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

edinburgher

No categories for car insurance, repairs or breakdown cover? Also, can't you use public transport. I echo what SF said. If MB costs you money, you're doing it wrong!

PositiveBalance

hiddenshadow wrote: »

Happy to take a stab at it.

Thanks.

hiddenshadow wrote: »

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!).

Thanks. I just need to get through this last month of college and a RIDICULOUS amount of work and I should be able to focus on this a lot more, pretty much killing the grocery bill. This month is going to be a bit more problematic and as I said, that's a very generous amount I've "budgeted" for.

hiddenshadow wrote: »

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.

Sorry, I don't think I have explained this whole thing very well. I was thinking of putting that in as a minimum flat rate contribution each month, but going mental in the meantime. The money I owe is to a family member and I need to give them money back until some other money is given to them. After that, I will temporarily stop paying them back and hammer the EF and, if time permits, more of the house. I will definitely be saving as much as possible in one way or another. Once the car insurance is out of the way, I can get back on an even keel but the money I had put to one side for that was needed immediately to pay the person I am paying back.

Complicated much?!

hiddenshadow wrote: »

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

Elec/gas seems much more reasonable (I've had a nightmare since I've moved in - the figures I gave are just a guess) as does landline/internet. Food is probably reasonable - I could get it down lower but I am going to need to change my diet for health reasons in the near future and I will probably end up eating a lot of meat which will bump it up.

Yoga & meditation. Hmm. The meditation is new - a bit of an offshoot from the yoga. This is one area I do struggle to scrimp on. I started doing it a while back and noticed that it made a massive (and I do mean massive) difference to my health, in ways that conventional western medicine would tell you are not possible. I'm going to have to think about that.

hiddenshadow wrote: »

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).

This is one thing I am less good at - the occasionals. Haircuts, holidays etc. I don't get to go away often so I'm not sure how much I should save. I have no holidays planned this year but two short trips to LDN. The first one is in August. I need to get saving (once the car insurace is out of the way).

edinburgher wrote: »

No categories for car insurance, repairs or breakdown cover? Also, can't you use public transport.

With college and getting to see my sibling, who has moved a fair distance away, no. Other than that, theoretically, but it's pretty bl**dy expensive and lacks flexibility. Also, there are other aspects to consider: although I am in the best place I have been for a long time, health-wise, there are times when I need to be able to stop and get to public conveniences quickly and public transport really isn't built for those kinds of situations.

edinburgher wrote: »

I echo what SF said. If MB costs you money, you're doing it wrong!

It's put to one side for a specific purpose (MB related). Don't worry - I'm only starting and haven't frittered away tons of cash or anything.

hiddenshadow

PositiveBalance wrote: »

After that, I will temporarily stop paying them back and hammer the EF and, if time permits, more of the house. I will definitely be saving as much as possible in one way or another.

Depending on interest rates and the terms of your mortgage (e.g. if you want to shoot for a different LTV threshold by a certain time), I'd focus on one thing at a time. Get the EF to a manageable level so you have security, then hammer at debt (whether that's the 11k or the mortgage or a mixture).

Yoga & meditation. Hmm. The meditation is new - a bit of an offshoot from the yoga. This is one area I do struggle to scrimp on. I started doing it a while back and noticed that it made a massive (and I do mean massive) difference to my health, in ways that conventional western medicine would tell you are not possible. I'm going to have to think about that.

I'm not suggesting giving either up, just wondering if there are cheaper ways to get the same result.

This is one thing I am less good at - the occasionals. Haircuts, holidays etc. I don't get to go away often so I'm not sure how much I should save. I have no holidays planned this year but two short trips to LDN. The first one is in August. I need to get saving (once the car insurace is out of the way).

We tend to pick what we think is a "sane" number (think we've got £50/mo for holidays) and then bump up as needed. (We're going to the US next spring so will need quite a bit extra for airfare). It's a lot easier to zero in on a goal once you know what/when you'll be spending.

edinburgher

I hear you re. a car being a necessary evil for you, but you still need to budget for it. Be sure to reflect these categories, or you'll end up experiencing budget shock when a £££ bill comes along for your next insurance payment etc.

PositiveBalance

:mad: I just wrote long post including replied to HS & Ed but my browser has just shut itself down for no good reason (it has done it a few times this past few days) and eaten it! :mad:

I have job applications to do so I can't retype it. I'll come back tomorrow.

In other news, I learned today that I will get a bonus at work. I'm not sure how much it will be, but it will be a few hundred pound at least. Yay to topping up the EF!

Also, £14.95 spent on food shopping.

See you all later when I've stopped swearing at the computer!;)

hiddenshadow

Congrats on the bonus!

Hope your computer's learned its lesson.

Karmacat

Hello PB, sounds like you're on a roll, keep going

PositiveBalance

Karmacat wrote: »

Hello PB, sounds like you're on a roll, keep going

Thanks Karmacat!

Quick note for today: large part of job application completed.

Spends:

£2.00 chocolate (BAD PB! :mad:) from food budget
£11.00 petrol
I didn't go to yoga so I transferred £6.50 to my EF.

Hope you are all well. x

edinburgher

I'm told that chocolate offers many of the health benefits of yoga - don't beat yourself up about it

PositiveBalance

edinburgher wrote: »

I'm told that chocolate offers many of the health benefits of yoga - don't beat yourself up about it

Alas, no: just more reasons to have needed to have gone in the first place!

2 x job applications filled in yesterday after a loooooong day resulting in

£1.00 energy drink to keep me going
£1.00 chocolate (I'm guilty - my current biggest sin:eek:)
£4.00 bottle of wine
£1.00 crisps (big bag of)

Today was a NSD! :T

I'm off to bed - work beckons in too few hours.

Catch up with you all soon.