Unsure whether to consolidate - please advise

Hi Dobbibill - how are you? I think it's only you who logs in and puts a comment now so thank you!
I actually won't have the interest. They reversed the interest on the month and the 9 days following. I really ought to see if you have a diary...

Hello and it's time for my monthly update!

I really do despair with these direct debits either not coming out at all or coming out twice in a month (like this one) but it is what it is.

Would you believe that this month I have overspent by quite a bit. Through a variety of reasons really.
One) I didn't do any tutoring for a couple of weeks which provides extra income
Two) Went to Aarhus which was very expensive
Three) Paid £175 of my OH trip money as a surprise
Four) £140 on Panini stickers!
Five) £100 on DvDs (there was a massive Amazon glitch I just had to take advantage of!)
Six) Various splurges on nights out

The reason I'm writing this down is for my own benefit. To know that a) I have overspent and b) I need to rain it in this month.
Hopefully this month I'll be back to tutoring, spending a bit less (although I do have some weekend engagements) and just keeping track of it.

Have a great month everyone and thanks for reading.

Just a mini update for all of you.
My O2 contract ended this month and instead of going for a new shiny phone which I considered, I've decided to just get a SIM only contract. It's £17pm for 10GB data (previously 3GB) but I get a friends/family discount making it £12.60 per month. I used to be paying £36pm for my phone so that'll be £20 I save each month.
I've also paid £1000 off my Sainsbury's CC. It was bugging me. Yes I was paying £140 off and would clear it in its promotion period but I want to be debt free sooner rather than later. I cannot believe that my original target using the snowballing calculator was May 2019 and I'm going to be debt free DEFINITELY by the end of this year but maybe even before
Thanks for reading

Hi Verbatim hope all is well with you. I'm sitting here watching BBC Young Musician of the Year. I love it. I went to a music school and it's very calming before another busy week!
I will update my signature at the end of the month as that's what I normally do.
Not that I think someone is going to fraudulently empty my bank account but I've built up a sizeable emergency fund now and I just have this worry that it'll get emptied after all the hard work I've done so I'd rather use some of it to pay debts off! All a bit weird I know!
Hmm plans for money, well I'm still paying student loans off but instead of it going out of my salary, I've switched it to direct debit so I don't overpay. When I get my annual statement once HMRC take off what I've paid off, I'll see what's on that debt and get that paid off too.
I'm not sure really as yet. Deposits for flats/houses are still just an absolute mile off and I don't think I'll spend my life saving years for a deposit on an overpriced London flat. One option I've considered is to build up a savings fund and then my and my OH could leave London, move somewhere more affordable and have our own garden, more square footage etc. It just really bugs me that London lose two talented workers due to house prices.
Once these lasts couple of debts are paid off 33% of my salary goes on rent/bills/dds leaving quite a chunk for food and whatever i want. I realise that this is much more healthier than most people in London who spend more than half their income just on rent/council tax.
I'd be grateful for any advice, short and long term.
Thanks for reading.

Hi Litleskintdragon84, thanks for stopping by and the kind words. Must have took you a while!
Yes I'm definitely going to make sure I don't 'slip back into my old ways.' When it gets to September/October I want to start paying more of the bills to help out my OH with his debt issues.


It sounds to me though that even though you consolidated you're on the right track (you're posting on MSE so you must be doing something right and not burying your head in the sand).