Flo's Debt Free Diary

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  • Bobarella
    Bobarella Posts: 10,824
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    Great to hear you sounding so much brighter. Go get em!
    " Your vibe attracts your tribe":D

    Debt neutral :) 27/03/17 from £40k:eek: in the hole 2012.
    Roadkill 17 £56.58 2016-£62.28 2015- £84.20)
    RYSAW17 £1900 2016 £2,535.16 2015 £1027.20
  • Florence_J
    Florence_J Posts: 1,942
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    Have 1p left of the monthly food budget, which luckily resets on Saturday.

    We have 6 pints of milk, we have about 1/3 loaf of bread (but we have some part baked rolls in the freezer), we have nearly 200g of cheese but most of that will go on today's lasagne. We have a LOT of carrots, celery, courgettes and a bit of cucumber, enough margarine to last (particularly if we are low on bread and cheese), plenty of orange juice, lots of fruit and i could tell you about the cupboards and freezer, but lets just say we have enough in there to last.

    I am naturally a bit anxious as unless I get a craving for one penny sweet if we need to buy anything before saturday then we will go over budget, which I am desperate to not do. I haven't been within the food budget since April!!!

    Need to make my boys dinner soon. We are having lasagne as we are going for a run, not sure how long for or what distance, but a run we shall do.
    Debt Free Stage 1 - Completed 27/08/2020
    Debt Free Stage 2 - Completed 50/181 Payments
  • Karonher
    Karonher Posts: 909
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    Glad you are feeling better. Could you go to an agency regarding work? I realise that meeting new people all the time may not be good, but they may have some jobs where you could work alone for a while, or even one that lasts a while and gets you back into the routine of being around others.
    Aiming to make £7,500 online in 2022
  • Florence_J
    Florence_J Posts: 1,942
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    Hi Everybody!

    So I have cancelled my Hotel reservation for my friends wedding, on the basis that a group of friends are organising a coach there and back. I am of course a bit nervous, now that I've cancelled it part of me thinks it will all go wrong and suddenly my friend organising the coach will turn to me and say 'Actually we kicked you out to make way for someone much cooler' (Gee, am I paranoid much?)

    That will be a sweet and much needed £250 back to the credit card. It has taken an epic pounding these last few months. Oh dear.

    Still no job, I know the average time to get a new job is 4 months, but anything more than a week is too much for someone in debt.

    I will celebrate the small victory's though, such as today being the first day in a long time that I got up at a decent time. 8am! A bit later than my ideal time but still reasonable.

    Have paid my monthly credit card bills, the ones that I haven't signed up to direct debits for. So 3/5 credit cards have been paid, not including my overdraft charges.

    I was thinking about how there was a time earlier this year when I had very little money and had to enforce staying in all weekend once as I had no money to spend. I remember pouting about it to my OH as if it was some unjust punishment. Now I think nothing of having a NSD, why I get annoyed if I can't have a NSD.

    Having a NSD target has really opened up to me how badly I used to spend money. If I was bored, or even just a little bored I would head straight to a coffee shop and drink coffee and read or go on my laptop, basically stuff I could do at home for free. I was silly. Aiming for NSD's really keeps the impulses in check.
    Debt Free Stage 1 - Completed 27/08/2020
    Debt Free Stage 2 - Completed 50/181 Payments
  • Florence_J
    Florence_J Posts: 1,942
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    Hi Everybody,

    Not much to report. Made a couple of big payments to the CC. Done a lot of food shopping (now have totally overspent), been getting more confident in the kitchen and am gearing up for a new month of challenges on the NST thread and the Grocery Challenge thread.
    Debt Free Stage 1 - Completed 27/08/2020
    Debt Free Stage 2 - Completed 50/181 Payments
  • Florence_J
    Florence_J Posts: 1,942
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    Hi Everybody,

    Not much to report. I think I am a little too busy on all the other threads on here.

    I have been binge watching Eat Well For Less whilst it's still on iplayer, I'm going to miss it when it gets taken down.

    Watched Sun, Sea and Supersavers today on 4od and am now watching the Christmas special episode of SuperScrimpers for inspiration.

    Had a very weepy day on saturday but felt brighter on sunday. Did a 4 mile jog/walk at a pace which means I am on track to shave 8 minutes off my last 10k time.

    My next 10k race is this Sunday!!!!! I got my pack today including a nice snazzy t shirt.

    Will have to do some serious work on the food budget this month. We currently have £19.40 remaining of the (reduced) food budget to last 3 weeks (our month for food ends on the 26th and starts again on the 27th of each month.)

    I woke up late today, grrrr. I did get up at 6.30am yesterday after going to bed at at least 1am so maybe it was to be expected.

    My confidence levels come and go. I just need to be kinder to myself.

    My weight is still coming off. When I think of all the money I used to waste at slimming world with no results......sigh.....i know it works for some people and won't begrudge them going, but it didn't work for me.

    There are at least 2 more 10ks I want to do later this year, unfortunately they are both in the same week! One is a run in the dark event where you run with lights attached in the evening in winter, and the other is a trail run so both will be fun, novel, interesting and challenging which is a big plus to me.

    I have decided to give up coffee for the month of September, but I am allowed to drink tea. This is partly because I have a huge supply of tea which I rarely drink as I am always on the coffee. I have noticed a general improvement in the time between being in bed and actually falling asleep. So it is doing some good.

    A week today I give up bread and cheese for a month so if anyone has some fun suggestions to still get carbs and protein in then let me know (i know there were some suggestions before when i mentioned this which I have noted :) )

    That's all to report for now. See you soon.
    Debt Free Stage 1 - Completed 27/08/2020
    Debt Free Stage 2 - Completed 50/181 Payments
  • Florence_J
    Florence_J Posts: 1,942
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    Hi Everybody,

    Now don't all get your hopes up as things have a habit of turning out bad for me but.....I may have some temporary work starting this Friday.

    I decided to go to a temping agency in town who do a lot of contracts for the Universities here, which is what I am experienced in and want to remain in, and they called about 40 minutes after I left them to say they had an opening this Friday for a few weeks enrollment work, which if my references come back as fine/in time then I would be able to start.

    So I'm not getting my hopes up, but if it does all happen, not only will I probably be able to finance myself next month, but I will be working with my Boyfriend as he works for the same place and the same department.

    I will update after I come back tomorrow from registering properly with the agency.

    Not much else to report today. I decided to buy compression socks as I have the 10K this Sunday and after my last 10K I was crying out for compression socks, they weren't cheap at £17 but I got a 10% discount at the store on account of doing the 10k. I also picked up my OH a pair of long running socks as on our last jog he complained that the problem with most running socks is they only come up to below the ankle so they fall down and slip off easily.

    I posted my best mate's birthday present, sent back a book I had borrowed off my brother (The latest Harry Potter play) and also sent off my Nephews birthday present but it's not for another week so I was able to send it second class and save some pennies.

    I got up at 5.30am after a fitful nights sleep, did the ironing, bought the milk, hoovered, did 2 wash loads, put away the dry clothes and put out the 2x wet clothes. As a result of this I fell asleep between 3.30-4.45 when my OH came home. I may do a long cycle on the exercise bike so I get worn out again.

    I am watching the wrestling, then will do the washing up, then cycle. Going to catch up on here first.

    I feel content and that things are about to change for the better.

    XXX
    Debt Free Stage 1 - Completed 27/08/2020
    Debt Free Stage 2 - Completed 50/181 Payments
  • Oh that's brilliant news. Fingers crossed for you that it all works out xxx
  • Florence_J
    Florence_J Posts: 1,942
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    Went and registered fully at the temping agency. Been given a contract and information about starting this Friday. Still feel a bit anxious that everything is going to go terribly, terribly wrong. I know this is my anxiety and my silly brain taking over, but i'm the sort of person who won't be relaxed about everything going right until the contract is long over.

    Still, if everything does go right....then I should be fine financially next month.

    And since the place my contract is at would be my dream employer I'm sure it won't hurt my job applications to them in the future.

    Let's hope it all goes well.
    Debt Free Stage 1 - Completed 27/08/2020
    Debt Free Stage 2 - Completed 50/181 Payments
  • Florence_J
    Florence_J Posts: 1,942
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    On one of the threads on here someone mentioned an app called DietBet. I looked into it and decided it wasn't for me, but I liked the principle of it all.

    So I have got my boyfriend to agree to a challenge.

    If in 26 weeks from Monday (so it will be 6th March 2017) I can lose 15% of my current weight in pounds, and 8% of my body fat percentage, then my boyfriend will take me clothes shopping, all expenses paid (well, £50, but since I love Peacocks this will go far for me)

    If I don't then no shopping trip (I suppose it's only fair if I come up with a penalty to a similar value...will work that out later)

    This will really, really motivate me. I am looking super forward to starting this :)

    Wish me luck.
    Debt Free Stage 1 - Completed 27/08/2020
    Debt Free Stage 2 - Completed 50/181 Payments
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