Balancing not just the budget

RosaBernicia

Shouldn't be allowed in Sainsbugs am clearly having a home refresh month!

Went in to return some overly bashed cat food and came home with a G Foreman compact grill - reduced by a couple of quid but also by the £5.50 goodwill credit for the manky cat food so effectively down to half price plus a mini glass cake dome down to half price. Picked up some more bits to use a £40 spend voucher which got me £4 in points, so the cake dome is effectively paid for by using those and my earlier points on the next shop. The grill does look good and will be handy for doing eg chargrilled chicken breasts to go in the summer salads I can make with the slicer :rotfl:

Have managed to enrol for college but still no confirmed bill for the fees. Also realised what a state my hair is in - can't remember the last time I got it cut - so have made an appointment to do that plus treat myself to a facial on Friday. I've brought forward the money to this month as I had it in next month's budget and it's from the paycheque I just received anyway. That will hopefully help me feel a little less decrepit when my birthday rolls up.

I could have claimed money for a long day overtime this week but decided I'd really rather have the time off right now. Feel slightly guilty about that as it would have covered the haircut and facial but am really fed up with work so feel I need the break. Have confessed all to YNAB and reshuffled everything so that's all straight and I do have quite a bit of cash that I didn't need after all, so that may last a little while.


RB xx

RosaBernicia

Oops I forgot that the broadband renewal is cheapest if you pay line rental upfront. Just as well there should be some extra in my February paycheque.

Have switched suppliers and gone through TCB - my old supplier did offer to match the deal but I would have missed out on £30 cashback and I'm actually quite pleased with the new supplier's process so far; here's hoping their actual service is good too. The overall cost is down to just under a tenner a month in the end - I figured I wouldn't say no to £30 cash so it's daft to turn it down in any other form. It's also £3-5 cheaper than the renewal deal

This means that the £200 I left free for potentially taking off the Last Card has been reallocated for upfront line rental, so the next payment will have to be from next paycheque.

On the bright side MSE wise...
I now have over £60 pending from TCB
the fleabay sales have gone up a bit - both the perfumes are near a fiver which I wasn't expecting to happen, so that will all go in the pot
I still have £25 in cash
The half price salon voucher I bought will be applied to my facial tomorrow so I don't have to feel as guilty about it :rotfl:


RB xx

RosaBernicia

Hmm, just an update to keep on track...

I'm about £80 over budget for this month according to YNAB, but there are a few sections I can probably cut down so not worrying about it for now. My food bill is going down again now that I've restocked the freezer after the Commuting Madness. The broadband and landline costs are going to look very messy, as I forgot about the exit fee :eek::eek: and agreed a start date that was within my current contract :eek::o... thank goodness the new supplier has a buy-out agreement, so they will cover those costs :A, but it does mean I'll have to pay up and then wait a while to get the money back.

I've had a few more Ebay sales so that's put some more money in the pot this month. And that includes my first eejit trying to get a refund for something that is clearly addressed not only in the item listing but in the title... so that will be referred to Ebay to decide, if she doesn't just drop it. I can't believe people are so rude - it doesn't cost anything to say hello, please, kind regards, even in an online message and especially when you are asking someone for something!

I'm going to close my cleared Penultimate Card as soon as I get the statement through, which should be this coming week. Then I will apply for another 0% card just in case - I'd love to think I could get the Last Card paid off before the rate expires, but I'm not sure it's going to happen, so better to be safe. I'm thinking of applying for one with a shorter 0% but no fee, as I think I should only need another year maximum. And besides, I can get £20 cashback for the new account


Rosa xx

RosaBernicia

Just noticed TCB give cashback for Zoo+.... :j

RosaBernicia

Well the Penultimate Card is definitely clear :j
and I made a small payment to the Last Card so it is now SUB £2,500... £2,450 to be exact :j

I rang up to close the Penultimate Card and have been persuaded into keeping it, as it turns out the low rate is permanent not just for the lifetime of the balance transfers. (So I needn't have felt so grateful to them when they let me transfer more at that rate :mad::rotfl:.) I do want to keep one card in case of emergencies and it makes sense for it to be a cheap one - they've also given me 0% on purchases for a year.

However, I have cut the credit limit by £5K :eek: - they suggested this in trying to persuade me to open a second account for a 0% transfer, as reducing the available credit should help. I hadn't been paying attention to the limit so they have obviously done their usual trick of racking it up bit by bit til they give you half a mortgage, regardless of what on earth would happen if I actually used all my credit. Anyway I turned down their card because they wouldn't give me a deal with no transfer fee, and I think I should be able to get that with one of the current advertised deals from another bank - it's a shorter 0%, but that's fine as I should only need another year anyway. I'm going to wait til the end of the month to do my application as by then I should have my overtime pay and know how much is really left to pay off. If the uni ever get their a**e in gear I might even find out my college fees too :mad: .

The other card dilemma is whether I should now close the My Bank CC, as it's also clear and the interest rate is higher than the Penultimate Card. I normally use this for expenses as it's very easy to check the transfers online together with my current a/c, but I suppose if I'm clearing things every month anyway, it would be just as easy to pay the statement when it arrives (obviously I am not used to this... takes a while to adjust :rotfl:). And I am annoyed with that bank... it's the one in the news... so would prefer to take business away from them, but when I've tried switching before nowhere else has had as good a website or service. So I might stick with the current a/c and ditch their card. Hmmm. Will see.

My budget is a complete mess as I've had to pay out for travel to an interview - I can claim it back but probably won't get it for a few weeks so that's going to slightly slow up walloping the Last Card. Similarly I've paid out for my line rental and will be charged exit fees which will both hit this month, and I won't get the exit fees back for a few weeks. Still, I'm on track overall and it's a really good feeling knowing that this is the last stretch now.

Oh and NSD today


Rosa xx

kerri_gt

Sounds like you're doing well Rosa, hang in there. Get rid of any cards you don't need, that's my advise. Although I keep my 'debt' one separate from my everyday (gets paid off) one. Diffeent rates and different benefits on the two cards. I have a third one for emergencies too, which also has various offer rates throughout the year which may be handy should I actually need one in an emergency, hmmm, seems I'm not so good at using my own advise. Whoops x

RosaBernicia

kerri_gt wrote: »

Sounds like you're doing well Rosa, hang in there. Get rid of any cards you don't need, that's my advise. Although I keep my 'debt' one separate from my everyday (gets paid off) one. Diffeent rates and different benefits on the two cards. I have a third one for emergencies too, which also has various offer rates throughout the year which may be handy should I actually need one in an emergency, hmmm, seems I'm not so good at using my own advise. Whoops x

:rotfl:so long as you aren't racking them up then the number doesn't matter really

Rosa xx

vasseur

Well done Rosa :beer: My advice would be to get rid of the card because i) you are annoyed with them and ii) you might do what I did and forget to do it completely and end up with cards at nil balance coming out your ears and have loads more admin to do when you move house.......

Keep up the good work - I always look forward to your updates .

RosaBernicia

I've been soooo good this weekend :A

On Saturday I tackled a horrible job I'd been putting off and cleared out one of the garden storage things - it had split at one corner so has been getting rain in and I've not got round to sorting it, partly because it meant emptying it and partly because daylight hours are precious when they only happen at weekends. But I've cleared it all out, fixed it, managed to rescue most of the contents (despite this meaning a very icky job of basically hosing down and disinfecting things) and am pleased that most stuff is still OK. I need to drop off some resulting charity stuff in the week and must tackle the other storage next weekend. It was quite therapeutic though as a lot of what I chucked into storage has been there since I moved in, and I really don't need or want it any more - moved on

I've also got most things sorted for my interview in the week which has turned out to be rather more of a hassle than I thought - decided to fly as it's quite a way and that has meant sorting airport parking etc. Also had a sudden panic when I realised I didn't have a copy of the job description any more :eek: - they took so long to get back with the interview invite I had already binned it - but the wonders of the internet :A have saved my behind as I managed to get a copy of both the jd and the ad, despite it having closed in mid December. I'm meeting up with a friend as well, so the trip will have two purposes, and I'm glad of that as it means it all seems less of a PITA. Still have a couple of forms to do though so will have to sort that tomorrow night. I was really excited about this job and the admin has rather taken the shine off that, so am hoping I will get my enthusiasm back once safely on the plane.

Managed to buy less than I went for in town today - stuck to my list, and have saved myself money by deciding against buying a suitcase at least for now - my leather holdall will manage one more round trip. And did not buy lunch out either, not even sushi.

I haven't listed anything for Ebay this week, but did iron something and have a few bits I will put together for next weekend. I ought to as I seem to have put a bid on a dress that I don't remember placing - probably did it when half asleep, another danger of smartphones!:rotfl:


Rosa xx

RosaBernicia

Oh and re the cards, I think closing the MyBank one is probably the best option, but it will have to wait another few weeks as I've had to put the flight and parking on it for now.


Rosa xx