My Money Managing Ways.....

moneymanager

Bank has been balanced and vets has been paid. And I also managed to list four items on Ebay which I don't think will sell but got to try. My pet peeve is listing on Ebay or maybe just taking the photos annoys me. I hope I do get some sales as hoping it would be a bit of motivation to list some more.

I haven't done any surveys for a while as I have been busy in work and also busy at home finishing up crochet pieces. I am also starting into Christmas presents crochet this week so it's a bit hectic.

Unfortunately no extra payments to cc but I manged to take £45 off the £115 I owe mum with all the stuff I did for her for my cousins wedding and that is only for materials. I also need to give her £13 this weekend for some things she paid for at the weekend but don't what to add that to my total.

I hope to get to do a running total of all debt paid this month and what percentage I am at.

Hiddenidenity

Well done on getting the vet paid that must be a huge relief! x

[Deleted User]

Yay to the vets bill being paid.

Good luck with the eBay sales.

moneymanager

Just back into the office this afternoon after being off out doing interviews.

Our internet stopped working last night so need to get that sorted. Says something about having to sign into the network which keeps failing. It also reminded me that I agreed to pay p&p for a new router when I was setting up the new deal but haven't received it yet and just checked that I don't seem to have paid the p&p. Need to follow this up.

I have no watchers on Ebay so can't see my items selling.

moneymanager

Wow, it's been well over a month since I posted here. :eek:

Although I haven't been around much of late I have been on reading posts now and again. I haven't been very strict with myself in terms of spending but also haven't gone crazy like spending on the credit card which is a bonus.

• Claim £25 Health Care Voucher for pet insurance Done & going into todays post
• Cancel Lloyds Credit Card
• Cancel Tesco Credit Card
• Research better Life Insurance to include termal, critical & income protection
• Look in health club for pups

Hiddenidenity

Lovely to see you back, hope you're well x

moneymanager

Credit Card
Since I made the manual payment of £100 back in August in case the DD was set up in time, it has cause a few problems. The refund shows as a purchase which also shows interest and today was the third time I have rang about this but hoping that it is all sorted now as the girl seemed really helpful this time. Also this month’s payment seems to have been spilt towards the special offer amount and the intro amount but still left the balance transfer amount of 27p! My payment should have gone off the amounts that have the higher interest rate. The special offer is due to expire in June 2018 and it should have been paid first. Anyway, I hope today’s call has it all sorted now.
I haven’t made any additional payments to the credit card like I had planned. Still just the £100 per month which is more than the 1% minimum payment.

Catalogue
I have paid this out!
But….I am in desperate need of some new bedding. Duvet, pillows etc. and I might have to order it from here. I do have a 20% off discount code to use before 12th Nov.

Mum
Still haven’t look into this. It will not be very much that I will take off it for the materials for the crochet items but she is also looking some new Christmas tree lights worth £40 and was hoping to get her them as I am also going to order them for my tree too. Then I will just give her some money each week after that.

Credit Union
I am not sure of the balance as of today. I think the last time I rang up about it, it was £275.75. I have made two payments since this so I reckon it will be below £40 now. I will ring them in the morning.
I plan on lowering the monthly payment from £130 to maybe £50. I will have an extra £80 to play with for a short time so have to think what I can pay off with that. I will be taking out another loan which I had originally planned on getting slide robes for my bedroom and to do up the ensuite but I would really like to do some treatment but need to talk this through with DH more first.

Car Loan – ending March 2020
I am half way through this payment.

Mortgage
I got a new deal with my mortgage. Instead of trying to reduce the term, I will just use the savings each month for something else. I saved about £25 per month for the fixed term.

moneymanager

So it's been a long time since I have posted here but I need to get back to it as things are getting a little tight now.

So from my late post I have this to do this:

• Claim £25 Health Care Voucher for pet insurance Done - I get this and now I also have this years voucher
• Cancel Lloyds Credit Card Done
• Cancel Tesco Credit Card Done
• Research better Life Insurance to include termal, critical & income protection
• Look in health club for pups Done

I still haven't got around to sorting the life insurance which is on my to do still. I will need to do a current list now.

Credit Card
Ok so my credit card has been used this last year for a few purchases which now I also pay interest on. The balance as of today stands at £6,731.54. I may consider looking into an interest free card to cover the purchases amount on this card but it depends if I save by doing this because of the transfer costs. At the moment my interest is ranging from £5-6 per month. Also there is another amount on this card they will be out of it's 0% rate so need to check when this is ends as the amount is £1,636.38 and I could be paying a lot more interest. The introductory amount £4,478.49 I think I have another 2 years on this.

Family & Friend Loan
In total I owe £100 to a family member which will be paid out by next Friday and also £15 to a friend but I will have that paid back this weekend. However, I have included it in my total debt figure.

Catalogue
I have £69 balance on my catalogue which will be paid out by the end of September. I will be looking into purchasing a new laptop after this balance has been paid but will review my debt figure after this.

Dentist
I have a bill of £55.25 to pay the dentist for DH and I hope that will also be paid this weekend but is also included in my total debt figure.

Vets
I will also have a vet bill to pay again but I am not sure what that cost will be until it goes through the insurance company. I have included that in my debt figure yet.

That means my total debt is £6,970.79 and I have updated my signature with the percentage paid is 0% so basically starting over again.

Also since the last time I have paid out my credit union loan and basically my mum told me to forget the amount I owe her. I haven't taken out the new loan I had planned on doing with the credit union as DH lost his biggest contract this year so I am not sure how we will fair out come winter time as that money was for those months. So don't want extra money coming out of my account for a loan if we can use it to live on, although small.

moneymanager

Mortgage
Although my mortgage is the last debt I plan on paying off but as of yesterday see it down below £56k at £55,985.45. :j

My mortgage was originally £91,000 but we put a deposit against this was then made it less. I can't remember what that was. Is it 5% of the cost of the house? If so then deposit was £4,550 making our mortgage £86,450 but we have also had two home improvement loans on top of it which I reckon was £11k. I will need to go back and look at this just so that I know the percentage I have actual paid back.

Friend Loan
I have paid off the £15 but pay something for her in return.

moneymanager

So I am resurrecting this diary to help me get motivated to finally pay off my credit cards.

But first just looking back at my last post, I still have a ‘to-do’ still outstanding:

• Research better Life Insurance to include terminal, critical & income protection – I still have not looked into this which is bad. I really need to get it done asap. My mortgage is due for renewal soon so I will be asking my provider for some advice on this.


Credit Cards
Yes, I still have them and probably the balance is more than what it was since I last posted here.

Barclaycard Balance: £4,217.25 (this amount is as of today but can change tomorrow when they issue my new statement)
• Initial Balance Transfer: £2,476.68 0% until 28th June 2021
• Second Balance Transfer: £491.22 0% until 1st August 2020
• Purchase Balance: £1,249.35 1.5225%

Tesco Balance: £3,810.55 0% until 17th February 2020

Total Credit Card Balance: £8,027.80

I ended up with two cards because I transferred the purchases amount from my Tesco card that was due to start charging interest to a Barclaycard. But now I am starting to pay interest on the purchase element of the Barclaycard now too.

I was thinking of looking into transferring to another 0% interest card but hate the thought of seeing that big total on one card. I would also need to look at how much interest I would pay over the transfer fee. I thought it would be best to do it in baby steps, first tackling the purchases with interest obviously. I think that the Barclaycard has a good length on the 0% interest rate and I hope to have this card paid by December 2020 if not earlier and having the smaller transfer paid by end of June. I currently pay £100 monthly to my Barclarycard and have been trying to pay whatever extra cash to it as well. I pay £40 a month to the Tesco card but the 0% is due to end in February 2020 so will have to look at transferring to another 0% card then.

Mortgage
This is not a priority debt just yet but I think to keep track of it. At the moment my balance is down to £51,652.33. My current mortgage deal is 2 years fixed term at 1.59% interest rate and due to end on 2nd December 2019. I would like to start making overpayments to it but maybe best to do this after my credit cards are paid. I have 9 years and 2 months left remaining but would like to have it paid by 1st December 2025, just before my DH turns 50. That’s knocking near 3 years of the term and I am not sure if this would be doable as it could mean an overpayment of £230 if I start paying now.

Car Loan
I have £1,689.82 left on my car and only 11 more payments which doesn’t include the one due out soon. However, my husband is in need of a new van. Luckily though we can get an interest free loan from a family member for this but will not look into it until the car is paid not unless something major happens to the van. Fingers crossed.

Vets
Currently we have a pregnant dog at home and is due to give birth in about 3 weeks time. We have a balance of £32 to pay the vet but this could increase. Unfortunately, we didn’t have her covered under her insurance for breeding as we had not planned it until her next heat. The cover is on the insurance at the moment but it is not due to kick in until July. I can probably cancel this but I think I will just wait. And not to worry, the puppies are going to good homes (I am keeping one and family members are taking the others) and she is getting spayed after. I also have my dog licenses to pay which will be £25 for two dogs. I do have £75 of vouchers from the insurance company to cover them for the annual shots which is good.

Dentist
I always put the dentist on my list as apart from my usual check ups and cleans, my husband always has trouble with his teeth. At the moment he is having some ongoing work and so I am not too sure of the bill yet.

Vehicles
My car is due for its MOT in two weeks. I am not sure what work would need done but I am half thinking of washing it, checking the tyres and just sending it on through. If it fails, at least I know exactly what to get done with it. DH’s van will be due soon too and I’d say there will be plenty that needs done with it. Fingers crossed there isn’t as we do not want to put too much money into it since we are getting rid of it next year.

Other
The only other thing is our holiday. I did pay this on the credit card but would like to have a holiday fund going for our spending money. I do have other things coming up like nights out (not many), birthdays and concerts but hope to do all this cheaply.

• Home Insurance – this is due on 16th June. I am with Direct Line and just have never had the time to shop around for this. They have quoted me £356.16 which is up by £36.96. And of course since I pay monthly the total I pay is £391.78 but still around £35 dearer than last year. It says on the documents that the administration fee to cancel the policy is £43.68. I am assuming this is only the case if the policy starts but not beforehand? This always put me off as I think if I would go to another provider they would charge me this.
• Renew Dog License – I have the money sitting in the bank to do this. It is just difficult for me as one license was for my wee dog that passed away last year and I feel this is the final thing I have to sort out for him. But I will do that this week as it is due 6th June.
• Book MOT – have done this as of today but I can’t get a date until 29th July and my current cert expires 15th June. Will just have to keep checking for a cancellation.
• Contact NIE for meter replacement – they seem to be doing this all over.