My new debt free diary :)

Ordinary_Yet_Unique

Any updates on your progress?

GolfR

Hi! Sorry for the lack of updates, I’m at my partners with the kids enjoying some time doing not much I had planned to post today with it being my month end. There’ve been some ongoings in the last week and a half! I’ll break down my month end and explain as I go why I went over some budgets.

Income:
£2317 - salary
£234 - child maintenance
£57 - bonus ball win through work
£133 - universal credits
£173 - child benefit
£36 - vinted sales
£80 - dining chairs sold
= £2910

Also in - £610 extra from a balance transfer as discussed in a previous post - this amount is in the extra loan repayments figure.

Outgoings:
£681 - extra loan repayments
£523 - usual monthly debt repayments
£470 - mortgage
£647 - bills

£498 on credit card - car insurance, policy commencing mid September 2025. I will discuss further down how I’ll be paying for this when the CC bill is due.

I went with the AA and it included full breakdown cover for just under £4 a month extra. I’m currently paying £12.99 pm for the same cover with RAC! Luckily the policy is ending the same day my insurance is due. I’m currently paying £45 ish a month for my car insurance and £13 for the breakdown - my new amount is saving me £16.50 a month so I’m really happy!

I decided to pay it in an annual chunk instead of monthly; I feel a big sense of accomplishment when I pay for annual things in one go which is why I did it. I already pay for my house insurance annually (due in December) so my car tax is next on the list!

Vape juices - £21
General - £4
Personal care - £24

Mounjaro - £389 (ouch) credit card.
Now this is where it gets interesting and where it all went a bit awry I’m not sure if anyone reading this has heard but Eli Lilly are massively increasing the prices of Mounjaro from 1st September due to pressure from Trump. I’m on a pretty low dose anyway and I don’t have a huge amount left to lose so I’ve managed to buy what I can before the massive increases - which was 3 pens - at a cost of £389. If I keep losing as I am now (which isn’t that fast but it’s a pace I’m happy with) I will meet my forecasted goal weight of 66kg by January. The amount of pens I have will likely take me through to the end of my GLP1 journey and I shouldn’t need to buy anymore after this. Here’s hoping!

The credit card payments for the car insurance and Mounjaro aren’t due until the first few days of October so I have time to save and pull where possible from my pots. I’ve covered the majority with this month’s pay; at the present time I need £246 more which I should have no problem covering in next month’s pay. So much for me saying in a previous post that I won’t need to buy Mounjaro until after September’s pay!

Savings - I added £550 altogether, £400 into my monthly saver, £50 into my help to save and £100 into my new cash isa.

Groceries - £162. My budget was £200 but as we’ve been at my partners we’ve not had to buy much.

Fuel - £152. Budget was £150.

Clothing - £54. I’ve been to a couple of charity shops while up here and spent a little bit.

Dog food - £15. Would have been £25 but I used the £10 asda voucher that I mentioned in an earlier post.

Kids general spends - £10

Eating out - £36. I did go over my budget of £20 but I usually spend a lot more so I’m still happy with £36.

Outgoings total - £4273 that sounds crazy!

That’s not the end of the craziness…I’m a rather spontaneous person and have an obsessive personality; I’ve started learning about investing and I’ve opened myself a Trading 212 stocks and shares ISA! I’ve learnt so much the last week and it’s such an interesting field, I’m really enjoying it. I always fancied being a financial advisor when I was in my old job at Lloyds bank but ended up going into nursing instead. Not sure if this was a wise decision in hindsight I’ve put £55 in the T212 account over the last week with leftover pot money and Vinted sales. I also got a promo code through a YouTube video and ended up with a fractional share of a pretty decent US company which was worth around £11.50 at the time and has gained approx 30p since. I’m investing mostly into ‘safe’ index funds but I’ve got the odd £2.50 in individual stocks

Since it’s the bank holiday weekend I got paid today and I’ve divvied my money up between my pots but I’ll talk about all that in another post maybe later on today or this weekend as this post is getting rather long now! I’ll also talk about total balances of loans, savings etc.

Thank you so much to all of you for reading my diary and being interested in how I’m getting on, it really makes me smile and means so much to me

NeverendingDMP

Looks like your making some good progress and well done on the breakdown savings. The stocks and shares ISA sounds interesting. Id love to know anything about stocks and shares but I'm clueless . What I've managed so far is to buy 200 pounds in an investment fund with Santander. Currently I'm up but I don't really know what I'm doing. I bought a medium risk packaged nd that's as far as I know! 

GolfR

Well done! That’s such a good start and is more than I have! I’ve paid £89 in there so far, had the free stock of £11 or so and I’m 80p up that’s more than I’d get in interest so I’m thrilled. I would just say watch some investing for beginners YouTube videos and have a play around an app like Trading 212 with very small amounts.

I’ve also moved my kids junior cash ISA’s into Hargreaves Lansdown junior stocks and shares ISA’s as they don’t charge fees.

Here’s my up to date totals for the month end:
Savings - £1350
T212 account - £68 (It’s now on £100 invested since being paid today which will be reflected in next months totals)
Car loan - £7390
Virgin BT - £400
New Santander BT - £3055
Interest free debts - iphone £562, settee £870
Mortgage - £93,223

Making slow but steady progress!