TMWM

Life this week has been a rollercoaster!

From car costs to rekindling a very old love for exercise, I’ve had it all.

Last Thursday my lovely car decided to die again. I’ve had it for ten years and it owes me nothing, but it has cost me some serious money in repairs this year – £1484.58 to be exact!

With my limited knowledge on cars, I thought the clutch had gone. I asked Ford garage for a quote as my usual garage was super busy and the quote came back as £850. I laughed so hard, but only to stop the tears.

I ended up taking it to a garage my mum uses and was super pleased that 1 – it wasn’t the clutch, but a wire had snapped to the hand break and  2) it was going to be £269.68.

Still expensive, but not as ridiculous as £850.

Unfortunately, the car was out of action all weekend and I didn’t get it back till Tuesday, so I was unable to do my courier work on Sunday. I felt awful letting them down but had no other car to use. And I missed earning the money. I really love that little job.

Bad news followed unfortunately, the light on the kettle broke (still boils though) and then the official letter I’d been dreading came through the post ‘unable to collect payments’ for the child maintenance I usually receive. I’m not sure when this payment will start again, so that’s me down £200 a month, right in time for Christmas. Thank goodness for the Christmas sinking fund.

So those are all the downs, let me tell you all the highs.

Being forced to walk the school run, there and back whilst I had my car in the garage made me realise and miss my love for exercise I had years ago. Wrapped up warm with the cold hitting our faces every morning and clocking up over 10,000 steps a day is exactly what I need.

They say getting out into nature is a way to destress, improve your health and mind and I’d definitely agree.

No deliveries completed on Sunday. I did however get stuck into finishing the decorating in the kitchen. Monies tight whilst on the debt pay off journey but I wanted to freshen up the inside of the house so decided to paint everywhere white – starting with the kitchen.

No ‘cutting in’ for me!

Everywhere will look so fresh and clean and as I have lots of colourful furniture and décor, I’m hoping it won’t look cold and clinical.

Cost for supplies: £88.90 for ceiling and wall paint, brushes and white satin wood for the radiators, doors and skirting boards.

I paid in to the ‘Clothes’ sinking jar this week with £30 and used it to buy uniform my daughter needed. I want to be more organised so brought it before the half term starts instead of at the end when everything is usually sold out. I’m definitely going to do this again. I’ve also started to buy uniform in bits instead of all at the same time and replace items as they wear out. I can use the money from the clothes sinking jar each month instead of having to save it up. £31.50 spent

Three items listed and sold this week on Vinted. Two pairs of girls’ winter ankle boots and my old lab coat. Total available in my Vinted account to take out £9.00. I think I am just going to allow this to increase until I get to £78.37 and when I reach this, I can transfer it to the MBNA credit card and colour in a line on my debt pay off tracker. I’ve still got lots to upload onto Vinted so watch this space! If you wanted to check out some of the clothes I sell, here is the link

We went to see the ‘umpkins’!

That’s my amazing photography right there lol! I quite like the word ‘umpkins’ though, think that’s a keeper!

I say ‘see’ instead of ‘pick’ as we didn’t actually pick any from the farm this year. At a cost of £4.00 a pumpkin, we didn’t have it in our budget to buy the pumpkin as well as pay £7.50 to play on the play area the farm has. So being mindful of our £10 a week fun budget, I brought a pumpkin from Morrisons for £1.00 and instead just paid for the play on the park. I still wanted my daughter to have the experience of the pumpkin patch though and we had a fantastic afternoon. £7.50 spent.

As I had no car to put petrol this week, I did spend slightly more on food at £34.89, but only £4.89 over the food budget. I used the rest of cash to grab some snacks and treat my daughter to a magazine and some football cards. Still stayed within the overall weekly budget of £50 (£30 food, £20 petrol).

Finally, after a long wait I have reduced my debt total down to

£16,000.54!

This is only from the usual minimum payments going out as I haven’t been able to overpay since starting my new job in September and getting used to being paid weekly again. I am trying to overpay but it’s like two steps forward and ten back with car repairs, missing courier shifts, no holiday pay, and the ongoing saga of no child maintenance. It’s all causing havoc with my finances.

I have a plan though. I have decided to remove the child maintenance payments from my budget, so I never expect them in again. If they come in great, but if they don’t it’s not going to mess me up. And I’m going to continue to leave my debits cards out of my phone case. Such a simple, yet effective thing to do and has really cut my impulse spending in the week.

If anyone is looking at cutting costs, I would definitely recommend this.

Last but not least, my little blog is ONE on Saturday. I can’t believe I have been documenting my journey on this blog for year and although I will do a special blog on Saturday, I want to thank every one of you, especially my followers for all your likes and comments.

Have a great week

H