Mighty Titan Overdraft will crumble!

skintygerlinky

Evening lovely!


Finally caught up with your diary! I love your honesty and think your attitude toward your budget and long-term goals is something to be proud of. You will get there in the end!


How are things with your boyf at the mo? I think that, although you acknowledge how stressed he gets talking about money, the fact that you still address these issues with him is really encouraging and assertive.


Siiiiiiiigh. It can sometimes feel disheartening being in a financial no-mans land but if we keep reminding ourselves that this isn't forever and we're learning useful budgeting tips NOW, then when we ARE better off we will be able to manage our finances so much better.


Or something!! But short term it's also perfectly fine to have a glass of wine to stop ourselves from losing the plot!!


Anyway I'll pop back to see how you're doing soon - feel free to read the utter nonsense that is my diary. Many lists on the go in there at the mo...wonder how long I'll keep that up for?! I'll give it one week max! xxxxxxxxxxxx

hohum

Hey sg, apparently I'm keeping the unsociable hours at the moment. Things with boyfriend good but he's really up and down. A real worrier, although you wouldn't know it. Thanks for wading through my long posts. I do tend to go on it seems!

I have a thing when times are tough to tell myself 'it will not always be like this'. It won't always be so tough. It might be more tough or easier but it won't always be just like this. Which is usually reassuring

I like how your diary feels like a place to hangout... I shall drop by and maybe say something rather than lurking in background.

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Have taken time off this weekend (apart from second job) and really enjoyed it. Hung out with family, enjoyed high living of a meal out courtesy of auntie who insisted on treating us (bless my mum, she clocked my reticence to join in spontaneous 'hey let's go for a meal' plans and had offered to cover me).

Enjoyed beautiful weather, mowed lawn and attacked hedge some more. Seedlings planted last week, all a bit late but peas already going great guns.

Had missed friends bday night out (not totally money saving, part just not in mood). So had them round for buns and coffee.

Should do my hmrc small earnings letter and more tax return tomorrow. Spent £11 this weekend, £5 on groceries and £6 on boyfriend's weekly social.

skintygerlinky

Hi missis!


Sounds like you've had a positive and upbeat weekend. It's good to take time off, to recharge and get together with friends and family. I've had a similar time myself and loved it this weekend! Supposed to be doing some uni work now so need to get off this forum!!


Seems theres a few of us around who are really into growing vegies at the mo! I say 'us' but so far I'm thinking about it. But Im thinking really hard so expect that, by the power of osmosis, a load of chillis, tomatoes and peppers will explode out of the ground in my garden any day now!


Have you had a look at the Frugal living thread? Lots of good ideas and lovely people in there who are trying to stretch their budgets - it's really supportive. See you in there if you're around and of course feel free to chat in my diary too.


Catch up again soon! xxxxx

hohum

ah sk surely that hard thinking at the tomatoes will be enough. I have some tomatoes planted, a bit late I think so they may not mature in time. My garden's a tiny little north east facing bit of land. Perfect for a beginner though. I've been here a few years, the first summer here was 2012 which was pretty depressing. The slugs ate everything, razed it to the ground.

I'm wise to it now, I don't put anything in the ground until it's got big enough to survive them. Got mangetout, broad beans, tomatoes, spring onions, basil (very mardy is basil), dill planted for this year. Will pick up things on stalls as the summer goes on. My favourites are my silver jubilee
hybrid tea roses. They are stunning and should be out in a few weeks.

I seriously doubt growing own veg saves any money but it pleases me to have the garden looking nice. And having fresh herbs is a great bonus.

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I am thinking about prioritising money. At the moment I allocate to whatever bill is due next, then food, then living money, then either debts, rainy days or savings. So at the moment all my 'future' categories (holidays, annual car insurance, emergency fund) have small amounts in. I count the monthly interest on my overdraft as a bill and then overpay what I can on top, which last month meant £27 in interest and £10 in actual debt reduction. I could focus on throwing everything at the debt...but on a small and variable income I feel it would be unwise not to allow a monthly payment to those regular bills eg car insurance, car tax etc. after all it's a cost that will happen. The other thing is the monthly buffer that ynab uses. I am trying to build this plus emergency fund. It would prob make sense to build buffer first then emergency fund....

I am so hoping that by managing money better we will see a reduction in the cost of our lending. This may then allow for overpayment (or just see us through...the excitement of self employment! Seems to be different people do different things. Makes me nervous not to try and build some back up because we really have no fall back (apart from borrowing from family). Hence why car is not being driven until we can get money for it to have repairs and mot...

hohum

Thinking more about prioritising. Of the amount we spent on repayments, if I shifted the majority to the overdraft it could be clear in a year. The thing is we're locked into paying that to the ni debt until July. I also have the absolute fear of locking us in to monthly commitments beyond what we can afford. So while we paid £250 on debt last month, I know that this month we have another monthly cost of £75, plus another £60 to find for car tax. I don't know how much our income will be beyond meeting the bills. So I'm afraid to commit anything more. Maybe in July I will look at repaying the same we've paid to the ni debt, to the overdraft.

For years my bank tried to sell me a loan to clear my overdraft but it was the fear of locking myself in to repayments on a variable income that stopped me. That and I just hated them

I have thought about taking a loan from family to pay it off, the advantage being 0% interest. However I also think there is an advantage in just clearing it myself. This is the first time in tackling it I feel confident I can leave money in there and it won't get swallowed. So this method works. I need to start paying more towards it.

hohum

Updates....

I went spend crazy this weekend and spent:

£9.89 on Friday which went on 'out of the office' type spends. Forgot to bring lunch, was out at an evening event so had to cover that, bought myself and colleague a drink at event. So did not need to spend about £7 of this.

£27.25 on saturday - theatre ticket and dinner. It's again a professional thing to go and see theatre but I totally did NOT need to go for dinner. We could have had a quick snack. Think the fact that boyfriend was away on holiday made me feel spendy. Then I find out that he turned down going for a meal whilst away and stayed in while all his friends went for dinner! Boooo to me.

Fortunately no spends on Sunday and old friend bought me coffee on Monday when we met up for lunch.

Got a little bit of pay in today (phew) so have allocated it to our categories. No more spending money for me this week.. well, I am allowed £5 which I must save for Saturday. Next payments to come out (car insurance £67.99, SIM monthly contract approx £20 and NI debt £89.71) are covered. I have £46.70 out of my £70 target for road tax this month (another £70 to find next month). Not sure we'll need to buy too much for food, I need to look at what winnings boyfriend brought back and decide how I'll use them. Have decided on toad in the hole for this eve. Will depend on our schedule for this week, as we're both quite busy so I may need to make some portable options. Possibly some dough pastry cheese pasties although would need to make those this evening.. hmm

Whole lot of Santander charges were waived so that was good. Although clearly I spent the whole lot on frivolous items so therefore not so good.
I have also sent off letter to HMRC re retrospective certificate of small earnings. Need to chase previous employer re P45 as I'm pretty sure he never issued one.

Absolutely no debt reductions made apart from NI debt, which is all a*** backwards as the interest is substantially less than my overdraft but they're threatening debt collectors if he doesn't settle. It's a very old debt and in 2 months it will be gone so yay. Then we focus on the overdraft.

it's going to be quite tight this month to cover bills at end of month, let's just hope people decide to pay on time (we've learnt to never count on these things!).

hohum

ffffffffffffff uuuu k

helpful revenue has caught up with itself, applying the split of my personal tax allowance across my two employments. Means taking all tax on gross pay to date in April and May for one employment this month. Meaning receiving £140 less than I was counting on.:eek: . This would happen in our particularly lean for boyfriend month with additional £67 car insurance to cover wouldn't it.

It's actually quite neat how it's all worked out. I know real time PAYE is a bit of a mare for employers (we outsource it, let me not have to deal with payroll I say) but it's much better for situations like mine with two employments plus self employment. This does not however make me feel less sick right now.

Well apparently I can cover all our bills, leaving us reliant on my weekly wages for anything else. We will have money for food and travel, just. I suspect no debt repayments this month. I have a couple of books I had lined up to sell so will go through and sort those. Will also check nearest cash for clothes dump.

hohum

This entire diary is like a game of fortunately/ unfortunately!

Had a really crappy shift at second job last night (colleagues all worked to their finish time and no more, leaving me finishing by myself. Nobbers). Then this morning cooked my lunch, put on a wash and tried to sort out providing food for boyfriend who treated me like I was harassing him (no !!!!!!, I just want to make sure you have food when you return at 10pm tonight as I won't be there!). Had minor tiff with boyfriend. Still felt gloomy about relentlessness of it all (making lunch to save money, preparing dinner to save money, etc etc) and boyfriend's happiness to be passenger in creating life for ourselves.

Minor tiff rectified, then find my parents have transferred me a few hundred quid, just cause. Feel like crying (again!).

Had a little play in YNAB. Bills are covered, next weeks income can cover shopping and groceries, think can put £90 to debt, £90 to future hols and remainder covers shortfall for bills, etc

Matilda80

Hi hh!

Just read and enjoyed your diary. I can relate to loads of things you say. Especially the comfort coffee and food treat spends.

Keep going you will get there.x

hohum

I'm starting to think I don't have an issue with living with no money, I'm quite good at that. But when I have money, and now I'm thinking about what happens to it, I'm apparently useless at prioritising how to spend it. There are so many things, once the bills are paid, that I want it to do and I suspect that trying to make it do everything is less useful?

I also had the classic 'woo I've been let off the hook' and promptly treated myself and colleague to cake and coffee for £5. And bought a bottle of wine on way home (having resisted the wine at my regular social, tap water only!). Meaning I had to take the ten pounds I'd excitedly put in the christmas fund...

At the moment the totals of my virtual 'pots' (this is after all bills and debt interest is covered) are as follows:

£70 in road tax (need £140 by end June, plan to save £70 in June)
£100 off mighty titan OD
£89.61 NI debt (we have to keep to payment plan otherwise will be dealing with debt collectors. Only one more payment after this)
£9 towards car insurance next year
£10 emergency fund
£5.44 towards Halifax OD of £92.44 (not actually in the account, building up in joint account)
£20 in birthdays (mine next month & owe my sister a present)
£100 for friend's wedding in october/ our holiday
£5 in buffer
£2.51 in christmas fund

I am thinking that maybe we should focus on building buffer first, then emergency. no use having two small funds. As we don't have access to any further credit, the buffer would be our emergency fund initially.