PigginSkint's DFW Diary

PigginSkint

Hi All

I am now back from my holiday – 2 weeks in sunny Wales, New Quay to be precise. We were actually really lucky with the weather so we have had a smashing time. Although it did cost quite a lot of money – the car hire is always the really expensive bit – I am really pleased with myself about how little I have used my credit card this time. Last year I used my credit card for nearly everything but this time I only used it for certain things:

• Car hire
• Camp site fees balance (the deposit was already paid off)
• Diesel
• Visit to Dr Who Experience in Cardiff
• Refreshments at Dr Who Experience (I can’t actually remember why I didn’t use my debit card for that)
• Car parking for visit to Dr Who Experience (only because pay point at the multi story car park didn’t like my debit card for some bizarre reason)
• New air bed when our old one finally gave up the ghost and the 5 or more repair attempts failed
• New camping chair when one of ours broke while OH was sitting on it (OH gave me the cash for that one)
• Lunch at Little Chef on the way home

I am fairly confident of being able to pay off everything except the car hire cost fairly soon, which I am really pleased about.

We have had a really good time and have eaten out quite a few times (cream teas, lunches when we have been out and about etc) and had numerous treats (ice cream, chips etc) plus all the essential food shopping and other sundry expenses, so I really haven’t had to deprive myself, and I was able to use my debit card for all of it! :money:

It just goes to show that some careful planning and saving before a holiday really does pay off! :money:

It is nearly home time so I shall update my sig from home later. It is obviously not as good as last month’s, but we have been on holiday after all. Hoping for better things for the 1st September figures.

Bye all!

PigginSkint

Finally.....sig is now updated! Please see below.

I will post some more in-depth scores on the doors later but, suffice to say, 1st August figures are not great compared to 1st July figures, but 1st September figures should look a lot better!

PigginSkint

Hi All

I have spent a few days perusing over my spreadsheets (and trying not to get too upset about them) and looking at my current targets and challenges – I like to set myself little targets to keep me motivated when some of the big targets see a long way off! Considering how expensive the last few months have been, I can see that I am actually doing quite well!

The results of our latest performance and development review at work are in and although I didn’t get a performance related pay rise this time, I was awarded a one-off payment of £250. I know the tax man will take his share, but it is still not to be sniffed at!

OH and I have decided to go to the Proms after all, although we have curtailed our plans a little – we are only staying one night, only going to one Prom (we had been thinking about going to 2 on consecutive nights) and decided against going to see another show that we had our eyes on. I have managed to get a really good deal on train fares (£32 for the 2 of us) and on the Travelodge booking (£77 for the 2 of us including breakfast which I have pre-ordered). I have managed to book accommodation much closer to where we need to travel to and from which will also keep the tube costs down (I suppose all the more expensive accommodation is nearer the Olympic park!). We will be going as prommers so no pre-bought tickets – we just need to get ourselves in the queue nice and early to make sure we get in. Promming tickets are still only £5 each! We could have got slightly cheaper train tickets by travelling a bit later on the day but as we have to queue for the proms tickets I didn’t want to risk us not getting there in time. All in all though, it shouldn’t cost much more than about £120 for everything! Apart from our holiday it is about the only thing we treat ourselves to!

It is going to be a bit of any expensive year though as DS will be 18 soon. Having said that, I pay regularly into a savings account for presents and I will be buying the stuff for the party gradually – luckily he doesn’t have very expensive tastes – just ten pin bowling and then back to the house for food and drink.

Anyway, nearly home time so bye for now!

PigginSkint

Hi All

:DI am a very proud Mummy this morning as DS has had his AS level results – A for 2 of his subjects and B for the other 2. :THe has worked very hard so he thoroughly deserves these results, which set him up nicely for the A2 year – he has already decided which of the 4 subjects to drop, so no difficult decisions for him to make.

In money news, I have been reviewing the situation with my Amex credit card (Awful Amex to give it its nickname!), because the latest statement for this card is available this morning. This is the card with the lowest balance (now less than £400) and the lowest APR (4.9%) which is on a life of balance deal, so I have not done much other than let it gradually get lower and lower. I currently just pay a bit more than the minimum payment every month - £25 instead of £10 at the moment. However, as the balance is now so low and I am really starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel about paying this one off, I think it might be time to push it a bit more to pay it off that bit quicker. Psychologically it will give me a real boost to see another one gone! I am currently playing about with the snowball calculator to see just how much difference paying a few extra quid every month will make. Who would’ve thought that just an extra £5 a month would shave 2 months off the DFD for this one?! I think I am going to start PADding (Payment A Day) to this account – just an extra £1 a day (plus pence matching the day of the month – e.g. today’s payment will be £1.16) and see how I go.

The Barclaycard that I took advantage of the 0% 2 year deal on balance transfers for is ticking along nicely. I have been paying roughly £60 a month on that one (minimum payment DD plus an extra payment on the same day to make it up to the desired amount) but I have just calculated how much the monthly payment needs to be to pay it off before the 0% expires (in August 2013). It needs to be £80 a month so just a small increase needed. (I have just realised that I haven’t given this card a nickname yet – I need to think of one!)

The balance on the Egg/Barclaycard (Evil Egg – this one has got a nickname!) is now very large so I think it might be time to search for another balance transfer deal – Life of Balance ideally but 0% would do – to try to reduce the amount of interest I am paying.

Right – I really need to do some work now, so bye for now!

PigginSkint

Hi All

Finally I have got round to updating my sig with my 1st Sept figures - see below.

It is not as good as I had hoped, but there are reasons for that. I have managed to find 2 pretty rare things - a 0% balance transfer deal for a long enough period (16 months) that makes it worth doing, plus a Life Of Balance balance transfer deal (5.9% APR) on another card. I have taken advantage of both, which of course will be good in the long run but in the short term I have had balance transfer fees to pay for both (which I have already paid back - I do like a level playing field) and the first minimum payments haven't gone through yet.

We have also just had a trip to the Proms, which I did put on the credit card, but I did get a really good deal for the train and accommodation!:money:

In other news, I went for an interview for a new job on Monday last week and I got it! It is still for the same university but a different department. It is the next band up so it is a promotion, which means more money - woohoo! :j

This is actually very good timing because, although nothing has actually been said, I am expecting the maintenance from the Ex to stop once DS turns 18 next month. It is only £100 a month so it won't have that much of an impact anyway.

Right must get back to other things - FB, FV, my spreadsheets and cooking the dinner!

Bye all!

PigginSkint

Hi All

Well it's the first of the month so that means that it is time to update the debt figures and update the signature (see below). On time as well - wonders will never cease!

For one reason and another this last month has been a bit of a toughie, but the scores on the doors are looking a lot better, now so I can start to breathe a little bit easier...just a little! I would really like these figures to go down even faster, but I suppose I just have to hold onto what I have achieved.

Scores on the doors:

Total credit card debt
1/10/12 £18339.46
1/9/12 £18576.36
1/8/12 £18709.32

Total non-mortgage debt
1/10/12 £22807.23
1/9/12 £23152.39
1/8/12 £23338.27

One thing I have just noticed is that my total non-mortgage debt is now a lot less than my total credit card debt used to be, so I suppose that is something to celebrate.

Also my total mortgage debt is higher than my total non-mortgage debt by quite a margin, which wasn't always the case. There was a time that my total non-mortgage debt was higher than my total mortgage debt, and I didnt really know whether to be delighted or horrified by that!

I have other news to report, but I think I will do that in a separate post.

Bye for now!

PigginSkint

In other news...well life is quite eventful at the moment.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I am about to change jobs. This is my last week in my current post and I have still got loads to do, not least an absolute mountain of handover notes.

This is not helped at the moment by the fact that I am actually not very well. I have a chest infection which the first lot of antibiotics didn't touch and in fact I am worse now - the infection was on one side only and is now on both.

The problem is that I can't afford to have time off at the moment. Luckily my legs are just about holding me up at and I haven't got vertigo (which I often get when I'm ill) so I am just trying to battle through it at the moment.

For the past 2 weeks I have been going to work and then going straight up to my bed to rest as soon as I get home and spending most of the weekend like that as well. I have managed to get some jobs done but not many - trying to conserve my strength. I am just hoping the 2nd lot of antibiotics (day 4 now) take effect otherwise I think I could be in a right mess.

DS will be 18 at the end of this month, so that will be some additional expense. Luckily I have a present savings fund which should take care of his birthday present, and his party is not going to cost too much money - bowling with a few friends and then back to the house for food and beer.

Anyway, my lunchbreak is over now so I had better get on with some work.

Bye for now!

PigginSkint

Hi All

I started my new job on Monday so it has been a funny old week so far - everyone's really nice but it is all a bit overwhelming how much I have got to get to grips with.

I had a lovely send off from my old job last week - they had obviously had quite a lot contributed to the collection because they got me a kindle! It is something I would not have been able to justify the expense of buying for myself, so I am very glad that someone has bought one for me.

I updated my spreadsheets the other night, which was a very scary, sobering and depressing experience - money is very tight this month. I have had to cancel all of my standing orders (until after payday) with the exception of DS's pocket money. Not only that, but I have had to borrow some money from a couple of my savings pots, and may well have to borrow more before the month is out.

We could normally cope with all of that but it is my youngest brother's birthday today and we going out for dinner to celebrate on Friday evening, we are going to a friend's 50th birthday party on Saturday night - at a pub and it's fancy dress. To top it all, it is DS's 18th birthday at the end of this month.

I could probably deal with all of this upheaval except for the fact that I am not feeling very well. I am going to the doctors this morning (hence why I have got opportunity to write this update!) to see whether my chest infection has finally gone (after 2 lots of antibiotics) - if I am well enough I will be getting my flu jab while I am there. I also have a suspected torn muscle in my shoulder, so I have got to have a scan on Tuesday.

Sorry for all the doom and gloom! My new job is a promotion so my next pay packet will be bigger, so that is something to be thankful for! (But I am half expecting the maintenance off the Ex to stop once DS turns 18 - good job I have now got a higher paying job really!)

Right, I had better go and get ready to go out.

Bye all!

PigginSkint

I'm still here!

Having managed one week in my new job, I have now been off sick for 3 weeks - not a great start! I am now on my 5th course of antiobiotics in as many weeks (3 different kinds) and now a short sharp course of steroids as well because of my asthma - always made very much worse by chest infections. At least the kidney infection has now gone!

Last month was a tricky one money-wise, not least because of DS's 18th birthday which was on Saturday. I had already put aside enough to pay for his present and for the food and drink for his party. But I still need to pay back the cost of the ten pin bowling.

I have had to reduce my overpayments on my other credit cards because obviously what I have paid for on the Egg/Barclaycard (the 'spending card' so no promotional rates) needs to take priority at the moment. In addition, I am half expecting (although nothing has actually been said) that the maintenance the Ex has been paying me will stop now that DS is 18. It would be due to be paid in within the next few days so I need to hang fire on some of the overpayments I would make until I know whether it will be paid or not. It is only £100 a month, so we could manage without - particularly now that I have a better paid job - but that is an extra £100 I could be paying towards some serious debt busting.

All this preamble is leading me onto my 1st Nov figures which I will do in a separate post....

PigginSkint

Sig is now updated (see below) and scores on the doors are as follows. It is not as good as I had hoped but once some of the uncertainty over certain things has been ironed out, I will be able to make some overpayments.

[FONT=&quot]Total credit card debt
[/FONT][FONT=&quot]1/11/12 £18418.01[/FONT][FONT=&quot]
1/10/12 £18339.46
1/9/12 £18576.36
1/8/12 £18709.32

Total non-mortgage debt
1/11/12 £22784.86
1/10/12 £22807.23
1/9/12 £23152.39
1/8/12 £23338.27[/FONT]