SOA and Snowball done-its the cash flow that has me stumped.

polkadot

We did that last month.He wanted to add Sky movies because he said we would only end up what we were paying before, but I told him no. We already get lovefilm unlimited for £14 which is cheaper than the sky option. According to the snowball calculator with the outgoings exactly as they are I can kill Studio, Classic confidence and Argos within the first two months. I do plan to follow the snowball print out every month exactly as it is, because I know I was generous with things like groceries and birthdays etc. The other thing is I have my midwife appointment tomorrow so she will sign my HIPG form. Then I can submit it and that £190 can go straight into studio most likely (I think its the highest one). At least thats then gone, and I can focus on working out cash flow-which is my biggest headache right now.
I also realised last night that if our ctc goes up when BUMP comes, then I *should* qualify for the £500.00 sure start maternity grant too. As it stands now, we fall short by 50p a year:rotfl:

I do have more questions specifically about the overdraft. Ive managed to convince DH that PPI on the smaller minimum payments is a waste of money and he has agreed that *when he has time* he will cancel PPI on the smaller CC's (he's starting to realise how its affecting his Barclaycard especially). But he's paying about £19.00 a month in overdraft fees and then £18.00 for his platinum card, so Im not sure how I need to be paying the overdraft to offset these fees (obviously he's at the point where he's paying both fees from his overdraft-which seems very daft to me)?

ETA: Dark convict over the last 8 months I've managed to spend £150.00 a month on a big shop that keeps us fed for the month. I thought I'd rather overbudget considering DH's state of mind (he's very worried about his beer money-to be fair it is the only thing he asks for along with a good book and he's also managed to keep to a 6 pack of a week end). At least that way if I have left over in the jar (highly likely) I can just pay it over to whereever it needs to be, but on paper he doesn't feel like I've taken EVERYTHING from him. And who knows, maybe after two or three months of "ooh, look how well we did this month love-we have this much over" he might be more enthusiastic about the process?

polkadot

Is there anywhere I can find something like a cashflow calculator? Like the snowball calculator but just helps me figure out how much I should keep from each of my payments to accommodate my new budget?

polkadot

Just checking in before I log off for the evening...guess its still a bit early for the late posters so will check in again in the morning. I spent a few hours today googling cash flow calculators and only found business templates-struggled to adapt any of them.

La_escocesa

Hi Polkadot, what do you mean by a cashflow calculator? Don't know what you mean when you say 'keep from' each of your payments... Do you mean hold back from payments you're receiving in?

I don't know anything about PPI reclaims, but I'm sure someone else will be along soon.

polkadot

Thats exactly what I mean La Es, I get £690 a month, but I get my DLA and Child benefit every 4 weeks, LHA comes in fortnightly at £150.00 and child tax credit comes weekly (£10). My snowball plan indicates I need to pay £580 a month on debt repayment and I need to cover electric and groceries from my account. We dont have a joint account because DH is not always around and I know the banks always want him around so its easier to just have the two accounts and for me to do internet banking on both those accounts.Its just as you say, I need to work out how much of each payment to keep aside to ensure that when the dds come off at the end of the month there is enough in the account.

tyllwyd

It is not free software, but I use Personal Accountz to keep on top of the money. You set it up with all your different bank accounts etc and record all the movement of money in and out (in as much detail as you choose). I update mine everyday by logging into my bank accounts online, so there are just a couple of transactions to enter each time.

But the most useful thing would be for you to enter in your various payments - salary once a month, benefits 4 weekly etc and direct debits when they are due. It will then be able to show you your current balance, and your forecast balance taking into account the money when it is due to arrive or go out, and it will show if you are forecast to go into overdraft, what date and by how much.

Raggs_2

Broadband seems very high, can you not get an inclusive deal with sky? I think I read they were introducing very cheap, fast broadband soon.

You say that OH's business covers this with expenses, but would you in fact get the same allowance anyway? Might be worth investigating? Even if not, it might be you can sort out an all inclusive deal for BB, Sky and telephone?

polkadot

Raggs wrote: »

Broadband seems very high, can you not get an inclusive deal with sky? I think I read they were introducing very cheap, fast broadband soon.

You say that OH's business covers this with expenses, but would you in fact get the same allowance anyway? Might be worth investigating? Even if not, it might be you can sort out an all inclusive deal for BB, Sky and telephone?

We only get what we pay for BB. So we have the package from Virgin (our real total is £77 for all three including the talk unlimited) and then he has to submit the virgin statement with his claim form each month and they pay for the BB portion. We recently looked at a Sky package, but to get BB that meets his contract requirements, the BB portion was the smallest-effectively costing us more out of pocket. Going like for like on the tv and landline. On my SOA I entered the amounts exactly as they look on the statements before the package discount, so perhaps this was my error?

polkadot

It's been a week since I posted my SOA. Thank you for all the responses I had. Ive figured out the cashflow problem.:T Basically DH has been banned from using his debit card as the amount of DD's coming from there total the equivalent of a months pay.
The DD's coming from my account are £150.00. So I have opened another classic account and will transfer any money that is more than £150.00-and that will be the "household account". As long as I keep my account balance always at £150.00-my DD's will be covered (regardless of the time of the month they are called) :j. I also posted this evening on the PPI reclaiming discussion thread. I wont bore you with a repeat-but basically my DH was a real numpty. When talking to him today I think he wanted to bash his head on a wall-when he realised what he let the bank do.

Im thinking of starting a diary? My sealed pot has been filled everyday and Ive had a few NSD's and I stuck to my routine (which all helped the depression) and I think a diary might help even more as at the moment Im trying to keep up with a number of different threads to keep various "friendly posters" in the loop...but then I feel like Im never off the lappy

Hope everyone has a had a wonderful week.

La_escocesa

That sounds great Polkadot! Think a diary sounds like a good idea. You can keep track of all your challenges etc in one place. I'll keep an eye out for it.

xx