Trying to do everything all at once!

jvr · 28 February 2018 at 9:30AM

I pay over 12 months.. but tempted to switch to 10 just for that lovely feeling of having two months off! All psychological ha

LiveLifeFull · 28 February 2018 at 11:48AM

jvr wrote: »

I pay over 12 months.. but tempted to switch to 10 just for that lovely feeling of having two months off! All psychological ha

Its true! I felt so good after I found that out! The way I was acting, it was like I'd won the lottery.

If you use the money to overpay on debt too.. It would be a HUGE boost.

LiveLifeFull · 28 February 2018 at 11:56AM

Morning! Nothing really to report today. I haven't spent a penny all week so far (I know its only Wednesday), but I will be going out for a top up shop tonight, for some fruit and sandwich stuff. When you take your lunches to work, the bread, ham and cheese disappears ALOT quicker..

That's all coming out of the food budget though. So, would people still count that as a NSD? I mean, I'm not wasting the money, its all been allocated. I'm counting it.

My OH got paid a bit more this month that we expected too. So there is the potential that we could pay an extra £160 off the debt this month. We said we won't do it straight away, keep the money there just in case, and then use whatever is left at the end of the month. I'm hoping he doesn't just fritter it away!

TO-DO LIST
- Keep on top of work NOT DONE AGAIN (Get off MSE) :rotfl:
- Tidy downstairs DONE
- Put dry washing away NOT DONE
- One load of washing DONE
- Make dinner from stores DONE
- Make lunch for tomorrow DONE
- Go food shopping at Ald! and STICK to the list DONE
- Research cheap holidays for 2019, I'm thinking Italy/Greece DONE

Food List:
- Ham
- Cheese
- Normal bread for OH
- 400g wholemeal bread for me
- Pop
- Eggs
- Oranges
- Mushrooms
- Crisps for OH
- Chocolate for OH

LiveLifeFull · 28 February 2018 at 1:00PM

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

Are you maximising your employers pension contribution? In terms of long term growth putting it in your pension will give you a better return. Very few cash accounts pay high interest but regular savers would be best option if you go that way.

No, I'm not at all. I think I'm only paying the minimum 1% at the moment, something like £20.00 a month, and then I think my employer is only paying 2%. So I definitely think I can improve this.

I will get a pay rise in April, and then go up a salary increment in August. It makes sense that with the money from one of these, I should just shove into my pension. I'm just worried, because pensions get cut etc all the time don't they! At my work place, there's actually a strike going on right now, and one of the pension schemes here has been cut. :eek:

LiveLifeFull · 1 March 2018 at 11:26AM

It is SO cold here

We've been lucky, that we haven't got a lot of snow yet, but it is SO COLD!

It makes me want to go to out and buy lots of cosy blankets and candles. Must. Not. Leave. House. :eek:

Spent less that £20 on our top up shop yesterday, which is a first for us haha. £86/£250 spent this month so far. Which is really good for us, seeing as I got paid on the 23rd this month, and we have enough food in now until at least Monday.

ANNDDDD I've took my lunch to work again today (that's everyday this week so far) ANDDDD I've had a NSD everyday this week (yesterdays food shopping doesn't count because it was all budgeted for. I really am an angel :A

I have to pay my car tax today though, so that's £30. But that was also budgeted for this month, so I'm not counting that as spending either, as its a bill that I put money aside for. It runs out literally today, I wanted to wait until the last second. :cool:

Also got my £29.00 refund back from Group0n, so back to the drawing board for my Mothers Day present.

I think I'm going to start doing a meal diary on here too. Just so I can plan what meals we have so nothing goes to waste. It might not be weekly, but if I keep at least a few days ahead, it should work out okay.

Thursday - Cheesy Chicken Pasta Bake
Friday - Chicken and Ham Frittata and Salad
Saturday - Friend is cooking us dinner

Sausage and Mash
Sunday - I'm out for dinner this Sunday with my mum for my Aunties 50th birthday and its not costing me a penny. As I told my mum I couldn't go because I can't afford to go to this thing AND her birthday meal the weekend after. But my mum really wants me there, so she's paying for me. :A And my OH is taking HIS mum out for mothers day this Sunday, which is planned and saved for, so neither of us will be eating in the house.

TO-DO List
- Keep on top of work (Need to catch up, as I've been spending too much time on MSE :rotfl:
- Pay car tax NOT DONE
- Two loads of washing (and then I'm at the end of the basket) DONE HALF
- Tidy living room, bathroom, kitchen DONE
- Put dry clothes away NOT DONE
- Cook dinner from stores DONE
- Make lunch for work tomorrow DONE
- Look more into my pension NOT DONE

Almost Friday people! :T

enthusiasticsaver · 1 March 2018 at 1:37PM

How exciting that you will be debt free by the end of the year. Getting your finances straight now before you have a family is so paramount. Savings too are important so I am glad to see you are saving an emergency fund.

I think you are right postponing the Florida holiday and using that as your honeymoon and saving instead.

The rest of your life plans look good except for renting out property. I am not a fan of buy to let, too littered with problems if you get dodgy tenants who either don't pay on time or trash the property. It is also not as tax efficient as it used to be. If you are higher rate tax payers do you have to pay 40% on any rents received? I don't think mortgage interest can now be offset against income for tax purposes either. Personally I would explore overpaying into your pension and stocks and shares isas as Suffolk Lass suggests to cover retirement plans. We did this and have been able to retire at 58 with around £2500 per month and a large savings buffer by using booster pensions, avcs, sipps and stocks and shares isas.

LiveLifeFull · 2 March 2018 at 5:15PM

We have had an absolute nightmare. Its true that the UK is just not cut out for snow

I was just hopping into the bath last night when the OH called to say the whole kitchen was flooded. There was a leak that seemed to be coming from the washing machine/sink. My heart literally sank. Its one step forwards, two steps back.

We called our house insurance company, and its £100 for them just to come out. But when we were on the phone, they asked if it was a emergency, and we told them it wasn't. (It was to us, but we felt like there was going to be people a lot worse off than us at the moment). So we didn't bother asking them to come out in the end.

We've tried to figure out what it could be and we THINK that its the outside drain that is blocked. So, before we spend loads of money on a plumber coming out, we are going to try and unblock the drain. HOPEFULLY, this works, as I really don't want to spend our emergency fund when we've only started it this month haha!

We actually decided yesterday that we would put our spare council tax money from this month and next month, into our emergency fund! So its currently sitting at £416.00! Lets hope it stays that way.

I'm not doing a to do list today, as everything is just all over the place in the house at the moment because of the leak.

Wish me luck everyone!

jvr · 4 March 2018 at 4:59PM

Fingers crossed you can get it sorted... Just remember these things happen in life and the point of emergency fund is that when they do we don't get further in debt... Frustrating but awesome you actually have that money to pay for it if needed!

savingholmes · 4 March 2018 at 6:09PM

LiveLifeFull - just caught up on your diary. I always amazing me how unexpected bills come out of the woodwork when we try and get on top of our money... then I remember that we just whacked them on a credit card before and barely noticed them while now we are trying to be more careful and use cash we feel the pinch more.

It sounds like you are making great strides forward.

Your mobile phone bill on your soa seems quite high - is this something you could reduce?

Onebrokelady · 4 March 2018 at 6:40PM

This really brings home the importance of having an emergency fund,I would now always prioritise putting spare money in my emergency fund over paying off debt,a lot of the debt I have is because I;ve never had an emergency fund so anything unexpected ended up on the CC,I feel safer now I have my emergency fund

Trying to do everything all at once!

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