£2,576.79 to clear by March

DD265

£956.15 on one credit card, interest free period ends 16th March
£1620.64 on the other, interest free until the 1st March

It's entirely possible that I can't quite manage and end up doing a balance transfer, but this diary is to give me the accountability to try my best.

We've had a tricky year financially after my husband was out of work for 7 months, then 3 months part time. He's been full time since the end of October, but that's a temp gig which is potentially ending in Jan/Feb. We also spent quite a bit on the garden early on in his unemployment, never for a moment thinking things would pan out the way they did.

I have never been the best at looking after my finances. I know what I have, always find the funds somewhere, but I do overspend, and it's worse when I'm stressed when I'll throw money at 'problems', whether useful or actually unimportant. Between my husband's work situation and something we went through in September, I've spent far too much.

As well as the credit cards balances, my car is having MOT, major service, cambelt/waterpump change and suspension work in January (it's just hit 10 years old but I'm not expecting any nasty surprises). I have £1200 set aside for this and hope it covers everything - we'd estimated £1400ish including a gear box service, which will be done elsewhere at a later date.

The upshot is we don't currently have an emergency fund, though we do have a few small savings pots totalling around £1100 at the moment. I use YNAB, and tomorrow (when the budget 'resets') I'll be able to see which categories are over-funded, and any where I could 'borrow' from them in the short term, like insurance which we save up for and pay annually.

I'm planning to put our Nectar points towards our food shop at Sainsburys rather than using cash, and we have another week where we can mostly eat from the freezer but then we'll need to do a bigger shop. There are two birthdays I need to worry about, but I don't go mad. There's also my birthday in January, so I've asked for things that I would otherwise be wanting to buy anyway which will hopefully scratch a few itches. I'm going to push for as many no-spend days as possible, which I've found helpful in the past, and constantly ask whether something is genuinely needed and if so, is it needed now, or can it wait. I have already been trying to spend more time on hobbies/fitness after realising that spending hours on the internet was basically hours shopping, whether intentionally or otherwise.

For additional income, I have lots of items to declutter and will try to sell what I can, so hopefully that will add a couple of hundred to the pot. Lastly (until I think of more), I'm a member of Prolific and have just short of £30 in there right now, but have previously hit £100 in a month so will try for a couple of more intense months doing that too. Overtime isn't there for either of us, so I'm going to see whether I can find any other ways of making a bit of extra cash.

Unfortunately after clearing these two balances we won't be debt free, but it'll be a great start and hopefully motivation to keep going (at a slightly more enjoyable pace).

DD265

So far, so good.

I went through our categories in YNAB and identified where I could either not fund, or where any leftover could be diverted elsewhere. We got some cash for Christmas which I've just paid in £60 of, and held onto £20 total as 'change' for any FB type sales.

Spends so far in January:

• £22 bra (necessary - I need to wash my existing lonesome bra!)
• £4.38 ice cream (not necessary)
• £24.99 cat equipment (not necessary but will stop greedy cat trying to steal his brother's food)
• £7.50 husband's lunches (not necessary, though he'd argue the bread might've been past it!)
• £3 pin badge for charity (not necessary)

Spends I've avoided (and how):

• expensive meal (explained our priorities, family paid for a cheaper option)
• anything from a gift shop yesterday (didn't go in to look!)
• lunch today (ate at home)

Money made:

• £60 Christmas gift money

The other spends have been diesel and also our household subscriptions; cat food, litter etc, which are not the focus here, though any savings are still helpful. I review every month to make sure we do need the items before the orders get processed, so January has ended up being a slightly cheaper month than usual on that front.

I did realise that I have the dentist (NHS) and hygenist (private) this coming week, and I'm going to be asking the dentist about getting a tooth crowned. Hopefully worst case for it all, around £350, and I can claim £105 back through a cash plan so it's not all bad.

Looks as though, given the weather forecast, we'll be having a quiet weekend! I have my craft projects, some TV and a Lego set to build, so will do my best to avoid any shopping. Husband will do the food shop tomorrow whilst I go for a run and hopefully both get done before the weather turns.

Unnecessary spends so far: £39.87
Money made so far: £60

DD265

I'm pleased with progress so far.

The food shop yesterday came to about £90 (£50 of which being covered by a gift card), because we finally needed the butchers for this coming week. He also picked up lunch for us both at £8.70 - cheaper than normal as I had a drink at home.

I made a £10 charitable donation for a friend, in lieu of a birthday gift and I won't be seeing her either so no spends on a meal etc. Our unncessary spends total has jumped however, because husband has spent £51.94 on my birthday and thanks to YNAB I know what it is lol. We also have an escape room (paid for last year) and a meal on Saturday for my birthday, so I'll try to keep spends low this week.

Thursday is a risk day because I'm going into the office, and as part of that, meeting a colleague for breakfast (which I can't claim on expenses, nor can I claim the travel!). I am at the tail end of a phased return to work, and the office will be full so meeting for breakfast and walking in together is intended to support me.

I did some baking yesterday and used possibly my favourite purchase of 2024; a Ninja 3-in-1 stick blender which also does mixing/beating. I was able to replace our stick blender and rubbish cheap handmixer (which had 3 speeds - fast, faster and fastest) so we've saved space but also this thing is really controllable and doesn't kick up a dust storm of flour. I'm hoping that the majority of my purchases in 2025 can be like this - things that I truly adore using.

Unnecessary spends so far: £110.51
Money made so far: £60

DD265

It's been a quiet week.

OH (other half) got paid today; unfortunately it was a lot less than normal as he only worked 2 days last week. We're greatful that he has some income, but as he's temping there's no holiday pay so if he wants any time off, it hits the budget. I've still not been able to fully fund the budget, and have been assigning funds to the categories in priority order.

Not sure whether it's good/bad, but the dentist recommended I go down the filling route rather than a crown, so my dental bill was £84.50 and I've been able to claim the entirety back. I may end up with a crown at a later date; will have to see whether they can fill the gap between two teeth adequately. I'm up to about £40 on Prolific too, but won't count that in any totals until I cash it out.

Husband has bought something from Amazon - presumably another birthday present - and I also spent £23.98 on family birthdays. Thankfully there's no expectation to buy high value gifts for family and OH has been told not to go mad buying things for me.

My colleague/friend covered breakfast yesterday as a treat, so I spent £11.52 on travel and some food; lunch was a buffet but limited/not hugely filling, and OH wanted my car yesterday as it's better than his on ice, so I got the train both ways which costs more than park and ride (my original plan). I also spent £11.94 in a craft shop - in my defence, I'd been trying to find somewhere that I could look at needle felting supplies in person and there was a shop in the city centre. I bought cheaper wool which you can use to create shapes to then put the coloured wool on top, some jewellery wire to finish off a little bee I made, and two colours of felt for a specific project I have in mind as a gift.

Whilst we're in the city again tomorrow, as the escape room was paid for last year, there's just going to be parking/food. I managed to avoid other extra spends yesterday (and I did have a mooch around John Lewis when I had time to kill!) so I am confident I can avoid extra spends tomorrow. Plus our friend owes for their portion of the escape room, which we'll offset against our food bill - thanks past me.

The gifts and work expenses are all factored in below, as is the refund of dental costs (which wasn't allocated back to the health category in the budget!).

Unnecessary spends so far: £179.94
Money made so far: £144.50

DD265

In the end it was just food & drink (and parking) to cover yesterday, but it still added up! £20 on parking (cheaper than park and ride when there's 4 of you), and £85 on food/drink for the two of us, taking the escape room fee into account. Had a great time though - we got out of the escape room with 15 minutes to spare - and finished off the day playing a board game at home.

In the morning when we were doing the food shop we got breakfast at £3.70, and we used our remaining gift card balance/some nectar points on the food shop. Husband also transferred £40 to family as belated Christmas/birthday gifts, so taking all the above into account, our unnecessary spends jumped significantly.

Today I am aiming for no spending.

Unnecessary spends so far: £328.64
Money made so far: £144.50

DD265

My birthday was good; met a friend for a run and late breakfast (she very kindly paid). I also got a bit of money which has been absorbed into the general budget. OH did get me a £25 Amazon voucher which was nice but also it's probably just getting redirected into the cat litter subscription or something next month, so it just ties money up given we have joint finances.

This week between us we've spent:

£20 car valeting before it's service etc
£38 on a meal out (booked before Christmas)
£166.60 for glazing repairs to one blown window and one with broken hinges
£10.80 OH's lunches
£3.29 something else OH bought

Non-negotiables:
£70 therapy
£267 insurance excess for therapy
£932.62 car service, MOT etc

Money in:
£51.68 Prolific
£40 birthday presents

Husband was also paid, but I haven't counted that in the totals. I kept the non-negotiables out of the unnecessary spends amount too. The car valeting was needed, could've been a bit cheaper still if I'd just had it washed but they saved me a lot of time (and £20 is half what anywhere else seems to charge). The glazing repairs don't need doing immediately, however we got a 15% discount by doing it in January and when possible, I prefer to get repairs done as soon as is feasible.

My car had quite the hefty bill, but about what I expected for the service, MOT, cambelt and water pump. No suspension work needed surprisingly, although it had three advisories on the MOT. I'd have preferred to have dealt with these immediately, and they did change the brake fluid (inc in the £930) but it is going to want new tyres and brake discs/pads too, for which they quoted £800, and I can't swing it at the moment. I have booked it in for the gearbox service in mid-February as that's the priority. All being well, that will cost £320ish if it's purely the service and nothing else needed. Then it'll be a case of saving up to do the rest. Still far cheaper than changing car!

Unnecessary spends so far: £567.33
Money made so far: £236.18

DD265

The downside to fewer transactions is that budgeting does get rather boring, however, I'm glad to see the amount of money left in various pots.

This week between us we've spent:
£6.65 top up of food shop
£5.38 couple of bits to complete jobs at the allotment
£8.55 Greggs

Non-negotiables:
£9.90 prescription fee
£157.99 vets (vaccinations)
£155 AA membership

No unexpected money in, although my Prolific balance is above £30 again, so I'm hoping to increase it over £50 this week to cash out again. If I can do that twice before the end of February that would be great. I've got bits to sell too, but I'm struggling with the thought of dealing with people on FB marketplace. Never a fun time. I need to bite the bullet and get started.

The vet bill was a bit higher than I would've hoped. I think it's £68 for each cat to have their vaccinations now, plus we got a topical treatment for one of them who has a skin condition. Part of me wonders whether our house cats need their vaccinations, but I'll never make cut backs that affect their level of care. Worth doing some research on, maybe.

The AA membership... the renewal price was more like £300, if I recall correctly, so I shopped around. I did find a policy elsewhere but then AA haggled and brought the price right down so decided to stick with them. This covers both of us in any cars we drive. As my car is now 10 years old, that does impact pricing at a lot of places, though I think the alternate cover I found was £60, it used local operators so always luck of the draw if you had to call them out.

I'm sure that our unnecessary spends total would be a lot for many people. For us, it's a fraction of what we would normally spend without really thinking (which, shock horror, could be the reason why we're in debt) so I'm pleased with our progress. I have been trying my 'no buy' using a (free) app, and it's set to allow unnecessary spends 2x a week, so my streak is 100% since the 1st January. For us, it would be unrealistic to have zero unnecessary spends in a week. That said, I find myself reluctant to buy, even things that have been on a list for a while. I'm waiting for the budget category to be funded first (unusual for me) and not spending time window shopping so I'm less tempted.

We need to continue being more mindful, and we'll likely need to borrow from categories that need to be replenished (like home insurance, due in May) but I think the target is achievable.

Unnecessary spends so far: £587.91
Money made so far: £236.18

DD265

Not having the best week... My Granny passed away today. We found out yesterday that she was unwell and she deteriorated very quickly. She didn't suffer; her last hours and her death were peaceful and I will be internally grateful for that.

Granny lived in Northern Ireland, and we're in England, so there will be flights and probably car hire to pay this week. Funerals seem to happen incredibly quickly over there; within 3 days appears to be the preference, and the overall attitude to death just seems.. more positive, I guess. I need my husband with me as he's my rock, so double the cost of flights it is, but whilst I haven't seen Granny since 2018 (she had dementia), I wouldn't miss her funeral for anything.

My instinct yesterday whilst we were waiting for updates was to shop. I think recognising that is the first step towards changing the behaviour - I did not shop, as much as I thought about it. Today I've had less inclination to shop, although we had the glaziers come, the electrician in to fit the induction hob we bought in November (waiting on the plumber to disconnect the gas hob!), and I managed to drop my phone and crack the screen protector. Don't have a spare, so have ordered one from Amazon, along with some water butt treatment for the allotment as I ran out a while back, some wound dressings and a back scratcher.

The latter two are because I have a cyst on my back that got infected - that'll be two prescription charges in two weeks and a third unrelated... wish I hadn't cancelled my PPC now, although normally it wouldn't be good value for me. The surrounding area is itchy and the dressings we have are barely large enough. Maybe I'll literally scratch the shopping itch, who knows.

Electrician said £120 but has yet to invoice, the NI trip is likely to be £250-300 all told, and the Amazon order hasn't my account yet. I'll update the totals when the transactions hit, otherwise I will confuse myself.

If it wasn't for the fact that I need my salary, I would happily hibernate until this seemingly sucky phase of my life is over - it's lasted a couple of years now though, and the sick pay policy at work isn't that good.

Unnecessary spends so far: £587.91
Money made so far: £236.18

in_need_of_direction

sorry to hear about your Granny.  as a resident of NI, i can confirm that funerals are the one thing we can do quickly i.e within 3-4 days.  it's horrible having to travel in the circumstances.  try and take care of yourself.

DD265

Thank you @in_need_of_direction. We were talking about the speed of arranging funerals, and concluded that the quick turnaround probably makes the grieving process easier. In England, where it can be 4-6 weeks easily, you may just be starting to 'return to normal' after a loss when suddenly you're back in the thick of it, planning a funeral.

It was a lovely service, as much as these things can be, and Granny is next to Grandad again. The total, all in, appears to be £370. A minor setback in terms of the credit card payment, but I think I can still make it work.

Yesterday we were in our home town for an appointment, so we bought breakfast, lunch and coffee on the road. We're still recovering from the trip to NI on Thursday, and noticeably make worse spending decisions when tired. We could've cut the cost of all these, but sometimes you just need things to happen.

Ignoring any spends related to the funeral/travelling, we're at:

Unnecessary:
£5 lottery tickets (husband)
£12.99 water butt treatment
£3.49 Kindle book (a plan for improving sleep as mine has been poor since August)
£5.10 coffee (husband)
£8 breakfast
£16.90 lunch

Non-negotiables:
£120 electrician
£8.99 phone screen protector
£13.48 wound dressings
£8.94 pharmacy (inc antihistamines for my reaction to the original wound dressings)
£9.90 the third prescription

I also cashed out another £50 from Prolific, which is not to be sniffed at. Hopefully I can get another £100 in February.

Having completed a month of making an effort not to spend, I'm really pleased to see these numbers. This is the combined total from my spending money, clothing, fitness gear and allotment categories for each month:

• September 2024 - 557.70
• October 2024 - 1161.08*
• November 2024 - 998.76
• December 2024 - 629.29
• January 2025 - 76.21

*One of the worst events of our lives happened in late September, so I spent October/November trying to 'fix' everything I possibly could. Lots of new organisers, shelves, hardware to do repairs etc.

As you can see, that's a massive difference and something to be proud of. I do think there's a happy medium around the £200 mark, but happy to keep on the lower side for the time being. Now, if I could just do the same for my food intake!

Unnecessary spends so far: £639.39
Money made so far: £286.18

liselle

Oh brilliant! What a turnaround,fantastic!