A Ditherer's Diary (again)

EssexHebridean

Naomim wrote: »

Yesterday and today have not been NSD's. I've spent a total of £7.00. I haven't set a limit on how many I plan to have a month. Just as many as possible. Tuesday is Cubs night for DD and I work an hour later on a Tuesday so I can leave work 15minutes early the other four days of the week. Normally I get to my in-laws in time to grab a quick poached egg on toast on a Tuesday but last night I was too late. I collected DD and bought a bag of chips to bring home for dinner. Today I have bought lunch as I work from a different office on a Wednesday and no snack freebies.

So I've been playing with my spreadsheet and splitting everything into categories of spending. I really like the idea of pots.

DD's including credit Card DD's - this will stay in the current account I have

DS's lunches - will go into the bank account my child benefit used to be paid into. It's not used very much but does have overdraft facility that I will have to remove if DS is going to have the card. This rings alarm bells with me - you're not talking about giving your DS the debit card associated with the account are you? Unless it's a basic account it's unlikely to have any form of stop on going overdrawn - removing the authorised OD would just mean that even £1 over would leave you liable for penalties I'd have thought?

DS's pocket money - will go into an instant saver account I have currently sitting at 0. DD's pocket money goes through a GoHenry card so I pay £10 a month by DD to this.

Regular savings - already go into a savings account for Christmas/clothing/vets but I'm going to see if I can up what I save so we have an emergency fund. At the moment we have no emergency savings so if the car goes or anything needs repairing there's no fund or I have to use the Christmas money I've saved.

Other Expenditure - This will cover things like mine & MrM's personal monthly allowance, dog food, petrol & grocery shopping. - This will need to be a new current account with NO OVERDRAFT.

I was thinking abut a Monzo account . Anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks

Naomim

I don't know much about the app based bank accounts but I think there has been some coverage of them on the main MSE site?

Sounds like a savings pot to be contributed to monthly for car repairs would definitely be a good plan too - that tax rebate has got you out of what would otherwise have been a bit of a hole there, hasn't it!

I reckon when you interrogate your budget/SOA properly you'll find all sorts of areas where spends can be trimmed a bit - even if just in the short term - to create a bit of extra surplus. what about setting yourself a challenge to make back the money spent on the car, for a start? Surveys? Cashback?

Naomim

EssexHebridean wrote: »

I don't know much about the app based bank accounts but I think there has been some coverage of them on the main MSE site?

Sounds like a savings pot to be contributed to monthly for car repairs would definitely be a good plan too - that tax rebate has got you out of what would otherwise have been a bit of a hole there, hasn't it!

I reckon when you interrogate your budget/SOA properly you'll find all sorts of areas where spends can be trimmed a bit - even if just in the short term - to create a bit of extra surplus. what about setting yourself a challenge to make back the money spent on the car, for a start? Surveys? Cashback?

I registered for Prolific but haven't had any surveys from them yet. I already use Quidco and have about £100 sitting in my account to withdraw and just swapped Gas & Elec so should track a further £75 in a few months time. I'm going to register with TopCashback. I'm sure I used to have an account with them so I'll check.

EssexHebridean wrote: »

DS's lunches - will go into the bank account my child benefit used to be paid into. It's not used very much but does have overdraft facility that I will have to remove if DS is going to have the card. This rings alarm bells with me - you're not talking about giving your DS the debit card associated with the account are you? Unless it's a basic account it's unlikely to have any form of stop on going overdrawn - removing the authorised OD would just mean that even £1 over would leave you liable for penalties I'd have thought?

That's a very good point! Lord know I don't need that nightmare :eek: I'll have to have a think about what to do. I used to give him set cash amount every week but I wasn't organised enough to remember to withdraw it every weekend

[Deleted User]

Naomim wrote: »

I never gave the kids pocket money, it was as and when but then I thought I should budget it and got them "GoHenry" cards which are like a pre loaded debit card for kids. It automatically updates with their pocket money weekly and you can top up. I've since cancelled it for DS. He's lost two and they cost £3.50 to replace. He also finds if he's in a smaller shop like the newsagents, they charge an extra 50p to use the card if he's spending under £5. So now I'm giving DS a weekly budget of £5 and it has to last. With DD it's much easier as I look after the card and she saves up to spend in smiggle.

Naomim - remember this one? If you give him your bank card and he manages to lose it, it could open up a whole can of worms and headache for you.

Is it worth having a word with the bank about opening up a basic account with a debit card? You could then set up a DD or SO to transfer money over each week

Naomim

poppytattoo wrote: »

Hey Naomim, I'm new to your diary and have been having a nose through and saw you mentioned Monzo pots, so thought I would let you know my thoughts on those:

I got a Monzo card a few months ago and have been overall enjoying it. I had pots for our wedding savings, honeymoon, my friends' hen do, birthday presents, and Christmas. It's a great feature. The customer service in-app is great, basically like instant messaging. You can set budgets and the app will tell you how you're doing. It won't count money in your pots in your available balance which is useful. You can also set pots not to open until a certain date which is brilliant.

However, I am not great with managing money and even with the best will in the world I have managed to find some "danger points" when using it. The first one is - the overdraft. Monzo offered me an overdraft. I thought "yeah that will be great for emergencies" - but then I managed to rack it up with little spends here and there very quickly. I am not disciplined enough - I wish I had not selected the overdraft option. It's not very expensive as overdrafts go - 50p a day with a max of £15 per month - but it's still more hundreds that I owe which I really shouldn't.

The other thing I did was get really excited about pots, and set up a load of rules so that they would build up quickly - rounding up to the nearest pound on spends and putting it into a pot, setting it to automatically put £1 a day in, or £2.55 on the 255th day of the year etc - I didn't stop to think how much this would actually add up to so then ended up putting way too much in my pots and ending up with no actual money to spend, so had to pull money back out of the pots. I had essentially got too overexcited and shot myself in the foot.

These are not faults with Monzo, it's faults with me, but I thought it would be worth warning you not to make my mistakes if you do go ahead.


Good luck with everything. Although in different situations, I'm also the sort of person who gets so het up with debt and go through phases where I feel like I'm drowning and I let it consume me. I'm rooting for you - sending lots of good vibes!

Thanks for stopping by Poppytattoo. My thoughts at the moment would be the Monzo account would be for my "other costs" ie: anything not nailed down by a DD. The idea being anything left in it at the end of the month would go back to my regular current account to lower the overdraft every month. I definitely do NOT want another account with an overdraft facility. You sound very much like me I get carried away with ideas then drift off when it doesn't go to plan. It may explain why I've been an on and off member of these boards for 10 years and no better off. I also have these great ideas but then get anxious about actually doing it and then talk myself out of it.

Another of my own pitfalls is due to the DFW boards. There are so many good ideas and challenges, I try to do too many without stopping to think how much it all adds up drawing extra pennies away from where they are REALLY needed :rotfl:

I'm off to stare at my spreadsheet for inspiration a little more and procrastinate about opening another bank account.

Naomim

Naomim

Deleted_User wrote: »

Naomim - remember this one? If you give him your bank card and he manages to lose it, it could open up a whole can of worms and headache for you.

Is it worth having a word with the bank about opening up a basic account with a debit card? You could then set up a DD or SO to transfer money over each week

Yes maybe that would be best. I'll investigate this. Thanks PMO2 :T

EssexHebridean

What about a Nationwide FlexOne account for DS? OK there is still the risk that he could lose the card, but at least he'd only lose what little was in there, that way? Might also give him a good starting taste of the responsibility of his own bank account too?

Not sure if you've twigged, but on Prolific there are lots of questions to answer in the "about you" section which until they are completed you get no surveys - it also works best open in the background as that way you see the surveys as they appear.

Poppytattoo has underlined one of the things that always strikes me with these "penny challenges" - all well and good in the first week when it's 28p, but what happens in the last bit of the year when it's mounted up? The final week would be over £25 surely and who can spare that from a week's money?!

Challenges are great, and can be brilliant for motivation - but do need to be done sparingly I think!

Naomim

EssexHebridean wrote: »

What about a Nationwide FlexOne account for DS? OK there is still the risk that he could lose the card, but at least he'd only lose what little was in there, that way? Might also give him a good starting taste of the responsibility of his own bank account too?

Not sure if you've twigged, but on Prolific there are lots of questions to answer in the "about you" section which until they are completed you get no surveys - it also works best open in the background as that way you see the surveys as they appear.

Poppytattoo has underlined one of the things that always strikes me with these "penny challenges" - all well and good in the first week when it's 28p, but what happens in the last bit of the year when it's mounted up? The final week would be over £25 surely and who can spare that from a week's money?!

Challenges are great, and can be brilliant for motivation - but do need to be done sparingly I think!

I've had a quick squint at the young peoples accounts on the main page but need to read it some more.

I answered all the questions on Prolific, I feel violated :rotfl: I wonder if I am just too white, uneducated enough and working class to have anything interesting to say I can't keep it open all the time as work monitors (apparently - says me posting on here during work hours).

Agree with the challenges. Pick a couple that are reasonable to stick to. I save my £2 coins and have for years and I'm trying for NSD's without naming how many I want to achieve so I can't set myself up for a fall there.

Oh ***BIG NEWS*** DD is 10 asked me (again) if Santa is real so I told her the truth. Better she know's its me and Daddy saving our pennies to buy them something. Might teach her a bit about savings too.

And terrible news, my SiL has lost her job. She's already financially overstretched after her ex left her and stopped paying the mortgage.She refused to sell it and has clung on for the past 4 years. This week she finally decided to put it on the market and this happens. She was working as a self employed contractor for a company for 18 months, they said she had to go onto PAYE and within second month of being employed, BAM, we don't need you anymore. I bet they don't now it's costing them to employ her. I feel so gutted for her.

Sorry for maybe the oversharing but Ii'm all or nothing I'm afraid.

Naomim

Naomim

Afternoon everyone,

MrM and the bank had me all of a tizz this morning. MrM forwarded a text received from the bank telling him we were going to go over the overdraft and to put money in to avoid charges. I didn't receive this text, it's a joint account. I was pretty sure I only had one thing for £2.65 pending to come out of the account and I was on track for us to remain within the overdraft. I got to work and checked my banking app and my spreadsheet and was right about the pending payment. I called the bank and it turns out it was an error. There was only my little amount pending, nothing else had come out of the account and we're not at the end of the overdraft (as usual). Whilst this was easily sorted and checked, I wonder if they have an automatic text to send out to us a couple of days before payday?:rotfl:

Been playing around with my spreadsheets as I want to start putting money by for emergency fund and car repairs etc and had missed of bits and pieces like haircuts. So it looks like we should be able to reduce the overdraft by £100 a month whilst servicing our credit cards and keeping on top of our usual bills.

I've opened a Monzo account but this is not going to be my main bank account. I can't wait to get paid so I can start transferring some money around :T I was looking at the pots on Monzo though and it seems your are transferring to a savings account for that? I need to investigate some more.

NSD today so far. Ignored Costa coffee at the train station and brought in a ham & cheese sandwich that I toasted for lunch.

I was also thinking about Christmas. My employer has announced that payday will be 20th December. I saw a post on these boards about moving your salary to a savings account to move back on your regular payday so you don't go into it early. Someone was quite dismissive of this and asking why adults needing telling about this... but I'd never thought of it and always struggled with the extra long January. So this is what I plan to do with both of our December salaries. Although I normally get paid on the 25th of the month and don't think I'll be transferring it on Christmas day

Forgot to add.. I have been getting some Prolific studies so should have earned about £2.00 :money:

Hope everyone is having a frugal day.

Naomim

enthusiasticsaver

Good idea to keep Decembers pay in savings until normal payday to avoid the long wait until January payday. Our monthly budgets reset on 30th monthly so makes no difference when our pensions go in.

Reducing the overdraft by £100 a month would be good.

Naomim

Not much to report on today. Another NSD so far. Egg sandwiches for lunch today :T

MrM actually asked me about putting petrol in the car over the weekend so I gave him a budget. I also ordered sillydog's food on Amazon to be delivered which will save me a trip to the petshop and in turn petrol money and it was £2.10 cheaper on Amazon :T

MrM agreed to sit and go through my budget spreadsheet with me at the weekend. He's all for us money saving but I have said I can't keep on top of it without his support. There's no point me saving the pennies if he isn't going to make the effort too.

Did get some Prolific surveys and have made £3.87. I'll be happy to see how this tots up over a month. All of it is bonus money :j

Going to log into Government Gateway and claim my tax refund now so I can pay for the car service.

Stay frugal

Naomim