A Ditherer's Diary (again)

Naomim

DancingInTheRain said:

With the pre paid prescription, do you pay this monthly? If so they only take 10 monthly payments across the year, so no payments on the last 2 months of the prescription, a bit like the council tax free months 🙂

aha! That will be it then. I just assumed it was over 12 months. Durrr.  I will add the £10.40 as a credit card payment then 👍

Naomim

Payday today. I have moved money over to my pots that isn't part of a standing order or direct debit.   MrM doesn't get paid until next Friday. I have a spreadsheet of everything we pay out.  I'm going to take the balance of what should be left and put it in a Monzo pot. The idea being that this will stop our inconsequential spending.  There are too many small amounts spent in Sainsburys & Tesco local stores, and Amazon.  There are times when things have to come from the joint account - such as the masks I have bought.  Mine arrived today. I got it on Etsy and it's lovely. It's thick, can have a filter put in it and seems to be comfortable.  Although having said that, we are out to the beach for MrM's birthday and we have a weekend away booked and will need to eat.  I do have an overflow in the petrol pot at the moment which will go towards the weekend away.  

I need to challenge myself for the grocery shop too.  I upped the pot as we are eating more due to us all being home but I even went over the budget this month and it was £500 😮   I have two more weeks of Gousto deliveries left as I had 35% off so a box was £33.35 a week. In theory I only needed to top up with lunch bits, drinks and a couple of meals for the rest of the week.  The week before last I spent over £100+ in Tesco and last week was another £70 and still didn't get everything.  Everyone moaning I didn't buy biscuits or drinks.  I do point out we always have a tap full of cold water and squash.  

I received notification that the 10 year olds Year 6 PGL trip has been postponed until March. I made a payment today and have one more of £77 to make and it's all done.  My regular payment for this has been £30 a month until now. Once it's all paid off I'll add the £30 onto the credit card payment.

Talking of credit cards, I'm waiting to find out what the minimum payment will be for the Tesco credit card then I can adjust the payments.  I've re-done my snowball on what I think it will be.  Originally my DFD was Jul '27 and now should be Aug '25 a reduction of almost 2 years.   I'm hoping if I can keep the 0% cards and keep everything interest free, it will move down even further.  

Nothing planned for this weekend, a trip to the skate park with 10 year old which is free.  We have Merlin passes from last year which have now been extended by Merlin until next year for free so I have booked a couple of days out to Chessington World of Adventures and a day at Thorpe Park with my sister in law and niece.  It will be packed lunches so very cheap days out for us.  I had already exchanged Tesco clubcard vouchers for this years passes but luckily Tesco have also extended the date on them for another year so I'm not losing out.

It's good to have some things to look forward to, especially that are cheap!

Naomim

Naomim

I've received a letter from the bank informing me the overdraft interest rate will be going up to 39.9% in August.   The overdraft is much reduced from what it was. It was down to £940 last month.  so for now, whilst all my credit cards are on 0%, I have decided to concentrate all our efforts into the overdraft clearing.  It should be halved again in August and I think September we should be out of it.  

Unfortunately I didn't manage to get 10 year old's bits on ebay or FB at the weekend but I did manage to get her room completely cleaning which in itself is a major task and I'm pleased with it.

Hope you all had a good weekend.

Naomim

Naomim

Naomim said:

 I'm going to take the balance of what should be left and put it in a Monzo pot. The idea being that this will stop our inconsequential spending.  

I have decided against doing this.  Because we are still in the overdraft, if I take the money out then put it back at the end of the month, we will be in the overdraft for more days and therefore charged. I'm better off leaving the money where it is in the bank account.

I have spoken to MrM this morning. He is disappointed as he thought we were out of the overdraft and the mortgage holiday was going to clear it all.  Then when he asks how much we still owe on the credit cards and I tell him it's at £30k he acts all surprised.  I showed him the snowball calculator which shows an end date of Aug '25 but I told him this will reduce as our first 0% interest doesn't run out until next year which by then I'm hopeful we'd get another offer.

I just need to go through all the statements and see exactly where the extra spending is going as to why the overdraft hasn't dropped as much as it should have.  Although I have to remember £940 is a much better place than the £4,650 it was back in November.

So much to always think about.

Naomim

GeorgianaCavendish

Well done on clearing what you have on the overdraft so far.
I found clearing overdraft debt to be much harder than credit cards. I managed it a few months before I started my diary, but it had taken me about 15 years by that point! I suppose because the debt was so closely connected to my day-to-day finances, it was really hard to keep track of it. 

Naomim

I think it's because the cards are static it's easier to clear. I'm not using them so the balances come down. The overdraft is harder as I'm not the only one using the account and there are all the small bits that are unaccounted for which catch so many people out with their SOA's - me included!  I can go back over statements and it will be a lot of Sainsburys, Tesco's and Amazon I'm sure.

I think MrM just thinks I have some kind of magic wand to get rid of it and doesn't actually appreciate the effort I put in to keeping on top of it. Checking bank account daily, having all the pots for future spending, keeping this diary to keep us on track.  

Have heard our insurance payout should be within the next week so that will help reduce the overdraft but we still need to get the roof sorted.  Our neighbour is supposed to be ordering the parts to do it but not heard from him. I know MrM asked him last week and offered him the cash for the bits he needs but he refused the cash to say he'll settle up when it's finished.  But who knows when that will be. 🤷‍♀️

Naomim

GeorgianaCavendish

Would it be possible to move the day-to-day banking activity to another account while you pay off the overdraft on this account? I love Monzo and Starling because it immediately categorises my spends, or you can download an app like Yolt to categorise it for you on the main account. 
Managing finances is a lot of work and doubly difficult when your hard work is being undone by someone not having that same level of scrutiny on transactions. 

Naomim

I was going to do this but if I take out the "spare money" then it leaves us further in the overdraft and with the charges going back up to 40% I didn't feel this would be wise. The least days in overdraft the lesser the charges will be.  I think the best thing to do would be open a Monzo account for MrM and his personal spending money.  I already have one for mine and I have all the house/EF pots on mine too.  

It's just working out what to do for the best.  

Naomim

MrM's payday today.  I don't like it when they are so far apart, it would be so much easier to manage if we got paid at the same time.  I've withdrawn the grocery money to my Monzo pot.  Monday and all the usual direct debits and standing orders will be coming out.  

This Saturday 10 year old is having her first haircut since lockdown. She's currently looking like one of those poor little shih-tzu dogs the RSPCA rescue with all the matted hair.  It's very curly, and she's terrible at brushing it and won't let me at it.  I did get at it with some nail scissors during lockdown but does need a really good wash and comb. I'm going to have to give the hairdresser and great big tip! Good job I have a haircuts budget pot.

 I need to pop out and get some packed lunch bits for the weekend as MrM is taking 10year old to his football club Saturday before her haircut, as there is a tournament but she's a fussy eater and won't eat burgers and hotdogs so he'll take her a packed lunch.  Sunday we are off to Chessington World of Adventures with my SiL and niece.   You have to wear masks there and on most of the rides, I've just bought some lovely ones from Etsy. My SiL is a bit of a moaner about the mask wearing so I've got my fingers crossed she'll just get on with it. 

I'm off work Monday and Tuesday as it's MrM's birthday and our 19th wedding anniversary on Tuesday and we're going to West Wittering beach.  Another big packed lunch to make.  

MrM is also suffering from terrible pain in his arm. He's been to the Docs and had an ultrasound. They have diagnosed Bursitis and inflamed tendons.  He needs to rest it really but his work are shocking, he gets four days sick leave then it's SSP and we can't afford for him to lose any wages at the moment.  I have BUPA through my work so I'm just waiting on a referral letter from the Docs and we'll get on to that.  Might as well use the perks of the job.

My gardening has gone a little awry. One of my big pots got full of weeds and they strangled the flowers I had in there and my front garden looks like a jungle. It's too hot to do anything about it today so I'm hoping on Monday I'll be able to tackle it.  I also let the strawberry plant dry out a bit and didn't pick the strawberries, it's not dead so I'm hoping to rescue it.  We'll see if it works.  My hydrangea also looks sunburnt, I need to see if I should be deadheading or not. I am clueless! 

I hope you all have a lovely weekend and stay safe.

Naomim

Naomim

We had a lovely day at the beach on Tuesday but it got very windy and I managed to get very sunburnt 🙁  our trip to Chessington World of Adventures was also great but so tiring.  I've spent a fortune on packed lunch bits but it still saves on buying food out. 

Our insurance claim has paid out so the bank account is still in credit 👍 still waiting for the neighbour to sort out the roof but it's so hot here we can't expect him to be up there in this heat. 

Not much to report on the money front. I've updated my meter readings this morning.  I'm still in debit but hoping to see the DD come down again once we catch up and the bills are accurate. 

Hope you all enjoying the weather. 

Naomim