Risen from the ashes ...

rising_from_the_ashes

Up ridiculously early especially as I'm on a day off!:eek:

BUT ...... new phone arriving today!:j

It is a need as current one now only holding its charge for about 3 hours:eek: and doesn't work at DMs which is a bit worrying in case I break down in the middle of nowhere.

Have given into the temtation of a contract - which I thought I'd NEVER do again:o

Not a bad deal:

• Phone
• 200 mins talk
• 500 texts
• 750 mb data

£21 / month so works out at £504 / 24 months BUT I get £300 cashback (divided into installments every 3 months or so) which brings it down to a much more reasonable £8.50 / month:j:j

Also got £40 cashback through Quid*co:D

Anyway, it's [STRIKE]supposed to be [/STRIKE] better be coming today (free next day delivery but missed the time on Weds ...) so up at silly o'clock - bet it doesn't come until late afternoon:rotfl::rotfl:

rising_from_the_ashes

mmmm need to think about the mobile budget ..... it may actually not be too far off once the cashback is taken off ...... job for later on!

paidinchickens

your right on the dog finding front, it will just happen when it's the right time I have looked at the dog homes but they want £125 and gumtree people are wanting a lot of money for their dog they no longer want. I would have thought they would rather it go to a good home than make money.

I have thought about getting a little dog (same size ish as the cats) just to get me out and about walking but will have to wait for my back to sort itself out first. I used to walk for miles with my last dog and forget how calming it can be. I don't miss the smell of wet dog though :rotfl::rotfl:

I don't think your being to strict with money. I think we are all going to struggle even harder so hang on to every penny you can, if we don't all go down the pan at least you will have a nice big sum to treat yourself with

Hope you enjoy your day off

PIC x

rising_from_the_ashes

Morning PIC glad to hear your back sounds like it's a bit better (?)

How are all the feline friends?

Ohhh the walks after a hard day at work are the best stress buster I know!:)

I'm really a Lab person, or a medium / large sized dog anyway - but I did see a very cute Jack Russell the other day. Unfortunately (or fortunately for it) it had found a home already by the time I emailed:)

Looking hard and it'll take as long as it does (patience isn't my strongest point:o) as it has to be the right dog, both to me and just as importantly them:)

I'm feeling a bit more in control of my money (:j) but it's so hard to relax as I'm terrified of being in debt again ...... trying to squirrel a little away here & there and get the pots to where they should be and I'm sure I'll be a bit happier on that side of things too!

Can't wait for the new phone to arrive .... I'm a bit of a gadget freak:o so work hard to keep that part of me under control!

I've had the old one for 7 years so ......:)

rising_from_the_ashes

Where does the time go????

Thought I'd better do a quick update!

New phone has arrived :j and is fab - I downloaded the manual as I haven't a clue what I'm doing .... and ..... there are 128 pages to get through:eek: - free reading tho':rotfl:

Spending updates

P'd off with my cc provider - I pay in full each month but do have a d/debit set up for the min (just in case;)) and they've called it really early this month - and it's already showing as deducted from my account with Monday's date beside it ...... even tho' I paid in full on Thurs:mad::mad::mad: so that's nearly £17 I wasn't expecting to come out my account this month.


Pot updates

Groceries rounding down is going well - just over £30 now
Fuel will be in advance from the end of March!:T mainly thanks to a £20 / month payment from the dog pot (see dog pot comments below)
Car down to £6.25:eek: after the expenses of Jan/Feb but hopefully shouldn't need anything spent out of it for a while so I can get the funds built back up by next Jan
Dog well, this is looking the healthiest of the lot - mainly as there's no one to use it atm! I'm putting £40 into it each month as I may need to get the new dog (fingers crossed) vaccinated & neutered which costs a fair bit but more importantly, it's money I've never had IYKWIM and I don't want to get used to having it extra each month or I'll struggle when the new one arrives - however, I have been using the other £20 to build up the fuel pot and may stick that to the struggling emergency fund from next month.
Cats on the low side but both cats now vaccinated until next year:j so can try to rebuild this in time for when I next need to do a bulk buy of food (prob around May time)
Emergency - not doing too well on this one as was starting from a £0 balance ..... only at £50 which worries me a bit (see dog pot comments above)
House insurance - on track to have £200 by May ... hopefully that will be enough & can then reduce the payment to £20/month for next years' cover, which will help a lot


Well, not sure what I'm going to do with myself today .... don't need much shopping and it's horrible outside:cool:. Was hopefully going to see a dog but the woman's not got back to me which means she's probably rehome it - but she could have let me know:mad:

mooomin

Re direct debits:

If you only paid in full on Thursday that's nowhere near enough time to halt the direct debit, as I think it's around 5 working days for the payment cycle. They shouldn't actually debit your account until the day it's due though...?

rising_from_the_ashes

flying_fresian wrote: »

Re direct debits:

If you only paid in full on Thursday that's nowhere near enough time to halt the direct debit, as I think it's around 5 working days for the payment cycle. They shouldn't actually debit your account until the day it's due though...?

Oh cripes didn't realise it was as long as that! ETA it gives a day to pay by (which I do) and says money should reach them the same working day as it's the same banking group.....

Must be better organised from now on..... yup, it's already showing as being deducted from my balance - my bank seems to have a habit of doing things like this.....

It's the same when I'm paid, my pay goes in at midnight but I do all my money transfers that day and these always show as being deducted before my pay goes in (which means I'm hugely overdrawn according to them when I'm not) - it really p's me off & I must speak to them about it......

cleggie

Morning rising!
I am so sorry for the loss of your dog. I was distraught at the loss of our cat a few years ago, so my heart goes out to you.

I am so impressed with your spreadsheet!!! I am awful with computers, so just tend to write it all down in my money book every week and month. Call me old fashioned!!

In your post above you say your round down your groceries- can you explain what you mean, as i am trying to find more ways of saving money.

I can understand your fear of being deeply in debt again. I remember it was ony a few years ago that i was on benefits and was deeply in debt so would go without food sometimes, so that my kids would be able to eat, as i didnt have any money for food.
I remember living in fear of debt collectors etc knocking on the door, and dreading every letter that came through the door. It truely was an awful time. Now i have amost cleared the debt, and its much more manageable.
BUT i am so glad to be out of that now, i no longer have to fear those things, and by the sounds of it, nor do you now you have control again.
Maybe taking a step back and seeing how much you have improved would be a good idea.
Its very sensible to be cautious about getting back into debt, but not to the extent where its really worrying you too much.

Have a great day!

mooomin

rising_from_the_ashes wrote: »

It's the same when I'm paid, my pay goes in at midnight but I do all my money transfers that day and these always show as being deducted before my pay goes in (which means I'm hugely overdrawn according to them when I'm not) - it really p's me off & I must speak to them about it......

It'll just be the way that their systems work. It's the same where I work - debits are always applied before credits. PITA but as long as I don't get charged I don't worry about it.

Although you'll have sent your payment same day due to it being either internal/Faster payment the system that is used for direct debits isn't that quick!

rising_from_the_ashes

Hi Cleggie, great to see you:D - must catch up on your diary:o

Re the spreadsheet - it's wonderful and a huge thanks as always to CW18 as it's far more advanced than anything I could do myself!:)

My biggest problem was that if I do things on a monthly, rather than annual basis, I would overspend in one month and then just reset the budget the next, so I was still overspending by large amounts .... so, for me, keeping track in the spreadsheet with an overall annual figure helps as I can rein in the overspends by balancing them over several months.:)

It doesn't matter how we keep track ... as long as we do! So if writing it down in a book works for you, that's great.:T

Rounding down

Someone suggested this on *I think* the Frugal Living Challenge and thought I'd give it a go.

Basically, you choose one day of the week (mine's a Saturday) and log into your account and "round down" the balance to the nearest £10 and transfer the money to a savings account / pot etc.

There's no reason why you couldn't do this with cash and put inot a jar ... I just can't be trusted with cash as I spend it

Some weeks, it can be £8 or £9 but others only £1 or £2 and I've found that I've really not missed it at all.

I've been really struggling to get some of my budgets to an "advance" stage as pay for everything on the cc (clear in full each month) but it has meant that say Jan's groceries come out of my Jan salary so I'm a month behind IYKWIM .... so currently using the rounding down to try to get that one in advance - it will probably take several months, but at least I'm making progress!


Fear of debt is horrible as you say and probably until you've been where a lot of us have, many can't understand it - I do feel a bit of a "control freak" with money sometimes and hopefully that may lessen as I get things in advance / properly budget for annual things but until then .....:)

Have a great weekend too!:D