Considering DMP - SOA advice please

AliceBanned

Well, £600 is insurance payment for damage to my bathroom from the flat above, so I have to pay for a new shower and installation which will take quite a bit of this. At least I will have an upgraded shower though! I have had to rein myself in as I was tempted to spend more on the bathroom but really it would be wasteful. The kind plasterer convinced me that I could fix the ceiling myself with some filler! He said he would charge me £80 but it would be a waste of money. So sweet. So I'm going to do that. . No more thoughts of Jacuzzi baths and steam showers..;)


I phoned Halifax today to ask whether they could lower my interest rate. They said they can't. That cc balance is quite high and at 21.9% so I may put some towards this - say £100. The rest to the Capital One card or the credit union. The sooner I pay off the credit union loan the sooner I can access the savings and then can throw this at the credit cards. So am tempted to throw it all at this as I get £450 back if I pay off the loan. But then if I get the shower done I will be short again probably this month. Just can't stand that situation any more.


I cut up the Barclaycard today and one of the Cap One cards..


I am going to get a cheap haircut on Saturday - my only treat.:D £20. It's not been cut for probably 3 months so is much needed.


Oh and I paid my only overdue bill today - water - which was £65.


So the money will disappear, I've no doubt. I could wait until the end of October before getting the shower fitted perhaps, to help spread the cost of that. Not sure. I have terrible hot water pressure so using the bath every day is a pain, but I have been doing that for the past 2 months. I'm trying to balance being frugal with not denying myself fairly essential things..have a tendency to go to extremes.


Trying to do YNAB this eve. Drives me mad. If I had fewer cards it would be a bit simpler. It takes up so much time. I do like it and find it fun but really I just want a smaller number of debts as it is a bit overwhelming/depressing.


So in answer to your question - the money seems to be going to several of the debts and some of the bathroom..

Verbatim

How are you Alice. Any more thoughts on when you'll get the shower fitted. Does the water pressure problem mean the bath takes for ever to fill?
Hope you're having a good weekend.
V

AliceBanned

Verbatim wrote: »

How are you Alice. Any more thoughts on when you'll get the shower fitted. Does the water pressure problem mean the bath takes for ever to fill?
Hope you're having a good weekend.
V

Hi Verbatim


I'm feeling ok thanks Verbatim. I treated myself to a night out last night, dancing, and saw some old friends so it made me feel much better. Going to enjoy a nice walk in the sunshine later. How are you?


Yes, the water pressure on the hot tap is extremely low and plumbers have told me it is due to the tank being too close to the stoptap for enough pressure to build - something like that and it is the way the flats were designed. It could be changed but would cost too much as it requires a whole new system and probably new boiler. I assume the architects thought that in one-bed flats people can make do with a shower over the bath..and hardly use the bath. I miss my bath in the previous flat so much - masses of hot water and a small bath and it would be filled to the top quickly.


Even when I try to fill it, as I have been doing every day recently, it doesn't cover me when I am in the bath as it is a huge bath (I am quite small so I don't really need it that big). The recent plumber said the pressure was 'pathetic'.


The flat downstairs has only a shower, they have removed the bath but I've never in my life lived in a place with no bath and can't comprehend it. It just doesn't look right to me.


I've thought of different solutions (down the line especially, when funds allow) including maybe removing the bath and fitting a 3/4 or smaller one so at least I get more depth of water. Or a corner bath. I am shopping online for showers at the moment and my plan is to get a 10.8kw electric one, so the cost of fitting it is minimal but the water power is hopefully fairly high. I have an electrician coming the week after next to sort the cable so that it is suitable for a more powerful shower (the old one was a bit of a dribble so I'm glad to be able to upgrade it). He is also going to change the fan which is old and loud, so all of this will cost me £200 then I have to have the shower fitted. I am doing the ceiling repairs myself - it isn't too bad and I might start this today. I'm in the middle of repairing my car which has small rust patches so may as well do all the sanding while I'm at it.


I also have to try and put a rail up inside a cupboard - I have a drill but am a bit scared of these sort of jobs. I've put a set of shelves up on a wall before (and they stayed up!) so I must be able to do it and it will save me paying a handyman. I was looking at new wardrobes as I seem to have clothes everywhere, but this is a cheaper solution - find a spare cupboard and attach a rail.

Verbatim

Go you! I'm sure you'll get that rail up in no time. I hate sanding though and have to wear gardening gloves to do any. Getting a decent shower in will improve your mornings I guess. I've resorted to kettles of hot water to speed up a bath filling before now but not something you want to do when you've got to get to work.

tlc678910

Hi AB,
I just wanted to make some suggestions about how you are using YNAB as you describe your YNAB as complicated by your credit card payments and find it difficult to stay on top of it.

I think there are a variety of options but I have my credit cards "off budget". They sit on the accounts page and show the total off budget debt and the effect on my "net worth" is clearly visible.

I plan for each card/loan payment in my budget like I do for bills e.g. a category of "debt repayment" and a line for Barclaycard (allocate £70) a line for Sainsburys bank (allocate £100) etc. In this way budgeting for credit cards and loans is no more complicated than budgeting for any other a bill no matter how many you have.

As my credit cards/loans are off budget they need to be updated separately manually by opening the account and adding the transactions but because this does not affect your budget in any way you can do it as infrequently as you like e.g. you could sit down once at the end of the month, log into all the accounts, update all the balances and enjoy improving your net worth and slicing a few hundred off your debt in an evening.

The other benefit of this set up (for me) is that when I get paid I get £1000 to allocate to my budget with my on budget totals reflecting the money in my bank accounts and not minus £xxxx due to the debt on my credit cards.

Apologies if this is not useful but I thought I would post in case it is.
Tlc

AliceBanned

Verbatim wrote: »

Go you! I'm sure you'll get that rail up in no time. I hate sanding though and have to wear gardening gloves to do any. Getting a decent shower in will improve your mornings I guess. I've resorted to kettles of hot water to speed up a bath filling before now but not something you want to do when you've got to get to work.

Well I got a few things done though not the rail..or the ceiling. So there's always next weekend. In fact I have to do it next weekend (ceiling) as the electrician might be coming the following week..

AliceBanned

tlc678910 wrote: »

Hi AB,
I just wanted to make some suggestions about how you are using YNAB as you describe your YNAB as complicated by your credit card payments and find it difficult to stay on top of it.

I think there are a variety of options but I have my credit cards "off budget". They sit on the accounts page and show the total off budget debt and the effect on my "net worth" is clearly visible.

I plan for each card/loan payment in my budget like I do for bills e.g. a category of "debt repayment" and a line for Barclaycard (allocate £70) a line for Sainsburys bank (allocate £100) etc. In this way budgeting for credit cards and loans is no more complicated than budgeting for any other a bill no matter how many you have.

As my credit cards/loans are off budget they need to be updated separately manually by opening the account and adding the transactions but because this does not affect your budget in any way you can do it as infrequently as you like e.g. you could sit down once at the end of the month, log into all the accounts, update all the balances and enjoy improving your net worth and slicing a few hundred off your debt in an evening.

The other benefit of this set up (for me) is that when I get paid I get £1000 to allocate to my budget with my on budget totals reflecting the money in my bank accounts and not minus £xxxx due to the debt on my credit cards.

Apologies if this is not useful but I thought I would post in case it is.
Tlc

Thanks Tlc, yes your post is very useful and funny you should say that as I have only just amended it anyway, after reading a YNAB thread on here. It is much easier with the CCs off budget! And less demoralising. YNAB recommended putting them on budget and I have left two of the cards (that I use in emergencies) on budget and the other cards and loans are off budget.

I hadn't got round to sorting out how to list payments on the off budget accounts so this information is very helpful, thank you. I'm always playing around with YNAB and having to start again, but I think this time it is running as it should be and I will start to see the debts reducing.

AliceBanned

Earnt my extra £60 yesterday for taking part in a focus group. Really enjoyed it too. Got home 10.30pm last night as it was after work, but I would do something like that every week if I could get the work. I don't think they come up very often though. I spoke to another participant who does quite a few and she recommended some other companies.


Going to pay the cash in the bank today as it is needed to pay direct debits coming up.


Closed my Santander current account today. I kept using the overdraft and it was expensive! I am going through my accounts one by one and paying off, then closing all the ones I don't need. It gives me a sense of achievement and I have far too many.

HappyMJ

AliceBanned wrote: »

Earnt my extra £60 yesterday for taking part in a focus group. Really enjoyed it too. Got home 10.30pm last night as it was after work, but I would do something like that every week if I could get the work. I don't think they come up very often though. I spoke to another participant who does quite a few and she recommended some other companies.


Going to pay the cash in the bank today as it is needed to pay direct debits coming up.


Closed my Santander current account today. I kept using the overdraft and it was expensive! I am going through my accounts one by one and paying off, then closing all the ones I don't need. It gives me a sense of achievement and I have far too many.

Just a suggestion but I'd keep them and use them as source accounts when switching banks to get joining incentives.

Most people are very reluctant to switch their main current account but if you have an account or two that isn't used much you can set up a single direct debit against that account such as Tesco savings for £1 per month then open a new account with a joining incentive such as free £100 when you switch offer then allow the account with that one direct debit to be switched taking that one direct debit to the new account. It's an easy way of making quite a bit money. Do close the accounts that really are no longer useful as you might find that after 12 months you can rejoin that bank and get another switching incentive payment.

AliceBanned

Thank HappyMJ. They are a mixture of accounts. I have closed one current account today (Santander but they only allowed me £50 overdraft and it was costing me £2 a month in fees plus interest of £1 a day) and have two more, which I will keep open (including for switching, but they have low interest overdrafts which I can't get elsewhere at the mo anyway).


The others are two catalogue accounts and credit cards. I intend on closing most of these but may keep one or two credit cards. Littlewoods is 0% interest but I still don't want it as I'm not buying anything for a while and I don't want further temptation.


It just helps me psychologically to get rid of some available credit, and I think it will make my finances look better in the future when applying for a new mortgage, if I am not using lots of cards and accounts, especially when the balances of the ones I do have reduce. Also easier to keep a record of everything!