TMWM

Don’t you just love it when you start to feel well again after an illness and start feeling like your smashing life!

This was me this week. House was tidied and deep cleaned, clothes were washed and ironed. And everything feels clean, tidy and organised.

Christmas presents are mostly brought and wrapped, just a few bits left to do – This has never happened before in my life!! Who even am I?!

I have massive parent guilt going on right now and I’m struggling to deal with the feelings that my daughter won’t have lots of presents this year. This isn’t because my budget was too tight, it’s because she wanted an expensive present this year which of course costs £££’s and because of this there isn’t much money left.

I know this will happen as she starts to get older but I’m not sure I’m ready for it. A room full of presents (which ultimately I couldn’t afford) to just a few, but more expensive presents.

Last year, I went mental with my spending at Christmas and I vowed not to do that this year. But I’m finding it hard to resist the urge to spend more because I would just hate for her to be disappointed. I mean, could you imagine your child being disappointed on Christmas day. It would destroy me. All we want as parents is our children to be happy and I’m not saying she wouldn’t be happy if she only a few presents and nothing else but it’s a risk isn’t it. One that I’m not sure at this moment in time I want to take. Being a parent is so hard sometimes isn’t it?

I remember the feelings well from last year. I like to give presents because it makes me happy and I hope the people receiving them are happy too. Sad isn’t it that we have become so commercialised that we feel we only make people happy by buying them something. Or is it just me? I mean, it could just be me, I’m an emotional person and I base most of my actions on my emotions and how things make me feel

Anyway, currently I’m fighting the urge to spend a little more. I haven’t yet and that’s good.

I finally managed to set myself up on Twitter – I’m not sure why I thought it would be so difficult. It really wasn’t. Pop over there and say hi @themoneywisemum .That would be great 😊

Update on the Debt Pay Off Challenge. I was able to colour in four more lines this week, so my pig is starting to look super psychedelic now! 14 lines left to colour of £78.37 and MBNA will be paid off in full! The interest free period ends 31 December 2021 and I did want to pay if off before but with the car repairs in November I’m not going to do it. I could transfer the balance onto one of my other two cards but they both have higher balances and I feel quite focused in paying this off, I think as it’s a smaller amount so I’ll stick with the snowball method this time.

My no spend days for November were 14 against my goal of 18. Although I was on track, being ill caused my spending to get a little out of control with daily stops at the chemist for things and takeaways because I had no energy to cook. That’s the problem with being a single parent, just because you’re ill, you still need to cook and feed your child. I think my daughter enjoyed the four takeaways she had whilst I was ill. She’s not that impressed this week with all the veg I keep making for us to eat to make up for it though 😊. Swings and roundabouts!

I have found out my earnings for December for the courier work, a whopping £368.08 which I will pay all towards debt as an overpayment. I started this job to pay off debt so it’s only right, it should all go towards it as an overpayment. If I just spend it, I’ll be in debt forever.

My plan for December is to pay £850 off debt in December. I could pay more but I need to pay my tax bill in January for my self-employment as a courier and I start my permanent contract with my main job so I’ll be leaving weekly pay and going monthly. My first pay will be the end of January so I need to make sure I’ll have enough to cover me for the month. Exciting though. Permanent job for me = eligible for a new mortgage, obviously after I have saved a deposit of course.

What have I spent this week?

£27.91 Meal out with family – some I haven’t seen in years!

£33.54 Asda food shop

£10.58 Just Eat

£16.50 Morrisons

£11.05 Co-op

£9.66 Macdonalds

£1.40 Parking fees

The total comes to £109.24. Weirdly looking at this list, I can honestly say I don’t know why I went into Morrisons and the Co-op – isn’t that bad! This is what used to happen when I kept my cards in my phone case which as you know I took out. But you know what I have on my phone I have for some reason started to use – Samsung pay! OMG! How did I not think to remove this? I’m going to do this now. Done.

The elves have arrived at our home … if you’re looking for a whole December’s worth of Elf ideas, check out my previous post Elf on the Shelf on a Budget. If you have any ideas that you would like to share, please let me know in the comments below.

December Goals

• 850 off Debt
• 6 Blog posts
• 1 Book
• 18 No spend days

I haven’t gone hell for leather on goals, if I can pay £850 off debt and relax over Christmas with my family and friends then that will be more than enough for me.

Have a great week

H