Don't hit me with those negative waves Moriarity

Blackcats

I agree with @Rhyddid2026 - absolutely no Mariah please.  

Remember that each mortgage payment and any overpayment is progress.  You owe less than you did in November.  You definitely owe less than you did  Last Christmas 

LzzyIsGod

Bwhahahaha @Blackcats that did make me chuckle - especially welcome after a really tough week with family stuff. Oh and the blooming car is playing up again after being fine for months Joy to the World!!

Despite all this and despite the utter carnage that life apparently wishes to throw at me at the moment,  I continue to cash flow everything. We've needed (for various complicated reasons) a few takeaways in the last fortnight- partly because I've had to be dealing with family stuff and partly because I have been disorganised and distracted. But still the credit cards remain untouched althiugh we've had to dip into the Slush Fund pot (not the main savings).

The car is a significant and unwelcome Worry and Concern. I have £8k earmarked in the car pot and saved which is good but I worry might not be enough for a New to Me one. And I really really really don't want to borrow money in any way to get something newer. I think before Catastrophizing I need to get someone knowledgeable to look at it before rushing into any decisions. 

LzzyIsGod

Up early this morning and after a brief check of the bank balances (and ignore of the early Dec Pay Packet - I am Not Touching It) a quick early Internet search of used cars does indeed reveal I am significantly short of money in terms of a car I can keep for many years.  

Good job then I'm working again this weekend. (What a surprise I hear you all say) 😂😑 From April 26 it looks like the roster will allocate 1 weekend in 5 due to reduced staffing which is a double edged sword as I suspect it will push me into a higher tax bracket. The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. Mind you that's probably the average I've done in the last year so i may already be there. Still we fight on. 

Rhyddid2026

Happy Christmas Lzzy, have a cracking day and fabulous 2026!

LzzyIsGod

And you too @Rhyddid2026! 

Today has shown me that genuinely it's not the money you spend but the time you spend with the people you love.

Merry Christmas MSE diary land xx

FootyFanDan

Merry Christmas @LzzyIsGod 🎄

Sun_Addict

Hope you’ve had a wonderful day x

jwil

Hope you had a lovely Christmas xx

LzzyIsGod

By this time next year - from Sunset Boulevard

it feels only right to end the year with a new year's eve sing song and a sit down with DH to look at the current finances. He was moaning he has no money and we'd spent too much this Christmas and tbh I disagreed so the only thing to do was to do a bit of a round up.

 Turns out our EF / savings is up to (an impressive for us) 7k and he just doesn't want to dip into them 😂 how the worm has turned - tbh I think he had forgotten about the savings pot and is just used to seeing balances wirh minus numbers not in the black.
Christmas is always a bit spendy but nothing overly frivolous present wise and we kept to the agreed budget and NOTHING spent that wasn't cash. Most importantly to me BURGER ALL went on the CCs and they remain at a big fat zero.  I think it may be the time to stop hiding them and start doing some plastic surgery and closing some down - we don't use them and we've proved that this year. 

What I would like to say is a big thank you to this forum - I didn't think I'd ever be able to budget or save or break the cycle of spending we were in for donkeys years and also i dont think i knew how to until reading peoples SOA.   I know we were very fortunate towards the end of the Autumn and I don't underestimate for a moment how important it is remember that. 

Next year money wise is fill up that EF UP and get the mortgage DOWN. Ive set ourselves a grocery challenge for January.

Health wise I need to tackle myself as I have piled on the pounds amd it's the one area I don't need to save pounds on!

I am planning on sticking here because this is my story and it's still ongoing. Also I need new pots of savings for eldest yoofs driving lessons come Autumn and errrr ...... a frivolous weekend away to see Metallica in the summer (don't ask!!!)

Hapoy new year to all my friends and Diary land
See you on the other side

Lzzy xxxx 

LzzyIsGod

PS

I'm actually mightily impressed ive kept the diary going (bar a few blips recently) I've never kept a thread going on a forum before as I always tail off never to be heard of again! And it's been a whole year!!