Attention Deficit Debt Free Wannabe

DaedricPrince

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81924531#Comment_81924531

Yes!! I grew up through the 90's and my mother always used to call it the never never too. And grandad was also horrified at the wasteful ways of modern times. He was still a make do and mend advocate.

Well today has been a good day for saving the pennies, but even better is that the hoped for shift offer came a LOT sooner than hoped! A very, very welcome £12k per year boost to the income 😁 I've quickly run the numbers into my budgets and this should mean debts serviced with a very healthy amount into the EF.

It's funny how after stress and doom, sometimes (and only sometimes it seems) something unexpected and welcome can come along and instantly make things brighter. I think the plan now is build that emergency fund quickly and then overpay the debts to get rid quicker once it's at a good level.

That little dark cloud is looking a little bit whiter and fluffier today

DaedricPrince

Morning to anyone still following these rambling!

Another night of poor/no sleep so up at 4am again. On the plus side, plenty of time to make something for lunch at work and can read a few diaries with my morning coffee. Helps start the day feeling somewhat calm and chilled rather than rushed and angsty. Every cloud...

Interest is now up to 10p!! I'm getting addicted to checking my small pots to see how much interest they've built after 2 decades of being charged interest 😅

My tesco credit card points still aren't showing on my clubcard account, so need to ask them about this today. Their site says 5 days, but its past that now. It was set up with my clubcard number in the application and the banking app shows them as linked, so should be there.

Another day on the cattle wagon to save diesel this morning. Lunch is made and packed.

There'll be £10 used of the entertainment budget tonight as our football team are playing away, so we'll buy a video pass to watch. I'd love to go and support the lads, but Cumbria to Salford and back on a Tuesday night and then up for work at this hour isn't great. Plus the cost of the bus and ticket (and food and drinks at the ground) added on as well. £10 and the comfort of the sofa with a brew will do nicely.

Food Wise, we have steaks defrosting for me and the boy tonight. 1kg of frozen angus sirloin steaks from Farmfoods for £14, so we'll try the first of them tonight. Not usually one to buy frozen steaks, but for the that price i'll give them a go. They look decent steaks to be fair. Last night I got given some gammon from a family member who had too much for them to use, so that was a delicious bonus 😁

Hope everyone has a good day. Not long until the longer, brighter days now 😀

ArtyJ931

the sleep doesn’t help anything does it. I managed to sleep til after 7 yesterday and it was lovely. Just after 6 today again 🙄

DaedricPrince

Morning all! Hopefully the weather is as nice where you are as it is here. Glorious 19 degree day yesterday and looking like a good one today as well. Finally!!

Big day yesterday. Very first day of adhd meds. Took it at 5.30am and then sat down with a cuppa to read and wait for it to kick in. After an hour I was feeling disappointed as there was no "eureka" moment or euphoric buzz or anything major going on. But then I realised, everything was quiet! No constant thoughts, I'd been reading and taking it in, no tension or need to move and I'd been taking in what I was reading with no getting distracted!!! Honestly could have cried. A lot of mixed emotions; joy at this new feeling, calmness, excitement at what I could try and do today with this new state of being, but also grief and anger that I've been living life on, seemingly, hard mode all this time. The strangest thing was being soooo productive. I managed to see jobs that needed doing and just.....DO THEM! No mental arguments or getting distracted or procrastination. Washing, dishes, hang washing, fix temperamental mower, cut grass, hoover and mop, make list of renewal dates, sort pots and go for a 3 mile walk in the sun all before 1 pm!!!!! No urges to binge eat (forgot to eat until 5pm 😬) genuine bliss. Is this what most people feel like all the time????

It was quite sad when it was apparent the effects had worn off in the afternoon. Currently on the lowest titration dose, so looking forward to seeing if the higher doses work for longer.

Anyway, after that monologue, to the debts and finances:

Phones and broadband have now switched saving a total of £40pm. Have racked up some decent extra clubcard points using the T cc for all purchases, moving money into a CC pot ready to pay off the bill in full when the statement comes. Have made a note of ALL renewal dates and had a quote for home insurance when that's up soon (£28pm less!!) EF currently sat £105 and odd pence. Using the round up feature with monzo and tidying any pence balance from the current account every couple of days. Yearly pots still contributing interest as well. 23p interest so far 😁 making meals at home, and using up leftovers for work is saving a fortune and the freezer is stocked with home made things ready to nuke when the desire to cook is low. Groceries wise, stocks are going down much slower and only bread and milk has needed to be bought so far.

Here's to another wonderful, sunny day. And it's Friday 😃

Smudgeismydog

What an inspiring post, you are so motivated!

We are here to cheer your progress, so keep posting and letting us know how you are getting on

DaedricPrince

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81930395#Comment_81930395

Thank you! I'm hoping this new found state extends to quashing the impulsiveness as well. This would be a HUGE boost in the budgeting and debt busting mission.

DaedricPrince

Morning all. And what a glorious morning it is again! Up with a coffee, catching up on some diaries and off out for a sunrise walk very soon. Interestingly, these last 2 days I've smashed through the 10k steps mark without really even thinking about it, after struggling to hit 5k for months, even with trying.

Finance wise, things are ticking along with nothing much major going on now. All the pots are in place, quite a few big wins with switching suppliers and the T points are starting to build nicely. A bit boring now after the initial big, exciting start, but boring is preferable to financial chaos and panic. Hanging on for payday, but not in the usual skint and stressing kind of way. More a wanting to add to pots and see more pennies in the EF kind of way. Total interest earned is now a princely 28p 😁 Still a novelty seeing interest rack up in my favour instead of stressing watching the interest owed fly up on an overdraft.

Interesting thought....with the credit card at 0% and using it while putting the cash to pay it's balance in a 2.75% saver, does this mean I'm stoozing? Am I doing stoozing? Am I doing MSE right now? Opulent times lads and lasses. Opulent times indeed 😂

Today's plan: sunrise walk (get off the forum man), wash school uniforms and hang out in the glorious Cumbrian sunshine, travel to the big town to see DDs dance show, watch my team take another step towards relegation from the EFL when I get home 🥲 (away at Grimsby today, so will stream it) and then "takeaway" tea from the freezer with DS. Outlay for Diesel and the odd cuppa at the show, but other than that, should be a minimal spend day.

Have a lovely weekend to anyone still slogging through these ramblings 😃

Faith76

Happy weekend, enjoy the sunshine and keep rambling enjoy reading your updates, small steps and you are making great positive progress

foxgloves

Ah, well it's when you start looking forward to payday because you want to add money to pots, etc, & not because you are completely skint, that you know a corner has been turned.

I do a quick budget update on Monday mornings & a mid-month check-in around the 15th, then my Big Budget Day is on the 27th. Even with touching base regularly, it's setting the next month's budget on the 27th that I look forward to. I think it is partly that, as in all things, 'knowledge is power' & even if the figures aren't as good as we'd like, it's better to know that & to plan accordingly. We unexpectedly started this year needing a new roof & I can tell that I'm offsetting the financial shock of that by keeping well in control of the budgeting atm, even more than usual.

Keep at it. You've made a great start.

F

DaedricPrince

A couple of pics from this mornings walk. Glorious. I only planned to walk for about half an hour and ended up doing 5.5 miles! No podcast or music today. The birdsong and sound of the water was perfect. Incredible to notice all of this and take it in without the noise in the noggin drowning out any chance of taking it all in and being present. I swear even my sense of smell has improved, although that could just be paying more attention to it. The sea, cut grass, and gorse. Also cow muck, but that's a weirdly homely fragrance when you've grown up in a rural area 😅 The smell of spring has arrived ladies and gentlemen! 😃