A Ditherer's Diary (again)

Naomim

@EssexHebridean sadly yes, it is required. I don't want to end up with £100's in arrears. Happy with a small bit of arrears in winter as I know I'll catch up in the summer.

In other news, mortgage product renewed, gone from 1.49% to 3.99% 😪 12years left. I have £173 in overpayments on the mortgage account so will need to push it up more if I can. I also need to have a look at snowball/avalance calculator and check my card payments are still upto date. I overpay them all and all on 0% but need to check which ones finish first to ensure payments are going in the right place.

I've also had a thought about 20yo's budgeting. I mentioned he should think about the cost of rent & associated bills and put this away. Two good reasons for this is that he'll get used to most of his money "going away" every month and he can stick it in savings or an ISA and if he doesn't move out of home (I'm not getting rid of him, yet) then it could go towards a deposit on a flat or house eventually. I've had a quick look at Zoopla for our local area and rents for 1 bed flats are mainly between £1350 - £1500 pcm + bills etc. So I'll workout a budget for if he was sharing and see how much it works out at.

Naomim

Well I didn't win the PB's in Feb. Every month in sure I'm going to win, then.…disappointment 😭

Nothing much to report, all DD's winging their way out of the account.

Off to Amsterdam in March for four days for a work trip. Managed to get them to agree to let me go Sunday afternoon so I don't have to fight my way across London to Heathrow on a Monday morning. Looking forward to it.

Hope everyone is bearing up in the piddling rain. Roll on Spring & sunshine 🌞

Naomim

Naomim

Checking my Snoop app this morning and it pinged up it hadn't seen my council tax coming out of my account yet. Then I remember I pay over 10 months so I made an overpayment of £242 to the credit card! 🥳 So a small win that has made my day.

Got some insurances I need to renew this month. Must get onto that. MrM's car insurance renewal is only £3 more than last year and less than I have saved in the pot so far

Treated myself to a chippy tea last night. MrM & 16yo were at his Mum & Dads to watch the football, 20yo was at his gf's. I had commuted into London and back in the piddling rain for work so thought, why not? £6.40 well spent I think! Tonight I have a gammon joint in the oven which should be ready when I finish work. It will give us ham, egg & chips for dinner and hopefully some left over for sandwiches.

Hope everyone is keeping well.

Naomim

Naomim

I've just updated my signature with my current cc total. More than half way through but want to try and speed it up a bit.

I know I've meandered with my debt. I think because I had my true lbm, I'm on top of it, all on 0%, got a little emergency fund built up, I'm not worried about it but now it would be good to see the back of it.

I have an Ancestry subscription I think I'm going to cancel for now. I don't use it as much as I should and can always reactivate it if I need to. I might also cancel Disney+ for now as I always forget we have it and not sure how much kids use it. If 20yo wants it, he can pay for it.

I'm also trying to build up my emergency fund. I currently have £3125.00 in PB's and have just bought a couple more this month.

I'll get there eventually 😌

KajiKita

You are making steady, controlled progress and those additional couple of subscription cancellations will help too.
Very different to where you were a year or so ago. Don’t forget how far you’ve come 😊

KK

EssexHebridean

Loving that attitude towards the debt. The main thing with any debt busting journey IMO is getting the budgeting aspects sorted and the debt not racking up interest. once those things are in place, the paying off generally follows smoothly as the surplus is budgeted to be in place.

Our CT money has been sent off to the mortgage this month too - I always enjoy the ability to make a couple of noticeable extra repayments so early to the start of the year!

Naomim

@KajiKita Disney & Ancestry cancelled so that free up almost £25 a month.

@EssexHebridean I love being able to pay off a chunky amount in one go and £242 is definitely that!

I'm still tillying my pennies £7.70 so far this month.

Day off tomorrow as 16yo has 6th form interview after school so I thought I'd enjoy the day to myself. MrM works from home on Tuesdays as its my day in the office so I've reminded him not to wake me up early. I do need to go food shopping so hoping to go around 9ish. Downside to living near a school is the mayhem of parents dropping off as it's motor madness 😠

I'm sitting here enjoying the figure skating in Milan at the moment. I'm waiting for our British couple who are soon to dance. 💃🕺

Naomim

So much for not getting up early. 20yo asked for a lift to work so he can get a train to his girlfriends house straight from work later. We left at 7am, got halfway when he realised he'd forgotten his bag so I had to turn around. 🤦‍♀️

I went into town earlier as we need a new bathroom mirror. Had a look in B&M but nothing I wanted. Treated myself to a coffee & toasted tea cake. I had a free loyalty coffee for costa so only paid for the teacake £2.90. I've come a long way from the days of buying a coffee on the way to work every morning!

16yo's interview went well. She spoke to the teacher which is a big plus as she really struggles with taking to strangers.

We nipped into Aldi after to pick up some bits £69 spend. Not a full week shop but will tide us over.

Hope everyone is staying frugal.

Naomim

Naomim

It appears my car insurance pot is underfunded. MrM's is due at the end of this month and mine is due at the beginning of next month. Insurance pot only covers one. Luckily we should get our bonuses so will be covered but I need to sort the budget for next year.

Got a surprise free lunch at work today. I chose a sausage & egg sandwich 🥪

Not much going on with the finances. Tilly Tidy pot up to £13 so about right as I average about £30 a month.

KajiKita

They say in the YNAB world that a budget that isn't dynamic and adaptable / adapting, isn't a budget … You are demonstrating this beautifully with with your car insurance pot … 😉

Yaay for the free butty! 😊

KK