Overdue Update

As usual. But I've Done Some Things. First I submitted Little X's citizenship application ($400 and a lot of messing about) and the I discovered, to my disgust, that she doesn't get an automatic bridging visa 😒 meaning she needed a full 12-month tourist visa ($500 more) and a temporary bridging visa (free, thank dog). Neither application has processed, weeks later. 😒

Fighting Medicare yet again. Seriously! Vaccinations on hold until they (again) believe she's allowed to have them. 💉 You know, just in case she has ceased to be a British citizen at some point in the past 7 weeks. 🤦🏻‍♀️

I am still cash stuffing ☺️ and still filming it ☺️ and while I'd never consider it YouTube Star material, it keeps me on track. I also gave home delivery a try for my groceries and while I do love the ease and the service, I'm blowing the food budget non-stop. 😭 It's just so easy to buy things I wouldn't lug home on the bus. 😭 So this week I am trying to eat from the freezer. 

The flat sale drags on. I bought a printer because of all the places needing paper forms... It's a bit ridiculous in 2026 to say the least. It isn't cheaper, but it's certainly easier than dragging Little X to the library or office shop. 

I've fought myself mentally over and over on what I'll do once I have the flat sold. Realistically the standard "buy a house" dream isn't likely to be within reach, so I'm currently weighing up the logistics of getting a caravan. The current options are tiny vs bigger, and stay put vs travel, and whether I also buy cheap land (can't camp on it long term anyway). Decisions, decisions. 

Stop Press: Medicare finally approved, but no sign of the card after weeks of waiting. We've both had a cold, anyway, so at least the missing Medicare card wasn't the reason for her next jab being delayed. 

A Good Day

The one spent with Mum, that is. It's a lovely spot, beautiful gardens, and it was good to see everyone.

I got my mop and it's brilliant 😍 and I have a clean floor plus a beautiful new floor mat. 😍 It's an outdoor one, made of plastic twine, so it's light to lift outside and shake, and I can even hose it down. Over the moon.

Action Shot. 

I've finally gotten some potting soil (thanks sis) and today I planted out 13 lettuces in a polystyrene box while kiddo slept. Thanks Bunnings for the $1 seedling tray. 👍 And for the 50c Calendula shrub to help keep bugs away. 🌸 It was "only" 24 degrees out there, but it was so hot in the sun. I'm still recovering half an hour later! I think it will be smarter to do my gardening at 7pm from now on. There's still 8 more lettuce seedlings in my kitchen plus zucchini and radish seeds to plant, and hopefully a few succulent cuttings will root over the next few weeks. 

I also got my play money set 💷 and I was very excited to sort out little piles of cash for all my expenses. Looking forward to my pay day... There is so little left for any gift shopping 😕 but fortunately I have loads of food so I can hopefully wrangle a bit there. Little X's main present is already bought so just the relatives left. 

The solicitors are apparently doing the sale contract for my flat - which I'm told is good news but I've no idea what is still to do. 🤷🏻‍♀️ 

Mile-Long List

In a sort-of order of urgency. Which is unfortunately not the order I'd prefer to follow. 🙄

• Fridge - on the way
• Washing machine (arrives January) 
• Mattress (got it) 
• Whipper Snipper to tame the grass - it's really hot and dry for now so it isn't growing, touch wood
• Vacuum cleaner (being gifted by a relative) 
• Mop and bucket (ditto) 
• Bed frame, quilt, cotton sheets (got the sheet) 
• Sofa (on the way) 
• Drawers and wardrobes
• Rug for living room

The IKEA order arrived. It's completely wrong. 🤦🏻‍♀️ I unrolled my new mattress, but it was the wrong one 🤦🏻‍♀️ and there were two more wrong ones on my patio 🤦🏻‍♀️ and no chairs, sheets, mattress protector or coffee table that I actually ordered. Unimpressed. 😒 They eventually got the right mattress out but still screwed that up - two identical ones turned up and the delivery driver had to be cajoled into only leaving one, and that yes, he did also have to take three incorrect ones away, not two. I cancelled everything else they were sending and dragged Little X out on the bus, in the heat, to buy a single stool and some bedding so we could actually function. 

Fortune then decided to shine on me ☀️ and the house down the street also threw out two outdoor chairs and a high-backed dressing chair. As you can see the chair is a mess of furniture chalk paint and it's coming off with a good scrub. It'll only have a vague black-scratched look. I think it will be great for hanging jeans etc that I want to wear again the next day.  

I am still waiting for Medicare and Centrelink to care that I exist. They take forever and are grossly ineffective on the phone - you don't get to speak with the ones who make any decisions, and whether they'll accept my mixed load of documents is always a guessing game - and if they don't, they do not tell you, it's up to you to call and say, hey, is everything OK? No, no, it's not, try sending this and then call back in 3 days to see if it's acceptable. Too bad for someone who was actually homeless and penniless, right? I have the roof but until yesterday was sharing a blow up single mattress with a toddler and had nothing to sit on... And was seriously thinking my first rent payment might not get made... I actually thought I'd be cooking up luncheon meat for every meal this week (and I shopped for it accordingly). Yes, it's all Ritz luxury around here. 🙄

Fortunately a payment I'd been waiting on arrived, and I'm just going to add that my sister gave me a huge bag of food, unasked. 😍 So I had enough to order my sofa and to cover food for another ten days. And also, I made the most delicious dinner today with luncheon meat. 😁 

It All Comes Together

I had to read back through my last entry to remember where I was at... The agent was a 🤬 and rendered me a panicking floozy, two working days before we fly and he refused to sign my property. Fortunately I found someone fabulous who's willing to work with me and actually thinks my flat looks great. The likely price is a disappointment, but I will have to trust the universe has a plan for me.

Little X had a great time and ran about smacking the new discovery - balloons! 🎈 

I've managed to do almost everything I'd wanted. The freezer, drawers, potty set and car seat all found new homes. 🎉 The do list of stuff still isn't short, but now the items are all small reminders instead of big tasks.

I've cooked everything left and there's just the fridge and floor to deal with. Oh and re packing, because I still think I've got too much. Please send "ruthlessness" mojo. 😊

Full Car

It's full of stuff to return to the shop and stuff to donate. It's mostly stuff that's used occasionally. Seconds and thirds of items that realistically aren't needed. "I use this sometimes" is not the same as "I don't need this and don't want to move it to my next home". 👏 And loads of spare Little X clothes. We had too many. 

The painting actually feels like it's on the home stretch, finally. I've given myself a deadline for listing my flat for sale - I have a week to decide whether I rip out the carpet. I've been avoiding culling the Good Stuff Stack. 🤐 But I actually need the physical floor space to lay flooring. So... I think I have to face that I'm making excuses and pissing about.

Bought: nothing. I've used up all the milk and long-life milk, so today, there's ice-cream in my coffee. ☕  German Supermarket has a £5 voucher thing running again, so that's the plan for my next big shop.

Money: I now have 7 defaults visible, so only 4 to go. 🍻 #6 has locked me out of the app, and doesn't have any generic bank account number online to make payments to, like every other card does. It is also, bizarrely, not really sending any useful paperwork which has this info on it. Just a phone number to pay, and I don't want to do anything over the phone. #7 is a bank overdraft and the account no longer exists, so I have the same issue there. I happen to have a second bank account with them which is empty, so I think I'll start dropping the £2 into there each month and hope they have the sense to take it - legally they can although I understand it's rare they do. We shall see. 

Kitchen Triumphs

My kitchen did look like a war zone temporarily, but that's because I batch cooked spaghetti bolognese sauce. I decided to try it with added red lentils for the first time, to stretch my mince out, and I used one jar of sauce plus half a tin of tomato soup. It ended up making 6 portions.

Verdict: young Miss Fussy Pants ate an entire bowl without stopping. 🎉 I was pleasantly surprised at the texture. It needed to be a richer sauce (I will use tomato paste instead of soup next time). But it was definitely nice and I'll make it with lentils again in future.

I also bought three new things to try, since the aforementioned MFP needs more variety and more vegetables. She ate spring rolls exactly once 😒 so I wasn't expecting much from veggie gyozas but to my surprise, she ate them. She turned her nose up at Chicken Moneybags 💰 but between you, me and the internet, they were awful so I'm on Team MFP in rejecting those. Then we had a win with mini Steak Bakes. 👏

Frozen Supermarket has loads of party foods so we may just go for a wander one day soon.

I officially have enough saved to sell this place even though I'm still not able to do so - because, boringly, I still need to amass enough to pay a deposit for a future rental. 😒 Oh well, at least now it feels less depressing. 

Procurements and Concoctions

Oops: I thought I had published this post, but here it sits in Draft land. A lot has been going on and also, a lot hasn't happened. Anyway... 

Lose: having to resort to really crap nappies for a week because I refuse to buy a third pack. 

Win: a three pack of saucepans and one frypan which altogether cost the same as the 1+1 from the Middle Aisle and I'm very pleased with them. We also got a sieve and a grater. 👏

Lose: My carrot cake was so disappointing, it's a recipe I remember enjoying 25 years ago but this time the icing was awful. I am the victim of low fat cream cheese and not-butter. I ate it all, but spent every bite reevaluating my life choices.

Win: Little X actually eating peas, carrots and courgettes in other foods again.

The nice weather is disappearing far too quickly and it's easy to give in to a low mood. Sigh. 

Kitchen Shenanigans

So I vaguely had in mind to cook properly from scratch once a week and also bake something once a week. But this is me. 😂 I will say it was immensely satisfying to rejig my kitchen and it now feels like a room I like using again. ✅ 

The first Monday I bought Carrot Cake fixings and then realised I'd forgotten cream cheese for the icing. 😑 I made Courgette Muffins instead. They worked, but were too heavy on the veg so were overly moist rather than chocolatey. We both did eat some, but they didn't keep well and a few ended up binned.

For dinner I tried hamburger patties on the frypan (I haven't used the stove top for years!) and they were a big hit with Little X. ✅

I also made a dessert, white choc marshmallow with cereal pressed in. This was amazing. It's Rice Crispy Bars from the supermarket except more, and however you prefer it. I just made it up as I went along. Little X ate some but absolutely hated the sunflower seeds and that caused some drama. 🎭

The second week I cooked Tuna Mornay. This ended up with "mmmmmm" at high volume 😂 so I think we found another food she'll eat. We also had meatballs in savoury rice - not from scratch really but another food she will eat. ✅  For baking I made banana bread tonight. Ladies and gentlemen it's the fluffiest cake I think I've ever eaten. It's definitely delicious but the jury is out as to whether a cake this soft will stay edible after 2 days.

If it lasts that long.

She also enjoyed fresh pikelets this week. 😋 

I now have 5 defaults and 2 more say they will default me. As they do so, I am beginning a £2/month payment to each one. To my great surprise one debt recovery company wrote to me accepting £2 a month as an ongoing arrangement 😲 despite me not asking if that was OK 😲 and it isn't even the smallest debt. I am now hoping others do the same - they manage 3 other debts of mine so we shall see. 🤞

Microwave is an absolute disaster and I'm using it as little as possible. Air fryers are on sale this week for £25 🤔 and I am also pondering a £6 saucepan since I don't own one. And a £7 frypan as both mine are awful. 🤔 

Score! x2

Little X's progressive anti-vegetable stance is attempting to branch out and she's started rejecting most fruit. 😑 Pay day has come around and I've decided to cook and bake. I've even hauled out the blender and I'm psyching myself up for courgette muffins, carrot cake and pea & ham omelettes.

While hunting for the baking paraphernalia I discovered two tins of food Best Before 2018. Both of them got binned. Old me would have eaten them. 😂 I also found an extra-large glass cutting board big enough to cover my stovetop. 😍 Yes thank you. I also sorted my tupperware. 👏 Feeling: energised.

I blended up carrot & potato waffle mix but they're too wet with not enough egg to set them 😭 which is a right pain with ten already portioned in the freezer. 😭 Unsurprisingly Little X went "no thanks" once I actually got it solidly cooked. I cooked one for myself and after 45 minutes under the heat I was annoyed. I loaded it with breadcrumbs all over and it was surprisingly nice alongside my HALF a pizza 🍕 (new me isn't eating a whole one). 🏆

In mentally preparing myself for shopping, I reflected that one shouldn't need to mentally prepare for an ordinary task they've done for years. Hauling the groceries about is starting to get to me, physically. Time's up. The weight needs to come off. Loads of salad veg came home in my trolley. It's day three of Not Being A Pig and I haven't made revolutionary changes but every day has involved a salad. Gotta start somewhere. 👍 

Reshuffling

I've had a better few days. The mouldy curtains survived a wash, but unfortunately so did the mould. Miraculously, they then survived being washed at 90°C in a whole bottle of bleach, and are hung back up to dry, no mould in sight. ✅ I'm chuffed they are fresh again. I've finished priming that wall and there's one other wall patch to do before the top coats.

My cheap blinds arrived and I think I can make them work. ✅ 

The bathroom plastic shelves now hold shoes, so they're all neatly hidden away in the wardrobe. ✅ 

I cooked properly for the first time in ages. ✅ 

I finished washing my stored sheets, towels and quilt covers, and now they fit into my drawer. Several donated, several binned. ✅

I actually sat down and tried to do my life admin that's outstanding, but the website was down. I then forgot for three nights. D'Oh. I'm awarding myself a bronze Participation Award for trying. 🥉 

Lidl Lemon Swiss Roll Cake: A Review

So maybe you were wondering how this delicious-looking cake tastes, and you've come looking for a review first.

I will preface this by saying I've eaten many flavours of Swiss Roll and I always buy the value brands. Tesco's strawberry one is delicious. I have a sweet tooth and I'm not fussy on flavours, nearly anything goes and I'll try (and eat) almost anything. I am especially fond of lemon-flavoured cakes and muffins. Love me a lemon curd anything. Lemon icing? Lemon filling? Into my trolley you go, and into my mouth. 

Dear reader, Lidl's Lemon Swiss Roll Cake is absolutely vile.

The cake itself is probably OK, if you could somehow free it from the weird lemon flavour and the absolutely nasty feel of the light, bodyless but somehow cloying fake cream. I'm talking super light vegetable fat or some kind of chemical, which hangs onto your tongue like Rory in Year 9 who you kissed for a dare and which you regretted ever since. Other reviews mention the chemical taste of this filling, and yeah. This doesn't taste like food. It is so overly sweet without any kind of satisfaction of creaminess, just a weird slimy stuff, and way, way too much of it. 

I really hate waste and I was super disgusted looking at the remaining 11 slices in the pack - yes it's very generous in pack size, I wish they'd used better ingredients and made it half as big. But I'm pleased to report that if you like tiramisu, you can use this cake. 2 slices into a bowl, mix a large heaped teaspoon of coffee powder with 2 tbsp of boiling water, mix then sprinkle over the "cake"(I use the term "cake" very loosely as it's more than half "cream"). Voila, the coffee hides all the disastrous wrongs and it becomes nice. 

Yours sincerely, 

Me, and never again. 

High Ceilings: Boooo.

I don't recommend these, for reasons of painting and extra heating bills, but primarily for my current trial of hanging wallpaper. At 2pm on Tuesday I decided there was plenty of time to hang one length before nursery pick-up time at 3. Gentle Reader, I was wrong. 😂

I'm currently irritable because said nursery is breaking up 2 days before the end of term, meaning she only gets 2 more sessions. I have 7 lengths of papering to do (circa 4-5 hours) plus the stripping and prepping around the windows, which is a horrendous job. If I manage those two things, it's the best I can expect. I will have to do all painting with kiddo in the flat. I did most of the first coat at night, but good daylight really would have been better for painting. 🤷🏻‍♀️

With each task and tidy out I move another piece of furniture. Things are almost in logical places, which is a first in several years. My flat almost looks like a normal flat, planned and arranged with purpose, instead of a "space where you shove things wherever they fit".

Just as I'm feeling ready to sell it, it feels like a home. 😂

Win: I went to German Supermarket and spent £25 to get my free £5 voucher. 👏 I also got a free savoury rice packet and a free big bag of cheese curl crisps that Little X likes. I also... ahem... bought two Monstera plants for £6 each (Swiss Cheese plants) which don't yet have their characteristic leaf holes but do still look lovely. 😍

Plus: £50 has been credited to my council tax account as expected. 👍 They also finally processed my application for general support and are sending £100 - no idea when. 👍

Invoices and Paradigm Shifts

I have received my first childcare invoice and am in the process of having it reimbursed by Universal Credit. And apparently, I also have the option of a budgeting advance of £800. The world doesn't end if they say no, but it would feel good to have my maintenance arrears taken care of. It would help motivate me to get the flat ready for sale.

Along those lines I did a big shop at German Supermarket on UC day and while I was there I spotted paint for £13. In white. So I bought two. It was like cementing a major decision, yes, I'm now mentally committed to a very minor flat makeover. It's like putting lipstick on a pig, but first impressions matter, and it might mean £1,000 more on the sale price. 🙏

The grocery component came to £42, which is on the high side. It was intentional though... In my new mindset of not clinging to every object, I'm also relaxing the vice grip on penny-pinching. There's so many things I've denied myself and Little X which are beyond fair. This week she's had fruits and nuts she's never tried before. Party rings. Flavoured crisps. Orange squash. I know a toddler doesn't need all this every day, but it's well overdue for her to have a touch of normality. I don't want her to grow up terrified of spending every penny. I will still choose budget options, but no more basic denial of entire food groups.

Bought: £100 voucher for above-mentioned German Supermarket, then Everup had a 6.25% offer for Fave Mainstream Supermarket so I spent another £100 on that. Between them I got loads of points and played them through the games, ended up with £13 in the account for my next voucher. These vouchers also help steer me away from Nearby Less Cheap Supermarket. 👍

Routine

I always buy a supermarket gift card when TopCashBack has their bonus deal. This time it was a £2 bonus as usual but the minimum spend has gone up to £10. Still very worthwhile to me, so, done deal this week. I did also go to Food Club, an exercise becoming ever-more tedious because the prices have gone up, so the saving is lower. We did stay for lunch. 

I need to move more. I'm getting stiff and sore just sitting for a couple of hours on the sofa. Not to mention it's now pretty uncomfortable since its last repair (the first few times I replaced the support strapping, but that keeps failing within weeks, so I gave up and hammered wooden slats across instead). It sure isn't the sofa's fault that I'm unfit, though. 😳 I need to actually get off my butt. Little X could do with the air, sun and stimulation, too.

The mailbox is still remarkably empty. It feels odd not to have the banks really demanding their money. It means I just twiddle my thumbs until each Universal Credit pay day. That's the day I dole out the money (admittedly there are not very many bills to pay anymore) and otherwise my most productive money thoughts are "imagine if I did X" and "I need to buy bread and milk soon". 🤔 

I have two offers from German Supermarket: spend £25 to get £5 off (I need to do this by tomorrow) and a second one for a free fiver if I spend £30. Unfortunately they can't be combined. I'm definitely going to struggle to actually do the second one, I'd end up either buying junk or buying rarely-used items I could get from Food Club for much cheaper. 🤔 The big-ticket items are robot lawnmowers and picnic benches, so that's a no, thank you. I'll have to think about it.

The Strides

I am pleased to recount that Boss man has approved my fixed days and hours 👏 so the countdown begins. We've done a few settling-in sessions at nursery and Little X is unconcerned when I leave - I watched her through the window today after I'd been "gone" for 15 minutes and she was toddling around with toys in hand and doing her own thing. It feels like a milestone accomplished. Although... It takes a silly amount of time to pack Little X's things the night before and to prepare her food in the morning - with everything labelled. And so far it's only one meal. I may just come undone when it's water bottle, milk, breakfast, lunch, two snacks and then I have to make my own lunch 😂

I have offered longer days to Boss and in return he is happy for me to take unpaid leave for the nursery holidays not covered by my leave entitlement. I will still be under the earnings threshold for Universal Credit so I will keep all my earnings. But I was disappointed to realise that by agreeing to the bigger-than-planned contract, I will lose most of my council tax reduction. Honestly it's no wonder there are people who don't work for a decade... I will be working for about £8 an hour once that slap combines with my nursery fees and my transport costs. Oh well, let's call it cheaper than therapy. 

I may try to find a home child carer for holidays so that I can work those weeks too. We'll see.

I had an unexpected win this week, I picked up a handbag and heard a jingle of coins, ka-ching. I've spent far too much on "unexpected" things for the past few weeks but the coins meant that going to German Supermarket cost me only a pound from my bank account. Most of the Favourite Supermarket vouchers remain unused, but German Supermarket was on the way to where I was already driving. We did manage to get over to Food Club this week and ate a nice toastie for lunch.

Got my £100 for the food research. ✅

Dumb Things

This piece of musical brilliance is in honour of today's shopping escapades. I went to Big Bargain Shop to spend the rest of the credit on my perks card and bought too much to fit in my freezer. Then for Everything Else at German Supermarket, I overspent and emptied the cash in my purse, forcing me to whip out the debit card. It was only £4, but I'm irritated, we do not need to buy £54 of groceries in one day! 

We toured another child care centre today and despite being pricy, it's the winner. I can claim from the whole fee, there are no extras, and they've offered to let me pay in instalments. ♥️ It's a lovely, kind environment and (winner!) most kids DIY lunch from home so Little X would not be the only one. ♥️ Time to lock the days in with Boss. I did buy markers, plain labels and snack boxes for Little X's nursery lunch, and a small backpack. 

I also decided to buy her a set of table and chairs, crayons and paper. Lately it feel like she's sorta missing out on certain things and experiences. I refuse to do paint or play doh (I'm sure she'll do those at nursery) but she can certainly learn to sit on a chair and scribble with a crayon. I must summon the confidence to put her into the Beach Play group in May and take her down to the sand and water play area nearby. 

I know that nursery is why I went nuts on shopping. She's not even starting full days for another 2 weeks, but I'm paranoid about packing lunches that look "acceptable" 🤦🏻‍♀️ and in her getting used to a broader range of foods. I suppose I just want my small human to be like every other kid, even though she is stuck with me! 

Anyway. Debt Charity have acknowledged my cancellation (good). It looks as though I will get a small cost-of-living payment in April (good) and hopefully the Nationwide bank bonus as well as their annual Fair Share bonus (not sure, they've promised me the first one, but I kinda owe them loads of money). Food research says I will get my payment soon. April is looking good, now to see what sort of debt letters turn up...

Inconvenient Amnesia

I know it's March, but somehow I forgot that means April is almost here. And the 5th of April is the HMRC deadline for topping up missing NI years for the state pension. It's a terribly boring subject in general but basically, in my first financial year here I didn't pay enough NI to have the year counted towards a pension. You have the option to "top it up" with a cash payment which I sort of ignored last year due to being broke. Well, I'm still broke, but now it's my last chance. So I've got £700 about to jump out of my stash for this. It's a lot of money but will easily give me thousands more in my meagre pension and free money is good.

This leaves me with £250-ish and ideally I should save about £800 for maintenance arrears. I won't have £800 by April though, so I'll just have to pay what I can.

Big news - the bank which only just promised me fees are cancelled forever, has sent me notice of intention to default! This is actually great and much faster than expected. Now waiting for "the" letter and for the big red D to appear on my credit report. One down, 10 to go. The debt charity has told me they've corrected the account with the wrong number, but no, they have not. Oh well.

Work denied my leave for the month of June. I hope it was just a supervisor denying it by mistake, because most of them (and the boss) know I haven't yet returned to work. It's not the end of the world if I do go back then but I need to confirm which days they'll schedule me and somehow find £350 for child care up front.

I finished my £100 baby food study (phew) and it was actually enough effort to make the amount of cash seem appropriate. Now for the money to come my way quickly, please!

Roast chicken for dinner. I'm trying to empty my freezer because there's loads in there, I've just been too picky for too long.

Life in G Flat

Feeling really flat. Had a good chat with my sister about it and she's in the same boat. The convo was prompted by Mum's birthday but it wasn't even that really. It's really hard when you realise your life priorities aren't what they should have been, and you're not sure what they should be or what you actually want, and can't figure out how to move forward. I think this is what people mean when they say "it's hard" - not that they are necessarily a teary mess 24/7, but that they have realised their life road map is blank and haven't got a clue how to get around anymore. And everyone around us is capable which makes it feel even more perplexing. Like, how do they do that? How do they adult? How do they plan for their futures, how do they make decisions? I used to know how to do this shit.

Anyway. The only option in this position is to keep walking forwards. So I do. The debt charity has approved my Debt Management Plan 🥳 but I haven't yet received the postal access code to get in and potter about and understand their online system. They sent over the amounts per creditor and I was surprised to find most will receive exactly £5, so now I wait to see if they all accept the proposal, then will let it run for a few months and see how I feel after that. The market research stuff arrived for Little X, I duly got it all ready and she shoved it away three times in a row. Safe to say she is not a fan. I mixed it with something from my kitchen cupboards and it eventually went down. I will still be honest and tell them it was rejected.

I actually got myself together and went off to Big Warehousey Supermarket to spend some money that has been sitting in a gift card for months. I had been going to buy a new micro, but it is still working fine despite looking awful, so I will just deal with it when it dies. £35 was on a non-refundable gift card and the electrical shops I could actually use it in are far too expensive anyway. BWS is the only place foodwise where I could go. They are absolutely not good value at all, they are convenience store prices, but I treated it like free money and came home with £25 worth of food. Treat: a proper curry. I haven't had one in a long long time and it was £2 and I made my own rice to go with it. Winner.

Bullet-Pointed Procrastination

I have loads of little things I would like to save money for right now. A girl's got a lotta dreams for someone with no cash, etc. 😁 But I haven't had any choice on where money had to go for a long time, it always just had to go on debts and survival.

So what did I do? Made a little graph thingy instead of doing more surveys for cash like I should. Or investment work, which irritates me so much now that I have largely ignored it for a couple of weeks. All my unused pennies are going into the same savings account, but it's nice thinking about all the different things they could cover so I've made it visual.

This fund will also be for things I know are coming but are big, like yearly insurance bills, quarterly power bills, MOT on the car, and road tax, etc. The car will need some repairs, probably by the end of the year. Even if I keep the car maintained throughout the rest of its financing (2.5 years) it'll be 13 years old by then, so that's the reason I have a "Next Car Fund" and obviously it's not urgent.

The flat remodel is just for a new wall and to move the kitchen, but will involve some plumbing, some electric, and also some moving house costs as well. For the Decluttering, I did a quick inventory of my belongings and figure that I could lose 100 small bags/boxes of possessions. I am counting the 3 bags which left the house last week. 

👜👕🏈👗👚👝💼📦🎨🎒🎾🔰👖🎩🎽

Moral reassurance: I am reading the very long online diary of a lady who went into a similar debt repayment arrangement. Hesitation: you're apparently not supposed to start your DMP until all your debts default. Even if you plan to pay all of it back. So I will ask the charity whether to hold fire. They still haven't approved me and I'm getting antsy with the waiting.

I need to visit the Food Club this week. It's a pain, but it does save me money.

Floor-Pacing and Education

I'm still waiting to find out if my Debt Management Plan will go ahead. They wrote back to me asking for more documents and to explain various expenses and spending. I've supplied it all and it was a bit weird - I have been 100% honest, but I feel as though they're about to shout at me that I've been caught. It's strange. A little bit like that feeling when a police car siren comes up from behind and even though you've done nothing wrong, you draw in a breath and wait to be pulled over. 

🚓

I am still adjusting to the immediate first change, that is, not to have credit available. I was never someone who went nuts buying random items with it, but for five years it's always just been... there. I need something, no worries, I can have it. I might need to figure out which card, but it has been a given that there will always be a way I can buy what I need. Now, of course, that isn't true, and I have to stop and think because spending can't be undone and there won't be options if I get it wrong. It's tricky,

I have made the decision to take £70 of my £90 grocery money out in cash each month, so that I have the physical process of looking at what I can spend. It leaves a significant amount put aside for big bills, so I have opened a savings account paying 4%. I kept £20 for groceries to last until pay day and threw the rest in my new account.

Then oops. I jump in the car and bing, the fuel light came on. The savings account takes up to 3 working days to withdraw. Oops indeed. No other way to buy fuel. I hit "transfer" and realised I might need to spend food money, which was really depressing. Fortunately it went through before I even got to the petrol station... but lesson learned. It wasn't a nice feeling. I think it was a feeling I needed to feel. It has made me more determined to embrace this.

I belatedly had a realisation too, I won't be able to go with my original plan of move out, renovate this flat, sell for maximum price. I can't borrow the money and the cost of the renovation is more than I thought, too, so I wouldn't have made any profit. I'll need to at last pay for the layout conversion (new partition wall, kitchen ripped out, new kitchenette near the bathroom). That's still a few thousand, on top of needing to find moving costs, so I have plenty of time to think it over. 😆