Get a grip woman!

Suffolk_lass

More pondering. I am going to try and push my work expenses money straight into TT this month to give them a boost. I will need it as the Credit card bill with the phones, and my season ticket, will be gargantuan this month. And I must pay for the Villa

Suffolk_lass

I can see but not touch my pay - due in the account tomorrow. Was May the longest month ever or what?! Buoyed by the impending influx of funds I have scheduled the payment for the Villa we are using in August, so that will be out of the way and hopefully not wrecking September and October when the credit card bills clear in full :money:

All three phones are now on a SIM only deal now - £12<£30, £16<£37 and £25<£65 - on average

Suffolk_lass

Just popped in from the garden to make up a batch of elderflower cordial using the Mary Berry recipe here. I thought I would just check my debt tracker, ahead of the June payments.

In the 17 months I have been keeping this diary we have paid just over £45,400 off our debts and saved an additional £3,986. Our net worth (excluding the material goods, house and chattels), marginally exceeds our debts.

Just need to not dwell on that or my complacency filter will kick in - it is like my personal self-destruct button - it is the exact same with diets - two stone away or one and a bit sizes from my goal and I learn how much I can cheat and seemingly not bu**er up my progress and that is normally the moment all progress stops.

Just got to get a grip really, like it says on the tin

Suffolk_lass

I think I will put in a couple of aims for May as I am lacking in motivation!

[STRIKE]I know I and DS each need new phone handsets. We both have Samsung at the moment - he has my old Galaxy S4 after his was broken. It is his birthday in May so I said I will buy the replacement handset if he pays the Sim-only monthly account. Although there will be a cash outlay, this will save me almost £50 a month. It won't be a Galaxy 9[/STRIKE] - did this. All now on Sim-only deals and DS and I have new handsets

[STRIKE]I might offer to pay for the Villa in Italy in full, just to remove it from June or July[/STRIKE] paid this yesterday

[STRIKE]I might need to buy a service pack for my big car as I think it may have expired (I thought I had one left - must check!)[/STRIKE] I believe I do have one left

[STRIKE]I must, must, must get out in the garden, but it is piddling today, and miserable, and cold.[/STRIKE] Spent ages but the weeds are winning and the path is in danger of becoming a seed-bed

[STRIKE]I also want to buy two single mattresses for the spare room. They do not need to be too thick as they will be on top of each other when the bed is a single, but the existing foam ones are less than three inches thick and their use at DS's house before we swapped beds means they are not in great shape and smell of the smoker who last had the room (it was a no-smoking house so he did it in his room and ruined everything, then left), despite being cleaned.[/STRIKE] A cheeky trip to the Swedish place and this is sorted. The mattresses they sell for the day bed do not include a pocket-spring one so we ended up with two standard mattresses. It does mean moving one each time we use it as a single but it will now be a proper pull-out comfortable double.

[STRIKE]All of these involve spending. I will have a think about what else. I might start sorting through to sell some things. I don't know why I have written that. I already know this is as the bottom of futile list number 381
[/STRIKE] As predicted. No selling

A superficially impressive month.

Suffolk_lass

I'm going to wait until Monday when the mortgage and loan payments are due before updating my debt-tracker, to maintain the illusion of progress

Busy_Mee1

Hi Suffolk Lass the progress you have made over the lifetime of your diary is so impressive - well done !

I have also had a long and frustrating May and will be getting a grip in June, complacency has also set in at our house I think.

Suffolk_lass

DEBTS


Mortgage [STRIKE]£110,621[/STRIKE] 72,999.64 (£37,621.36 paid so far)
Barclays 0% Finance for double glazing [STRIKE]£8,755.54[/STRIKE] 1,591.92 (£7,163.62 paid off)
[STRIKE]DH's car - paid off on 21st Aug 17 £3,476 £0 (£3,476)[/STRIKE] all finished!

Total [STRIKE]£122,852.54[/STRIKE] £74,591.56 - that is £48,260.98 or 39.28% paid off so far.


SAVINGS
£12,662.61 Emergency pot
£12,632.85 S&S ISA with Fidelity International (original £10,000 some years ago, no further capital added)
£8.130.08 DH's S&S ISA (with Charles Stanley Direct]
[STRIKE]£3,155.32 2 year Bond with Skipton BS @ 4% Finishes 31 Jan 2018 - This will be used to reduce the mortgage![/STRIKE] all finished
£11,330.58 7 year bond with Skipton BS - matures Oct 20
[STRIKE]£38,630.43[/STRIKE] £44,756.12 Total actual cashable savings and 15.86% better than when I started

Shortfall -£29.835.44 (all debts)

mark55man

Wow good work!!

*subscribe*

Will read through the rest over next few days - I love these diaries and find they keep me honest - even though I can be a bit lurky!!

Suffolk_lass

mark88man wrote: »

Wow good work!!

*subscribe*

Will read through the rest over next few days - I love these diaries and find they keep me honest - even though I can be a bit lurky!!

Welcome mark88man - It's a bit ploddy but I keep myself honest through the grocery challenge over on Old Style Moneysaving. It is a ready indicator of when I am letting things slip and helps me monitor that old complacency smugness I find creeps back in every time I think "I've got this now!"

Suffolk_lass

I've been really poor at updating - mostly because this is that pre-pay-day-period when there is little going on because all the expected payments have happened for the month and we are just waiting for pay-day to sweep up the left-overs.

I do know my CC is going to be gargantuan this month and I am going to have to shuffle rather than save to make sure I have enough money to pay it off, in full, by about the 10th or 11th.

It includes our new phones, two new mattresses and my season ticket, among one or two other things. I have not been tracking every spend like I did in May but the warning it gave me means I am not being too extravagant.

I think today will mostly be relaxing - we do need to plant our sweetcorn and squashes but other than that, a football day is planned (watching, not playing!)