Onto the straight and narrow...

ChickyPenguin

Another small sum received, small amount into petrol/grocery pots that will tide me over until I can throw some proper money into it. Could have put more in but put £100 in to start off my emergency fund, left myself £50 for some personal spends to try and bribe myself into leaving the house at some point, likely to be spent on some house plants rather than anything else as seeing them grow/flower brings me some small happiness. I have no idea which way is up at the moment and I feel like I am being over dramatic but its hard when everything you had planned for the future is just gone. I have taken some time off of work as my job is enough of a stressor and sometimes feels impossible on it's own when life is going well let alone when it is not. At least I have the money plan to give me something to focus on, and to try and note the positives an app on my phone tells me I am 13 days gamble free.

CP x

Miss_BaLu

Aw I'm sorry to hear that and hope you're okay.

Sun_Addict

I’m sorry to read it wasn’t good news about OH but I hope you can move on, sounds like you’re already putting plans in place for life without him - and it WILL be a good life 🙂 Well done on the gamble free status, keep going.

Things can only get better from now on 💪

ChickyPenguin

Thank you both for the kind messages. I haven't told many people in real life yet so it's appreciated.

£7.71 cashed out from surveys today, put into the EF. Signed up for a trial for YNAB, I have 3 spreadsheets for different parts of my finances, I will keep those, but I like YNAB for having everything in one place. I also sent an email offering a settlement for 2 x debts that sit with the same company so will see what they say whenever they reply.

Spent less than £20 on some bits online, have no real desire to spend any further until I have my savings built up/get paid then will probably give myself one little proper treat

CP x

Middle_Aged_Guy

Hey ChickyPenguin. I have read through your diary & I am so sorry to hear things are real tough at the moment.

From someone who has struggled with gambling in the past and has had to start my whole life again after a 15 year relationship coming to an end, things absolutely get better.. I promise.

You seem extremely focused & you are doing amazing, You've got this .. We are all here rooting for you 💪

M.A.G.

ChickyPenguin

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82102925#Comment_82102925

Thank you so much for popping in and saying that, it means a lot 🙂

By the end of this week I will have back all the money I shouldn't have spent out of my budget and in the next 1-2 weeks should have my sinking funds/emergency fund where I want them to be before I start on getting rid of the debts.

I think my treat to myself will be getting my bedroom looking a bit nicer, my dad decorated it last year but it needs a few little bits to tie it all together - I am looking at no-drill blinds as I rent, I have cheap 'blackout' curtains at the moment with those blinds that have hanging strips (?) behind which are beige and just don't look nice. I sat this morning looking at the curtains and thought they actually seem to take up a lot of space on that side of the room despite being cheap and thin if that makes sense? I suppose I could get a normal blind and just fill the holes after, theres enough room as the recess for the windows is quite deep, then just take down the beige monstrosities. Then it would just be a nicer lampshade, rug, a plant and some wall decor. The carpets through the whole house are what I call 'communal corridor' carpets, the ones they put in blocks of flats that look naff but are designed to be hard wearing so it's hard to balance out how awful they are.

I am going to try and relax in the sun for a bit then this evening I am meeting one of my friends for a couple of drinks by the beach to just chat.

CP x

ChickyPenguin

Not much to report, was good to catch up with my friend the other evening sat on the beach for a couple of hours as the sun went down (unfortunately wrong side of the coast for any sunset) wasn't a fan of the emergency alert though, my anxiety was already quite high without that going off through my car whilst I was driving 😂

Ordered the chest freezer and some food storage containers so I can make a start on some batch cooking next week, freezer comes at some point tomorrow and I had a cashback offer on my Monzo card as well as being the cheapest one I could find so I'll get a fiver back at some point next month.

Did treat myself to some bits yesterday as it meant I would have to brave going into town, scales are showing 2kg down in 5 days so that's a slight positive 😂 looking forward to funding my sinking pots next week 😊

CP x

ChickyPenguin

Freezer delivered and getting up to temp 😊 I managed to nab a late night delivery slot tonight for a food shop then tomorrow I'll be trying out a thai red curry recipe in the slow cooker, then have a couple more recipes to try out through the week that should give me a good start on stocking up said freezer.

Sent another settlement offer to one of my debts last night so will hopefully hear back from either company this week.

CP x

ChickyPenguin

EF topped up to £200, will be another £300 to go in tomorrow. Not heard from either of the debt companies yet around my settlement offers but still have my fingers crossed. Should have the sinking funds/pots in my signatures filled to where I want them before payday, it's just the Christmas one that I'm letting do it's own thing as I've got an auto save set up for it in a savings account I can't access until the start of November so happy for that to just tick along.

I now have 10 meals in the freezer! Currently a mix of the Thai curry and beef ragu and will be trying a satay chicken curry in the slow cooker tomorrow.

CP x

ChickyPenguin

EF currently sits at £500, should be up to the £1k on Monday. Got my £5 cashback today too for the freezer purchase 🤩 said freezer is filling up very nicely with the batch cooking. Satay chicken came out sooo nicely will be doing that one regularly for sure. The company that own 2 x debts replied yesterday asking for a budget form to be filled out so that has been sent so should hear soon hopefully if they will accept the settlement amounts.

I have been on top of making sure I get everything on YNAB to the point I spent about 10 minutes this morning trying to work out why there was a £15 difference between what is in my main account and what YNAB thought there should be 😂 got there in the end.

CP x