A Ditherer's Diary (again)

Naomim

Thanks, my niece and her bf are mechanics so waiting for them to get in touch with me.

EssexHebridean

Oh dear on the MoT - might be worth setting a reminder on your phone for when things like this are due - or perhaps starting a notebook with all the "important stuff" noted in there - dates of expiry of things like this should be on page 1 in my view!

On the overdraft - I'm pretty sure thee is no credit check for reducing it - however have a look to see if you can change it online - you may be able to? (There may be a limit to how regularly you can request a change though).

Naomim

EssexHebridean wrote: »

Oh dear on the MoT - might be worth setting a reminder on your phone for when things like this are due - or perhaps starting a notebook with all the "important stuff" noted in there - dates of expiry of things like this should be on page 1 in my view!

On the overdraft - I'm pretty sure thee is no credit check for reducing it - however have a look to see if you can change it online - you may be able to? (There may be a limit to how regularly you can request a change though).

I used to get the car serviced at a local garage who sent me reminders, but last year I asked my friends husband to arrange it after he serviced the car. I must set reminders in my phone.

Just spent the last 10 mins updating my spreadsheet from the weekend spends. It was a bit spendy but mainly on Christmas bits and pieces and MrM's petrol so all transferred back into current account from Xmas pot and Petrol pot.

I signed up to Experian through TopCashBack as they were offering £2.25 to join. Apparently I have an excellent score of 966 :rotfl:

There's £15 in my prolific account with about £3.25 pending. Going to cash out soon.

NSD today as MrM came home from his football club's Christmas Party with an unopened tray of sandwiches from Sainsburys so we've both brought some to work and left some for 14yo as he's already broken up for Christmas.

Off to play with my snowball calculator now.

Naomim x

DrSpendLittle

Delurking!

You don't need to pay to view your credit file. There are three free websites that cover each credit reference agency:

Credit Karma
MSE Credit Club
Clearscore

Hope that helps!

EssexHebridean

DrSpendLittle wrote: »

Delurking!

You don't need to pay to view your credit file. There are three free websites that cover each credit reference agency:

Credit Karma
MSE Credit Club
Clearscore

Hope that helps!

I suspect that Naomi fully intends to cancel it again quite fast and has only done it for the cashback!

OnlyPariah

Good news about the extra few quid coming your way. Thanks for the heads up about Experian. I've just signed up to the free account from Topcashback. That means I'll have at least £5 due when it all clears through.

Naomim

Yes, to be clear, I have earned £2.25 from topcashback to sign up for a free Experian account. Already got about £7.50 to pay out.

Had a little play with snowball calculator at lunchtime. I'm going to try and update my spreadsheet so I know what I'm upto.

Work is incredibly busy at the moment coming up to the end of the financial year. I feel like I do nothing but look at spreadsheets!

On another note. I'm 6 weeks smoke free.

Naomim x

Naomim

Afternoon,

I registered with Martin's Credit Club and the pre-approved cards for balance transfers. I have been accepted for a Virgin Money card @0% for 27 months with 1.45% transfer fee and a credit limit of £6,700. I'm planning on transferring over a chunk of the £11k on the Barclaycard as that will all be interest charging from February. Then I can play with the snowball calculator again

I keep looking at my spreadsheet budget. Whilst I know nothing will change and I am actually budgeting properly for the first time ever :eek: and I have a plan, I also know it's going to take months and years to actually see any benefits.

The car is in for it's MOT today. :eek: No news is good news?

MrM's annual travelcard expires today, I'm hoping his work can get the season ticket loan sorted out in time for his payday or that's £2,400 on the credit card :eek:- to be paid back as soon as the loan comes in.

At the moment I'm trying to complete my 2019 appraisal for work. This determines what sort of bonus and payrise is offered in March. We have set goals and challenges but this year the company has had a new Head of HR and he's made it so hard. I can't see anyone getting top bonus which is normally 10% of your annual salary.

Anyway, I shall log off an drag myself to MrT's as there were no slots available. :mad:

Naomim

Naomim

I really shouldn't be allowed to go to the food shops to do the grocery shopping. When I do it online, it's usually around £80 for the four of us. Wednesday cost me £113! Now, I know I purchased some Christmas bits, biscuits, cheese etc, but there was no alcohol or anything for a Christmas dinner as we got MiL's for Christmas and Boxing Day. But then again, because I normally food shop mid-week and because Christmas day falls on my shopping day, I had to buy a few extra meal bits to see us through to the weekend.

Yesterday also turned out to be far more spendy than I expected. I had got confused and thought the meal out with work was already paid for but it wasn't so ended up paying £50 which was a 3 course meal, unlimited prosecco for an hour and my share of a round of drinks. Getting home was an absolute nightmare as my trains are currently running a reduced service due to Guard strikes and there's been a landslip. So I missed the last train, got a tube and a bus as close to home as possible but then still had to spend £9 on a taxi to get home... at 1am. And here I am at work today looking like death warmed up with no lunch brought in.

My car failed it's MOT too - which I wasn't surprised at but is costing £180 to fix including the MOT so I'm fairly happy with that.

MrM and I both got paid today. Having taken EssexHebedrian's (sp?) excellent advice, I have worked out what's to be deducted for the end of the month and squirreled mine and MrM's salaries into the savings account to be transferred back. This is such a good idea as in January MrM doesn't get paid until the 31st .

I have paid my CICM membership fees of £113 and start studying on 21st January. It's quite a scary prospect to start studying again after so many years.

Anyway I am now off to get some lunch before I pass out. Salt & Vinegar crisps are needed!

Naomim x

Naomim

I've received a persistent debt letter from MBNA. Apparently they wrote to me 9 months ago. I vaguely remember them telling me off for paying the minimum and "suggesting" I upped my payments. Also at the time my head was buried firmly in the sand and I wouldn't have been able to up them. However, now I'm budgeting and snowballing, I can.:T

My plan is to pay off the Next card which should be done in January, then the £20 I pay to Next, move to MBNA for the next 5 months. At this point my 0% interest runs out on the Baclaycard and I will already have transferred half of the Barclaycard balance to my new shiny 0% Virgin Money card so will then need to start throwing extra at the Barclaycard. Easy right? :rotfl: During this time I will continue with surveys and cashback sites, and anything extra throw back at the MBNA card.

Normally MrM and I go to the NEXT Boxing Day Sales and have had some great bargains in the past, but there isn't anything we really need and have decided not to go this year. I've also been diligently deleting their "book your sale slot" emails.

It feels good to have a plan in place and feel a bit more in control, even if nothing's moving downwards yet.

I meant to add, I have been reading threads and diaries the past few days, especially on the main DFW board. It's breaking my heart that this close to Christmas there are people who are so worried about their debt. I know they have found the right place for help but when people talk about if their debt dies with them and so on.. it's so sad and I feel so helpless.

Naomim