The 'I'm less money-idiot more money-savvy' Diary

judi24

enthusiasticsaver - thank you! it definitely feels like 2016 is a going to be a good year - when I look back at my debt free journey I have been on this site for 10 years!!!! so it has not been a rapid journey as my signature displays!!! and before that I was battling debt and overspending since is was 18- as soon as I could get credit really!!!
It may have taken me almost 30 years to beat this but I am now certain I will! If it happens in May or June or July - it doesn't really matter! After 30 years 3 months doesn't mean a lot! What means a lot is my change in mind set!!! the one that will allow me to be financially secure for years to come and hopefully allow me to follow my dreams and not just the money - a concept I would have struggled too comprehend a few years ago!


Beannie- not sure a CD is on the cards!!! Just being able to sing in public is an achievement these days!!! Got a friend who keeps telling me to sing with him - he's a guitarist - but way to self conscious!!!

judi24

well not much to report really - just plodding along til pay day next week - then I can pay a chunk of my CC and I will feel like I'm making progress again!!!


One good thing - home insurance needed renewing and managed to cut cost from the £219 renewal price with existing company to £127 through comparison sites!!! Paid in full not monthly too!


Got to do a list of money related things to do over the next month - like cancelling old bank and CC accounts - getting ready to start the remortgage search - looks like I will be bale to shave nearly £100 a month off my mortgage if I can get the best deal! Then I can plan what to do next in terms of upping my pension or paying off my mortgage!


Exciting stuff!!!

beanielou

Happy plodding

kdalwayskint

Hi Judi

Upping my payment to my pension plan is something I'm going to be looking at this year too, sounds a bit grown up, but currently only have the auto enrolment thing through work!

I'm looking into getting a basic bank account that I will be able to use for switching purposes in the future. Do any of your lovely followers have any word of wisdom on this subject? I have no loyalty to my current bank, it's just convenient and easy to use but I'd quite like £100 free money or voucher for M&S

Car finally died on Tuesday, with the help of bank of Mum I've been car shopping today with OH, I've got the newest car I've ever had 12 plate Fiesta, and I'm just a little excited about it. Glad that Mum has been able to help so that I don't get a finance deal, not sure I would have got enough!

Otherwise, I'm plodding along too

judi24

Oh Kd sorry to hear about your car - but glad you managed to get another one! ( and without expensive credit thanks to Mum!)


I was looking at the M&S bank account myself - you can get another £120 (£10 a month) added to the card if you deposit£1000 and pay 2 direct debits from it! Sounds pretty good to end up with £220 of M&S stuff by Christmas!) When I was a teenager and just starting to buy Christmas present with my own money I bought a gorgeous black leather purse for my mum from M&S - thought I was posh! I said then I wanted to do big Christmas shop in M&S and when I could afford to I will have made it!!! Funny thing is now I rarely do as I cant justify their prices! But to get it free would be fab!


However I am trying to rationalise my bank/credit accounts in the hope that it helps me get the best possible remortgage deal when I get debt free!!! The pension thing is an idea to help me reduce my tax - I Pay 40% tax on some of my salary (not much but enough to make my eyes water when I saw the annual tax statement) I have a decent work pension already but doing my sums it appears that if I pay more of my salary into a pension I will reduce my tax essentially meaning that if I save £60 of my salary in an additional pension I will in real terms be saving £100 - I think that's how it works - but still trying to get me head around it! It will mean my pay will be less per month and I wont be able to overpay the mortgage as much as I would like but I could then pay the mortgage with the lump sum when I take the pension - which could be in 10 years - I think it works out that I will be mortgage free sooner - but will post on MFW when I'm ready to do it!


Ampersand - if you see this please know that I have sent several PMs that don't seem to have been received - Thank you so much for your kindness! Jx

judi24

Strange old day all round! First of all manages to cancel an old credit card account and a disused bank account by 8.30 and apply for the M&S account! (waiting to hear if I have been accepted!)
Still have 1 further unused credit card to close.


Got to work and had an email from someone in HR at a big hospital trust - they had spotted my profile on linked in and felt I would be suitable for a job they are recruiting to (2 jobs actually!) The job wold be perfect for me! It would definitely be a next step for me however it is in about 50 miles away and in a city so would take me at between and hour and an hour and half to get there! so 3 hour commute! but it would mean a 10k pay rise initially rising to 25k over the next 5 years whereas my current job has no further increments! To make it workable I would need to move I think as I really cannot leave at 6.30am and be home at 6.30pm each day - its at times like this being a single parent really gets me down - if I had an other half it would be do able!!!!


I cant relocate without disrupting DS and DD3 education - I moved schools 12 times and I survived - but I really don't want to make the kids unhappy!!!


Strangely I am really sad about this as I know I would love the job - there are few roles that I would really go for now - but these look like they would suit me perfectly!!! and I know money isn't everything but a 25k pay rise would mean I could retire at least 2 years earlier!!! which is very attractive!


Also in my planning and scheming I had been looking at buying a flat for the Reverend Mother - she in in a rented cottage just now and she is struggling with the steep stairs and downstairs bathroom - I had thought about releasing equity from my house and using it as a deposit for a flat for her to rent - I found one that in an over 55s place just 5mins from me - I found the details for the housing association that manage the complex and it said they had properties to rent - told my mum and today we went to see it (and the one for sale!) she loved the rental one - so I think she is going to take it!!! she is 72 and I really wasn't sure she was ready for a retirement flat but she assures me she is! It will save a few hundred a month too! It takes big weight off my shoulders as I was really worried about buying a flat but also couldn't let her stay where she was if it was making her unwell - she needs a new hip and wont get it until she is moves from the cottage as the stairs are very steep and no space for a bed downstairs!


Now I can just crack on with plan a (pay off mortgage) without tying myself in knots about buying a second property!!!


NSD and living on freezer and store cupboard - trying to make it through the week! Payday Friday!!!! Its been a long time coming - cant wait to pay a chunk off my CC - its been a while!!!

judi24

Oh and totally forgot - booked a Sun Holiday deal using the codes posted on this forum - 4 night in Devon in Easter Hols for£60!!! - excited!!!!

ampersand

judi - think we may be mutually up to date on all fronts now and I am delighted to read everything here, but most especially about the great move possible for Rev.Mother.

It is brilliant that it should fall this way and right now, with her keen acquiescence - no 'having to discouss and be sensible' scenario at all which you may have anticipated.

New job feelers will still extend and ripple towards you in a few years when timing is more suitable, in terms of ds's and dd3's education.

Also, you must give yourself time to breathe in that debt-free air for a Spring pause. It's a plateau you need room and time to explore, sit down and possess, utterly. It will become your new life-blood territory.

Dare I voice that going straight into another high-octane duo rôle, with consequent pressure commute possible, which may in turn transmute into you feeling pressure to move house....etc.etc.etc.[and you'd then be further from Rev. Mother again]....no, judi. Not yet. The higher salary is a tempter for sure, but you may find it around your neck.

I swear here and now that the right thing will happen at the right time for the new life judi in a few years. Right now, consolidate.

judi24

Thank you Ampersand - You are right of course both in relation to the Rev's move and the job! Apartment is lovely and not as small as I thought it would be - she is not ready to join the weekly bingo session - but it is warm and newly decorated and she won't be reliant on a less than reliable landlord for repairs as she is now!!! Housing benefit pays for the lot including service charges so life should be a little more comfortable and its opposite train station and some shops - so even when not able to drive will still be somewhat independent!


Job is as you said - just not the right time! My time will come! I just have to explore all possibilities as I hate wasting opportunity when it comes knocking!!! Explored it - its not going to work! Move on!!!! (still hard to do!!!)

ampersand

' Explored it - its not going to work! Move on!!!! (still hard to do!!!)'......but this one's your practice-makes-perfect Final.

Honestly judi, you'll be even more desirable[just as well bop's not here for added sauce]in work terms. You know things come well to you in this way, also with your own natural hunger for knowledge, curiosity and desire to learn.

judi as Irresistible Force Paradox Force-Field will forever be your work-life Ph.D. in progress....the acknowledged authority in the field :-)