Flying solo

twiggy86

I was super tired last night so nearly didn't go to acro, but I was pleased that I did as it was a fun class and managed to pick up some free doughnuts (one of which has come to work with me)! I paid the lower amount of £7.50 and this morning have paid for tonight's netball - however I still have £17.40 left in the fitness pot with nothing else to pay for this month! I may shuffle that towards groceries/ fun which are both running low! 

I had the refund from EON appear this morning, so have put £58.75 into the "house/ DIY fund" taking that to £150. Then I used the other £50 to make an extra CC payment - meaning I have met the next 1% total payoff! I still have another £200 set aside for potentially debt payments but I'm hanging onto it for now to see if needed elsewhere. But the next payment should take me to over £8k cleared so really tempted to make another payment today! 

Speaking of debt payoff... bf said last night that when he receives his inheritance from his dad (his dad is still here but barely) he is going to clear any remaining debt I have. Which is both amazing but makes me feel so uncomfortable - obviously we still have time to discuss this and reach a position that we are both comfortable with. But in the meantime I will be continuing to pay it off as though that offer hadn't been made. 

Today's bits and bobs include...

• Make lunch to take to work 
• Update spreadsheet 
• Make CC payment 
• Work on knitting project at lunch
• Go food shopping with bf 
• Dinner from stores 
• Park for free for netball (game isn't until 9:20!)  

twiggy86

With everything going on, including having to drive 6 hours after work to sort out something for his dad on Tuesday, bf has finally admitted that things are getting on top of him and has spoken to the doctor. So he's been signed off work for 2 weeks. I'm so pleased as I don't know how he's been coping as trying to juggle sorting out serious health related issues and the associated care plans for both his parents, on top of car issues and life in general. He is going for a weekend golf break with a few friends and is due to go back to work after his return, so hopefully the time off and the holiday do him some good. 

Well he's just sent me a photo as he has been out jet-washing the garden (bought his dad's jet wash home - which he had previously discussed with him!). He's also bought paint for the fences and a new, longer hose - which we needed to avoid having to run it through the house, as the tap is in a really inconvenient place! So I have sent him £35 to cover my half of the expenses (he said I didn't need to as he hadn't run it by me first). 

I do feel torn between wanting to get certain jobs around the house completed - i.e. the utility room project and also needing to think about my desk set-up - and getting the debts cleared! I'm also allocating quite a lot to my sinking funds at the moment, with a view to getting them all to certain minimums (which I will then just top up as necessary) - so feel like I'm trying to stretch my money in to many directions again and not feeling the progress! 

Floss

Why not take time while your bf is away to think & prioritise what you'd like to do with your home & money? Then you can think about that offer from him & maybe plan to have a conversation with him.

Also, some bicarb scattered in the box or drawer might help with the smoke smell.

twiggy86

Thanks @Floss for both bits of advice. Re money, nothing is happening immediately so no decisions need to be made yet. Bf is back (drove 6 hours one day up there and 6 hours back the next day) but this morning he has gone for a job interview/ chat with someone who is now a friend but used to be his manager. I can't recall if I previously said but he found a new job but took the counter-offer (which included an £8k payrise) so stayed with his current employer - however the reason he was looking to change was that he was unhappy with other aspects of his job/ environment and I think he regrets staying. Particularly the unsympathetic way he boss has been in the last couple of weeks. 

I'm working from home today, which saves me the petrol and gives me the chance to do some housework! I'm VERY quiet with work and hate sitting at my desk doing next to nothing! I do have some power of attorney forms to complete for a friend, so I'm going to do that first - they've offered to pay but this is a friend who was a rock when I first broke up with ex, so feels like a way to re-pay him when he's going through some stuff with his own mum. 

I plan on making a £50 CC payment today, which will mean that I've cleared just over £8k! Not bad going in under 2 years with everything else I've done with my money as well (building emergency fund twice, building up pots etc). 

Today I have/ will:

• Update spreadsheet 
• Make CC payment 
• Load of washing on 30 degree cycle
• Hang washing on airer
• Complete POA forms
• De-scale kettle
• Measure tortoise enclosure - considering getting a different set up 
• Order new sink plug 
• Bf doing food shop this afternoon - I will transfer him half 
• Meals from stores

twiggy86

Well I am officially "out of money" for the month - as in my personal and grocery pots are now empty! So I have had to re-allocate £50 from potential CC payments to cover my overage. I do however have a further £100 still set aside for CC payments, plus money left in my fitness and petrol pots - petrol I will let roll over to next month though.

The other area where I have gone over budget this month is pets/ house. I have two tortoises and have been debating whether to keep them - partially because their enclosure in the kitchen is a bit of an eyesore and they have been creating a lot of dust. I spoke to bf and he wants to keep them too - so I have ordered them a new enclosure and tried a different type of substrate to put in there. However, it means an overspend from my "pets" pot - or I pull money from the house pot. 

All of this is further cementing that I feel torn and like I'm not making great progress in any area! I'd say that I need to pick a priority and stick to it, but for different reasons they all feel like priorities! I need to finalise my budget for May by Wednesday but I will be considering if/ how to adapt it between now and then. Good news is that on 1 May I will be making the final payment for the table and then will have an extra £84 in the budget every month!  

The other area that has me conflicted is my crafting - I have three projects on the go and have been trying to hit certain milestones on each of them, but actually there just isn't enough hours! I did meet the goals for last week on the blanket and the top, but not the jumper. However actually the top and the jumper are the ones I am more keen to finish - the blanket I was making just to make! So I have decided to park that and only pick it up as and when I feel like it - I will still try finish it within the next few months but take the pressure off myself (I have plenty of homemade blankets!) So that takes me down to two "active" wips - one is a summer top and the other being slightly more colder weather (but the colours makes it feel summery!) Ideally I would like to get them both completed this month as I have other summer projects I would like to make whilst it's still summer! Given the slight overwhelm I'm feeling at the moment, as much as I would like to start them I won't start anything new until I finish one of these! 

Re work around the house - bf is off work this week and is planning to do a few bits. He's actually signed off, so I've made clear that he is free to crack on with anything he may want to do but no pressure from me to be productive - more important that he looks after himself. I think a certain level of productivity will do him good but he does also need to rest and do some fun things for himself. Today he is going to visit his mum and have lunch with his brother and sister, before playing golf. So I am expecting that he will progress some bits, but I'm not counting on any of it - so when I finally get to my weekly list(!) it will be things I intend to do! 

God I'm waffly and indecisive today! But this diary does help me get my thoughts out - and hopefully come up with a plan! With that in mind, I'm going to post my weekly list in a separate post below... 

twiggy86

My weekly list of goals... 

Finances:

• Consider how to combat my current state of mind of feeling torn! 
• Allocate refund (£35) when it comes in 
• Finalise May budget 

House:

• Put some bits in the loft 
• Get something down from loft to sort/ dump/ donate
• Build new tortoise enclosure (when it arrives) 
• Cut the grass 

Crafting: 

• Add ribbed neckline to top - will help with assessing the fit, before I continue working on the body  
• Finish one arm on knitted jumper 

twiggy86

So FINALLY on to today's list...

• Wash bedding on 30 degree cycle 
• Make lunch to take to work 
• Spend some time thinking about to combat overwhelm/ indecision re money 
• Shuffle some money around to help with the above 
• Snap a couple of receipts from last week 
• Check when interest free period expires on MBNA CC 
• Finalise May budget 
• Move progress markers on projects 
• Work on knitted top at lunch 
• Dinner from stores 

twiggy86

Ok so a bit more of a brain dump.... 

I realised it might help if I re-frame my absolute number 1 priority from "pay off debt" to "pay off MBNA CC before interest free period expires".

The current balance is £1,795 and the interest free period expires on 27 August. Meaning I have 4 more pays to clear it - so effectively £450 per month. I can take this down to £425 if I pay off that further £100 this month. On top of this I also need to make the minimum payment of roughly £60 on my other CC. These two things together mean that I should be somewhere near my target for the year. Of course, I also want as much debt gone as possible, as quickly as possible - which is where it causes me indecision and over-whelm in feeling torn between various things. However, for now I think it will serve me best if I focus on paying £500 per month towards CC whilst I'm trying to accomplish other things as well! 

I am also trying a different way of managing my sinking funds this year - which is to get each pot to a "minimum". This is on the basis that I was finding that using/ topping them up each month meant I felt like I was behind as numbers were ending up as a minus. So I was hoping that this change meant that I felt more in control - as I;d get them all "set up" and then just have to add to them as and when I had used something. But of course, at the moment I'm trying to do that whilst also still pulling from them as and when - so it's actually extra pressure at the moment! There is actually over £1,000 in the account covering the various sinking funds, so it seems pretty crazy that I still feel so behind and am putting a lot of pressure on myself in this respect! 

And on top of this, I am wanting to get the house more up together! On the one hand it's great that bf is pro-active in this respect (and we are splitting all the costs) but on the other it means I keep using the money and haven't been able to build up a proper pot! At the moment there is only £41 in there!! However already this year I have spent over £2.5k on the house! (A big chunk of that was the boiler which I paid for by myself). So I should actually congratulate myself on managing to cashflow all of that - but instead I'm beating myself up that there isn't much money sat in there! Also (obviously) having to replace the boiler at short notice has meant I had to change the plan from how I had initially set out my goals/ plans for the year, so I need to give myself so grace in light of that! 

Wow, all of that waffle has really helped me with a route forward that I think achieves all three but without me feeling so overwhelmed:

1. Pay £500 per month towards debts 
2. Get pots to "minimums" 
3. Continue to cash flow any DIY 

Then once I have got the pots to my set amounts I can try build up more of a DIY fund and consider paying more to the CCs - rather than feeling like I have to do all three simultaneously! 

Sunshine_girl2

It’s interesting reading about having minimum for pots . I want to try this approach from next month . 

twiggy86

Well my waffling yesterday (well done if you read it!) really helped me feel straighter with things. I have also tweaked my spreadsheet slightly which has also made me see things clearer. I have certain pots that I pay a set amount to every month (e.g. car insurance) and others which are more ad hoc - but they were all jumbled together. So I have simply sorted them into a different order and it made a surprising difference!

Although I did realise that I need to consider my new desk set up - as given that I will be working from home more I need a more permanent arrangement which may involve some spending. I intend to email the company today to ask what (if any) assistance/ equipment they provide so that I can better account for this. So technically I have finalised my May budget but may need to tweak things to account for anything I'll need to purchase. 

I did pay the further £100 off the CC - meaning my current debt total is £7,490 and I'm only £2 away from paying off a further 1% of the starting total. So if I do succeed in paying £500 off the debts in May, I will be under £7k! But I did check when the interest free period ends on my other CC and that one is in November, so that will need a balance transfer at that stage - but I can't wait to be down to one debt! Especially given that I started with 5 debts - 4 CCs and a loan from my parents. 

I also had a further chat with bf about his offer to pay my debts and feel better about that situation too - although not sure he agreed! My view was that whilst he has debt and/or a mortgage, if he wants to be "productive" with his inheritance, it should go towards that first. Then obviously if we stay together long term and combine finances, I will see the benefit at that stage! For example, he will make more profit per month on his flat (which he rents out) if he has a lower mortgage payment. 

Today I have/will: 

• Make lunch to take to work 
• Finalise May budget 
• Email new employer re equipment  
• Look at setting up a google drive (or something similar) for the docs/ patterns etc that are currently on my work computer 
• Work on knitted top at lunch 
• Dinner from stores 
• Do a little bit of sorting out around the house 
• Work on knitted jumper this evening