Paying the car tax via EBay, and other shenanigans.

in_need_of_direction

Any more excitement and you wouldn't still be in the black.

mfmaybe

That is true INOD - boring equals cheap

Managed a NSD yesterday due to aforementioned dullness. Working at home today so no need to spend as far as I know. Received my fleabay naughty purchase yesterday and really pleased - even nicer in the flesh than I hoped, fit perfectly, and paid far less than 50% of full price even though they are brand new :T.

Today I'm expecting a huge catfood delivery (cat is on expensive prescription food but luckily it lasts a long time). I always order it online as I can get cashback too (and it's usually cheaper) but this time it's been a week in arriving. We have run out of food today so the Yodel tracker better be right.

Also expecting my replacement knitting needle, bought a more expensive one than the cheap ones I bought last time - it's a fairly new hobby so didn't want to spend too much initially. Didn't come in post today despite apparently being sent 1st class yesterday. Our post is always a bit slow, although we aren't really that remote!

IIRC today is new rules for fleabay. Will have to see if that makes selling easier or harder for me. My main thing is the lack of inspiration.

Haven't done a HOMD for a while. Yesterday I managed to have a lovely hack on my horse in the evening, in the fading sunlight, even though it was forecast to tip down. And today it's relatively warm and quite sunny, which makes me feel so much happier.

To do today
[STRIKE]Clear my stuff out of conservatory.[/STRIKE] DONE
[STRIKE]Dishwasher on, and later emptied.[/STRIKE] DONE
Hoover upstairs
[STRIKE]Soak horse's rug ready for scrubbing.[/STRIKE] DONE
[STRIKE]Make bolognese sauce[/STRIKE] DONE
Find stuff to list
[STRIKE]Errrr - wash some windows. This might not happen [/STRIKE] Let's pretend this wasn't on the list

No money off bank today so still on track to have OD officially paid off this month. Hurrah. Have already started next week's shopping list - have a £15 off £60 spend for online Sainsburys, so going to do that this weekend and if we don't actually need £60 of shopping I'm going to stock up the baking cupboard a bit.

mfmaybe

Well I spectacularly failed at completing my last list but never mind :rotfl:

Exciting times here indeed. Tomorrow is payday. And today, I have <drumroll please> £3.35 in my bank account. POSITIVE BALANCE.

All DDs are off, and I was able to transfer the first £40 back to our joint savings as well. I keep repeating it, but it's a bit false as I've been putting things on the 0% card instead; but this should mean no more bank interest. I will repeat my aims now:

STAY OUT OF OVERDRAFT
Pay off boiler
Save up for car tax (payment on 18th Oct)
Pay off 0% card.

The small things I had relisted on fleabay didn't sell which is a bit annoying. Now need to change my approach due to the free listing changes. I'm still waiting on a couple of TCB cashback claims, they are both at the status of "waiting for merchant". One of them I put the claim in over 2 months ago. But never mind, I'm sure they will come back to me eventually. Have £26.60 in onepoll now, it is a bit slow but I manage to fit it in when I'm on calls and things so I don't mind.

I remembered that I've now made 3 overpayments on our mortgage. This means that the remortgage fee we added to the balance is now paid off, and each overpayment from now on goes against the original balance. That's about £300 a month. Stealing from INOD, I'm wondering if we could stretch to an extra payment a quarter. This would mean us putting another £100 in per month each. Though realistically I should probably wait until the boiler is paid back at least. Food for thought.

So today I need to
[STRIKE]Hoover house[/STRIKE] DONE
[STRIKE]Load dishwasher (already emptied it)[/STRIKE] DONE
Tidy up mail that's lying around
[STRIKE]Go to PO to pick up parcel[/STRIKE] DONE
[STRIKE]put away washing[/STRIKE] DONE
[STRIKE]Look into free insulation per MSE email[/STRIKE] DONE
Think about Mum's birthday, coming up soon.
[STRIKE]Fleabay[/STRIKE] ONE THING LISTED!
HOMD yesterday was definitely pony-related, had a good fun jumping session on him, we were both very tired afterwards!

in_need_of_direction

I'd say target the boiler, get together the pot to repay the credit card for the end of the interest free period then aim for the extra mortgage payment. I only put it in extra payment terms because it's a figure that's manageable. If my aim was just to clear the mortgage, I probably wouldn't do so well as it's too big for short term achievement.

mfmaybe

in_need_of_direction wrote: »

I'd say target the boiler, get together the pot to repay the credit card for the end of the interest free period then aim for the extra mortgage payment. I only put it in extra payment terms because it's a figure that's manageable. If my aim was just to clear the mortgage, I probably wouldn't do so well as it's too big for short term achievement.

It makes logical sense. However our mortgage is huge - c£250k now, though it did start at £314k 6 years ago :eek:. We got a 2 year fixed rate recently, and I reckon by the time it ends (July 16) interest rates will have shot up. So the quicker we can start overpaying the better. I will definitely get the boiler paid off first, but re-assess at that point re the 0% card slush fund.

mfmaybe

So today is payday, and for the first time since I can't remember when, I [STRIKE]have[/STRIKE] had more money than my payslip said. Amazing!

I have made the payment to my monthly credit card (the one all our food and fuel expenses go on) but won't get OH's share of that till early next week when he gets paid. I have paid my monthly family debt payment - that's now down by 20% which feels a good figure. Transferred this month's Virtual pet insurance, which for the first time can go into a separate account. Taken out the cash I need to pay my share of the gardener this month. I treated myself to a coffee (needed to break the £10 note to give myself a £5 one for him) so when I get home tonight the cash for him will go in the drawer at home. That will leave me about £3 cash in my wallet - in an ideal world that'll be all I spend in a month. By which I mean avoidable spends like lunch and coffee. Obviously our grocery bill is a bit more than £3 a month.

I am feeling good. Having a positive balance on the account just feels so much easier. That said, I know next month will be extremely tight as I need to pay off our holiday flights, so I want to try to put as much aside as I can this month. I will not go back into overdraft again <repeat ad infinitum>.

mfmaybe

RANT ALERT :mad:

Thought I'd use my £15 off Sainsburys voucher which expires on the 18th. Knowing I'd not get a delivery slot, stayed up tonight to do it. Spent half an hour getting it all ready, was at the checkout, put in the code and it tells me it has expired. Despite my delivery slot being Sunday (the 18th) and the voucher clearly saying "for deliveries on or before 18/05/2014. :mad:

So now that's a wasted evening, too late on a Friday, I still need to go to Sainsburys, and I don't get the money off.

I know these vouchers come about often enough, but I'm just annoyed I wasted the time. It helpfully says " go to our help section and click on Terms and Conditions" - which I can't even find.

That's what I get for trying to be good. I should have just opened the bottle of wine as per my original intention :rotfl:

in_need_of_direction

Maddening but it means you still have the plonk to look forward to and a clear head.

mfmaybe

Well that's true at least! I got up quite sharp, went to pick up some straw, then Sainsburys, and was home by 9.30. Horse ridden, chores done, now about to have lunch so morning been quite productive. Rain coming on so haven't decided what the afternoon is going to consist of yet.

mfmaybe

Weird day. Off work with a migraine. Feeling better now but it's been thundery so I wonder if that's why my head was so sore? Anyway got outside earlier for a bit and potted on some veg seedlings. All part of the save money plan

Had a fairly cheap weekend. Other than food shopping just £10 on straw and a little bit in the orange DIY store paid for with vouchers. Was having a self indulgent rant yesterday about how saving money meant all I was doing were the boring "chores". Cook, clean, washing etc. so I made myself spend a little bit so I could tackle a project instead. Feels less like treading water now.

In other news I got my Monday morning text from the bank at about 3pm. Normally it's 9am. Maybe it's done in wealth order and now that I'm in the black I'm at the end of the list

NSD as I've been off. Lunch ready for tomorrow. Need to make cereal bars though as these stave off mid morning hunger very well.