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

hiddenshadow

Nice to see you back!

Sorry to hear about the car, hope the new one works well.

PositiveBalance wrote: »

I have therefore decided that when I have finished this academic year I will be deferring for next year in order to sort out my finances, health and get this house into something like decent shape.

This has been a fairly big decision but it feels like the right one.

The only thing I'm a bit scared of is that I'll make a plan to get all of these things sorted in the next year then won't *quite* get round to doing them.

This simply cannot happen. I feel as though I have reached the *crunch* point and now I need to get things sorted once and for all.

Sounds like a good plan! I watched this TED talk the other day on procrastination https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arj7oStGLkU pretty interesting (though not that helpful to a procrastinator like myself!).

I've looked into getting one of those 123 accounts that everyone thinks are great but if I'm honest, it won't work brilliantly for me, but I definitely need a decent current account so I need to look again for a better option.

This article is really helpful - http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/compare-best-bank-accounts#interest Your best bank depends on your circumstances, but we switched from the 123 account into smaller accounts (T$B, N@tionwide) to get higher interest. We weren't paying enough in direct debits to get decent cash back from the 123, and we didn't have the full 20k in there to maximise interest.

Yay to the plants and the terrimundi! If the terrimundi inspires you to save when you wouldn't, I think that's better than getting interest. Interest on £0 is still £0, vs £1,000 in £2 coins is a lot more.

PositiveBalance

hiddenshadow wrote: »

Nice to see you back!

Why thank you, hiddenshadow - it's nice to come back to such a nice welcome!

You're like a, oh, wait...:rotfl:

hiddenshadow wrote: »

Sorry to hear about the car, hope the new one works well.

You're not the only one! :eek: Thanks for the good wishes, though.

hiddenshadow wrote: »

Sounds like a good plan! I watched this TED talk the other day on procrastination https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arj7oStGLkU pretty interesting (though not that helpful to a procrastinator like myself!).

Ooh, a TED talk. I LOVE Ted talks! :T *Watches TED talk then gets distracted by other shiny TED talks in the suggestions bar at the side of the screen* (Only joking!)

I don't think I've been procrastinating about it in the traditional sense: I've been incredibly busy and there are only so many directions I can get pulled in at once without being a visual representation of a medieval torture technique and now I've really had to make some decisions about my priorities...and finances have pushed themselves to the top three on that list.

hiddenshadow wrote: »

This article is really helpful - http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/compare-best-bank-accounts#interest Your best bank depends on your circumstances, but we switched from the 123 account into smaller accounts (T$B, N@tionwide) to get higher interest. We weren't paying enough in direct debits to get decent cash back from the 123, and we didn't have the full 20k in there to maximise interest.

You read my mind - I've already been here, thanks. I opened the TSB account last year for a money-making venture but I need another *proper* current account. I'll have another look at the weekend.

hiddenshadow wrote: »

Yay to the plants and the terrimundi! If the terrimundi inspires you to save when you wouldn't, I think that's better than getting interest. Interest on £0 is still £0, vs £1,000 in £2 coins is a lot more.

This is very true. Why are we such silly creatures?! :rotfl:

PositiveBalance

*Fills in with today's spends and musings about money*

tattycath

Hi PB :wave:
I'm sorry you're overdoing things. Pleased you have realised and are now rectifying the situation. If it were to continue as well as feeling you can achieve as much as you would like to, it would be detrimental to your health.
Touching on hidden shadows post. I'm struggling with procrastination-inadvertent, but procrastinating none the less.

tattycath

hiddenshadow wrote: »

Nice to see you back!

Sorry to hear about the car, hope the new one works well.



Sounds like a good plan! I watched this TED talk the other day on procrastination https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arj7oStGLkU pretty interesting (though not that helpful to a procrastinator like myself!).



thanks for link. Going to watch it now.

PositiveBalance

Hello everyone! :wave:

I can't believe how long it has been since I last posted! Time just seems to fly.

This has been a busy and stressful month. Work issues came to head, resulting in them being swept under the carpet. I'm applying for other jobs. Two have come up that pay £6k more than my current one, which barely covers the bills if I'm honest, so I'm going to go for them. I think I would be particularly suited to one of them.

I've ended up repaying some of my debt earlier than expected. So far this month I've paid £300 back and will probably end up paying another £300 or so between the end of the month and on payday on top of about £100 paid on a one-off unexpected bill. I won't know entirely until I get my payslip, hopefully today.

This is a bit squeaky as my car insurance is due at the end of next month and I have had to use up the money I had saved for it to make these payments.

I still need to change energy supplier and have another financial rejig. And apply for that pretty well-paid job.

I think this weekend will be busy!

See you later, alligators!

hiddenshadow

Good luck with the job hunt! Having just done it, finding a new job that fits better (and ideally pays better!) is a huge relief.

PositiveBalance

hiddenshadow wrote: »

Good luck with the job hunt! Having just done it, finding a new job that fits better (and ideally pays better!) is a huge relief.

Thanks! There seem to be quite a few jobs coming up with the same people so I will apply for more than one. Wish me luck! *Crosses fingers*

I'm glad that you have got yourself sorted. I hope it proves a happy job for a long time to come.

Regarding all things financial, I got my payslip today and need to sit down and do some calculating.

A lot is going to be to do with how much my car insurance might cost next month (!) which is annoying as I am likely to get my annual bonus the month after at work.

I also have to make 2 mediumly expensive purchases next month that are likely to come it at just over £100, but that's just a rough guestimate.

I'll be back.

This next month could be a bit squeaky so I'll need to get my cooking apron on and batten down the hatches!

PositiveBalance

*Warning: long post ahead!*

Several things:

1. Had a meal out yesterday that was planned ages ago. Cost: £10.00
2. Been having a look at my finances. I am fairly OK at dealing with my month-to-month expenses but need to get a grip on annual ones and I'm rubbish at budgeting for things like holidays, clothes & haircuts. Any advice? Once I've got myself back on more of an even keel I will be setting up BSOs for all my car/house insurance bills to sort out.
3. This past month I have spent £400 unexpectedly on debt repayment and this month I am spending a minimum of £230 on debt repayment.

This means that my expenses (rounded up) this month look a bit like this (this is sort of my SOA but I couldn't find the original):

Income: £1312.28
Additional income: £30.00
Total income: £1342.28

Essential outgoings:
Mortgage: £319
Council tax: £80.00
Water: £26
Electricity: £40.00*
Gas: £40.00*
Landline/internet: £39.00*^
Mobile: £10.00
Petrol: £100 (just under – normally 2 tanks of forty something pound but depends on price at time)
Food: £200 (see below)
Yoga: £26.00 (this month as it's 4 weeks)
Meditation: £20.00 (as for yoga)
Going out/social life/other: £30.00
Prescription: £8.40 (might not need this)
5% wages to emergency fund: £57
Union: £8.70
Debt repayment: £230
Total: £1234.10
Left over: £78.18

*: not quite sure how much – ongoing issues with power company
*^: with Sky. The cheeky barstewards have changed one package and replaced it with one 220% more expensive. I need to get on to them about this, the robbing gits!
Food: this is a very generous guestimate. I don't think I eat anywhere near this much but given the trips to the shop at work every now and again that needs to be cut out, cleaning products etc. and the odd forgotten lunch it needs work. And more accurate record keeping.

Also, I need to change energy providers – had lots of problem with my current ones. (Even worse then Sky.)

Additional outgoings:
£70 passport
£12 grill for oven
£40.00(ish) dental stuff
£50.00 matched betting
Thank you present for someone (maybe)
= £172 (not including thank you present)

Hmm...not going to be able to do all that this month but maybe I can if I take some out of my food budget toward it. But that would mean taking £93.82 which would only leave £113.82 which is doable, but I have to be mindful I don't have a great amount of time to cook. I do have quite a bit of food in the store cupboard/freezer, though, although most of the meat is random fish.

If the worst comes to the worst I will dip into the emergency fund, but I will try to avoid that as I am going to need to use that for my car insurance next month. I'm going to try to get a quote soon as I will be within the 30 day limit soon. Hopefully, with next month's overtime I should be in a position where I can pay it all off in cash. From the month after, a BSO will be set up for all such monthly contibutions to annual bills to go into as high an interest account as I can and not be touched until the appropriate time.

Also, I've never mentioned how much debt I have. It was originally a whopping £11639.02, now at £11.320. Come tomorrow it will be down to £11090.

Ouch ouch ouch ouch ouch ouch ouch! :eek:

I really need to apply for new jobs this week!

And I think I have been a tad optimistic moving over to the MFW. I think, given those figures, I should probably still be on the DFW board!

Feel free to chip in if you can see anything I can do to reduce the my overheads. Food evidently needs sorting as does electricity & gas and Sky need stringing up by their short and curlies – they've been doing this to me for the past 7 months it seems. Has anyone had nay luck in getting their money back in a similar situation?

Oh, as well, at some point during the month I should finally be getting my refund on my old car tax, which will increase the coffers by £132 or so and will be tucked away for car insurance/debt repayment/emergency fund/home improvements etc.

hiddenshadow

Happy to take a stab at it.

PositiveBalance wrote: »

Essential outgoings:
Mortgage: £319
Council tax: £80.00
Water: £26 This seems high, DH and I pay ~£180/year on a meter
Electricity: £40.00* Definitely get this sorted, our DD is ~£60/mo combined elec/gas if you don't count the savings from solar panels
Gas: £40.00*
Landline/internet: £39.00*^ Switch! We're currently paying about this but our contract is up in a month so we'll switch/haggle. Our original deal was about half this for 12 months.
Mobile: £10.00
Petrol: £100 (just under – normally 2 tanks of forty something pound but depends on price at time)
Food: £200 see note below
Yoga: £26.00 (this month as it's 4 weeks) Can you do videos on Youtube instead of live classes?
Meditation: £20.00 (as for yoga) Can you use an app? I've played around with Headspace a bit and found it nice
Going out/social life/other: £30.00
Prescription: £8.40 (might not need this)
5% wages to emergency fund: £57 see note below
Union: £8.70
Debt repayment: £230 is this the minimum payment? see below

...

Additional outgoings:
£70 passport
£12 grill for oven
£40.00(ish) dental stuff
£50.00 matched betting Why? This should generate income and if it doesn't you shouldn't do it
Thank you present for someone (maybe) can you make something instead? gift something you already have?
= £172 (not including thank you present)

Re: food, that should be easy to reduce. We're down to ~£225/mo average spend for 2 of us (includes household items). We've had a lot of success this year with just cooking more and freezing leftovers for bringing in to work/eating on nights we don't feel like cooking. Slow cookers are wonderful things, too - can get a week's worth of soup with very minimal time (have a couple of recipes that take 5min to prep!).

Re: overall budget, I think you really need to buckle down on the EF...£57 is going to take you 2-3 years to save anything meaninful (read: 4 digits). Given that you're going to wipe out your EF next month for non-emergency stuff, I'd prioritise getting the £1k in here (permanently! ) ASAP. If the £230 you're sending to debt is more than the minimum due, just send the minimum for now.

If you can get the following numbers:
Elec/Gas: £50 combined
Landline/internet: £20
Food: £150
Yoga/Meditation: £0 (see above)

That gets you £202 to put into your EF, getting you to £1k within 6 months. Then you're free to save for the annual bills, holidays, etc, and/or throw more at debt.

I'd also recommend going through old bank statements and spotting one-off/annual payments if you can - when we were setting up our budget I thought I had plenty of padding in various categories but I was forgetting things (like passports, travel insurance, misc fees, etc).