarn

Good day today. My side hustle is bringing in money but I’m always a bit scared to actually take any money from it as I have to buy resources and materials out of it, but I should be able to take some soon. I’ll leave it for a while then do some accounting on it and draw a lump sum.

I paid off the rest of my contribution to a weekend away that needed to be paid by beginning of August. 

I did succumb to buying some fancy drinks from Waterdrop. I really like their flavours so put in an order. It’s one of those where you need to spend a certain amount to get free shipping so ended up spending about £30. Not really a priority but it is from cash and not on a credit card. They will last me ages and I can take the little capsules on holiday easily too to go in water bottles.

We’re going to the cinema tonight. Tickets were “free” as a perk with my bank account and I’ll take my own drinks. A sneaky couple of small cans of tonic and some gin ready prepped. But I might treat myself to some nachos and dip from there. It will still be a cheap night comparatively.

Overtime is still plodding on so I have to make the most of it while it’s available.

I feel like I’m getting a bit obsessed with checking my accounts all the time. And I’m constantly shuffling money into different accounts. But I also think it helps doing that too as it makes me feel like I’m making some kind of progress.

Listed a large item for sale today in a specialist group. I’ll give it a few days on there and if there’s no interest I’ll move it on to bigger groups. It’s a £200 item so hoping to sell it and put the money into the EF.

Spinayarn

ok, I've bitten the bullet and reduced my overdraft by £1000 - using money from my etsy business. This money was made a few months ago over a period of time and I think I've been scared to use it. But I've done it on the app so I can't change it easily. The money has paid a big chunk of that overdraft and brought my debt pay off down by another couple of months. Must admit, I thought it would have a more dramatic effect than that, but hey ho.

I have overspent a little this weekend - using money out of my incidentals pot which is now looking very depleted. I need to aim for no spend days the rest of this week - until I go out on Friday evening - but I'm using £50 out of my overtime for that.

WinterWarrior

Well done 🌟 It’s a brave step in the right direction.

Spinayarn

Evening all. A fairly standard day for me today. Did a little overtime whilst eating breakfast, then standard work. I should have gone to Slimming World tonight but I messaged my consultant to say I’m going to have a break from it for a while. I used to be a runner but I’ve had an injury for months and I’ve lost so much fitness. I found a fold up exercise bike on Facebook marketplace and paid £25 for it, which is pretty much what a month’s membership of SW would be. I’m hoping some low impact cardio will be good for me. Collected it this evening.

Loan payment went out today - £255 which is a minimum payment on that loan. Not many more debt payments to to go out this month. My incidentals pot is pretty low - we went to our local fete yesterday and it cost me £10 just for a burger! Going to aim for no spend days for the rest of the week.

Spinayarn

Not much to report here. Had £11 go out the current account that I wasn't expecting - turns out there was still some money to pay for the Platinum account - I think it will be a pro rata amount. At the moment, I have overspent this month - if I want to pay into some of my savings pots. Luckily I will get overtime pay coming on Friday so I will take a little from there. I think maybe £50 will cover some extras. I've had £75 in total unexpected spends out of my control but there was a little surplus in the budget. I still have £32 in my "incidentals" pot. 2 weeks 1 day to main pay day so it's not great, is it? Plus there have been extras that I have chosen to spend.

BUT - I did use my new (to me) exercise bike today. It's great - it folds up and is fairly lightweight, it's quiet and it's easy to use. 

Also - I feel more motivated to sort lots of things at the moment. I had over 12000 emails in my inbox and over the last few weeks I have been clearing them and sorting the ones that need saving into folders. I now have about 150 left...

Found myself searching through vinted today, then told myself I would go and look in the charity shops for clothes then told myself to get a grip and I have more than enough clothes. So instead I went and did some ironing and found some of the thousands of clothes I have got!

Spinayarn

Had to spend again today… I gave my daughter a budget of £30 to buy a gift for her dance teacher. She actually spent £37. I had £31 left in the “gift” budget so I need to take £6.00 from somewhere else.

I think I need to look at my budget more carefully next month. I’m not sure if my planned extra repayments are manageable at the moment - I may need to reduce it slightly. 

Withdrew £7.46 from Prolific and put it in EF. I guess any more prolific payments stay in the current account for now. 

Worked late tonight - working overtime all day tomorrow then work event in the evening.

I will get an overtime payment tomorrow so need to think how best to save that in different pots but will be holding some of it back.