Silly Goose Indeed...

Sarahwithlove

Well done for posting, you've taken the first steps now. At some point I would suggest doing a statement of account so people can give advise on places you may be able to cut back. But it sounds like you are doing everything you can to get some more money in. Have you got anything you could sell? It all adds up even if its £5/10 here and there 

SillySillyGoose

It definitely is empowering!

First night shift done, managed to put a washload on when I first woke up and now other than cooking something for my shift tonight I don't have anything I technically need to 'do' other than relax. Got our payslips through yesterday so I know what figure I am definitely working with for April. I am salaried so I know the minimum number but we seem to get a little payment for overtime shifts that effectively pays for the small amount of annual leave you would accrue if those hours would have been part of your regular work, plus I wasn't sure if the £15 savings I had set up to come out of my pay into a credit union account would start this month (they haven't)

I am going to take it easy on the studies etc over the weekend as I have 2 overtime shifts across my four days off (one is only a few hours so not overdoing it too much) plus a doctors appointment so it would be nice to enjoy the remaining bits of my days off  properly. Of course if I find myself bored I will have a gander but it's not something I'm actively putting on my to do list. 

Signed up for another small overtime shift in April, so with that and the one I have planned already (Good Friday so very much worth the extra money on that one) and a bank holiday payment I'll have enough at the end of May to cover spending money for my holiday in June (already paid for by one of my parents paying for the whole family to go) the hotel for a wedding I am attending and a debt overpayment so that will be a good month

SillySillyGoose

Slept for far longer than I planned to after my last 'full' night shift but given I'm back in for a few hours later on tonight it's not the end of the world to be honest, had a nice relaxed day. Cashed out £15 from Prolific this morning I've put that towards my food shop budget as this week I need to get a lot of the 'non food' items all at once, toilet roll, kitchen roll, laundry detergent etc. Will get myself sorted in a few minutes and go and do my food shop. The bits I've got on my list should cover me for just over a weeks worth of meals and add to the cupboard stores too, with healthy snacks and a good amount of fruit, too. 

I've set up lots of little pots with their own virtual cards in Monzo so at the moment I have:
- Food
- Fuel
- Pocket Money (none this month as it stands but it'll come in handy going forwards for keeping spends separate from essential spending)
- DR's - all my 'debt repayment' direct debits will now come out of this account 
- Buffer - any extra small money made will go in here

So when I get paid I will just put my planned amounts into each pot it'll come in handy especially for food & fuel to get an accurate picture of how much I'm spending and how much I have left for the month  

SillySillyGoose

Well writing off 2 of my days off with doing extra hours had a knock on effect, I went back in yesterday feeling like I'd really had no rest at all. In fact I only felt like I'd had one proper day off as doing the extra night hours messed up my sleep so I've taken today and tomorrow as leave to catch up on things a little. I slept for so long last night and I feel a lot more human today. I can finally crack on with getting the house in order in a little while then tomorrow I'll still have the time and energy to do some 'me' things, try and go for a run and some R & R. At least I know 2 extra shifts on one set of days off is too much and I won't do that again! 

Monthly DD's for all my debt payments have gone out, most of my monthly bills have gone out too. I have emailed the garage where I got my car from as I paid them £100 deposit which the paperwork says would come off the cost of the car but it didn't as my finance paperwork confirms they paid the garage for the full amount so I feel like I should get that back? Or have it somehow come off the finance at least. 

Debt total excluding the car now around £8.3k. The car I will think of as separate purely as the other debt is predominantly old, defaulted debt accounts. One small account had it's final payment made so a little win there. Next month I should be able to make a small additional payment at least (hopefully something enough to get that figure starting with a 7!) and then when my rent is all caught up I can start making larger overpayments and really start to see the number of debts and the total come down, and that's just based on my expected wages each month, not factoring in any overtime down the road. 

SillySillyGoose

I am still here just not much to report

Garage have confirmed they will refund the £100, sent them my details today so that should arrive soon. All that's really doing is giving me a bit of a cushion for this month. Saw on the MSE email about the current bank switch offers so have applied today for the Natwest one for £150 just waiting for the ID check to be verified to find out if I can have the account or not. 

Did some overtime on Sunday night, have picked up another one for Wednesday night next week. Working some hours on Good Friday but won't feel too rough after 2 overtime shifts as I had already booked off Easter Sunday for some plans that have fallen through, so have an extra day off there and then a shorter set of shifts when I do go back in. 

My app on my phone tells me its been 21 days since I last gambled, this is the first month in ages I haven't as soon as I got paid, so that's a small win. 

Blackcats

Well done on following up on the £100 from the garage.  It's this sort of thing that is a great side effect of being more aware of our money.
Super well done on not gambling.

jusferbrowsing

Well done for not gambling for 21 days sounds an absolute win

SillySillyGoose

Thank you both
Good news I got the go ahead for the bank switch so that will be a bonus £150, if it arrives some time in May/June it'll go into an emergency fund to start that off. 
I have 3 more overtime shifts in total this month, used a calculator that factors in overtime payments and including bank holiday payments, June should be a good month where I can pay into an EF, make a debt OP and set aside money for a wedding and holiday I have in that month so the hours will all be worth it 

thelibrarian11

Hello, just appearing to let you know I'm autistic and I am 100% in debt because of my neurodivergency. Over the years it's impacted my employability and I don't understand social norms around money. I felt like it was my poor choices for a long time but once you know you're ND you see you were actually coping really well.

SillySillyGoose

thelibrarian11 said:

Hello, just appearing to let you know I'm autistic and I am 100% in debt because of my neurodivergency. Over the years it's impacted my employability and I don't understand social norms around money. I felt like it was my poor choices for a long time but once you know you're ND you see you were actually coping really well.

Thank you so much for 'stopping by' - I actually follow your diary I just don't get the courage to say hi on others diaries very often