This is it *ping* lightbulb!!!

redmel1621

Hello - I found you

Great going with the Christmas savings. I have just 'pinged' too. After spending all morning going through statements and adding up what we have been spending I am so ashamed of myself (well both of us) for allowing us to be so blas! about our spending habits.

Anyway - good luck with the overtime hours :money:

kindofagilr

Well done on your savings Homegrown it's such a good feeling approaching Christmas knowing that you are on top of it isn't it

Don't be ashamed redmel, it happens so all of us, we have both pinged at that's the most important thing

Shopping day today and I have just been doing my bills, and I have a transaction from asda in two bank accounts, one was dated yesterday, and one today totally different amounts, they are both showing as pending, so nothing I can do until they leave my account. (hopefully one of them won't leave)!!!! sigh, hopefully one won't leave, otherwise I am going to have to get on the phone and sort it out

I have made some leek and potato soup for me and OH to take to work tommorrow, and have labelled all the uniform and shoes, the kids don't go back till Wednesday, I am off work from wednesday so I can take them back to school, I like being off when they go back if I can

I am making "kebab" for tea, have you heard of JD Seasonings? they are a must if you are doing SW they are syn free and are lush, I love their kebab, bolognese, 2 types of curry, and have been told their cottage pie is lovely, I have more to try, anyhoo I am having kebab, home made acti fry chips and wraps for tea and I am soooo excited lol I love this meal!!!

Hoping to get an hour of cross stitching in before I do that though

Have a good afternoon all xx

kindofagilr

Afternoon all,

How is everyone doing today? I am tucking into my home made leek and potato soup for my lunch

Had training at work this morning for us to be able to do overtime, I have some computer forms to fill in as well which need doing and I need access to the systems before Saturday

Still trying to get to grips with YNAB, I can't quite figure it out but I will keep trying lol

I have paid my £100 to the christmas savings and have £10 more amazon vouchers, so that bring my christmas total to £560

Have a nice day all xx

Homegrown0

Your Christmas pot is climbing up and up! Awesome

I've never used YNAB, mainly because I know i'd never be able to get my husband to agree to using it (he only really does technology grudgingly) and I don't think it would work with only me inputting. I hope you manage to get to grips with it, i know a lot of people swear by it!

Your post inspired my to get my soup cooking last night, so I have some lentil soup in the fridge now ready for lunchtime.

kindofagilr

Yay for soup I bet it was lovely

I 100% run the budget so I am lucky in that respect (Oh just asks me if we can get something when he wants something and I tell him yes or no lol)

I've changed my mind about what we are going to do with extra money, I think this makes most sense, we do have some debt that has interest on it, so it's more sensible to pay that off as quick as we can isn't it?

I wasn't going to use any extra to go towards the debt (as it already gets about £1100 a month) and I was going to use it to save for the holidays next year

But I now think that is not financially sensible and I think any extra should go to the debt to get it paid off quicker? but this is where the gamble part comes in, cos how do I then pay for the holidays? I would have to get a 0% purchase card/money transfer card come May when it is time to pay, or use an offer on a current card (which I am confident I would have)

Part of me didn't want to do that and didn't want to give the debt more money, but I now think that definitely seems the most sensible option?

What do you guys think?

I am currently tucking into lovely home made spag bol for lunch

Have a good day all xx

Homegrown0

That's a tricky one... I'm not the best to advise I'm sure but I have a couple of observations...

Is the holiday definitely happening? Is it booked? If so, i'd be keen to make sure money was put aside for that. The last thing I'd want is to open another line of credit to pay for it, even if it is 0%. I suppose I'd only be able to do that if I was super disciplined.

With the debt, as you say, you're already putting £1,100 towards the debt which is taking it down massively every month!

How much are you anticipating bringing in as extra every month? Would it be possible to split the money between savings and overpayments?

As i said, not an expert but just thinking about what I'd do in my situation.

kindofagilr

Homegrown0 wrote: »

That's a tricky one... I'm not the best to advise I'm sure but I have a couple of observations...

Is the holiday definitely happening? Is it booked? If so, i'd be keen to make sure money was put aside for that. The last thing I'd want is to open another line of credit to pay for it, even if it is 0%. I suppose I'd only be able to do that if I was super disciplined.

With the debt, as you say, you're already putting £1,100 towards the debt which is taking it down massively every month!

How much are you anticipating bringing in as extra every month? Would it be possible to split the money between savings and overpayments?

As i said, not an expert but just thinking about what I'd do in my situation.

Yes the holiday is booked so definitely needs to happen. That was my original thinking that I didn't want to get more credit but now some of our cards have interest on them I'm keen to get rid

Depends how many weekend they put on each month, for each weekend it's about £220 extra, splitting it is a good suggestion as well I hadn't thought of that

I kinda wAnted the dd's to come down a bit as it's a little tight some months xx

lucielle

Personally I'd pay the debt off and then use the repayment amount towards the holiday. Work out how much short you're going to be and then ebay/overtime whatever you can do to make up the shortfall
L

kindofagilr

Yeah I think I am going to do that, it just isn't sitting right with my head for it to not go to debt.

How is everyone today, I have changed my signature, I need some sort of target in there, I half stole Abba's siggie cos I like it lol

DS and DD went back to school today, year 1 and year 4, we had tears from both sadly, DS is a very emotional boy, and I knew he would cry, he managed to calm himself down before he actually went in, then DD cried when she was hanging her coat up, I am not sure if she couldn't find her peg, but I had to just say to her she will be fine and I will see her later (her teacher was with her) as if I had stayed and fussed she would have cried more, I've had no phone calls so they must be fine bless them

I have tidied and done the dishes, and now plan on winding cross stitch threads around numbered bobbins ready to start a new cross stitch

Have a good day all xx

abba1772

Steal away