Tuesday 21st October - What small DFW things will you do today?

Ratison

Hello everyone - lovely to see some good news for Twiggy and get well soon Dawn. Thanks for the advice on NSD Boberella! I think I can definitely do some no spend days on treats etc!

Today I've checked my bank and figure I should have around £100 (hopefully £150) at the end of the month, so that will be nearly £800 in the overdraft fund. I think I'm going to keep it all in a separate account, then pay it off in one go - as my online banking seems to say I have to apply to change my overdraft limit - even if it's a reduction. So I can pay it off at the end of the year, and start the new year with £1500 on the Barclaycard to pay off by June.

I've also made some food from my cupboards and freezer. Used some frozen prawns, peas, spinach, coconut cream and tomato relish (really) to make a lovely prawn and rice dish.

Tomorrow will involve spending as I'm on a trip for work, but everything is claimable so that feels a bit better.

Hope you all have a good evening - I'm off to take my dog out and hope she doesn't get blown away!

solvencyseeker

twiggy86 wrote: »

Wanted to update you all...


Just called Bcard to ask if they could lower the interest rate and they did - just like that! They've decreased it from 19.9% to 6.9% on the current balance, although its still 19.9% on further purchases - however as I'm trying to decrease my debt I won't be buying on it!


Why didn't I do this before? ? Literally took 5 minutes!

Wow that's interesting Twiggy. I haven't contacted any of our creditors - we have no defaults and we are just plugging away at the debts using the snowballer as a guide.

We have a BCard at 16.9%, and another card at 18.9%. Hanging on until we can begin to swap between them to get 0% deals. One of the things that triggered my LBM was that we started to pay interest and didn't have enough spare credit to balance transfer and get 0%. May well give them a call. There's no negative to this I take it?

Just wish we had such a positive response from our energy company - they are completely ignoring my query about incorrect gas meter readings. Maybe I'll cancel their DD and see if that makes them contact me...

twiggy86

solvencyseeker wrote: »

Wow that's interesting Twiggy. I haven't contacted any of our creditors - we have no defaults and we are just plugging away at the debts using the snowballer as a guide.

We have a BCard at 16.9%, and another card at 18.9%. Hanging on until we can begin to swap between them to get 0% deals. One of the things that triggered my LBM was that we started to pay interest and didn't have enough spare credit to balance transfer and get 0%. May well give them a call. There's no negative to this I take it?

Just wish we had such a positive response from our energy company - they are completely ignoring my query about incorrect gas meter readings. Maybe I'll cancel their DD and see if that makes them contact me...

Hi SolvencySeeker - I can't see a negative to it! It is a two year deal though so at that point it will go back to 19.9% - but planning on it being nil/nearly nil by then! It's still 19.9% for any purchases with any payments being used to clear the new purchases before clearing the balance (I think that's the right way round!)


He gave me the example that my current balance at the current interest rate would cost me over £90 in interest for 30 days, but at the new interest rate would only cost me £30 something! Oh why didn't I do this sooner?!


The other option they offered me was to reduce the interest rate to 15.9% on the current balance and future purchases - so less of a reduction but in case you were still wanting to use it for purchases.



I would definitely say its worth giving them a call! I did read on here somewhere that Bcard were more likely to negotiate than some others.

twiggy86

In other news - I also changed my mobile contract. It will cost me 49p per month based on the contract price but its 4x the data allowance which I ALWAYS went over on - so in theory it should cost me less each month, potentially by up to £15/£20!

headoutthesand

Bobarella wrote: »

Head out the sand -Why do you think your older boy is hopeless at saving? Im interested. For example. I am good with money, but circumstance has been a downfall of mine. OH is not good with money naturally which he says comes from being the youngest of 3 who was never talked to at home about the family budget. I used to know all the time that we struggled & my mum would often unload on me as the oldest exactly what problems we were facing. Which has helped the pair of us more??

Bob

I think he realises the price of items (within reason) as when we are out at the shops he will comment on how much things cost and tell me if he thinks it's a bargain or a rip off. His downfall is that if he gets money he has no desire to squirrel some of it away and buy something nice with it. He wants to go to the local shop and buy £5 of sweets that day and do the same the next with the other £5.
He felt the difference when we went on holiday earlier this year and his brother had more money than him but I can honestly say it hasn't made any difference.
At the moment he's asking for some sort of fancy trainers, perhaps I should explain to him that if he saved up his money he would have had enough to buy a pair.....

headoutthesand

Evening all.


Today I:


Checked banks
checked mobile usage - within allowance
packed lunches x3
dinner from stores
some online shopping for santa gifts all through cashback sites
chased up new pay contract at work - roll on January when it should take effect


Think that's it for me for today.


Night night all x

GettingOrganised

Good very late evening everyone,
The thread is full of fantastic money saving achievements - well done to Twiggy on your money saving antics.

Hope you feel better soon Dawn
Hope your son's interview goes well SS and hope you have the same luck with reducing interest rates on credit cards
Hi to everyone else - crazy weather we've been having today, makes you glad you've got a roof over your head and appreciate the things you have.

Feeling uber positive after checking my bank balance the day before payday, so today's small things:

All meals from stores - I'm currently using up anything and everything in the fridge/freezer/cupboards. I should have gone shopping at the weekend, but I decided to see if I could manage until after payday. It's amazing what you can rustle up when you have to! DH has not been too impressed though!!
Got some stuff from work for Christmas presents with staff discount plus some other ex-samples for a small donation to charity
NSD (didn't have to pay work for the items today)
Potted some loose change into my sealed pot and then found a penny behind the sofa, which went in too - only a month to go before opening now
Checked bank and worked out how much to transfer to savings and overpayment I can make to creditors this month (can't wait for tomorrow)
Still to check BB and PCL
General tidy up, polish and hoover (as ever, you would never know it looking at the place now!)
Packaged up an item sold on EBay to post tomorrow and have two further items which have bids and will sell. I still have loads to go on and need to get some of this on over next couple of weeks.
No heating on today (DH did put fire on for about 1/2 an hour whilst we had tea though)

Well, I'd best get to bed...see you all tomorrow

Aegean

Today my small DFW actions were:

1. I attended a training session paid for by work. I've made sure they will also pay for my travel expenses and lunch was provided so, apart from a banana I brought from home, I spent nothing all day! :j

2. I called HMRC to sort out a tax issue and have managed to sort out a payment plan, so this has saved me a bit of money in interest.

3. I created a proper, honest budget of my outgoings, so now I know where I can save and actually start cutting back on my wasteful expenses.

Have a nice evening everyone!