Time to grow up.

Florence_J

Hi Megano, congratulations on the win, you deserve it

I've just read Willowpop's latest post and I couldn't agree more. It might not work for everyone, but doing the money envelopes system for me really, really worked, and I noticed it's now that I've fallen out of the habit that my money is running out. Give it a try, it may just work for you, but it sounds like you're making great progress as it is. Keep going.

Megano

So my landlord is a cheeky monkey - basically ages ago he gave OH and I permission to sub-let our spare room (which is how we met best FM!) and it was a win-win-win situation. The landlord got an extra £50 (his request), OH, FM and I split everything equally which means everyone was about £250 better off.
Anyway the spare room is looking a little tired as there was a leak from upstairs causing water damage in spare room and living room and I was like "listen we've lived here for 3 years the place is looking tired lets give it a lick of paint" and he said "Why don't we rent out the spare room again and the 1st months rent we'll use it for redecorating" meaning for the 1st month OH and I would be living with this person and the landlord would reap all the benefits. He can kindly p*ss off.
ANYWOOO the cleaning job has texted me back apparently she is looking for someone to do some cover shifts and she'll have a Mon-Fri 5am-7am role in a couple of weeks. Cards on the table Im not looking forward to it as I think its going to be a struggle but like everything in life what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. I was speaking to OH and he isn't keen on me getting a 3rd job but he knows patience isnt a virtue I posses.
Reduced my overdraft by £300 to remove the temptation of running it up again.

Megano

Well it wouldn't be me if there wasn't a step backwards. Turns out my calculation on the capital one card was wrong and instead of it being £250 it was £493.74. :eek::eek::eek:

Lets not panic! Ive been able to move over £461.20 (to be exact over) over to MBNA meaning I have 12 months to clear it before incurring a single penny. As for the capital one card that is currently in the freezer for emergency only

Megano

So after [STRIKE]stalking[/STRIKE] I mean texting [STRIKE] multiple [/STRIKE] many times the cleaning lady she has hired me as a relief cleaner at the moment and given me 9 days cover and she also said as soon as a permanent role comes up (hopefully in a couple of weeks) it has my name on it because I'm only doing cover I'm not going to add it to the budget as I feel that will be counting my chickens. OH says he'll support me but has said openly he doesn't feel it's nesscary as we are living quiet comfortably which we are but I want to do more to get my forever home. I
I'm not looking forward to getting up at 4.15am but I'm sure as hell looking forward to the money (not as much as the overdraft or the credit card is) I've worked out it should be an extra £100 oddity for 22 hours in total.
In other news OH has booked our 1st EVER holiday abroad for next year and apparently all I need is spending money. We are going to Disney World Florida!:D

Florence_J

Way hay, way to go, well done on the job and even more well done on the holiday!

Megano

Question:-
Okay so its imagion its November and all my interest bearing debt (the overdraft and the capital one card) is a distance memory. I'll have just finished clearing off HMRC which means I'll have £50 spare every month (at least) now remember the TSB and MBNA card are still interest free.
Do I a) increase the payments to them meaning they will be cleared off quicker or b) put the extra money into a savings account and start my forever home fund?

This morning was my first day at W3 (god it feels so weird saying that) and it went really well. It wasn't as hardcore as what I thought it would be ^still not sure if that's a good or bad thing^ but as I said right now Im only doing cover work so I'm back in again tomorrow and then all of next week.
I'm still not sure if I'm doing the right thing getting another part time job and when I ask folk Im having mixed opinions - I've not even been brave enough to tell my mum yet :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Florence_J

There's a famous financial adviser called Alvin Hall whose books I have read, and what I like about him is he learnt the hard way. He got into debt, then cleared it. He did it by working more than one job and working extremely hard for 2 years to clear his debts (he had quite a lot).

One thing we know about you from your posts in how hard working you are. My advise, for what it is worth, is to take on a third job since you have the option to, but leave it the minute you clear the debt/get too exhausted to carry on, whichever comes first.

It will be tough, it won't be fun, you will most likely dream of sleep, but you will clear the debt so much faster and save yourself so much money.

Please look after yourself if you choose this path though, your health IS more important, if it gets too much, then quit. It will be best for your sanity and general health.

In regards to what to do with the additional 50 quid a month once the main debts have been cleared, if you are confident you will clear the debts remaining before any charges occur (not too sure what the situation regarding that may be) then it would be advised to save. I know everyone, even Martin Lewis, says clear the debt first, then save as it will save you money, but what keeps me awake at night is the fact I have no savings rather than the fact I have debt.

Whichever you decide you can be confident that you will have made the right and most informed decision for yourself.

Take care, and don't worry about your Mum, she'll come around once she sees the good it has done you.

Megano

After going backwards and forwards, left and right over this cleaning job I feel like this indecisiveness is not only playing havoc with me it's messing around the team and the actual employer herself. So I've decided to go for it and I'm going to put the money into the Florida fund (I still can't believe I'm going to meet Mickey next year!)
I've also had a long chat with OH, my brother, my mum, the postman, a stranger on the street and I'm going to take Flourence advice and I'm going to take full advance of the interest free periods that way I can build up the forever home and emergency fund

Megano

Its just gone 9.30pm and Im stressing at how late Im up :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:
I've been reading up on making a small "token payment" everyday to get rid of the "loose" change in bank accounts and I think I'm going to throw all my spare change at the MBNA CC as that has the lowest interest free period 1 payment and Ive already paid £10.03 :j:j:j
Just another £3220 oddish to go

Megano

So the cleaning job is going well apart from it has completely messed up my sleep pattern (and its only been 3 days) basically my day off from W1 was yesterday and today so when I came back to the house at 7.30am I found myself dozing off until 2 in the afternoon so when it came to bedtime I was tossing and turning something awful don't get me wrong this morning I was a joy to work with (maybe slightly too Snow White with the "MORNINGS!" at 5am) like I said its fine just now but W3 (still feels weird saying W3, like its the first thing I do in the mornings so should it be W1?) is meant to be around W1 not the other way round! I'm hoping when I'm back at W1 tomorrow because I'll be busy concentrating on stuff it will keep me away or there is always the caffeine IV :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:
There appears to be some "office drama" from what I can tell basically the cleaning team is made up of 6 people and we have all been allocated to do a certain task (I have the joy of cleaning kitchens) X has the offices Y has the bathrooms so on and so forth well it appears that 3 of the original team (and I hope myself) are busting a gut so our tasks are at a high standard while the other two are more "look busy the boss is coming" and I think they might be for the chop because our area manager is coming in tomorrow and I know the supervisor was going to say something it doesn't help when Y at 6.30 put on his hoodie and messed around on his phone when it turns out he hadn't even washed the bathroom floors _pale_
Anyway because I'm only covering this week and the start time is 5am OH has said he is not happy with me working to work so has given me a taxi fair for the week which is great but I do get offered a permanent role that will need to change as it will work out Im spending 1/2 my wages on taxis so I was thinking of getting a new bike (look up a townie electra they are STUNNING!) however OH reminded me I have a perfectly good (if not slightly broken) bike and all she needs is a service and some TLC - kinda not what I wanted to hear but I guess he does have a point
Anyway loose change payment of £3.67. I think this is going to be my last payment before payday and that's when I'll see if my new plan is working.
Tonight there is some overtime at W3 its just an hour but as my mum says all you need is a 100 pennys to make a pound!