Road To Financial Recovery

FootyFanDan

Monzo Flex
Balance at beginning  Jan: £593
Balance end of Jan (after my payment) : £400


I have overpaid a bit on this at the beginning of January, I have also just put all the money I had spare in weekly pots as an over payment. There is absolutely no reason why this can't be paid off within the next few months, so I am going to focus any overpayments to this card. I think if I fully focus I can have this card off and cleared by March. When I think about it I have put aside £250 lump sum towards car maintenance this month without too much negative impact anywhere in the budget. So if I put away £50 per month for a few months and overpay £200 to monzo that could be gone pretty quickly.

FootyFanDan

Job Number 1 of this weekend completed - Car Service / MOT booked and funded this year without the need for any additional debt ✅. Normally I would leave it until the last minute and be scrambled round. I am trying to be a bit more organised. There is currently a buffer fund in our budget this month too so hopefully if anything needs doing we can cope with it 🤞

We have decided we aren't going to venture into the centre of London this weekend, by the time we get to the hotel and settled it is likely going to be pointless. The plan is to maybe explore a little locally and eat out, before heading back to hotel and enjoying a relaxing night. We have a longer trip planned for London in July so will be plenty of time to explore then.

I also need to do our ESTA applications at some point over the next week. So will probably do this on Monday, the funds are already in budget. 

FootyFanDan

Good evening, a new week begins.
I have had a really fab weekend away for the Harry Potter Studios and the little one totally loved it. I think initially it was a lot for her as it was busy but once she settled she had a blast. It was a expensive weekend but all budgeted and covered so no real impact on the budget moving forward, also no debt or CC payments needed to cover the weekend.

We stayed in a budget hotel near location and ended up having evening meal and a few drinks, we then had a few treats and watched a movie so it was nice.

I did manage to miss the best game of the football season though! Typical.🤣

FootyFanDan

Morning.
I am already cracking on through my work to do and making good progress 🙂, today should be a bit more admin than the loads of meetings yesterday.

I’ve not had the best sleep so feel a crash coming mid afternoon 🤣 I have however made the planned overpayment to monzo

paid £40 new balance £360

Today I also need to do food shopping.
Hope everyone has a good day

FootyFanDan

Its already middle of the week how did that happen

Today was a very busy day and felt not very productive. I need to really stop letting things I have no control over bother me. I have been listening to my next audiobook, and nearly finished it already aha. Its crazy how quickly you get through them.

I am toying with the idea of trying to make a small payment everyday to a debt and hoping that this motivates me seeing the debt come down. I don't know whether this is right way or whether I should just make a overpayment in one sum at the end of a week. Anyhow, today overpayment to monzo of £5 - new balance £355.

I am expecting a pretty long day tomorrow as staying over to help do an interview. Its really strange, I have been in position for about 8 months and I am slowly gaining confidence but it feels like I am being treated as a go to for everything both management wise and colleague wise and not sure if this is a compliment or not haha. I was adament after leaving my old role I would never get to a point where I am taking on too much yet here we are 🤣

EDIT: Food shop yesterday was overbudget - but not had to fill car up this week so balances out but something to keep an eye on. I need to stick to the list....malteasers werent on the list! 

FootyFanDan

Not too much going off but just wanted to check in and log a few overpayments

Thursday - £13.29 to Monzo
Today - £6.75 - Monzo

Not much but every bit helps. Tomorrow is football day and then off out for a few drinks (few been the key word 🤣 ) Sunday I have to take my car for service/MOT so I will take myself out into a coffee shop somewhere for a while when that is getting done.

I hope everyone has a fab weekend.

FootyFanDan

Afternoon MSE world, was feeling a tiny bit delicate this morning 😂. However was a good day out with the lads which is something not done for a while, the football result and monzo notifications not so much.....eek. 

In postive news my little car passed MOT so that is a nice result, and no additional outgoing there, so my car pot covered this. Also really happy that I deffo won't have to add to the debt. I plan on ensuring I put enough away from this month onwards to cover the costs - I suspect I will need tyres at some point soon. 

Currently sat having a relaxing coffee and catching up on some admin whilst waiting to go collect car. Hope everyone had a good weekend

FootyFanDan

Happy Monday all,
It's been a little while since update, primarily due to there not being really much going off. I have been sat in the background reading along with diaries though.

It's payday this week, and for as long as January felt, Feb has flown! Budget wise everything is ticking along pretty steady, helped by not needing to use any extra for the car servicing. I have made a few extra payments to Monzo Flex and this now sits at £300. I am hopeful this will be gone by the end of March.

I finally got round to sorting out the visa / ESTA for our trip next year, all that time sat waiting to do it, and it was back and approved within an hour🤣. I am now starting to get my Youtbe algorithms showing me Orlando stuff it seems soooo long away though. 

We went out on Saturday to a book reading event in local town, and followed this up by eating out so that was our eating out budget used . We have really started to enjoy the odd meal out which isn't something we used to do a lot but I am conscious that its an easy win for us to spend some time together.

Food budget does look like we will come in under budget, I think I had under estimated it last few months, so I have increased it slightly based on the last few months.

Spends Needed over next few months:

1. Hotel & Train for London theatre trip : I am reluctant to drive in London but the costs of the hotels are absolutely mind boggling. I expected to pay a bit but its mental. I think I am leaning towards maybe booking an hotel thats within travel distance on the outskirts and just doing that.

2. Bookcase : We have finally started to make a decent dent in getting the little one's room sorted, she has more books than my local library haha so need a decent bookcase

3. Residential : Start chipping away at this, we have until October to pay this off, but I have set up a target within YNAB and will start funding from this month.

I have spent the last few weeks trying to get into some sort of routine and I am slowly getting there. I seem to still feel tired irrespective of what time I sleep / hours slept. I suspect this is more of a thing I need to change with diet / caffeine intake so need to work on that. I am hoping now that its getting lighter earlier I can find some time to get a little walk into my morning routine, but everything just feels so rushed and tight on a morning.

I also need to get better with tracking / claiming my work expenses. I am now starting to get out and travelling to sites more so while it isn't huge amounts I need to claim them. 

I hope everyone is doing well.

BadBookkeeper

You’re doing so well on your journey.  Can I ask who you booked your Orlando trip through?  I became debt free last August & the reward was to take our family (2 adults & 1 13yr old) to Disney but the cheapest I can get it to is £14k!!!! I had a budget of £10k and thought that would be more than enough.  Just wondering if I’m using the right travel agents or has it drastically increased? 

FootyFanDan

BadBookkeeper said:

You’re doing so well on your journey.  Can I ask who you booked your Orlando trip through?  I became debt free last August & the reward was to take our family (2 adults & 1 13yr old) to Disney but the cheapest I can get it to is £14k!!!! I had a budget of £10k and thought that would be more than enough.  Just wondering if I’m using the right travel agents or has it drastically increased? 

It was booked via Tui, we did get a free child place with it as well so that has probably brought the price down. We are staying on site at Universal, 3.8k we paid for the holiday, tickets will probably work out about 3.2k (based on what we have seen so far). So would be hoping it comes in well under 10k. I was reluctant to book it if I am being honest, but we've wanted to go for so long and it will be probably a one time thing.  There is 2 adults & 11yr old so i thought price was decent, although I suspect there probably is better deals out there if you know where to look.