A Journey of Many Pounds Starts With a Single Penny

LABMUM

Thank you for answering LadyGnome. Pretty much what I thought it was just wasn't absolutely sure.

LadyGnome

Technically it could be described as zero balancing by way of a physical cash sweep.
(whereas an offset mortgage is notional cash pooling i.e. the balances aren't physically combined but are netted off for the purposes of calculating interest)

See how technical terminology makes simple ideas seem terribly complex;) That's why sites like this are so useful.

EatingTheElephant

You are sounding very organised and on top of things. I've had the heating on a couple of times recently. I'm such a wimp!

LadyGnome

I'm a wimp too and I don't mind paying for a warm house but I do mind paying to heat a London borough because someone has left the window open when the heating is on.

Despite what it might seem I am not a naturally organised person, if you saw my work desk you would believe me. However, I am pragmatic I want to pay off the mortgage and have a life and the only way I can do that is being systematic. Planning ahead and saving up for stuff reduces my stress so much that it is worth the effort.

LadyGnome

(Well nearly - they need to collect it from Arg0s today)
I bought the Gnomeboys the Xbox I have been saving for. I only needed to top up my prepaid cashback card by £17.20 so the saving up worked. I will get 5% back by using that card and went through £Co to get 1% CB on Arg0s fast track. It was £274.99 theoretically reduced by £85 but the small print did say that it had been on sale previously at £289.99 so I'm seeing it as a £15 reduction not an £85 one. It comes with one game loaded which is suitable for the Gnomeboys age so they can get started straightaway. One of the problems I faced was that quite a few of the good value bundles had 16+ or 18+ games included which isn't much good when your children are several years younger.

This method of saving up has worked well for me as the money is credited straight to the prepaid card on payday without ever hitting my bank account. So I've decided to do it again! The older Gnomeboy may well need a laptop for school - I am just waiting for the school to confirm. He has handwriting issues and has been using a laptop more and more often. He is about to go into yr 9 so I think he will need to have his own to use in class before he starts the full run up to GCSEs. I am not going to buy anything expensive as it is going to be lugged around school all day. I am thinking of something like a Lenovo Ideapad which is light with a long battery life. They are around £150 - £200 depending what offers are on. So from next payday I will only spend £30 of the £100 that goes on the prepay card leaving £70 to build up. That way the cost of the laptop will be covered in max 3 months.

Mr Gnome and I have started looking at new tariffs for gas and electricity and it looks like it will be worth switching. We need to work out how much we have used since the bill cut off which was over a month ago so we know what we will owe when we switch.

I did the money shuffle yesterday and this month will be a bit tight because of the increased fuel DD and the theatre ticket savings. So I've decided to give myself a pocket money budget of £4 per day (things like travel are covered separately and I have a pot set aside for half term). Yesterday was a NSD and today I have spent £2.30 on antihistamines and popcorn.
Current pocket money balance £8-£2.30=£5.70 (yay! let's party:beer:)
(Epic post - payday always makes me think about what I want to do next)
30 Days to the end of the Xbox squeeze

Busy_Mee1

Lucky Gnomeboys getting an Xbox just in time for half term. Really impressed with all your budgeting and savings pots and ever so slightly jealous because we have to wait until Tuesday for payday. The laptop sounds like a good idea too, ours both had laptops and to be fair they were essential really. The good news is that they lasted well too - 3 or 4 years each time before they needed replacing.
We have allocated £20 each a week pocket money this month and we have managed OK. To be honest I hardly ever spend anything Monday to Friday anyway - don't get time !

LadyGnome

Hi Busy Mee
As you might have guessed, the timing is not entirely accidental! Also both boys have finished their internal school exams so there won't be as much homework from now on. I think you are right that laptops are pretty much essential now (I feel old, in my day, a scientific calculator was high tech)

I'm quite interested to see how my pocket money challenge goes as I suspect I don't need as much as I think I do.

LadyGnome

The Xbox is a big hit. I have made it clear that they won't be sitting in playing on it all day, we will be going out and getting some daylight.

Found an old notebook so will keep a pocket money tally and a half term spending tally as I have a pot of money for half term. Mind you it could be a cheap day today as I am going to have to battle to crowbar the boys off screens today. I will get them out in daylight!

debtfreeoneday

Well done you for saving and sure the boys are appreciative! What have you got planned for half term?

brizzledfw

You're going great guns. Really impressive work Lady G