Fresh start, new home!

kmcld2

Thanks Thistle, I'm starting to get slightly obsessed with it now! I'm looking through my CD's to see what I can sell on magpie (?). I never listen to them so am as well getting rid of them.

kmcld2

Right, I've sat down tonight and looked through my direct debits / standing orders and this is what I pay monthly:

Mortgage: £378.55
BT / Internet: amount varies. Not normally more than £60. (£15.99 of that is for internet).
Council tax: £124.00
Animal healthcare (via my vet): £11.49. Don't want to give this up as my dog is at the vet every fortnight and last year alone this saved me £365 and wasn't including the vaccinations, kennel cough, worming tablets and frontline which is also included).
Legal & General MI C/L: £23.05
Nationwide BS: £27.66
Blackberry (EE): amount varies. Not more than £50. Contract expires in October 2013.
Scottish power (gas & electric): £66.00
TV licence: £12.12
Pet plan: £19.96
Legal & General MI C/L: £10.64
Friends life (pension): £30.78
Postcode lottery: £10.00
Christmas acc: £100.00
Savings acc: £100.00
Clydesdale bank: £20 (for unexpected things).

I don't have a car, any other loans or credit cards. I earn anything between £1100 and £1500 a month after tax. I fritter a lot away on stuff I don't really need. That has to stop although I don't want to deprive myself of the occasional treat.

I worked out the daily interest rate of my mortgage as £6.39. (This is based on today's balance of £58,166.05 with the APR at 4.09%). If I'm wrong, please correct me. I'm hoping to at the very least overpay by £200 a month which would cover the interest.
I'm due approx £130 for working bank holidays but won't get that till the end of next month and I'm due £100 from my sister which I'll get this week. Both will go towards overpayments. I've also joined an April challenge that Fairyclicks has started by paying £1 a day as overpayments too. I've opened an account with magic magpie (?) and will get rid of a pile of DVD's and CD's I don't use.
I'm going to take £100 out my account and use that for food shopping and try and budget a bit better. I live round the corner from and Aldi's and Lidl's so I'll start using them again. I've no idea if that will be too much or not enough but I'll soon find out. If it's too much, anything that is left will go towards the mortgage at the end of the month.
There's a couple of area's that I have to work on, firstly giving up the Chinese takeaways. I have one, two or three times a week but will need to cut back to once or twice a month and make sure that comes out of my food shopping money. Secondly, I spend a lot on dog food (anything between £50 - £100 a month). I feed my dog (Cuilean) Applaws, John Burns or James Wellbeloved. I'm looking into cooking for him myself in batches and freezing it. I've spoken to the vet nurse and she's given me a list of things he can and can't have.

I'm also studying just now to be a knitwear designer via City & Guilds and the course modules are £150 each. I've only two left to do after this one to get my certificate then I want to do the diploma so not sure what they will cost. Need to budget for that too.

Calfuray

Hey, just to butt in and check a few things:

You seem to have Legal & General MI C/L twice?

And what are S/O to Clydesdale and Nationwide?

But good luck, sounds like you're off to right start

Jevvers

Hi Kmcld2
Sounds like you have got some good ideas for cutting back / making a bit extra.
Can I just ask what the two L&G payments are for. Also, what does petplan cover if the vet's fees are already taken care of?

Also there are cheaper broadband deals around than £16. Ours is £13 with O2. And BT looks quite high given the size of your mobile bill - or is it one of these BT infinity packages?

Good luck!
Jevvers

kmcld2

Hi Jevvers,

I was actually wondering myself why I had two Legal & Generals. I have a funny feeling one of them is life insurance / critical illness and the other is some kind of insurance if I get made redundant etc. The second one was taken out fairly recently when my fixed term ran out in 2011 and I went back to Nationwide. It looks like they are both for exactly the same thing right enough so that's something I'll need to double check.
The insurance policy with the vet covers things like vaccinations, kennel cough, worming tablets, frontline, microchipping and good discounts with vet consultations and free consultations with the nurse. It's just something that the surgery runs for their clients. I honestly think they're doing themselves out of a fortune with this. It covers so much more than I've mentioned but I can't remember what all else is covered. Petplan is for the big things. I'm insured for animal physio, hydrotherapy, vet treatment up to £4000 and other bits and pieces. I think the dog is better insured than I am!
My mobile is with 'everything everywhere'. I don't really use the phone. I text alot which is unlimited and email which is where I think it's costing me. The BT payments covers my internet at £15.99 and the line rental, I'm not sure what that is now, £35 maybe. I don't really use the house phone either very often.

Thanks for posting,
Kelly.

kmcld2

Hi Calfuray,
Thanks for posting. I'm going to double check the Legal & General ones. I only noticed tonight that I had two. The Clydesdale is a 'just incase' account to cover unexpected things. The Nationwide, I can't for the life of me remember what it's for but I have paperwork for it in my file. I'm just wondering now if that's to cover redundancy and the Legal & General ones are doublers of critical illness / life insurance. Will speak to someone in Nationwide at the weekend when I'm in town.

Jevvers

£35 sounds rather a lot for BT line rental - would be worth checking that.

With the petplan, maybe check how much it would cost to pay for the treatment vs the insurance payments and work out the risk vs cost. You could always save the premiums in another account.

I know that vet treatment can be v expensive but in four years you will be spending £1000 on the premiums - which would presumably pay for a fair bit of physio.

kmcld2

I just looked at my BT bill to be paid at the end of the month and the breakdown is as follows:
The total to be paid is £78.19 (including VAT).

Line rental and other basic charges:
Phone line: £15.45
Broadband: £18.85

What you used:
Phone usage: £8.89
Broadband: £35.00

Will definitely have a look for a cheaper deal for phone and internet and with the pet insurance. My sister has her dog insured with someone else and is a lot cheaper too.

Calfuray

kmcld2 wrote: »

I just looked at my BT bill to be paid at the end of the month and the breakdown is as follows:
The total to be paid is £78.19 (including VAT).

Line rental and other basic charges:
Phone line: £15.45
Broadband: £18.85

What you used:
Phone usage: £8.89
Broadband: £35.00

Will definitely have a look for a cheaper deal for phone and internet and with the pet insurance. My sister has her dog insured with someone else and is a lot cheaper too.

Hm. It sounds like the £35 are charges for going over BB usage? Does that sound right?

kmcld2

It might very well be. My sister lives with me and is always on her laptop watching something or other. That's probably the reason.