Paying the car tax via EBay, and other shenanigans.

mfmaybe

Quick update for now. Payment made against 0% card so that balance has come down a bit. Will be nice to get the paid off amount to 10%. In other news, licensed one of my vehicles, have the money already set aside for that one. Car passed its MOT with no work needed. :T Got a random £157 from some shares I own. Have put into savings so not sure what best to do with it yet. Have £17 payable on TCB with another £80 in the queue behind it. A few small things on Fleabay too. Unlikely to net much but every little helps.

On the down side, have put a few things on cards - small person stuff mostly, and absolutely nothing frivolous.

Card status. £641 on it. DH share is £158, therefore mine is £484. (£150 of this is diesel :eek:). Anyway, of that amount, currently £138 is set aside. Next month's budget had £204 towards it. That means I need to put £142 (what I've spent since payday) aside right now, plus whatever else I spend. This month feels super-tight in the bank account for some reason.

Edit - the £641 isn't just the small person stuff - it includes all our food, fuel and other bits and bobs too

mfmaybe

Bit of a mixed post today. First the sad stuff. We've had to have our adorable tiny pony put to sleep today. She's been on borrowed time for a bit, but today it was a no-brainer. All a little bit heartbroken here .

To put an unemotional hat on for a moment, this will have incurred some veterinary expenses, but that's irrelevant. I have a little bit of a slush fund set aside for that, and welfare always comes first.

In other news, I have sold a couple of things on fleabay. Two paid up and posted. The other one looks troublesome. Came back inside last night and saw the item had sold, yet also saw 3 messages from the winning bidder asking for measurements. The first was sent 1 minute before the auction ended, the other two after she'd bid, and won. I messaged her to say that I hadn't seen the question in the nanosecond she'd allowed, but that as she had bid anyway it would hopefully fit when it arrived. She still wanted the measurement, which I have sent. And now she's stopped messaging me and surprise, surprise, not paid yet :mad:. The winning bid was £2.60 for heaven's sake, hardly a gamble of a lifetime. I've sent an invoice so hopefully she'll pay.

Need to get a few more things listed though, credit card amount not fully set aside, as I've had loads of fuel cost this month. On the plus side, now have £67 payable in TCB which I've just claimed. That should help plug the gap a little. I need to go back and check my "priorities" post to make sure that I'm setting things aside in the right order.

Otherwise things are ok. Just a very flat day today, hopefully feel better after a good night's sleep.

Edit - card balance now £759. OH share £185. Mine £574. £204 in next month's budget plus the £138 already set aside. Have moved another £100 today. Hoping to have another £100 left in bank. Plus the £67 TCB and about £8 fleabay so far. That's £617, an excess of £42. Need that for horse food set aside on another card. So any other fleabay sales can reduce the £204 I've set aside in next month's budget, or be used if I have to put anything else on the card before payday (like the food shopping!). Soooo nearly there with catching up on this monthly card, and soon I can have a clear run each month on debt repayment.

ScattySkewbald

So sorry to hear about the wee one. Hope you're doing ok. Big hugs x x x

cazmanian_minx

((((((((mfmaybe))))))))

RIP tiny pony.

mfmaybe

Thanks both. Can't believe how something so tiny took up such a big space in my heart.

mfmaybe

I have been a bit lax with the posting recently. Things ok here, still missing our little pony and her hilarious antics, but I know she's pain free now.

So it's nearly pay day. I don't quite have the full amount transferred for the monthly CC but it's getting better - looks like I'm around £75 short. I spent £480 on the card this month, of which a whopping £280 was fuel :eek: This was over budget even for a big month, but I had a few trips away. I think I will put the last fill into next month as I don't have so many trips away and car nearly full - so need to trf £47.69 on pay day. Need to aim for a lean fuel month. Also had a couple of big food shops so need to look into why that was. The rest was mainly baby/maternity stuff so can't be helped. But I did have a bit of TCB/fleabay cash to pad it out too. I went back and checked my priorities and it's going ok but taking longer than I'd hoped to catch up on the CC bill.

Next month's standard payment should take CC to over 10% paid off which will be a nice point to get to.

Have done some sums for maternity pay. They were scary. Basically MrM will have to double the amount he pays into the house account (ie pay all my share) and I will have to stop putting any money into the annual bills account etc. This is why I need to get my credit card caught up. I need to check that I really can live on what I am going to be earning. If I can save as much up into that annual bills account as possible it means I could take a bit of a break from it, and catch up when I'm back on full pay.

OK that's a bit depressing. I'm going to nip outside for 15 minutes in the garden while it's nice.

mfmaybe

OK got a bit done in the garden. With that, it's a case of Every Little Helps . We had a guy come in and do some weeding once a fortnight last year, but that's not in our budget just now. I get tired easily so need to try to keep on top of it. Already the warmer weather is causing havoc.

Also managed to get a wash on and hung up, scrubbed the worktops and cupboard doors in the kitchen, claimed some free seeds from the MSE newsletter, paid a couple of bills, rearranged the cat insurance (with a fairly hefty TCB amount due), bin out and back in again, and even got a little bit of work done :rotfl:. Oh and I may have solved an equine problem that's been bothering me. Still got to hoover upstairs, do horses later, and a couple of other chores I haven't thought of yet!

Need to get going with my tax return soon too. It shouldn't be too bad as I had to pay for a new boiler last year which I can deduct. The sooner I do it, the sooner I know how much I'd have to set aside for it.

Edit - TCB amount already tracked :T

mfmaybe

Payday :j

Managed to get to payday with 30p left Though not really as I moved extra money into my credit card account just before payday. As I promised up thread, I've moved the fuel cost from last weekend now too. Done the transfer into my annual bills account. I also got my annual payrise from this month. I've transferred every penny into my savings :A. Paid my family debt payment, so that's come down again. Monthly credit card bill paid - was a bit disappointed that I still had to sub it from my recent pay.

So there is a fair bit sitting in annual bills, some unallocated savings, and a good chunk of the card amount set aside. I have started my books for my tax return. I think I will be ok to have this set aside by the time my salary stops.

mfmaybe

Just reading back over the last few posts to try to see where I am. Firstly, 0% card payment made, the amount is now over 10% paid. Yay!

Fuel has so far been good, but one vehicle is in desperate need of a top up and the other will in a day or two depending on the weekend journeys. But all going well, that should come in under budget for the month.

Warning, a very complicated bit comes next, mainly for my own memory purposes:
Looks like another £370 needs to go on the card by payday. Fuel £100, food shopping £150, horse feed, £50, hair appt £70. I should have £490 left in the bank based on predicted payments. The £120 extra can plug the gap on other things already on the cards, currently £258 short. That plus £10 from fleabay sale leaves me £128 short which sounds bad, but we've been buying bits for our bathroom which I hadn't factored in. There's still another £200 or so to go on that though, so all things considered I'm about £330 short . Will try to spend less on food but have a feeling I owe OH for a couple of shops so don't want to bank this yet. There is a £150 bill I think I can defer into next month, plus I could count the hair in next month probably.

Next month currently predicts a £190 surplus. I've just noticed I actually included £80 towards the credit card in the budget (the bit I didn't get set aside before, plus a slightly lower minimum payment).

So £150+£70+£80 = £300 which is most of the gap. That would take £220 off my predicted surplus next month (meaning a small overspend of £30) but I nearly always have a bit of padding so that doesn't worry me. Plus I have TCB of £85 in various stages.

Other issues looming: Vet bill due for tiny pony's last farewell . That will include disposal, my best guess is about £300.

I owe the farmer an unknown amount (guess, £100) for a bit of work he did, plus need to order some hardcore at about £200. Also need to get the field rolled, about another £100 probably.

So, can just about scrape by this month but still need to find money for those things! I have a bit set aside for the vet but I'm not sure this is what I want to use it for.

Sigh, it's lots of juggling all the time. But the debt DOES keep going down, the overdraft hasn't been used in a year nearly, I'm still getting other things done, and I have finally got some money set aside in the annual bills plus a small sort of emergency pot as well. I shall try to remember this when I feel that the money never stretches far enough!

mfmaybe

Updates per above. Fuel so far £35 but other car will need, probably tomorrow. Should keep me within budget.

Food shopping £50 so far so on target. Includes a lunch out with family.

Bought the bathroom bits. Total £200 but was forgetting only half of that is mine.

Farmer said only £50 for the work he did which is a bit better. Though of course any good news offset by bad. Horse had colic on Sunday so emergency vet visit needed. She's ok I think but would guess a £150 bill including drugs. Also now need to buy another bale of hay. The weather has been rotten and I think she's been gorging on spring grass one minute then cold and starving herself in the field shelter the next. So having another round bale put in to see her through another week until, please god, weather is a bit more seasonally appropriate.

In other news, am 28 weeks today. :eek: Time is going so fast now!