Paying the car tax via EBay, and other shenanigans.

roxy7699

Oh my the toilet! Did it mend ok?

Well done on all your bargain hunting. I read yesterday that from October as they are doing away with the paper tax disc they will also allow you to pay for it monthly by direct debit. It comes with a 5% charge but I would ave been better doing that than putting it on my 29% credit card.

Ps. you are allowed to grumble, no matter what others have going on or don't, you need to get grumbles out.

mfmaybe

roxy7699 wrote: »

Oh my the toilet! Did it mend ok?

Well done on all your bargain hunting. I read yesterday that from October as they are doing away with the paper tax disc they will also allow you to pay for it monthly by direct debit. It comes with a 5% charge but I would ave been better doing that than putting it on my 29% credit card.

Ps. you are allowed to grumble, no matter what others have going on or don't, you need to get grumbles out.

Haha well we haven't actually tried to sort it yet . We've been using the downstairs loo as much as possible, and nighttime use involves a bit of hovering! It's such a nightmare though.

I hadn't heard that about the tax disc. I did read that the disc is no longer transferable. I can't decide if this helps me or not. So I've just shelled out the best part of £500 to tax the car. I was thinking I'd keep it another 6 months to get some use out of it, then sell it half way through the year. That way the buyer might not think to ask what it was going to cost . Now, under the new system, the buyer has to tax it themselves straight away and I get a rebate. I'm not clear if they would just pay for whatever was left until the current disc expired or if the clock re-sets and they would need to pay the £500 immediately. If it is the latter, I think it will make my car much harder to sell.

However in maybe better news I read something via a work email that suggested some shares I own could be about to payout a small windfall. Don't know what the timing will be but would take care of the rest of my boiler debt.

mfmaybe

Well OH caved and is just back from buying a new loo seat. I was using it as motivation to refit the bathroom but in that we've been talking about doing it for 6 years, maybe he has a point

Had a really lovely ride on my horse this morning, the weather is great, warm but not hot, dry, no flies. Loving the Indian summer. Just trying to motivate myself to get something else achieved today, though I haven't decided what's on the list yet. Drinking tea is featuring heavily so far!

mfmaybe

Been a bit more controlled in the last couple of days. Spent £1.75 yesterday and nothing today. Must get back to properly preparing lunches.

Reminder in for one set of vehicle insurance. Sigh. And I have a big vehicle MOT due that last year was £1k. If it's that again I'm a bit scuppered as, hey, guess what, I've not saved up

roxy7699

Cars are a nightmare aren't they. I don't think it will make the car harder to sell once all cars have the new tax system. I didn't know they weren't transferable, I wonder how people are meant to legally drive away with no tax.

Glad the loo is fixed if only for night time trips.

mfmaybe

Yes loo fully operational again

Have managed to pay OH most of the credit card bill. Hoping to be able to put another £150 against it before pay day. Will leave me just (ha!) another £200 to pay him on payday.

Just trying to work out where that will leave me next month.

mfmaybe

**** Warning. Long pensive post ahead. It helps me remember, sorry!*

OK so have done a bit of a drains-up analysis. Things are (to borrow from Pip) squeaky.

Bad news

• Lorry MOT due - cost unknown, Savings nil.
• Lorry Insurance and recovery due - £358. Will have to go onto a card. Will try to shop around but it's probably not a bad price all-in.
• 0% card fairly horrendous due to adding 2*road tax to it. Needs paid off by Feb.
• Not going to have any spare money to put onto it next month, from regular income alone, though minimum payment will be made.
• Spent way too much money on lunches at the office this month.
• Haven't yet started putting money aside for a £1200 January bill.
• Looks like Medical stuff is about to kick off again. Cost, £gazillions, savings £nil.

Positives.

• Onepoll at £37 so should payout at some point! Will go to 0% card.
• TCB has £90 in various stages of readiness. Again, for 0% card
• £200 squirelled away in full-on-emergency fund.
• Managed to keep out of overdraft for several months now.
• Tax bill that last year was over £500 is only going to be £90. Know this in advance so can hopefully a) save it and b) start the year on a better footing.
• Boiler will get fully paid next month.
• Home insurance bill (which is huge) was also a massive January bill last year, should have most of this saved up via joint bills account.
• Joint savings have money for an exciting home improvement that is happening in a few weeks.

I seem to have made good improvements with managing our household bills. Pretty much at the stage of being in front of them rather than behind them. In theory this doesn't benefit my personal position as I put a set amount in to the accounts each month; but in the past we've always been propping this up.

My downfall is just the sheer number of large annual bills, plus repairs of various things, plus holidays. I know, of course, that we don't live a frugal life; but I SHOULD be able to afford it with my salary. I just seem to be struggling to get ahead of the expenses as I have with the house expenses. It is good that I managed to pay off my overdraft and keep it that way, but I sort of cheated by effectively moving things on to the 0% card. Yes I am paying off my family debt, and we had a very big holiday in there, but I just am not where I want to be. I'm not a "shopper" so it's not like I can just turn off that tap. Every month when I look for ways to cut back, the "lunch and going out" budget is the only thing I can cut. Almost everything else is a DD or something I can't avoid like the horses need shoes (every bloody month!).

Somehow or other I need to get to the place where of course I have no debt but that also I properly plan and save up for these things so that I'm ahead.

So where does that leave me? Well, excluding unknown medical bills (see, there I go again!), next month should see all the smaller "debts" go - boiler paid off, any outstanding holiday costs etc. I'll then be left with the family debt which I am quietly paying off, and the 0% card. So whilst the focus has to be to get that card paid off by February, I also need to cover that January bill and have some kind of savings pot running. I'm going to have to put £250 per month into the January bill pot at least.

Am thinking I might change my car tax part of my sig to a savings goal. I should really start to think about setting up other savings pots, but I think just focus on the ones that really de-rail me for now.

And breathe....

cazmanian_minx

Look on the bright side; you know where you are and you're in a better position than you were previously. Onwards and upwards

mfmaybe

Thanks Caz for stopping by. That's true, but I just don't feel like I'm making any tangible progress, which is frustrating. I still seem to pay everything in lieu. We will definitely have to cut back holidays for a while until I can catch up a little and just keep my fingers crossed for no other big bills in the meantime.

It's a shame you don't get cashback on farrier and vets bills and things

mfmaybe

Right I have updated my signature. Taken off the car tax. Like it or not, these have added on to my 0% card and now that just needs paid off.

I've also set up a savings target for my January big bill.

Sept still looks squeaky. I get paid in 2 days and all other costs are out, so transferred the remaining £150 to OH for the holiday credit card. Got £2.94 left . I have £260 still to pay him on payday. I will also pay the remainder of the boiler which I will be glad to have behind me. It's still tight as my own CC has a bit of holiday expenses too. But right now it looks like all these can be paid, plus have a whopping £35 left at the end. I will have to buy my first stack of winter hay next month but that's in budget. The potential fly in the ointment is I need to get my lorry MOT'd and not sure how much that might set me back. I have allocated budget for the test itself but nothing for the work. I might just have to take it myself and keep my fingers crossed. I won't order my hay yet, as I still have a little bit left and if the weather remains mild for at least another 2 weeks I might get off with it, the horses are pretty fat still.

So then I have to decide what to do about any surplus income such as cashback. Maybe into the January Bill fund to start me off. But I can't defer that January card payment much longer.

Oh I hate this juggling, I need to sort it out soon