Everything is possible if you try!

Tea&Kittens · 8 September 2017 at 9:51AM

So, corrected energy readings have meant that my account was actually about £1000 in credit, so £138 a month is definitely overpaying.

£1000 energy payment:
£350 will clear overdraft. (£650 remaining)
£250 into a birthday/christmas account (£400 remaining)

£400 to make an extra credit card repayment, or put in savings for in case of problems with car/house/emergencies??

anna_1977 · 8 September 2017 at 10:21AM

Wow £1000 in credit - I'm guessing you immediately asked for that to be transferred to your account and have reduced the payments?

When does the MBNA interest free end? I think that I'd pay it on the Barclaycard and I believe it will be allocated to the portion that you pay interest on... I may be wrong, worth checking.

I think I'd use the £350 on overdraft (if that's a high %)

I'd be tempted to put the rest in an emergency fund (£200 for presents for xmas maybe).

I'm sure someone will come along with better advice

Do look at spreading the Council tax payments over 12 months, I know that means you don't get the 2 months off but it will reduce payments giving you more monthly cash to throw at the cards

Tea&Kittens · 8 September 2017 at 1:11PM

I've got 18 months or so interest free on the MBNA. Much less on the B'card, which is why I was considering that as an option.
Overdraft will definitely be paid off this month. Then I'll reduce it so I can't just creep into it again.
Emergency fund would be good for me to have. Not having had one means that in the past I've increased credit card debt.

I'm really now seeing this as more lifestyle overhaul than just tyring to sort finances.

savetosave · 8 September 2017 at 1:55PM

Hi

Not sure how old Kitty is, perhaps if she is old enough to go for takeout when you're not feeling well, she might be old enough to cook or at least heat up something from the freezer?

Also perhaps you could batch cook when you are feeling well enough and freeze so that when you are not so good you have a home made take out in the freezer ready to go?

Welcome

savetosave · 8 September 2017 at 1:58PM

Also, do you know what your energy bill will be reduced to now? I might be tempted to pay £100 of your refund to the bill with the highest %interest. Just for a quick boost so you feel like you are winning straight away.

Tea&Kittens · 8 September 2017 at 2:25PM

Thankyou all for the feedback!

Savetosave: Kitty is 17, doing her A levels. She is more than capable of cooking, but also quite stressy about the amount of work she needs to do. I don't want to complicate things for her. I like the batch cooking idea though. It fits in well with what I was thinking about meal planning.
Not sure what the new energy bill will be. Current revised estimate has actual usage around £70/month, but I've not had the heating on for months!
Apparently it could take up to a week for this money to appear in my account. I certainly think there's enough to pay a bit off the highest card, pay the overdraft and still put a bit away as emergency fund.

Tea&Kittens · 10 September 2017 at 10:03PM

I had a number of little jobs to do this weekend. One of the main tasks I set for myself was to completely and ruthlessly go through all the food items in the kitchen cupboard and tidy them out before shopping. The kitchen cupboards were in quite a chaotic state, and I did find duplicate things such as baking powder, multiple open flour and pasta packets. Obviously this is wasteful, I also wanted to make sure I didn't buy repeat items at the shop.

I made a list of meals to eat this week before shopping so I had a clear idea of what I needed.

This weeks shop was courtesy of J Sains, on the basis that I had £30 sitting on a nectar card, so it turned out to be a really cheap shopping week.

Setting up proper way of looking and evaluating budget - I'm undecided whether to keep this on a googlesheet or use the ynab app. I might try a month or 2 of both and see which way I prefer!

Tea&Kittens · 10 September 2017 at 10:09PM

I had a number of little jobs to do this weekend. One of the main tasks I set for myself was to completely and ruthlessly go through all the food items in the kitchen cupboard and tidy them out before shopping. The kitchen cupboards were in quite a chaotic state, and I did find duplicate things such as baking powder, multiple open flour and pasta packets. Obviously this is wasteful, I also wanted to make sure I didn't buy repeat items at the shop.

I made a list of meals to eat this week before shopping so I had a clear idea of what I needed.

This weeks shop was courtesy of J Sains, on the basis that I had £30 sitting on a nectar card, so it turned out to be a really cheap shopping week.

Setting up proper way of looking and evaluating budget - I'm undecided whether to keep this on a googlesheet or use the ynab app. I might try a month or 2 of both and see which way I prefer!

Tea&Kittens · 11 September 2017 at 9:55AM

Removed the temptation to buy snacks at work by leaving all change at home.
I was aiming for no spend, but will have to get fuel on the way home.

anna_1977 · 11 September 2017 at 10:05AM

I need to have that cupboard clear out. My youngest daughter is back off to Uni on Saturday to start her second year so I'm waiting for then, I can then have a good sort out and use up tins etc. Have you thought about online shopping? I do it purely for the reason that I don't impulse buy - works for me and i definitely save quite a bit.
Good idea leaving money at home to take away the temptation.

Everything is possible if you try!

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