A Ditherer's Diary (again)

Naomim

I would OP on the mortgage but whilst I have interest loading CC's, I think I need to throw my efforts at those to try and get some more BT offers made.  Once all back on 0% (fingers crossed) I can then think about the mortgage with a small OP.  We currently have four mortgage products due to the old dodgy builders that we had a few years ago but they are all on fixed low rates until end of 2024.

This morning I have logged onto the CC accounts and amended all the DD's to be overpaying the minimums.  I'll check them all at the end of next month and see if any need adjusting. I also did my percentage check and from the start of paying off the cc's I have reduced the balance by 37%. Next goal is 50%.

I've just opened a Post Office instant access savings account. It has 3.41% interest. It made sense to move my emergency fund in my Monzo pot, not earning a bean into the savings account for the emergency fund.  That will get topped up by £50 a month which is what I currently put into EF.  

Definitely feeling far more positive. I guess it's true if you can get control over one thing, then others start to fall into place.

GeorgianaCavendish

I agree with @EssexHebridean on the mortgage overpayment, just try rounding it up to the next £10 / £20 / whatever for now. It will put a pin in that habit and you can revisit it when you get a chance. I also love the idea of putting the takeaway money in the mortgage overpayment fund, I will keep that in mind for down the line. 

On the Barclays thing, I don't know if you can add other credit cards - I guess it depends if those providers fall under the Open Banking rules. I've got my Barclaycard and Barclays debit card in the one app though (not very impressive as they are the same provider). 

Everything about learning to drive is so expensive now, and if he wants to learn I think it is 10000% ok to say that he needs to find the money for it himself. Regardless of what his friends parents are doing, it is such a huge cost and it is not at all unreasonable to say that has to be funded by him. I understand why you are reluctant to hand over the savings account money etc, but would it be worth having a conversation with him that money is available for driving lessons. Has he done his theory test yet? Perhaps that is a way of seeing how seriously he would take it. 

Have you discussed with him what will happen after he turns 18? Way back in the mists of time when I turned 18, my mum was clear that I needed to pay housekeeping each month that I wasn't at uni (so including summer holidays) and that all my personal expenses were down to me - so clothes, toiletries, bus fares etc. To be fair, she really needed that money from me because my dad was out of work, but it did motivate me to earn my own money.
(Although I could have done with way more guidance on how to manage my money!)

Naomim

Having taken on board @EssexHebridean and @GeorgianaCavendish thoughts on OP the mortgage, I could do this with my tilly tidies. At the moment I'm only rounding on purchases automatically but should get back into the swing of tillying everyday.  I used to get about £30 a month doing this which would help.

We've had some conversations with DS. I will expect some housekleeping, he's alredy asked to pick up more shifts at work and I've told him he needs to pay for his own mobile phone bill and bus fares too.  I've also offered to help him budget.

I asked about spotify and he's definitely paying from his bank account. I have his account on my phone as it was a teen account and will come off my phone when he turns 18. I never nomally look at it but checked and his spotify subscription is coming out. I checked my bank account and there's no spotify DD so will need to look at my bank statements closer.

Naomim

Evening all, 

I was hoping to have an NSD today. Tuesday is "teams" day at work where they like a many people in the office as possible. The company put on lunch every Tuesday. It goes out at 12pm. I went to the kitchen at 12.30 and it was all gone! So I went to the bagel shop and spent £6.40 😔 I really need to get back in the habit of making lunches for my other office day. 

Payday in two days. 🎉

WinterWarrior

They clearly don’t put enough lunch on to feed everyone, that’s so annoying! 

Naomim

They usually do. I don't know if it was more people or less food, I didn't get a chance to see! I mean who eats lunch at 12! It's too early 🤣

Checked my bank account and in I'm £42 od but that was spent on doggo. We'd run out of chew sticks and the very large pet place had 84 for £23 rather than £16 for 42 so a nice saving really and I got her some food. 

I've just slighty deflated MrM before he left for work. He came downstairs and I asked if he wasn't going in today as he was wearing what I consider to be a knackered stay at home t-shirt so he had to go upstairs and change. 🤣

NSD planned as I'm wfh today. Need to organise a food shop as we keep ending up with bare cupboards.

Hope everyone has a good Wednesday 👍 

GeorgianaCavendish

Ha, I have the same thing with MrC and his collection of knackered T-shirts. A few weeks ago I organised his T-shirts into different drawers based on how old and faded they were and said the ones in top drawer only are for going out in public. Cue lots of quiet grumbling that the other ones “aren’t that bad” but honestly! 

I need to get back in the habit of bringing lunch to work, I’ve gotten lazy with this habit but I’m really noticing the prices have gone up so much. My normal lunch order from Pret is now nearly £7 - sooo expensive! 

Naomim

Lunches are really a false economy! MrM and I both in central London so you're hard pressed to find anything for under £8. There's a "Tossed" next to my office £8.95 for a medium salad! It's daylight robbery. MrM hates sandwiches, he gets bored but needs must really. I used to be so good at making lunches when we both commuted into town every day. But I suspect it was more down to routine whereas now on my wfh days, MrM is in the office and vice versa so I get up and plop on the sofa. (Like right now!) Obviously when I'm wfh I'll make sandwich or have toast or soup. 

This brings me onto meal planning. I've got completely out the habit. I've been so meh about cooking but I think part of that is because I'm staring into the fridge and there's either nothing in there or I have no idea what to do and give up. Our takeaway consumption has definitely increased so this really needs getting back to being a treat rather than a lazy/boredom problem. 

Just done the online food shop for delivery tonight. £132 and that was after taking bits out before checkout. There was also £24 savings on the deals. I am going to look at my meal planner shortly and amend the order. See if I can get it down or at least proper food for meals.

I need to log into my MrT's clubcard account. Probably got quite a few vouchers due to expire and need to do something with them. When the kids were little I used to use them on loads of day trips etc but now we don't do nearly half as much. Might see if there's any cinema deals or restaurant deals locally. 

MrM really couldn't care less about what he wears so it's not always obvious to him that he looks a bit rough round the edges! 

EssexHebridean

Loving the conversation about OH's and knackered t-shirts - I face precisely the same issues, although MrEH is rather better than he was on that - well over 20 years of me saying "ooh - didn't you mean to change that t-shirt before going out?" in a bright tone while knowing full well that no, he didn't!  

definitely worth checking out the CC account for vouchers - the rewards are changing to 2 x from their existing 3 x value shortly IIRC - so to maximise value it would make sense to use them sooner rather than later. End May is a prime time for them to expire too isn't it - last time I changed some up I had several that were coming up to their expiry. I struggle for what to change them to these days mind you - we used to use them on railcards but don't bother with a card now as we travel by train rather less, also Pizza Express but they now exlude you using the vouchers on any other deal so sometimes their set price deals are a better bet. I think the last couple of lots have gone to Hotelsdotcom vouchers. 

MissPennySave

Hello, just caught up on your diary so and following you back along for your journey! MPS.x