PositiveBalance's Positive Postings on the Path to Paying off Peter & Paul and...

PositiveBalance

Today's spends: £6.50 yoga.

Well worth it - head fried with all the studying!

SOOOOO much more to do!

hiddenshadow

Good luck with all the studying! At least you're in the home stretch.

PositiveBalance

Today was another NSD.

They really are remarkably easy when you do nothing but work and study...

I spent £6.67 yesterday on a well-earned bottle of wine and some reduced flower for after college. I had to give a presentation and it was horrendous!

I also appear to have spent £8.00 + £3.53 at the supermarket as well two days ago. Hmm. *Digs out receipts for a look*

Other than that, it's the same old here.

I'm tired. I need this to be over. It won't be, for a fortnight or more...

EatingTheElephant

I hate giving presentations, so understand the wine being needed!!

PositiveBalance

EatingTheElephant wrote: »

I hate giving presentations, so understand the wine being needed!!

Thanks Eating! I don't normally mind them, but the content of this one was horrible! :eek:

I had to do it all in small bits. A bit like how I'm going to have to do all this work! :eek:

So, to today...new credit card activated and old account closed. This will be used carefully, but hopefully to full advantage.

PositiveBalance

Have spent £3.39 on food, mainly naughty study snacks if I am honest.

Still, I finally got my car tax rebate cheque so that's something!

I just need to cash it on Monday.

PositiveBalance

I've been thinking a lot this past few days about the CC I recently took out.

I wasn't planning on getting one but realised that in the short-term I might need one to get my car insured at the end of the month. Most of the money, if not all, will be paid back at the end of the month, so it's a fairly short-term fix, and any little amount left over will be paid the month after (although it looks as though my insurance isn't now due until after I get paid, which is, annoyingly, a few days after I expected it, so perhaps I could have bypassed the new CC altogether.) This sounds like poor financial planning and to a point it is, but I have had a lot of unexpected expense this year (new car etc, unexpected house repairs on top of the expected ones etc.) which wiped out the money I had put to one side for this (and other) annual bills. Add on top unexpected debt repayment and it has been a fairly perfect storm designed to derail my financial plans.

Clearly, I need to get a new plan once this next hiccup is ironed out (or get back to the old one, at any rate). Although using the CC to get me over the next hurdle is OK in the very short term, becoming dependent is a surefire way to financial misery and would show that I haven't really learned anything at all.

But I have! So as soon renewed car insurance as this is all over I will:

1) Get back to putting money away each month for annual bills
2) Recreating my emergency fund

But in the meantime, recent CC events and Martin's article on stoozing have caused me to think long and hard...

I have found myself in a position where I have had some unexpected emergency debt repayments to make (there's normally not a fixed plan in place but I have had not choice but to make payments in the recent past) and a large credit limit and every chance that in the near future I will have to make a few more emergency repayments, it seems that using my new CC in a clever but controlled manner (and it really will have to be controlled) then I could end up helping myself by paying the CC debt back at 0% in the future but meaning that I can make emergency payments as required in the short-term future.


I would only do this if I have no choice, and if not and I do it right, I will earn 5% interest against everything I stooze from the card, for which I would have the money sat in my account ready to repay at a moment's notice.


In theory, it's a win-win situation.


However, there is a big flip side to this: if I get it wrong.

Doing this, I am aware really need and want to be careful with any CC use as I do not want to find myself racking up stupid spending (the only potential time I will make currently unbudgeted spends will be if I get one of the new jobs and have to spend money on buying new office clothes as my current job is rather casual and there is no way I could go to the new job with my current 'work' clothes). I do not want to convince myself that I am 'paying' off my existing debt and effectively transferring it onto a CC. That way madness lies. I would have to ensure that the money down to the last penny for every transaction I make is transferred over to the savings account straight away. (I now have apps for that, so it possible, but I simply cannot take my eye off the ball.)

I can't go mad doing this for two reasons: 1. I do not want to end up in more debt. This will only work if I keep to STRICTLY predetermined budgeted limits and transfer the money paid off on the CC over to my savings account straight away; 2. I have a 25 month 0% period on my CC but in just under 2 years time when I come to change my mortgage I cannot be in a position where I have any CC debt as it has a massive impact on my ability on the terms etc. offered.


I think what I am trying to say is that if I need to and use it to get myself in a controlled level of 0% debt that is used only for the purposes of emergency repayments of existing debt or earning interest on 0% money then it's a good idea, but if there is any chance I'm going to go off the rails or start frivolously spending then I should not do it.


I cannot do this. I will not. The stakes are too high.


I made a small transaction for £3.39 at the supermarket last night to use the card for the first time and check it was OK. As soon as I came home I transferred this amount to my savings account. I also wrote it up in my signature so I can stay aware of it.

Perhaps I didn't need to say this, but in typing it all out I feel that I have set the boundaries for what I am doing and if I acknowledge the potential for where this plan could go wrong I am more aware of it, which is a good thing and will help me stick to the rules of the game.


Part of me feels a bit nervous in saying this - will I mess it up? Will I end up getting busy and losing track? Part of me knows that I have learned a lot financially and that I am in a tricky situation that required some creative solutions and that I have accidentally just hit upon one for the short-medium term future.


The rest of me knows that my back is against the wall and that in situations like this I come out swinging.


Onwards it is. Carefully, willfully and in a controlled manner, but onwards nonetheless.

Edit: current bank accounts totals:

'Emergency fund' (will be wiped out at end of month): £113.50
Savings: £70.49 (inc. £3.39 from last night)
Bank account: £69.91

PositiveBalance

I found that rarest of jewels, a spare pound, betwwen the cushions of my sofa.

I put it in my purse and transferred a pound over to my savings.

:money:

hiddenshadow

Sounds like a good plan. If you don't have one already I'd get a regular saver for the 0% card balance. I think most have a minimum amount of £25/mo, so it would only work if you'll be putting at least that on the card, but as you won't be able to withdraw for a year it would prevent you from spending the money elsewhere. It would still require diligence to send over the appropriate amount each month to match the CC balance, but it could help.

PositiveBalance

hiddenshadow wrote: »

Sounds like a good plan. If you don't have one already I'd get a regular saver for the 0% card balance. I think most have a minimum amount of £25/mo, so it would only work if you'll be putting at least that on the card, but as you won't be able to withdraw for a year it would prevent you from spending the money elsewhere. It would still require diligence to send over the appropriate amount each month to match the CC balance, but it could help.

Great minds, HS...great minds - I've already got one! :beer: Mine's instant access, though, which is no bad thing under the circumstances. I'll sit a dragon in front of the door to the account though, to stop it getting raided...;) (Iwon'tIwon'tIwon't...only in emergencies!)

In other news, today has been another NSD. I'm living the dream! :rotfl:

See you all soon. Better get some studyin' done, but in reality I'm waiting on tenterhooks for the next episode of Game of Thrones.