Taking the scenic route from chaos to calm!!!

seahorsey · 15 May 2019 at 7:37AM

Good morning!
Lovely bright sunny morning here. Have the day with DS today - can’t wait to get outside! Think we will go for a walk through the woods and then onto McDs for a lunch time treat. I have a voucher that needs using which will cover mine so it’ll cost me the price of a happy meal.

Money wise things are looking reasonable. I’ve been sent an email for £12 off £60 Mr M online order so will take advantage of this and place an order for weekend delivery later. I’ve also placed an order for pony feed. One is on a specialist diet and his feed is quiet expensive but fortunately because he’s small a 20kg bag will last him 5-6 months. Pony number 2 is a lot cheaper and his food is currently on offer with £10 off. I’ve ordered 2 sacks so again this should see the year out for him. The woofs food was also on buy one get one half price last month so have enough stashed for the next 2-3 months. The animals are well taken care of at least!

Hoping to get to running club tonight. First half marathon of the year is bank hol weekend. Feel completely unprepared but it’s one I’ve always wanted to do so am just going to go and enjoy the atmosphere and experience, with zero expectations and pressure on myself.

Another Xmas pressie crossed off the list, should have been £12-15 paid £4 and it’s perfect for my friends DS. Having a present budget each month is making it easier to buy and stash pressies as and when I see bargains. Hoping to have Christmas all sorted by 1st December fingers crossed......

Right the sunshine beckons, have a good day x

seahorsey · 19 May 2019 at 6:48AM

Morning!

Just grabbing 5 minutes with a cuppa before the whirlwind that is DS awakes!

Still plodding until payday. All but 2 DDs have gone out, so know pretty much where we stand. Had a major wake up call yesterday. I was checking my diary for 0% end dates and noticed I had a very 0% purchase finishing at the end of the month. Logged onto my account to check it had been covered and opened up my statement. The outstanding balance on the item was £35.02 - estimated interest for next month if this wasn’t paid £118.25 :eek: Crazy!!! Fortunately after checking and rechecking a million times it’s all covered by the £92 payment I made. Need to keep a close eye - next date diary is 1st November........ Think I need to target Very as a priority. It isn’t the biggest of the debts but it’s certainly the one that’ll cause most problems if I slip up :mad:

Mr M delivered yesterday. £58 which included the £12 off. OH still needs a few bits for his packed lunches for the week but other than that we’re done for the week.

Long run planned for this morning while OH and DS are at football. Hoping for 10-11 miles. Weather looks perfect for it at the mo - nice and overcast!!!

Plan for today...
£££
1. eBay listings
2. Juggle spreadsheet and ensure Very is cleared ASAP!
3. Receipt hog this weeks reciepts.
4. Meal plan for next 2 weeks
5. Package eBay sale

Health....
1. 10 mile run
2. 30 min yoga to loosen off
3. 10 minutes journaling time

House....
1. Change bedding and hoover bedrooms
2. Clean laundry away
3. 10 minute kitchen clean (my hotspot!)

House....

jwil · 20 May 2019 at 2:29PM

The interest on Very etc is insane :mad:

seahorsey · 22 May 2019 at 12:33PM

It’s crazy isn’t it jwil? Can fully understand how people get into a mess with it :mad:

Not much to report - a week to go until payday. It’s going to be tight but we’re nearly there.

Need to spend some time looking at the spreadsheets. Our DF target of April 2021 is doable on paper but I’m well aware of our failure to build an emergency fund despite attempts to do so and the fact we’re massively reliant on 0% deals and kind of use them as an excuse not to give the debt our full focus. Things need to change as I feel we’re getting nowhere.

I’m contemplating only making minimum payments for next 3 months to enable us to get an emergency fund in place. Once in place it’ll be forgotten about until it’s needed. I think this needs building as quickly as possible as it’s always these emergencies that knock us off our feet and then we never fully recover in time for the next one. This will also free up £100 towards the debt after those 3 months.

Other avenues to explore, I’ve discovered I can get discounts off gift cards via work. The amount varies between companies but a lot of the supermarkets offer discount. I’m thinking of converting what we usually spend in Mr M to gift cards at the beginning of each month and using them instead of cash to pay for the food shop. Will continue to use Aldi / Lidl where possible but even if its only 5% off that’s our food bill slashed a bit without actually trying. May also be useful for Christmas shopping too - every little helps.

seahorsey · 23 May 2019 at 7:03AM

Good morning!

Nice sunny start to the day - fingers crossed it continues.

Lovely 5k with running club last night. May try and sneak another 5k in before the half on Sunday. It’s come around very quickly all of a sudden.

Yesterday I spent some time with the spreadsheets and experimented with different scenarios. Plan of action at the moment....
1. Minimum payments for June, July and August to build up Emergency Fund of at least £750
2. Foreseeable costs, i.e. vets bills, Christmas, birthdays etc set up pots to fill with required amounts.
3. Trial food shopping via discounted gift cards for a couple of months
4. Aim to bring in £150 a month additional income via fb, eBay, car boot sales

Right off to find some stuff to sell :rotfl:

jwil · 23 May 2019 at 11:01AM

I think building up the emergency fund is a great idea, then you can focus on paying down the credit cards and won't have to dip into one should something happen.

seahorsey · 28 May 2019 at 6:27AM

Good morning!
I’ve had a fab (but spendy) weekend. It was the half marathon this weekend which went a lot better than expected. Yes it was my slowest one so far but I felt strong and loved pretty much every minute so I’m taking that as a win! Unfortunately (MSE wise) it included a night away. That had been paid for a while back but other spends were incurred such as eating out, fuel etc. Not going to dwell as we had a lovely weekend. Line to be drawn and focus back on MSE.

I have had a fairly good weekend on eBay so I’m hoping that will undo some of the damage from the weekend.

Nice quiet day yesterday. Managed to get a lot of house work done so the house is looking a little less neglected. Garden on the other hand is in serious need of attention.

Health wise the half has really spurred me on. My next one is in September - I’m aiming to train properly for it and get rid of at least 1.5 of the 3 stone excess I’m carrying. Would love a pb and right now I’m feeling really motivated to chase it.

Money wise - 2 days to payday. Everything is account for so need to sit tight. Will post final figures for the month tomorrow.....

Have a good day x

[Deleted User] · 29 May 2019 at 3:48PM

Hi seahorsey, just stumbled across your diary. I've subscribed and will be cheering you on. Judging by when you went to your races, I have a feeling you're very local to me.

You sound like your mind is in the right place and you've made great strides already. Good luck on your journey!

seahorsey · 30 May 2019 at 8:22AM

Hi Moguline! Thanks for stopping by :wave:

I had written out a long post on Tuesday but it seems to have fallen into the MSE black hole!

The Half at the weekend was absolutely amazing! My slowest one so far but felt really strong for the first 9 miles and loved the atmosphere - will definitely be back next year! Was a spendy weekend but was cushioned a wee bit by some decent eBay sales. The race photos however have brought me down to earth with a bang. I look horrendous - a great big shapeless blob. I’m not vain by any stretch of the imagination, however I was shocked and it’s spurred me on to do something about it. I would love to chase a pb at my next half (September) - need to knock 7 mins off the weekends time so will have double motivation to lose the weight. 3 stone to get rid of in total.........

Pay day today. For some reason I’d budgeted OH wages as £100 more than they are (and have been for the last 6+ months) so things are going to be tighter than I’d hoped. However, will give it a whirl and see how we get on.

Progress check...
Cc1 = was £6421.73 now £6256.14
Cc2 = £2838.33 now 2808.88
OD = £650 now £500
Very= £421.00 + £189.98 (£610.98) now £329.02 + £189.98 (£519)

Total = £10521.04 now £10084.02

I’ve made all minimum payments for the months this morning and also put aside £250 for the emergency fund. Good news is that this month is exactly 4 weeks long so no additional petrol / food expenses which is handy.

Dogs jabs are due next month so will aim to raise additional via eBay and fb. Our vets off a loyalty scheme where every 7th vaccination is free. We’re due no.7 this time round so that’ll half the cost for us.

Plan of action for month.......
1. Keep £250 in emergency fund
2. Raise £230 extra via eBay / car boot / fb (£200 + additional £30 for dogs jabs)
3. Lose 7lb

[Deleted User] · 30 May 2019 at 11:20AM

Great progress already. I'm also at the stage where my debt repayment has slowed down a bit in favour of building up an emergency fund - but it's so worth it. It's nice to know there's a littel buffer there!

It's good that you've realised the shortfall in OH's wages - lets you budget more realistically!

Good luck with your goals for this month!

Taking the scenic route from chaos to calm!!!

Comments

Categories

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free