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Pigpen's DFW diary..
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MoneySavingExpert
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My savings phobia..
I cannot bear to have money sitting looking at me in the bank knowing that I have things I HAVE to pay of..I don't know why, when other people like to see their bank balance growing.. if we have money in the bank.. such as right now I have £3000 in the bank waiting for hubby to ring and pay off the boiler.. and it is burning a hole.. an enormous hole beause I could pay of this with it or that with it or these 2 or 3 things with it.. I know exactly what I'll do once I have paid everything else off.. I'll make massive payments each month on the new loan and when that has gone I'll make even bigger payments on the mortgage.. I am nuts!!!
Why can I not just save some money 'just in case' ???
MBNA credit card now given to hubby for safe keeping.
Currently CC £23,674.36 /£14,895.41/£14315.42
Mortgage £28,214.65/ £26,254.71/ £25,746.43
By end 2020 I want CC at £ 19,000.00.
By end 2021 I want CC at £10,000.00
I've paid off the boiler today..
Tax credit day tomorrow so the water bill will be paid in full until next April.. and I'll have £150 for fresh food (£50, milk, fruit and veg), dinner money (£40) and beer tokens (£60) for the weekend.. it is one of hubbys employees leaving do so we can't not go really.. should be fun as there are about 25 going!! :eek: anyway £150 should be more than enough for 7 days until we get the DLA and the tax credits again.
Hubby now has custody of my sonycard.. which means I can't use it.. and when it is paid off he can help chop and burn.. and do his at the same time!!
Gosh it is all a bit sad! lol .. only 16 days to payday!!! and we are still within the overdraft limit!!
But you're doing exactly the right thing pigpen! The great Martin himself says that it is foolish to be saving at eg 5.5% when you may be paying out interest of 20+%.
So you are right to put spare money into paying off debt rather than saving it.
The only exception is that you DO need to save up for the big annual things. I know some DFWs have a separate account for this type of saving and they make sure that it is difficult to access - almost as though it is not their own money.
But you do need to try and overcome the impulse to pay off debt with money that you actually need for essential outgoings. Perhaps go to whatsthecost.com every time you are tempted, so you can see how much extra interest you will have to pay if you leave yourself so short you need to use a CC.
Keep plugging away - you will get there!
PS Remind me about your family - I know you have a big brood but exactly how many are there?:))
I have opened an ISA which I can access to withdraw money but it takes a week or so to get it out.. cooling off time so I can think about whether or not I actually NEED these things. I am hoping to use it to pay off a chunk when we remortgage in 2.5 years time at the end of our fixed rate. I am hoping this way I'll not be tempted to spend the money because I simply won't have it.
I don't have either of the credit cards now and I have learned to open statments carefully.. slide out the statement itself and leave all sale leaflets etc in the envelope and bin them!! A year ago I would have perused them for hours!!
Anyway.. it is now just short of 1 year since my LBM.. (24th October!)
Seriously, sounds like you are doing a great job with them. Reminds me of the lovely African saying about it being much better to be rich in people than rich in money. Apparently they mean it financially as well as emotionally.
Well done for binning the sales leaflets and getting the delayed-action ISA!
All the best
Where am I at..
I have a sealed pot for the challenge.. aiming for £200 in there before December which will cover my fmaily christmas presents and I am saving £100 a month in my savings account for the childrens christmas presents.. I will not spend anything I do not have this year. Though I am allowed to use vouchers from pigsback and suchlike for presents too. I have already made a start on this shopping though.. just a few bits which will do for my sisters and some for the children.
I am thinking of making up a hamper each for my 2 sisters this year.. for one of them I have bought a beautiful apple green wicker basket which I will fill with smellies and sweets and a couple of little plants for her tiny roof garden and maybe a few kitchen bits. I usually spend about £50 on each of them.
My overall debt has increased by £4000 in the last 3 months.. mainly due to annual interest being added to stuff, christmas spending, taking advantage of sales and the utility bills which all came in just before christmas.. nice timing!!! I will!!! have this gone by easter and be back on track before I know it.
I am back to ebaying everything in sight as from next week.. I've not listed anything in the last 2 months as my life has been stressful enough without adding extra hassle as well. Anyway.. the next 10p listing day I'll be prepared.
I now have all 8 children in school/nursery (little one started today.. just mornings but it is enough) so I can devote time to housework (boo hiss!!) and also time to ebay. I can save some little jobs for when DD5 is home and she can help.. though if today is anything to go by I won't see her all day as she came home from nursery and went straight to bed. Tomorrow I am taking her a 'packed lunch' to eat on the way home as she asked for a bun on the way home and I ended up spending £1.80 in cooplands.. not making that a habit!!
I need to update my SOA so I'll try to do that in the next week or so.. watch out on the first post.. I'll keep them together so I can see the improvement..
DH Wages £1720.. we will see his payrise at the end of february
various benefits £2045 (cb, dla, ca, ctc).. increased CB will be updated shortly
mortgage £650
[strike]c. tax [/strike]PAID until April.. when we start all over again!
life ins £30 (cheapest possible)
B&C ins. £65 (increased due to massive claim last month and ongoing)
New loan £270 12.9% (not sure how much is outstanding but it is a fair bit)
[strike]loan £250[/strike]PAID
[strike]student loan £105 [/strike] PAID
gas/electric £250 ... changed to British Gas..
mobiles and landline £90 (one landline 3 mobiles)
internet £17 .. we are not in a BT area so can't have anything else.. I could have it free with a mobile contract otherwise.
now the crappy bit..
Overdraft £2165 .. up to the limit of course!! reducing by £167 a month
catalogues £250 (£3351 owed in total!!!) (next, freemans, littlewoods)
sony c/c £45 (exactly £1000 owed) 15.9%apr .. Tackling this next!
[strike]Employer loan £100[/strike]PAID
[strike]abbey c/c £150[/strike]PAID
[strike]american express £70[/strike]PAID
BHS storecard £85 owe £2100 my mother is to pay this as it is her debt just in my name!
snack money £5
Nursery fees £84
lunch money & bus fares £216 (for 4 children, ALL primary school children have packed lunches now and my weekly bus card to college)
£6370.20 owed in total excluding the big loan and the mortgage.
Just reading your diary you've done really well you know!
I took the consolidation route too...ours was about the 5th one tho
I found as soon as I stuck to my guns and stopped the overspending it became a habit,a good one for a change!
I might even get back to flying...eventually