A Thread for After Debt?

backinbusiness

Afternoon all. I gave in and went to sleep last night, and turns out I was grumpy all day!! Just one of those days when if it can go wrong it will, but nothing major really.

Another weird one. I said in my previous post that I was expecting less money this month - however when I opened my payslip the net figure was more?? Further checking shows that my hourly rate and main post annual salary have both increased. We have annual increments in April (tax year) and August (anniversary of joining), but definitely not January.

I called Payroll and the first person could see a line of text justifying the increase, but couldn't understand it(!) - the second person also could not explain the increase, but was hoping to ring me back this afternoon or Monday and said as far as she could see it was correct but she didn't know why?

Once again not counting my chickens until they hatch, but why do people/systems/computers keep giving me money and then taking it back again!!

On the plus side paid off the cc that had the unexpected car repairs on today - so no outstanding bills (for the meantime!).

It's a glorious January afternoon up here in the Highlands, but brrrrrrrr cold.

Have a great weekend everyone!

BiB

backinbusiness

Just had a wee chuckle to myself re my last post.

Paid off my credit card . . . in my pre MSE days I would pay the minimum and "forget/ignore" any balance outstanding.

Now carrying any balance causes me stress and pain!!

How things change!

Mort

backinbusiness wrote: »

Just had a wee chuckle to myself re my last post.

Paid off my credit card . . . in my pre MSE days I would pay the minimum and "forget/ignore" any balance outstanding.

Now carrying any balance causes me stress and pain!!

How things change!

Well done on paying it all off. :A

Mort

Not been following this thread properly for a little while and have just caught up but I must admit to getting confused about cats using ice cube trays instead of cheap kitty litter. Had to re-read several posts to clear confusion up.

Mort

Been hit by some bad news this week regarding pay. Learnt that job is sort of being re-graded so that an allowance that has been keeping the Mort household going will be withdrawn :mad:, the only good element of the announcement is that the value of it will be added to my basic. However this means that I will be on mark time until general pay catches up with me which means that it could be four or more years before I have a raise :eek:.
This is on top of:

• the likelihood that Mrs. Mort's contributory ESA will end in April.
• it's been 3 years since my last pay rise.
• my pension contributions will nearly double in April.

All I can say is that I am fortunate to be in the clear right now, nil desperandum and all that.

rising_from_the_ashes

JulieGeorgiana wrote: »

Rising when there was talk about redundancy where i worked, thats when i cut back to the bare bones... it helped me save for 6 months, then once i was redundant I coped until a temp job came up. It's scary, but everything happens for a reason... just takes a while to know what the reason is.

QueenB. wrote: »

Rising ((((((hugs)))))) thats not good news but all you can do is prepare as best you can if the worst happens. I agree with JulieG that everything happens for a reason, just that it can take time to understand the reason. I hope everything goes ok for you.

Thanks ... I have been made redundant before (many years ago). At the time it was awful but with hindsight it was the best thing to happen to me as I was stuck in a real rutt and it gave me a good kick up the "whatnot" but I didn't have a mortgage/house/no-one to rely on - as well as jobs being reasonably easy to find then - which I think is what's scaring me the most this time.

QueenB hope you got the tax thing sorted.

I've got a notice board in my office (really a glorified box room:o) where I pin any important things I need to deal with - the cc bill always goes on as soon as it comes in so I can't lose it... the breakdown cover reminder's been on there with the date it's to be paid etc. HTH someone.

BiB mmmm odd about the unexpected increase in salary...... hopefully it'll get sorted soon and turns out to be correct!:)

Mort sorry but chucking away .... thanks I did need cheering up:T

I've been paid today (not usually until last working day but they take pity on us in Jan as we're always paid early in Dec) so will be doing some "pot" juggling / bill paying shortly.

It is going to have to be a very tight month tho - aside from wanting to put away every penny in case of the worst, I've got the extra £100 on the cc to cover:eek:

Have a good weekend everyone:)

rising_from_the_ashes

Mort wrote: »

Been hit by some bad news this week regarding pay. Learnt that job is sort of being re-graded so that an allowance that has been keeping the Mort household going will be withdrawn :mad:, the only good element of the announcement is that the value of it will be added to my basic. However this means that I will be on mark time until general pay catches up with me which means that it could be four or more years before I have a raise :eek:.
This is on top of:

• the likelihood that Mrs. Mort's contributory ESA will end in April.
• it's been 3 years since my last pay rise.
• my pension contributions will nearly double in April.

All I can say is that I am fortunate to be in the clear right now, nil desperandum and all that.

Ohhhhhh s*h*i*t*e ...... sorry but that's just carp. Sorry Mort......

Mort

rising_from_the_ashes wrote: »

Ohhhhhh s*h*i*t*e ...... sorry but that's just carp. Sorry Mort......

Certainly smells like rotten fish :rotfl:

SOT2011

Hello everyone :wave::wave:

Hope all are ok and enjoying your weekends.

I've just done my last food shop of January & the running total was.......£162.01 = £12 OVER budget again, but less over budget than last month, or indeed any month before that. Still some way to go on that, but feel fairly pleased as this total does include a couple of work lunches when I was being really lazy, and they usually disappear into the "I don't know what I spent it on" bottomless pit.

Filled up with petrol too, and that budget is about 50p in credit for the month, but as a bonus I will start February with a nearly full tank. I've not touched the extra petrol fund - for trips to parents, trips to the sea or to see friends in Yorkshire etc, so that money is being left to build up for a bit of a buffer for when I do go on extra travels.

Mort - :mad: & :eek: Not good news when things are already tight. You are right re: being lucky to be in the clear now, I keep reminding myself when I feel things are tight how much worse it would be if I still had debt payments to find on top of all the rest.

Rising - I have to agree that it feels more precarious generally now I am single and what a sensible use for a noticeboard - mine is full of postcards, cards, receipts and photos of the dog! Oh and a small corner for my weekly meal plan! I really should clear it down to give myself some space to use it as you suggest - instead of just shoving the important stuff on the leaning tower of paperwork on the bench in the kitchen

BiB - fingers crossed here that the rise turns out to be correct!

JG - I love that you have at least 400 pictures of Eliza already - how lovely to be able to keep such a lot of them, when I look back at the album from when I was a baby, there are barely more than one or two per month, so few compared to today. And your DS sounds wonderful, such a sweet boy

Anyway - I only bobbed on here for two tics really - OU time again!

Take care everyone!
SOT x

rising_from_the_ashes

SOT2011 wrote: »

I've just done my last food shop of January & the running total was.......£162.01 = £12 OVER budget again, but less over budget than last month, or indeed any month before that.

Congrats on the grocery budget - I'm way into Feb's allocation:o but not toooooo worried as running as an annual budget this year to allow for stocking up so although overspent just now, it should hopefully balance over the year.

On top of the "usual" things, I have stocked up big time on a couple of things:

• spare heads for my new elec toothbrush (which is fantastic BTW - I was sceptical but it's fab!:)) which should last until around June 2013 (big pack of compatible ones from E*bay which were a huge amount cheaper than in the shops)
• a years' supply of toothpaste
• 10 big bottles of washing up liquid (new one and was on an introductory price) which should last a fair while!
• also managed to get nearly a years' supply of Persil today 1/2 price at the Co*op:D

I'm having a bit of a panic about impending redundancy today I've posted on a couple of my other regular threads (GC and Frugal Living) about whether to stock up just now - while I can - "just in case" and think I'll be going down this route. Fingers crossed it doesn't happen and I can then use the stocks to balance the books later in the year.

However, now kicking myself as Mr T had tinned toms for 4 for £1 today and didn't buy any:o

SOT2011 wrote: »

Filled up with petrol too, and that budget is about 50p in credit for the month, but as a bonus I will start February with a nearly full tank. I've not touched the extra petrol fund - for trips to parents, trips to the sea or to see friends in Yorkshire etc, so that money is being left to build up for a bit of a buffer for when I do go on extra travels.

I also filled up today and refilled the "emergency can" which I had to use on Thursday (fuel station an 18 mile round trip and I keep the can full as it seems such a waste having to travel all that way if I don't need anything else).

However, as the car was really empty and with refilling the can, it was a bit more than usual - £37 (don't laugh - my fuel tank is tiny:o so it usually costs less than £30 to fill without the can). Budget for the month averages at £83.33 but have spent £91.50 this month:eek: - I tend to need 3 tanks one month and 2 the next, so hoping that'll balance out during Feb:)

SOT2011 wrote: »

Rising - I have to agree that it feels more precarious generally now I am single and what a sensible use for a noticeboard - mine is full of postcards, cards, receipts and photos of the dog! Oh and a small corner for my weekly meal plan! I really should clear it down to give myself some space to use it as you suggest - instead of just shoving the important stuff on the leaning tower of paperwork on the bench in the kitchen

Sounds like my filing:) I do have a file and start each year with good intentions, but it just ends up in my filing tray until I've a load and I think sit for an hour or so filing it all:o.

The noticeboard used to have all my Uni modules with start, end & assignment due dates etc on them but since I've finished that part, it was looking a bit empty so it's now found a new use - it's fab as I can put things on with a post-it stating when it needs to be dealt with (again, rather than it sitting in the filing tray being forgotten about!) and notes about other things I need to do.

However, I do have another downstairs behind the kitchen door which is full of postcards, recipes etc so I'm not fully "reformed" yet!:)

Hope your OU work progresses well.....


Sorted out the budgeting pots for the month last night - cc not due to be paid until the 12th so have put a big note on the noticeboard that I need to deal with that next weekend (will keep the money in my account for another week!:)).

I have managed to stick £20 into the new fuel & groceries "pot" so only another 2 months to go and I'll be able to be in advance with the fuel budget too!:j

Going to DM & DF tomorrow so hoping for a really nice Sunday lunch!:) Enjoy the rest of the weekend everyone.