A Ditherer's Diary (again)

Naomim

Well, it's been a slow few days financially. My bonus came in. Looks like about 24% deducted tax and wotnot.  I get paid at the end of the month and I'm never sure how they work it with the bonus & pay tax.    I am leaving it in the account to clear down the overdraft somewhat but have spent a chunk on new clothes for 14yo. Although it looks like his residential will now be cancelled. He still needed new clothes though.

I'm obsessed by the Corona virus news, twitter, BBC news, Sky news... It's weird as I'm not overly concerned for myself or my little family unit, but.. my in-laws are both 70 and after this evenings briefing by Boris, I can't imagine them staying in for 12 weeks. My Father in Law still works, he collects prescriptions from the various local doctors surgeries for the pharmacy and delivers the medicines to people who are home bound. As they do everything together - really, everything, my Mother in law goes with him "for the ride".  TBH she'd be happy sitting at home for 12 weeks, the amount of stuff she downloads on tv, but her week revolves around going to Sainsbugs and Iceland.  She'll never get the hang of online shopping.    

Last week my company enforced wfh for all it's global office staff. That's probably about 1500 of us.  We are all set up for homeworking with laptops and vpn access anyway so for many of us it's not too much of a problem.  On the plus side, I should have lots of NSD's but a financial negative is my grocery shopping will increase as I'm supplied with breakfast, snacks, tea & coffee free of charge at work.  Also MrM will probably work from home as much as possible. He's already like a bear with a sore head with no live sport to partake in or watch. I may end up throttling him.

Off to collect grumpy chops from the train station now.

Stay healthy & frugal

Naomim

Naomim

Morning All, I hope everyone is well?

There are a couple of things that I have already come to realise. Yes I should save money on petrol expenses, but the food shopping budget is going to rocket.  Not because I am bulk buying, but due to the fact I will have three adults and a child to constantly feed.  Usually 10yo has breakfast at the Grandparents and MrM & I both have breakfast at work.  We usually  take sandwiches to work so lunches are not a problem, but snacks! Oh my.     My electricity bills will also go up. I've got the heating on and the light as it's rather overcast.  I think my budget pots are going to need a tweak in the coming weeks.  

This month has already been a complete failure.  I have had to delve further into the bonus received. I've bought two refurbished laptops so the kids can continue with some kind of education.  The saving grace being that I have received a bonus and "can" buy these without credit.  And I bought Chinese takeaway.

I've had top top the car up with petrol as do still need to go food shopping and until tomorrow afternoon, a school run. However we'd already used the petrol allowance this month so from next payday I need to make a note to return the £35 I spent yesterday from the petrol fund.  I also spent all the dog food allowance at the beginning of the month but went and got a little bit more yesterday as he keeps turning his nose up at the cheaper stuff I bought   Another note needed to return the £19 I spent on the dog food as this should take me well into next month.

Shopping has been ok for me as I already have pre-booked slots for the day I regularly worked from home although I couldn't be sure how much of it I was going to receive.  However, I have a friend who is an NHS worker and is a single parent. She hasn't been able to get much from the shops so yesterday I did the 6am Tesco run. I got her pasta, rice, and just a few bits. I had 6 items in my trolley and queued for almost an hour to pay.  My in-laws went to Sainsburys for the early hour this morning and said it was horrendous.  They couldn't even get a trolley.  Good job my MiL seems to have been buying for years in case of a nuclear fallout and is well stocked for most things.

MrM and I are so fortunate that we are in a position to both be able to work from home and be paid.  I feel such a sense of sadness for so many people who are losing their jobs or unable to see a way to pay their bills. This is going to have such a devastating effect for many years to come for so many.

Naomim

Naomim

I've completed my first week of working from home and three days with my new co-worker, MrM.  I'm not sure I'm keen on him as a co-worker!  The 14year old is already bored out of his head and the 10 year old finished school today. I very much doubt they will return to school before the start of the next school year in September.  The laptops I ordered are ready for collection tomorrow so I'll nip out and get them and that's all I have planned.  MrM is going stir crazy but with everything shut and us all supposed to be social distancing, I can imagine the local parks are going to be full!

I'm also a little fed up with seeing lots of messages on twitter about how you should be homeschooling your children.  It's all good and fine if you have the time but MrM and I have to put in an 8 hour shift as well.  My plan is to get a routine for the kids going which includes a mixture of chores, schoolwork, some exercise and downtime.  Hopefully they should adapt and feel more stable.  I've also asked the 10 year old to keep a diary.  As we are in unprecedented times it should be documented and can count towards some English homework! lol

Financially, we are so lucky we shouldn't really be impacted.  My mortgage is dropping about £20 a month at the moment.  I'm wondering what will happen to interest rates once the country has recovered?  Will they increase massively? We're on a variable rate mortgage at the moment and I'm considering the need to remortgage to secure a good rate.  I worry our large amount of credit card debt will put the kaibosh on that.   I'm also considering taking the payment holiday on the mortgage as this would almost clear the overdraft and wouldn't increase the cost of the mortgage too much.  

I realise there are far worse things for people to be worrying about in the present climate.

On happier news, I spoke with my 94 year old Aunty yesterday. She is asthmatic (sp?)  and still lives independently. She's popping out to the shops everyday with her elderly neighbour which shouldn't be encouraged but it's that bloody wartime spirit of refusing to be defeated.  I don't live close to her so I can't go and stop her from tripping off out.

Keep well

Naomim

Naomim

So  almost through my second week of homeworking. It's not been so bad. I spent most of Monday sorting out the kids laptops and being the in-home IT consultant. My boss has been having video catch-ups with us every couple of days. It's funny as we're used to it, chat a load of nonsense, have a giggle for about 20 minutes and that's it. MrM's company have been having a daily meeting, obviously they're not used to using video calls so they all forget to mute it when they're not talking and it's very business like!  

MrM and I both have season tickets for travel so today I managed to hold on the phone to TFL for absolutely ages and get a refund on MrM's. So that's £1800 to come back.  His company loan the money so he's going to pay it back to them and then he'll get another loan once we're back to work.  Mine is slightly more complicated as it's through my work but through Commuter Club.  I've asked work but no news as of yet except they are looking into it.

My house is also a tip!  I may be home but I'm also working and trying to to sort the kids out.  10 year old seems to be doing work in about an hour whereas 14yo who has ADHD and doesn't cope well with change is managing to plod along.  So we're using more cups and glasses etc, the dishwasher is on everyday and I have no time to tidy!

I've continued to do the prolific surveys and so far have £12.32 this month. Obviously less than normal but it's still an overpayment.  The bank wrote to me about the overdraft. With the bonus I've halved it. I'm hoping they will announce they are not going to be charging 40% interest for now. 

I hope everyone is keeping safe and well and taking the pleasure in the small things we can for now.

naomim

Naomim

Big news.... MrM now knows how much we owe on the credit cards.  We were having a discussion about the mortgage and the overdraft, so I just dropped in the amount. He was a little surprised but it was ok and didn't cause the fireworks or arguments I thought it may have.  I think because I have been on my MSE mission since November and he knows I am completely "on it" with the banking and payments now that it wasn't such a big issue as it could of been had we still been using the cards.

The bank has announced it's not increasing the overdraft interest to 40% for now but still keeping it at 19.9%.  With the bonuses MrM and I received we have managed to half it. I've now taken the leap and requested a 3 month payment holiday on the mortgage which "should" clear the balance then I can reduce it right down.  I checked the banks website and to reduce your overdraft you have to almost "apply for an overdraft".  I don't know why they have to credit check you to reduce it.

Obviously my March grocery challenge went askew whiff but we're doing ok for stuff now.  14yo is very bored, despite having school work to do.  

I've cashed out my Prolific earnings for the month, so only a small over-payment to make but it all helps.  All my banking etc is upto date. I just need to adjust for the mortgage holiday and the renewed payments. I can't wait to eventually get to the point I'm overpaying the mortgage.

Keep well

Naomim
 

moving_forward

I don't remember the bank checking our credit score to reduce the overdraft but If they do it shouldn't cause much harm should it.  It may just show as a general check.  
Maybe the 14 year old could be in charge of making a meal plan using what you can get and whats in the cupboard?  There are plenty of recipes available on line and it may make them feel useful?  Obviously they have to ask each family member for suggestions which they can then check if stuff available.  Tell them a fixed budget and get them doing a spreadsheet.  That should cover several "lessons"   domestic science, maths, social skills, IT, business studies, etc etc

Naomim

moving_forward said:

I don't remember the bank checking our credit score to reduce the overdraft but If they do it shouldn't cause much harm should it.  It may just show as a general check.  
Maybe the 14 year old could be in charge of making a meal plan using what you can get and whats in the cupboard?  There are plenty of recipes available on line and it may make them feel useful?  Obviously they have to ask each family member for suggestions which they can then check if stuff available.  Tell them a fixed budget and get them doing a spreadsheet.  That should cover several "lessons"   domestic science, maths, social skills, IT, business studies, etc etc

Great idea M_F. He likes cooking and is doing food tech for GCSE with a view of going onto catering college.  We have a Hello Fresh box coming so I'll be asking him to cook from those recipes and see how it goes.

naomim

EssexHebridean

Brilliant idea for 14yo - smart thinking M_F! Sounds like that will indeed be right up his street. Might be a good time to also do a full audit on everything you have in Naomin with a view to him putting together a meal plan for the following week without the HF box? I do feel for those trying to manage home schooling as well as working full days - although I think most of the schools are now saying that they don't expect "schooling" as such now, but more revision of what has been done previously and keeping brains ticking over? There is going to be so much disruption when all this is over - I imagine that for the education boards replanning the curriculum is going to be a necessary thing as it won;t be possible to "catch up" immediately will it.

Pleased to see that MrM now knows about the full extent of the debt too - must feel like a bit of a relief I imagine? In normal circumstances you'd avoid the mortgage holiday like the plague if not absolutely needed wouldn't you but right now that seems like a sensible step forwards for you. Great news about the overdraft interest not doubling too.

moving_forward

sensible advice as ever EH.
We are lucky enough to still be at work (manufacturing) and getting two full incomes at the min but a mortgage holiday is the last thing we want at the minute.  We only moved two years ago so the interest would be shooting back up!

Naomim

EssexHebridean said:

Brilliant idea for 14yo - smart thinking M_F! Sounds like that will indeed be right up his street. Might be a good time to also do a full audit on everything you have in Naomin with a view to him putting together a meal plan for the following week without the HF box? I do feel for those trying to manage home schooling as well as working full days - although I think most of the schools are now saying that they don't expect "schooling" as such now, but more revision of what has been done previously and keeping brains ticking over? There is going to be so much disruption when all this is over - I imagine that for the education boards replanning the curriculum is going to be a necessary thing as it won;t be possible to "catch up" immediately will it.

Pleased to see that MrM now knows about the full extent of the debt too - must feel like a bit of a relief I imagine? In normal circumstances you'd avoid the mortgage holiday like the plague if not absolutely needed wouldn't you but right now that seems like a sensible step forwards for you. Great news about the overdraft interest not doubling too.

Yes you are right, normally we would never take a mortgage payment holiday, nor would the mortgage company allow us I think.  However, my plan is; if we are not going to be paying the interest on the overdraft once it's cleared - which at the moment is usually about £60 a month, but would have increased considerably with the new interest rates that were coming in, then this payment will snowball onto my credit cards. Once I eventually get them cleared down, we can start overpaying on the mortgage.  I realise it's all a long way down the road but it's something to aim for.

We have had the refund from TFL for MrM's travelcard. I need to repay this back to his company so the season ticket loan is paid off then that will be an extra £200 a month we are saving until we go back to work. 

I took a trip to our big Mr T's today. Surprisingly the upstairs was open, this is usually electronics, clothes, toys etc.  So I managed to pop up there and pick up a new football and 12 tennis balls for the kids to play in the garden.  We had an old goal in the garage so have popped that in the garden and I now have two more "active" kids.  10yo hadn't been sleeping very well and I think part of this was from not being as active as usual whilst on lockdown.  I spent an absolute fortune in MrT's and it took forever with the 2 metre rule and one way round the shop but I am happy to observe the rules to keep us all safe.   I was hoping to pick up some seeds to plant with the 10yo at the weekend but couldn't spot any in MrT's.  Not sure where I can get some without it being part of an essential trip

I may need to invest in a special cushion for my poor bottom. Sitting on a dining chair to work everyday really is a pain in the....... 

I hope you are all keeping safe & well. 

Naomim