Aligning the Stars

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  • Starmummy
    Starmummy Posts: 537 Forumite
    Good afternoon Debtbusters :j

    It's finally Friday and we are edging ever closer to pay day.

    Busy weekend in the Star household.
    Almost ready to leave the office and pick up Starchild and her friend for dinner at ours before I drop them both at youth group and head to Yoga. Mr Star will collect them after he finishes at Circuit training then an Ald1 special pizza and a glass of wine on the sofa for the adults. :beer:

    Tomorrow Starchild is seeing her dad (hopefully) but we have to squeeze in school shoe shopping before her swimming lesson, then I reaaaaaallllllyyyy need to study as it's less than three weeks to go until my exam. Sunday we will be taking a picnic for a family trip to the Lido. It's 93 yards so good practice for my open water swim (i'll take my new wetsuit to try and stretch it out)

    I'm a bit disappointed I haven't heard back from the college about getting an appointment but never mind. I suppose that's less money I will be spending.

    Planned spend this weekend are just entry fees for the Lido, new mascara for me and some epsom salts for my achy post swim back.

    No more bills to come out a, but no more money going in. Still 12 days until pay day and half term coming up. I'm going to need to be imaginative with the entertainment budget when I go to visit my sister with Starchild for a few days. I'm hoping to get away with taking Starchild and my baby nephew for walks and park trips while my sister gets some jobs around the house and eating in in the evenings. It tends to get quite boozy when we visit so trying to avoid that, i'll use the excuse that I need a clear head for exam revision.

    Have a wonderful weekend folks.

    Take care
    SM
    debt consolidated 16/8/18 £9,788.01/£12,618.12 :( (Total debt at LBM 1st Jan '18 c..£19.5k)
    EF/FIT savings £97.24 Other Savings £12.17 House Deposit £4,762.64/£20,000 23.8% :D
  • Starmummy
    Starmummy Posts: 537 Forumite
    So the purchase of the new skirt has opened the flood gates on the spending.

    Star child needed school shoes- completely unavoidable expense but a costly one at £47! and NO! I will not be buying supermarket cheaper alternatives. Part of the reason for the new shoes was the sole being so flat it was causing pain in her foot, she needs support, I will not scrimp on school shoes.
    what was avoidable was the personal spend. £20 on books, £40 on make-up, £93 on new clothes for work.
    I paid for this with some money I was owed but not expecting to actually receive so therefore not in the budget. I am however taking £67 of clothing back (the other £25 was a new bra that I really do need). This has been my only personal splurge this year but I can already see my mind slipping to bad habits of thinking "well I can buy X and Y because I need them too, it will only put my DFD back a month". I do have my eye on a blouse but I shall wait a month or so and see if A) I still love it and B) it goes into the summer sales. If it doesn't then it wasn't meant to be...it's just a blouse after all.

    Disappointed in myself but going to return the clothing items and draw a line under it. :(

    As I said it was unexpected cash in so not effected budgets at all and the refund from the clothes will be put away for spending money for my trip in July. Memories not material goods.
    debt consolidated 16/8/18 £9,788.01/£12,618.12 :( (Total debt at LBM 1st Jan '18 c..£19.5k)
    EF/FIT savings £97.24 Other Savings £12.17 House Deposit £4,762.64/£20,000 23.8% :D
  • Starmummy
    Starmummy Posts: 537 Forumite
    Well it's the end of month 5 on my debt busting journey. :money:

    I must say I've not just struggled to stay on the wagon I jumped off in glee.
    I spent a few days with my sister this week and spent too much on eating out and nice beauty products. So my budget was totally ripped to shreds.
    I'm going to take the positives from this though:
    1) I woke up with 'the dread' this morning when I checked my bank...and I know the hatred of that feeling should keep me in check over the next few months. It's not a feeling I want to feel again. :(
    2) I haven't added to the debt. The money I spent was money I have been owed from someone for well over a year that I really wasn't expecting to ever see. Although It could be argued that it could have gone towards debt over payments or spending money for my trip in July.
    3) My blow out was reserved compared to those of the past. I reconsidered a couple of purchases and returned them for refunds. The things I spent money on i REALLY enjoyed or really loved and they weren't frivolous...just some essential make-up bits I've needed to replace at a quality above the bargain make-up range I had settled for so far this year that wasn't great for my skin....although I really should look for books in the charity shop and not the very expensive StoneWaters ( I do really love spending time in bookshops though).

    right! time to draw a line in the sand and move on.

    Current debt stands at £13,661.30
    debt paid so far this year £4300.00.
    almost 24% gone forever
    :j :j :j :j :j
    I'm still so pleased with that, £860 per month isn't to be sniffed at. Yes I could have squeezed a bit more but I had been doing that and I was miserable.

    Goals for June

    *Pass my exam next week. (mainly to get these exams out of my life but also for the pay rise)
    *Get debt below £13k! (this may be a challange as budgeted debt payments and over payments will get me to £13,044.36)
    *Plan my budget for my weekend in Amsterdam next month.
    *Keep spending to a minimum this weekend for my friends hen do.
    *Stick to budget on sisters birthday present.
    *Buy no clothes, books, beauty products.

    Here's to another fab debt-busting month :beer:

    Take care
    SM
    debt consolidated 16/8/18 £9,788.01/£12,618.12 :( (Total debt at LBM 1st Jan '18 c..£19.5k)
    EF/FIT savings £97.24 Other Savings £12.17 House Deposit £4,762.64/£20,000 23.8% :D
  • redofromstart
    redofromstart Posts: 4,062
    First Anniversary Photogenic Name Dropper First Post
    Forumite
    Completely with you on the school shoes, the only time I compromised they fell to bits really quickly, and looked awful from a month in anyway.
  • Starmummy
    Starmummy Posts: 537 Forumite
    Hi Folks,

    I hope you all had a wonderful weekend.
    I survived my lovely friends hen do with my budget in tact. I spent £15 on the activity, £14 on cocktails ad £26 on food. I had sort of set myself a limit of £60 so I'm glad I spent less and I had a lovely time.

    Sunday was a NSD as I spent the entire day studying for this weeks exam. Pure torture given the lovely view of my sunny garden...it's a small sacrifice and there will be many sunny days when i'm qualified.

    No spends expected this week really (other than food out of joint account) I will have to pay for parking near the exam hall which will be about £8....I usually treat myself to lunch after an exam ( a little tradition as a thank you to myself for working so hard) but I'm going to try and not do that and pack a sandwich instead. I don't need to reward myself with food I'm not a puppy!

    We have a free weekend this weekend so I had considered camping, shall discuss with Mr Star tonight although we should get on with the DIY bombsite that is our lovely Georgian Terrace house.

    DD gone out on the smaller loan and the MBNA CC so that's another £250 debt gone forever. Just the big loan DD to come out on the 12th and that's all planned debt slaying for this year.

    Oh dear Siblings birthday...maybe there will be some spends this week after all!!

    Take care
    SM
    debt consolidated 16/8/18 £9,788.01/£12,618.12 :( (Total debt at LBM 1st Jan '18 c..£19.5k)
    EF/FIT savings £97.24 Other Savings £12.17 House Deposit £4,762.64/£20,000 23.8% :D
  • Storm89
    Storm89 Posts: 592 Forumite
    Just read your diary after you commented on mine. Can't believe I didn't find it before , you're doing amazing. I love that you have a Georgian terrace , something like that would be my dream home ! I feel really strongly about school shoes being decent too , little ones growing feet are so important.
  • Starmummy
    Starmummy Posts: 537 Forumite
    It's so very nearly the weekend. :beer:
    I'm feeling good, summer seems to be here for a while and we have some nice family plans this weekend after weeks of being a boring student.

    I won't rest too much though, I'm raring to go on my next exam which is in September. I don't want to spend my thirties studying too and they are little more than a month away.

    No more debt paid off yet this month. Budget looking OK.

    I've decided to put this month's £100 of emergency fund savings in Premium bonds.
    That way i'm more likely to forget about it and not be tempted to spend. I have another £200 in an instant access savings account on my bank account if absolutely needed. That's right folks I have £300 savings!!! :money:

    Feels rather grown up to have 'investments' other than my pension.

    I've been thinking a lot about what life looks like after debt and It looks quite exciting. Going to sit down with Mr star and a bottle of wine tonight and make some plans, Travel, possibly moving, careers, lifestyles etc

    The future is bright (and today's dress is orange :rotfl: )

    Take care
    SM
    debt consolidated 16/8/18 £9,788.01/£12,618.12 :( (Total debt at LBM 1st Jan '18 c..£19.5k)
    EF/FIT savings £97.24 Other Savings £12.17 House Deposit £4,762.64/£20,000 23.8% :D
  • Starmummy
    Starmummy Posts: 537 Forumite
    Just updated my signature over 25 % gone forever
    :beer: :beer: :beer: :beer: :beer:
    debt consolidated 16/8/18 £9,788.01/£12,618.12 :( (Total debt at LBM 1st Jan '18 c..£19.5k)
    EF/FIT savings £97.24 Other Savings £12.17 House Deposit £4,762.64/£20,000 23.8% :D
  • redofromstart
    redofromstart Posts: 4,062
    First Anniversary Photogenic Name Dropper First Post
    Forumite
    Starmummy wrote: »
    The future is bright (and today's dress is orange :rotfl: )

    SM

    That made me laugh :)

    Woohoo for savings too.
  • Starmummy
    Starmummy Posts: 537 Forumite
    Hi MSE's.
    I hope you all had a lovely weekend. Mine was a bit emotional to be honest, lots of niggling issues, self doubt and feeling lost and quite a bit helpless. Compounded by the fact that I hate feeling like the Victim. and I feel like I'm being mentally torn in pieces.


    I think I really need to concentrate on my mental health rather than spinning plates. Who cares if a few plates drop eh? me that's who. I fear failure big time. Something I really need to get over.


    This debt thing has caused a bit of a rift between me and Mr Star. He is upset/disappointed/confused why I don't borrow my debt off him in his words " he would rather I paid him back than give the banks anymore of my money" (the 2 CC are 0% but the loans do have interest)
    I just can't bring myself to do it, money can bring so many problems between people I'd hate to owe him. What happens if our relationship breaks down, I'm faced with not only finding a new home for me and StarChild (it's his house, he owns it) but also paying money back to an ex!
    He says people put too much emotional weight on money...and yet he fells like I'm not invested in our relationship because I won't let him help.
    I'm so confused I don't know what to do.


    I love him dearly but there are so many things we think differently and we communicate so differently that it leads to frustration on both sides. Is this normal? Why isn't there a text book on relationships and how you deal with all of this life admin?


    We did have a wonderful day Sunday we took StarChild and her friend to the local farm park, then had a lovely dinner just the two of us and watched a film, followed by one of those deep conversations about the world and politics etc and I thought I really can't imagine my life without this wonderful man. So why is it so hard< why do we take each other for granted and get so frustrated and feel lost. Can you have a relationship and still be an individual and stand on your own two feet?


    Sorry for the mental vomit. I really needed to get it all out, sharing it in a diary is the only thing I have at the moment. I really don't have people I trust to discuss the heavy stuff with. I really should chase up the counselling.


    I suppose this isn't much money related so sorry for the off topic.


    Take care
    SM
    debt consolidated 16/8/18 £9,788.01/£12,618.12 :( (Total debt at LBM 1st Jan '18 c..£19.5k)
    EF/FIT savings £97.24 Other Savings £12.17 House Deposit £4,762.64/£20,000 23.8% :D
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