Young, free and simply stupid; MrCF takes control!

MrCrimeFiction

Thanks rob, the nice comments are appreciated. It's always nice to get a well done from someone else.

Same to you kangoora!

Back from my weekend away. I withdrew £100 in cash for spending money and have £35 left. That should cover my work night out on Thursday if I bother going.

The hotel cost me £178.99, but I was given £150 from my parents in law to treat my partner. So all in all the trip away cost me £28.99 (£178.99-£150) and the £65 I spent on meals so not too shabby. Pretty pleased.

Loan 2 came out today so that should be the last spend this month.

Loan 2 now has £2882.83 left to repay so it's going down. Should be able to pay it off it one go soon and then maybe have more cash to throw at the car loan?

Nearly payday :-)

MrCrimeFiction

Well it's been a bad day. . . . Some of my equipment for work broke so I needed to buy new stuff. Really sucks. So my balance is down £128.82..
However I didn't go out tonight so I saved about £30, so I just used that spare cash to fuel the car up to the end of the month.

I had a sneaky look at my pay slip for next week as it's a good one. Il write it up on the 31st when I do my end of month update.

I have to find a bday present for my other half so that'll be a big expense along with having to start shopping fir Xmas presents. My aim was to have £2000 in savings by the end of the year which I think it achievable, but I do need to watch my spending.

No spends this week or weekend as I'm working all weekend. I've emailed top cash back to find out why my car insurance cash back for £20 didn't track. Hopefully I should get it next month.. I have an old Xbox which I am contemplating in trading in for cash.

I've looked over my car finance documents, I'm sure it says that there is single charges of £25 for each time a separate payment is given. So I can't do over payments which is a bit of a pain.. Although once Xmas is over I will hit the loans with every spare penny. I just want a little find behind me so I can support my partner if and when we move in..

How is everyone else. UEFA football on tonight which is always good.

MRCF

MrCrimeFiction

End of month update

Had a bit of a strange month. I did really well at the start and everything was looking great, then a few big spends popped up. :mad:

I only used £42.50 for fuel through the bank account, however defo used some cash for fill ups however this is reflected in my cash withdrawals.

My spends were netflix £6.99, hotel £28, time away £100, fuel + present £50, equipment for work £128.82 and the big cash withdrawal for £180. This withdrawal covers the cost of my staff night out in December, the cost of my car getting repaired which was £75 and a meal out for my partner for her birthday next week.

It total my spends came to £493.81, however if I didn't buy my work stuff and if I hadn't pranged my car it would be about £200 less. :cool:

My total spends including bills / expenses for October was £1364.50. If I take this away from my wages of £2073.44, I managed to save a fantastic £708.94!!

I did however get about £400 in overtime in Octobers pay packet in which I'm delighted with. My wage was over £2000 which is huge for me.

My partner and I got some fantastic news.:) We went to the bank and she can get a mortgage. She got a mortgage promise for an amount much more than what we though. Now were just going to house hunt and hopefully find one after Xmas, as obviously this is an expensive time of year for everyone. So excited. This is why I need some savings behind me to help pay for solicitors / stamp duty / furniture.

I hope everyone is well. It's getting a bit colder. They say we're set for the coldest winter in years. Oh no! :eek:

enthusiasticsaver

Well done for trying to get on top of your finances. A word of caution for your partner taking out a mortgage. The key thing to work out is not how much the bank will lend you or her but the affordability of it. Look at the monthly payments and think of some worst case scenarios - increase of interest rate (the bank can give you the cost at a higher rate just for information), loss of overtime, unusual spends. It is rarely a good idea to go up to the maximum a bank will lend you. Keep the good work up with paying off debts and saving.

Crabman

As requested by the OP, I've moved this thread to Debt Free Diaries

MrCrimeFiction

Thanks Crabman. Your a star :starmod:

I've taken the decision to move my thread to the Debt Free Diaries due to the simply amazing advice I have seen on here in the little time frame I've been signed up. Although it's called 'Savings Novel', it's really a debt busting diary aswell. I will tackle these loans and car finance pronto.

In relation to the past week, I got 2 hours of overtime at work. Not much but every little helps. Filled up with fuel today £45.01. The car was empty haha so hopefully that will last at least 10 days. Bought my girlfriends birthday present last night £76 eeeek
Haven't got any spends planned this week other than a takeout on Saturday (meeting sisters new boyfriend for first time). Should only cost me £10 though.

Phone bill came out yesterday. Really delighted is was only £16.38. This includes free everything.

We're just saving like mad so we have as much cash as possible for next year. We want to be moved in by beginning of March at the latest. All depends on finding a house though.

Finished another book today. Onto my last one from Stuart MacBride (sad day) but will move onto Jo Nesbo. Went to the gym for a workout now I'm just relaxing

It's getting a bit chilly out there. Need to start wrapping up. Take care everyone.

MrCF

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

Well done for trying to get on top of your finances. A word of caution for your partner taking out a mortgage. The key thing to work out is not how much the bank will lend you or her but the affordability of it. Look at the monthly payments and think of some worst case scenarios - increase of interest rate (the bank can give you the cost at a higher rate just for information), loss of overtime, unusual spends. It is rarely a good idea to go up to the maximum a bank will lend you. Keep the good work up with paying off debts and saving.

Thanks for the info. We've already agreed to go 10k less to what they have offered us. Just to be on the safe side and start smaller. Our salaries go up yearly so we can either overpay or move to something bigger in future.

karlie88

Great diary and very good work so far. Can only be :T really.

Re: groceries; have you thought about going later in the evening to get reduced to clear items? Meat, bread, ready made meals, fruit/veg etc can be bought for >75% off the full price. If you're lucky, you can often get paid to take them away. There's quite a few of us over here who pay VERY little for a weekly shop. All you need to do is some savvy buying, couponing, using cashback apps. Make sure you've got supermarkets' loyalty cards; even a 1% return is better than nothing.

Buying petrol, do you have a cashback credit card/debit card? You can get 0.5%+ cashback on fuel, grocery, train travel purchases etc. Over the course of the year, it adds up nicely. Beware some have a yearly fee. Check TCB/Quidco before applying too; some give you money for nothing.

Have you thought about switching your current account? A few banks offer upto £125 just for switching your current account. Probably requires about 30 minutes of your time. The banks do all the switching work for you and within 7 working days. Very efficient these days.

All the best.

MrCrimeFiction

Hello Karlie88. Absolutely fantastic advice. I will be popping into the shops later to see if I can grab a bargain. I love my food so the cheaper I can get it, the more I can eat

Just checked the bank, Loan 1 came out today and Netflix(£6.99) came out yesterday. My gym membership came out on Monday and last week I spent £74 on my partners birthday present. It's a lovely present and we're going out fir dinner to on Saturday :rotfl:

Not been spending anything at work at all. Been taking all the rubbish cupboard food and forcing it down, rather than spend a penny.

Car needs fuel soon and I also need to buy some toiletries.

Other than that, that'd my life in a week. I did get 3 hours of overtime last week which is good. Should be an extra decent amount in the Xmas pay.

Incase anyone is interested, I'm running the "Saving for Xmas 2015! A pound a day :-)' thread. Going to save a pound a day from next month until December 2015 in order to pay for Xmas.

Anyway, chow for now :rotfl:

MrCF

MrCrimeFiction

Hello everyone. If there is anyone out there :rotfl:

I've had a mixed week. I spent a few ££ in McDonalds for dinner one night as there was no food at home. I did buy the cheap burgers and they were amazing haha

I spent £41.50 on fuel on 14th. Hopefully this lasts me to the end of this week at least.

Loan 2 came out on the 17th so that's paid. Car finance came out today so that's everything paid. God my account looks bare :rotfl:

I also spend some cash on birthday shopping and the meal out for partners birthday. I had this cash withdrawn from last month so it doesn't affect this months expenses. I had to finally pay for the repair to my car so that cost me £75.

I also popped to the bank and got an online ISA set up so I can transfer over some cash when doing my challenge (saving for Xmas 2015). I put £1k into the account and left the rest in the current account, so it doesn't really affect my spread sheet at all.

Shouldn't have any major spends until pay day.

I did get a nice surprise as instead of going on a local trip next month, my partner are going for an even better weekend away. we're actually going to Paris. Everything had been paid my the Mrs as my Xmas present so I'm delighted. All I need to do is buy travel money but hopefully it shouldn't cost too much

Did 3 hours of overtime at work over the weekend which should be a little booster to the Xmas wage. Can't complain

Not read much at all recently. Work has been keeping me entertained.

Chow and take care

MrCF

AlwaysHappy

Followed you over here from the £1 a day thread, and you are doing amazingly well. I wish I'd had a financial head when I was younger. Ah well, better late than never, and to be fair, I've never been in debt either so must have done something ok. I will be watching your progress with interest.