Paying the car tax via EBay, and other shenanigans.

mfmaybe

Definitely keeping you company INOD.

Not very happy about the way things are going. I've not been too bad on the food/coffee/lunch but have had several big unexpected bills. I am sure things will improve soon, no??

In good Karma news, a friend has been offered a job that I put her forward for. Suits her perfectly and she has been unemployed for about 3 years. I'm really happy it has worked out!

mfmaybe

Well firstly I've been omitting HOMD which have been blue sky related. Overcast again today but still dry :j

Today's good news. Letter arrived regarding my next vehicle tax, and it's about £50 less than I remembered. So I'm now over a quarter of the way to my full cost, and have less to find immediately than I thought. Also, lunch is ready for tomorrow so no stupid £5 spend like yesterday.

Not such good news. Tenant called to let me know boiler isn't working in my rental property. Always the way when you are trying not to spend any money. Yet again a victim of "no-savings-pot-itis". But realistically there is no point having speculative savings while I still have the overdraft. It's all from the same salary after all and would just increase my interest. I do however now have "virtual savings" where I'm digitally allocating money to various things, so might have to do a few more of those. And if I can squeeze it in before the end of the tax year I might even get a rebate this year, haha

I desperately need to get back on the fleabay wagon. Haven't sold anything for a couple of weeks (mainly because I've had nothing listed!) and ideas really dried up. It's going to be VERY hard to meet my target and I don't have any genius ideas for other income sources. Most of the stuff I see lying around that might sell doesn't belong to me. :rotfl: wonder whether Mr maybe would notice if his stuff went walkabout? Because my debt didn't really come from buying stuff, or at least not frivolous stuff, it makes it harder to repay as well!

I could do with having a hunt in the loft but I don't often go up there as it's not easy to access. I know it's quite full though so probably worth getting to soon. More space can only be a good thing too.

mfmaybe

Just a quick one. Payday today. OD down a fair but but its also a bit misleading due to my "virtual savings". Also had to pay the enormous tax bill and £200 for tree felling so the underlying position has kind of stayed the same. It didn't go up though! And paid another £250 off family debt today so that is progress.

However have just committed to some more IVF related expenses so feeling a bit like things might run away with me again. What I do know is food and lunches keeping down pretty low. I'm still on top of exactly where I am even if i don't like it.

HOMD was the cuddles I've received from all my various fluffballs today

mfmaybe

Wow it's horrible weather here. Very rainy and windy. Just as my field was actually beginning to dry up as well. No surprise there! Still it's only March though, still early days.

Got paid earlier in the week so doing my usual re-assessment of the month ahead. I'm still struggling with all the bills that I hadn't factored in or saved up for when I started at the beginning of the year. So far these add up to nearly £1400…!. My strategy is this: where I can pay it on a credit card, it's going on my new 0% card - but at the same time, I'm recording it in my "virtual account". Basically this way I can pay off my overdraft (by not paying things in real money) but still recognising that as soon as the overdraft is paid off I still have these delayed expenses to pay. This method reduces the interest payable. Then, if it has to be paid in real money, I'm trying to squeeze it wherever I can. This one isn't so easy, there are so few flexible things in my budget – food shopping, lunch money and going out money being about the only ones. I'm trying to tackle it one item at a time – some of these are flexible in timing which helps.

Then there is the IVF. I got a bonus this month so that's added to my virtual account and will cover a good bit of the treatment, but not all (but some can go on the 0% card for now). Then there are other associated costs and again just trying to squeeze as much of these as I can. It's hard to keep focussed on a £2 coffee when the amounts are as large as above. But it all helps. For instance today I'd messed up and didn't have anything to take with me for lunch. Instead of splurging as I'd usually do, I managed to find £2.50 in smush and made sure the total cost came to less than that. Result – no cash withdrawn to cover the lunch cost. I've also cancelled a night out I had planned for next week as there are too many big bills still to cover. I do still have to licence a vehicle next week, it can go on the card initially but would rather pay that off immediately. I am still £40 short at the moment. However timing dependant it could be covered by TCB or onepoll. I really need to up my income via Fleabay or similar, I've totally lost my mojo on that one.

Got some information on our historical house price sales so need to decide if it's worth appealing our council tax. We are in a rural area so it's hard to compare. We are highest of all our neighbours, even though I know our house is the smallest in terms of room numbers, plot size and outbuildings – by a long way. No-one is higher so presumably there is little risk ours would go up?

Think those are the main things making me scratch my head right now. HOMD from yesterday was having a lovely stew for dinner that was made the night before! Oh and I have been feeling a little overwhelmed with housework type things so made a pact to do 3 things every day, before and after work. As long as these aren't related to keeping people and animals alive and healthy, anything counts. So for example last night I wiped the windows in my car, hovered the filthy back door mat, and put on the dishwasher (I'm swithering whether this counts as it's kind of a daily necessity!). This morning I took mugs downstairs, washed out the coffee press, and emptied the dishwasher. Tonight I think a bit of ironing will have to factor in there, so other jobs might be quite small. I reckoned if I kept it flexible yet simple and didn't put too much pressure on myself, I might be able to stick to it.

mfmaybe

As if my last post wasn't long enough....:rotfl:

Been musing on the psychology. Technically at the time of being paid my OD was several hundred pounds lower than the same time last month. However if I recognised this I would be very disappointed when I spent those virtual amounts and my OD got worse again. It definitely suits me better to recognise the worst possible case NOW and to not feel disappointed when I then pay the credit card balance or whatever it might be. In the future when I really have no OD I will keep these amounts set aside. But not yet.

So as Steph said in her diary - I need to find extra money

mfmaybe

A quick hello. Food shopping and lunch buying is under control. The medical expenses not so much, but generally things still moving in the right direction. My car passed its MoT with no additional costs and my worry about needing tyres was unfounded, have a few more months it looks like.

STILL not back on the fleabay wagon though.

in_need_of_direction

So, generally good progress. I think you're completely right to exclude medicals from the whole MSE process. Some things are just more important.

mfmaybe

Thanks INOD, I have to keep remembering that even though I keep getting hit with big bills, it would have been worse if I hadn't saved elsewhere! So far, this upcoming month looks like I could finally start to see some big inroads, but it's so important to make every penny a prisoner.

Agree the medical bills don't count though as we spent a lot last week. :eek:

mfmaybe

Things must be bad. I've just resorted to coffee from the machine at work. <shudder>

in_need_of_direction

at least it was still identifiable as coffee