misstara's debt diary 2024

misstara

Thanks Boodedoo   I've transferred £100 from the emergency fund into my current account to cover the extra expenditure and will transfer any leftover money back at the end of the month.  Emergency fund is now sitting at £1116.51 (£5.94 PA earnings added this morning).

OH got home on Tuesday with an increase in medication so hopefully that will do the job and prevent any future hospital admissions.  It was his birthday yesterday so we had a nice relaxed day, went a walk round the local park and then I made a yummy steak dinner.

Spent £36.89 on food shopping on Wednesday plus £19.99 on a present for my sister-in-law.  Yesterday was a NSD

Not sure what we're up to today yet, OH got some money and vouchers for his birthday so had mentioned maybe going into town to see if there was anything he wanted to buy with them.

misstara

Not much to report from the last few days - £10.55 spent on Friday in a cafe after a walk at the beach and £4.53 yesterday on fruit and bread.  Today I'll need to put some petrol in the car plus buy a few bits for work lunches.

Dreading going back to work tomorrow - not so much the actual work, just leaving OH by himself all day.  

misstara

£50.69 spent on petrol today plus £23.73 on some food shopping for work lunches and other bits for the meal plan we did for this week.  Hopefully won't need much else this week, just the usual top-up of fruit and bread.  Have got £47.57 left in the grocery budget until the end of the month.

Went out with my dad and gran for lunch today, was lovely to see both and the lunch was very filling so we ended up just having a toasted teacake each this evening instead of a proper meal.  Means today's planned meal can be rolled over until tomorrow.

57p transferred to emergency fund from ch@se cashback

misstara

First day back at work went fine and OH texted me regularly which reassured me.

Today has been a NSD and 24p has been added to the emergency fund

beanielou

Glad that your first day back was fine. 😊

misstara

Thanks beanie

We're really short-staffed this week due to annual leave and staff sickness which means I am spending my time mostly doing support work.  I really enjoy that as it means working more closely with the people I support but I have a very very long list of things that I need to do for my usual role and assessor role so feeling stressed out as I just don't know how I'm going to get everything done.  On a late shift tomorrow so planning to work from home for a bit in the morning (will get overtime for it) to try and catch up a bit on paperwork stuff.

Onto more positive things - it's been a NSD again today and I've added £5.99 to the emergency fund from PA earnings.  OH has had a good day and we went a quick walk round the local park once I finished work.  And I've signed myself up for a 5k run at the end of April to motivate myself to get back into running properly again.

misstara

Survived the week and managed to get pretty much on top of the stuff I needed to get done for my assessor role which has reduced stress levels somewhat.  Still have a lot to do for usual role and this week looks just as bad for staffing  

Have been off the weekend and have mostly just been hanging out with OH and watching rugby, very pleased with the result yesterday.  OH unfortunately had a fall in the flat yesterday and has hurt his back so hasn't felt up for doing much although we did manage a wee walk along the beach today.

Have got over the food budget again, really need to get on top of it as although food prices have risen, a lot of it is just down to poor planning.

Pay slip is in so will need to do my budget for March.

misstara

Payday today

Have paid £30 to the credit card (now £318.48), £110 to the emergency fund (now £1234.78) and £250 to the LISA (now £10223.22).

I actually only needed to top up the LISA by £200 to max it out so the extra £50 is saved in a separate account and will get added in properly once the new tax year starts.

I've also opened a new account for the emergency fund - it only allows 4 withdrawals a year without penalty so hopefully that will stop me dipping into it.  It also seems like you can only pay in a minimum of £100 at a time (unless I've picked it up wrong) so I'm going to keep the original account open to add my survey and cashback money to and then transfer it over once it hits £100.

Day off work today so did a small shop for burger buns, coleslaw and fruit (£5.83 spent).  We had ys burgers for tea, not something I would normally cook at home but OH saw them when we were in the supermarket last week and thought it would be a fine change which it was.  Freezer is absolutely rammed with various ys bargains so hopefully won't need to spend much on food over the next few weeks.

Also had to take my car to the garage today as it had slow punctures in both front wheels.  Luckily they could both be repaired so only £50 spent which was covered from the car fund.

misstara

NSD yesterday and hoping for one today.  £10.39 added to the emergency fund through a mixture of cashback, interest and PA earnings.

misstara

NSD today   £5.49 cashed out from PA and added to the emergency fund.

Review of 2024 goals

Pay off credit card
£130 will be paid off this month leaving £218.48 to go.

Maximise LISA
Done for this financial year.

Increase emergency fund
Now sitting at £1250.66.

Celebrate
We didn't get to Edinburgh due to OH being ill but will reorganise this for April or May.  I have a weekend away with friends later on this month to celebrate us all turning 40 this year.

Stick to the menu plan and minimise food waste
Hmm not so good with this one but will put it down to OH being ill, something to work on for this month.

Gym membership
Didn't actually go at all in February, again with OH being ill.  We have managed some lovely short walks though.

Flat stuff
Not any progress on this.

So money stuff all good, other stuff a work in progress!