Banishing the black cloud

monz

Ooo let us know if you get your bonus something to cheer you up x

maggiecon

Just went home at lunch time and the heating is broke :mad: :mad:

I must have been a right b1tch in a previous life to deserve this luck LOL.

maggiecon

Still no joy getting the oil burner fixed house is absolutely freezing. Went to bed last night wearing a monkey hat!!

OH's graduation was yesterday and we had a good day out, only problem I went to the bank to get money out and my pay hadn't gone in. Checked my emails and there has been an error at the bank and I wont get paid until Monday Thank God for my emergency fund.

In work to day and my pay slip was sitting on my desk, so I was really nervous opening it as I wasn't sure if I would get a bonus or not and drum roll.... There was a £2k bonus!!!!! However after the tax man got his mitts on it there is £1317 left for me. WOO HOO, only problem is I cant get at it until Monday.

I have finally opened the hole in the chimney breast and I am now going to spend my bonus on a new stove. Seen a lovely cream one on Gumtree for £299, heading this afternoon to look at it. Really excited about getting it sorted.

monz

Well done on your fab bonus !!!xx

maggiecon

Thought I would drop by for a little catch up. Not much to report it's been a very quite Christmas which is the way I like it. I have managed to stay under budget by avoiding the shops. Although I hit a pothole yesterday and have to pay for a new tyre now.

I have had some time to think this week about my finances and how to improve them... I will update you all tomorrow on my POA as it's too time consuming typing on this iPad.

maggiecon

Back at the start of this diary I established a budgeting system to try and handle my money better. It has worked well but does have some flaws and I thought a new start to the year is a good time to work out a plan.

I have three strands of income, my wages, rent and hubby's wages. I also have numerous bills paid via direct debit and yearly. I had originally used my wages to pay the direct debits and the weekly budget, and used the rent to pay all the annual bills. The problem with this method is most of my annual bills come at the end of the year and for the last 6 months I have had no additional income for myself. Which means I am not budgeting correctly. So instead I have decide to add all these bills up and divide them weekly and set this amount into a separate account specifically to pay the following bills from;
Rates
MOT car servicing
House and landlord insurance
Car insurance and tax for two cars

Total £4000 which is £80 per week. I have just set up a new account just for this money with the Halifax.

My DDs are £320 per week and come out of another bank acc, and finally my weekly budget goes into another acc with the Santander. Finally I have my main account were all my money is lodged and distributed to the other 3 accs via standing orders. This means whatever money is left in this acc is mine to spend.

A complicated system but it means I can now stop recording every penny I spend in my app as it is really frustrating as I keep forgetting to add stuff.

According to my sums my total weekly income is £728 my DDs are £320, my annual bills are £80 my weekly budget is £225 which means there should be £100 leftover every week.

maggiecon

Hi folks hope everyone had a great Christmas. I just went into hibernation mode and it was great. Back at work today

I don't have a computer at home so have not been updating my diary whilst off but I still maintained my frugal ways over the Christmas period. I have invested in the YNAB software as it was on offer for £7.95.

It really is a great piece of kit, but I am struggling with it as I get paid weekly. You can only allocate money as it comes in so I cant set a proper monthly budget so to speak. I am therefore still relying on my budget in the previous post to help me allocate money ie £175 per week for weekly expenses. £312 to DD's and £80 to monthly bills and then trying to split that up into further sub categories. However, I have to say I really like the software and I am glad I bought it.

On the house front I have knocked a big hole in the chimney breast to expose the old fireplace opening. Hubby and I went looking for a new stove on Saturday and picked a really nice cream one. it is £580 but I calculated with all the additional work and plastering etc it will probably cost £1000. Thankfully I managed to not touch my Christmas bonus. I cant wait to get it installed as the oil heating is costing a fortune we had to keep it on for 8-9 hours a day over the holidays as the house was freezing.

As for hubby he is behaving himself he only drank once over Christmas on New Years Eve and didn't drink the next day, He said it is a struggle not to drink but he is trying his hardest as he want us to work. I think that is all I can ask of him.

My plans for 2015 are...

1. To clear the rest of my debt (which I will update later)
2. To take a flight somewhere (to get over my panic attacks)
3. To get back into running
4. And finally to try and get over my fear of pregnancy and think about having another baby :eek::eek:

maggiecon

Remaining Debt still to be tackled in 2015

1. Amex £21/CLEARED
2. Insurance excess £100/CLEARED
3. Hubbys CC £105/CLEARED
4. Argos card £210/CLEARED
5. RATES £1750/CLEARED
6. HMRC £936/CLEARED
7. Accountant £384/CLEARED
8. Blinds £265/CLEARED
9. Christmas cc £276/£146
10. Overdraft £700/£520
11. NEXT £143/£86
12. Lloyds £1611/£1547
13. Solicitors Fees £550/£550

TOTAL £7051/£2850 59.58% paid

There is also the loan from my BIL for £1000, he insists he doesn't want it paid back. I however, do not feel right about this so I have decided to sort out all the other debt first and then we will start to pay him back towards the end of the year.

Debts to tackle this month will be the Next account and the Christmas cc spending :mad::mad: £232 in total. With all the work I am doing to the house it is getting harder to pay of the debts but I need to stay focused. I can do this

maggiecon

Have meetings to go to in Belfast today so might stop into a few shops when I am down there and return Christmas presents from Hubby. Its not that I didn't like them its just they don't fit. He got me a size 8 coat out of H&M which wouldn't fit a 4 year old and a pair of size 7 shoes out of Clarkes which are massive.

The guy who was supposed to fit the stove didn't turn up last night. Sat in the house all evening waiting on him to show. This is what I am stuck staring at... Need to get this sorted and reclaim my living room.

monz

OMg and never even bothered showing! Thats terrible!!!xx