A Ditherer's Diary (again)

Naomim

enthusiasticsaver said:

Desk looks good.  Hope you can manage to find a bit extra to get the CC debt below £27k. 

Thank you. I hope I can. I put quite a few DVD's on ebay today. Only £1 each but if they sell it will all help.

GeorgianaCavendish

Have you ever used Music Magpie for getting rid of CDs and DVDs? Not sure how it compares price wise to selling on eBay but my friend swears by it! 

Naomim

I have years ago for a load of CDs think I got about 30p each! Lol  The DVD's are all kids titles so hoping they might sell.

Naomim

Managed to get the tip done yesterday and my tyre sorted. £64.20 out of the car maintenance pot. Leaves a balance in there of £280. 

In light of the new lockdown, we have decided to SORN MrM's car. We will park it in front of our garage as we don't have a drive but the garage is in a separate block. His insurance is due in February and paid in full so we may as well wait until lockdown is finished or eases and just use mine. My insurance is due this month so I need to start getting quotes.

I'm also thinking I can use my child benefit to overpay the credit card. I usually use half to cover 15yo's lunches when he's at school but now he's at home he won't need it. 

I'm not looking forward to the kids homeschooling but certainly for 11yo who is in her last year of primary school, I can say I am so impressed with the school, the teachers,  and how they have planned for this. So much better than last lockdown which caught so many of us out.

My best friend has tested positive.  She only does food shopping and thinks she must have caught it at a supermarket.  My son's friends Dad has also been hospitalised with Covid. It all feels so close now. I'm almost relieved at having to stay indoors. 

Stay safe

Naomim 

GeorgianaCavendish

It’s all feeling much closer to home, glad you are keeping safe and well. Some neighbours have tested positive but we only interact on WhatsApp or by waving from opposite ends of the gardens so able to steer clear. 

enthusiasticsaver

It seems  like this time everyone seems to know more people who have it.  Even down here.  My DD2s friend and work colleague is quite poorly with it even though she is young (early thirties) and no health conditions.  She thinks she caught it from A and E when she took her daughter there a few weeks ago after an accident. 

Naomim

I wrote a really long post yesterday and my internet browser shut down and I lost it all 😡 I was too annoyed to post it all again.

I went through my bank account and updated my spreadsheets yesterday. I'm a bit annoyed with Halfiax CC as they usually take payment around the 2nd of the month but in Dec they took payment on the 3rd of December and again on the 31st.  However, from looking at what I have left to pay on my DD payments on the credit cards I will only be £32.66 away from being in the £26k of credit card balances at the end of the month. I'm sure I can find that extra somewhere!  Prolific is only sitting at £1.23 at the moment but plenty of time to get that built up a bit more by the end of the month and got a few bits on ebay although I think I may have made a loss on postage of a DVD today.   I plan to use Feb & Mar council tax payments as overpayments to the cards so that will be £400.00 in overpayments.  I've also started to tilly tidy my Monzo current account. £4.44 in the pot already so this will be another overpayment at the end of the month. 

I've also decided to try and give YNAB another go.  I have my spreadsheets but after reading so many threads and diaries, I realise that although I have my pots and categories, I'm not actually keeping an eye on the budget.  I spend and log it and not really being accountable for it.  Just because it's on a spreadsheet doesn't mean it should have been spent!  I'm hoping this lockdown will help curb some of the spending although it's always small bits, never much to show for it.  I'm thinking it's best to start the free trial just on or around payday to try and get two lots in and see how it goes.

My car insurance is due at the end of the month so I need to start looking for quotes.  Last year was £254 so I'm hoping it wont be too different - unless it's gone down! lol

Hope you are all staying safe and well.

Naomim

FootyFanDan

The desk looks great, this is going to be my project I think over the next year to get my pc/gaming area set up with a proper desk and gaming chair, a proper little boy area away from all the candles and nice smelly stuff the partner keeps sneakily scattering around the house! hahaha. 

Totally get the spreadsheet - I used to input all my figures and what I planned to spend and just spent. I never planned or put into practice a proper budget I figured coz it was written down I was budgeting. YNAB / Monzo pots has given me a bit more awareness because I am actively keeping up with it. I allocate all the funds when income comes in and make sure every penny is accounted for and once money is allocated to the important stuff I can then put the remainder spread across pots to keep ticking over.  While I still have a spreadsheet I just find YNAB I track purchases better, and can see pretty much where I am. I plan to put away money for some one annual payments this year and I can see these in the budget quite simply so any money I have spare that isn't allocated or if I underspend on a catargory I just add it to the annual spends pots.  The one thing I found really useful for my budget is the way you can put in scheduled transactions - with this I flag income expected in month and expenses flag a different colour. This works well for me due to having income coming in at different times of month and some direct debits going out at different times of the month. It then lists the bills I have due in between one income to the next without too much working out. And whilst it does cost, I think now I have worked out and put effort into it I don't think I would do it any other way. The fact I am paying for it also makes me keep up with it.

The spreadsheet I have now is mainly to track when my contracts elapse on stuff and to track direct debit instalments.

Here is hoping car insurance comes in cheaper haha. Stay safe

Naomim

Thanks for the comments. The desk is a work in progress, it's holding up fine but I have a couple of old shelves I have found to insert between the desk top and the ikea unit - got a couple of bits of thick cardboard under there at the moment! Then I need to screw it down properly. I also need to get a small chair as she's on a stool at the moment and complaining her back is aching.  I also need to think about possibly doing something similar for the 15yo but he has a bigger bed, a small double so not a lot of room.  

I really make full use of Monzo pots and they have really helped me this past year with saving for the things that need paying.  Like the car insurance. The money is there waiting as I used last years council tax free months to pay it in full enabling me to put the money I used to pay in DD's straight into the pot. 

I'm excited about the idea of using YNAB. I know one area that causes problems is MrM.  It's a joint account. All our DD's come out and then I transfer money to the Monzo account for my spending and the pots but he has full access to the joint account and although doesn't spend loads, he still doesn't have any budget he'll stick to. I've asked him to open a Monzo account or use an app to track his daily spending but he's very resistant to it.   I think all I can do is give it a go and see what happens and may be able to highlight areas to him that are problematic.  Now I've decided to start using it I want to do it straight away and I don't think middle of the month is probably a good place to start! lol

Naomim

Lookafterthepennies2020

Just had a good catch up, the desk looks brill and hooray for not taking the offer of the decorating. I built up quite thr debt with bank of mum and dad and almost didn't see it as really borrowing at one point if I'm honest, not like I would have done if it was a CC perhaps. A large majority of that was times when I was too impatient to wait it out and just bought things here and there that I would repay. I'm glad to hear the builder has finally began repaying some of what you are owed. 

I am a massive fan of YNAB I think because I check my accs each day and check what I have budgeted where it almost makes me not want to spend lol. 
Well done on all your sales, it'd amazing how they can quickly add up here and there, I'm trying to get into the habit of posting a few items a week on ebay and just leaving them on there to re list if they don't sell straight away, I haven't tried marketplace yet. (sorry just realised how much I've waffled on lol)