Time to get the monkey off my back!

Cherryfudge

Well done on holding out for the £600 and using it so well when it arrived!

I agree with @badmemory about keeping your hairdresser. Having someone who knows what you want and how to make it happen is worth a lot! And as you don't have it done all that often, you are already saving money.

I love reading diaries too, and @Keedie's is full of ingenious ways of dividing up her income, she's the poster girl for adapting the budget as your circumstances or priorities change, which takes some doing IMO. It makes sense though - to keep an awareness like that takes work and intelligence and I'm always impressed at how she comes up with new ways of dealing with her money.

Have you tried @foxgloves' diary? I think it might appeal to you too.

LzzyIsGod

Like Fergal Sharkey almost sings .... a good hairdresser is hard to find! 

 People don't always remember your clothes but they do remember your hair - hair is very prominent and one of those things you can't hide very easily which is why I justify still spending money on mine 😂 I've stretched the time between appointments as a compromise too. 

Willow1403

@Cherryfudge - thank you for the recommendation, I shall certainly take a look.

Thank you for everyone that gave me hairdresser feedback, I have decided to keep going to her, yay! I was having a bit of an attack of the guilts that I'm working so hard to pay off debt right now then paying for something like that.

For a while now I have denied myself 'nice things' thinking I didn't deserve them because I have screwed up so badly financially. I have to really need something before I get it. I have some shoes which I wear for work, black sketchers. My role means I don't have to follow the work dress code really, but I still do like to dress in a way which is professional. I'm on my feet all day, hence needing something comfy. Anyway, mine are breaking and totally worn out and I'm still thinking I could eek a few more months out of them. 

I'm really getting in to writing this diary now. It's very soothing to get things down, all those little things that are in your head all the time. 

PAD - I made two payments to my credit card yesterday. £22 online sales and £12.17 from surveys.

I've been at work this morning so no chance for surveys, but hoping to get some in this afternoon. Although my son keeps wanting to use the computer for his college summer work and I can't really say no to that!

joedenise

Have you got a Sports Direct near you?  If you have they often have end of lines of Sketchers.  It's where my DH buy his from.  Unfortunately when I needed new ones they didn't have any.

If you have a friend with a Costco card perhaps you could go with them and look there. DSis picked up 2 pairs yesterday for £26 each (inc VAT).

Willow1403

@joedenise I do have a sports direct! Thank you for the tip, I’ll try there

Willow1403

Good morning all.

Hope everyone had a good weekend. 

Fairly quiet here, which is nice. Have decided today is 'deep clean the lounge' day. Did the curtains last week and now feeling the need to give it a really good clean throughout. Will be nice to get the dust out from under the furniture.

Not a lot going on in terms of money things this weekend either. Currently working on paying off Vanquis. I didn't make any extra payments to the credit card on Friday, but I did make one for £8 on Saturday, which was in the budget line for yoga this month, and as I missed the class when I was away the other week, it was spare. So moved that over. Yesterday I paid the tiny little bit of residual interest on the card I paid off (grr, makes me cross!). Today I have already made a payment of £19.38 to Vanquis, as my subscription to YNAB renewed and I had £100 set aside for it, as it's in dollars so depends on the exchange rate how much it is in £. Anyway, I had more than enough so paid the spare to Vanquis.

Realised it's an early pay day for my husband this month, as he would usually get paid on 25th but it's a bank holiday. Will be great to get all the budgeting done early!

Also a little win this morning with my son's college bus pass for September. He goes to a sixth form college which isn't in the same town as us, so he has to make the bus journey every day. When one of my other boys went there, you could buy a year bus pass which was quite expensive but worked out very cheap per day. He could also use it all year round if he wanted. That pass doesn't exist anymore, it's been replaced with one that is almost £200 more. I have been budgeting for it all year and setting aside the money and this morning I emailed the bus people to double check I'm getting the right one, and they mailed me back and said buying a weekly ticket would work out cheaper. And it does! By about £100! 

I realised a little while ago that paying off debt isn't just about making a monthly payment and watching the balances come down, it's about hammering it in every single way you can as many times as possible! 

badmemory

Good to find out about the bus pass before spending all that.

Sarahwithlove

Good news on the bus pass. That will help. Is it a weekly cost you could absorb into your budget and use the saved money towards a credit card? 

Willow1403

Yes, I was very glad to have realised before spending the money. Each year I email them to double check as they seem to change what is on offer each year and it's such a lot of money to buy the wrong thing or realise there was a better alternative. 
Hmm, good point about using some of the savings towards debt. I will have a think about that, as on one hand it's nice knowing that the bus money for the year is there, but at a small amount each month it's easy to put to one side. It's in a category which is just for school expenses, so might use some towards paying the credit card and keep some for paying any school trips that pop up randomly!

I'm off today on a little mini-break with the husband! So looking forward to it, and have been for so long now. He has only taken one week off work this year so far, and really could do with a bit of down time. So we have two nights away booked for some down time. 

Made some good progress on the debt repayments over the past couple of days, so the Vanquis balance is now under £500. I celebrate every time it begins with a new number  
So I on Monday I paid another £22.10, which was cashed out from prolific. Then yesterday I paid £35.15 from prolific. I will be able to pay this card off on Friday, pay day, as my snow ball amount will just about cover it! Then on to the next one. I can't believe I'm actually doing this. Debt has just been there for so many years, it's amazing just to watch it disappearing!

Will be back on Friday peeps, when I'll be all chill
Have a good week!

Cherryfudge

You are doing a fantastic job! It will be exciting to see the card paid off!

Enjoy your time away.