£67,031.92 is a frightening number indeed....

Treadingonplaymobil

Week 64: Day 5

Lordy, this is not a week for achieving things. I seem to be having one of those weeks where the days just dribble away with nothing actually being done. The school crisis has occupied so much of my headspace. I have some meetings today with some high up bods so hopefully that will alleviate some worries.

Friday mornings are always spent chilling on the sofa with DC3, who is without fail somewhat exhausted from four days of preschool and just wants to stare at the TV for a couple of hours, so I will hopefully get some admin/social media/email bits done before heading off to meetings this afternoon. At some point I also need to fit in packing for the weekend.

Have just received my barclaycard statement so have made payment for that. Pleased to see that I am now paying more than £30 over the minimum payment by keeping my payment level at £285. Also made a rounding down overpayment too, so have just paid a whopping £2.65 extra on top of that £285, bringing debt repayments for the year ever closer to the halfway point of my £5k goal - up to £2,380.87. The barclaycard debt is now under the £11k barrier, which is rather nice, sitting at £10,888.08.

Many things which probably won't get done today :eek: :
1. Social media.
2. Check DC2's uniform.
3. Order uniform/underwear.
4. Write packing list/pack for weekend.
5. Order frames for DH's prints.
6. Clear emails.
7. Bake gluten free bread
8. Make some other gluten free snack to take with us.

Mini goals:
- £13.84/30 May rounding down pot.
- £2,380.87/£5,000 2018 debt repayment goal.
- £29.05 daily earning goal.

enthusiasticsaver

Amazing what a difference it makes setting a fixed monthly repayment rather than just minimums. Under £11k on Barclaycard is great.

Suffolk_lass

Treadingonplaymobil wrote: »

It's nothing fancy. I reconcile YNAB every single day, and each time I do I move any odd pence leftover in any category to a 'debt overpayment' category. So say I have £50 in my weekly food budget and I spend £8.73, I've got £41.27 left in the pot, so I'll move 27p over to the debt overpayment pot. So it's never more than 99p from any one pot, but if I've spent in three or four pots (say, diesel, family kitty and food) then it's the total of the rounding down from each of those pots and can add up to a few pounds. I do the same in my business account and move the money over every week or two. I pay it off the barclaycard every time the debt overpayment category goes over £1, so I can't be tempted to reabsorb it back into my budget when things are tight at the end of the month.

I do mine by moving the little straggly bits from our current accounts into the cash savings account, also on a daily basis - it is known as Tilly Tidying on MSE

TOPM you could used bit of that tidying money to overpay your mortgage by £1.19 and put your OCD readers out of their mortgage-misery :rotfl: - once you start, it is also very pleasing....

Oh yes, I echo WTMA sentiments - MOVE AWAY FROM THE TOILET BRUSH!!

Tropically

Hello! I have just finished reading your diary - slow at work over the last week! I am also a maker and tinkerer as well as an environmentalist. Two small pieces of unsolicited advice, cheese making is fun but best left to the professionals and eco-deodorant just doesn't work! I suspect you have already tried both of those things though.

Have you ever tried buying in bulk? I have read that you've struggled to keep the food budget down without feeling like a lump (I get that way too). Maybe the solution is to buy some items (like the flour you use for your sourdough) in bulk. It will also have the benefit of having less packaging waste, depending on the type.

Treadingonplaymobil

Suffolk_lass wrote: »

I do mine by moving the little straggly bits from our current accounts into the cash savings account, also on a daily basis - it is known as Tilly Tidying on MSE

TOPM you could used bit of that tidying money to overpay your mortgage by £1.19 and put your OCD readers out of their mortgage-misery :rotfl: - once you start, it is also very pleasing....

Oh yes, I echo WTMA sentiments - MOVE AWAY FROM THE TOILET BRUSH!!

But once I start there will be the temptation to continue! And I need to keep laser focus on the CC debt rather than spreading money around, or I know I'll lose focus and end up repaying less overall.

Treadingonplaymobil

Tropically wrote: »

Hello! I have just finished reading your diary - slow at work over the last week! I am also a maker and tinkerer as well as an environmentalist. Two small pieces of unsolicited advice, cheese making is fun but best left to the professionals and eco-deodorant just doesn't work! I suspect you have already tried both of those things though.

Have you ever tried buying in bulk? I have read that you've struggled to keep the food budget down without feeling like a lump (I get that way too). Maybe the solution is to buy some items (like the flour you use for your sourdough) in bulk. It will also have the benefit of having less packaging waste, depending on the type.

Although i find most eco deodorant a bit rubbish, I get on quite well with crystal deodorant - when my current one (salt of the earth - nowhere near as good as my previous pitrok one) runs out I'm going to try to get one without packaging next, maybe this one.

I haven't researched bulk buying much - beyond buying the biggest item in the supermarket - due to lack of storage space, but once we do our extension I'm hoping for more sensible larder storage so we can get things in bigger packs.

GeorgianaCavendish

I agree with you about keeping the laser focus on the credit card debit. I "tidied" all my balances (except personal loan) this month and although there is something satisfying about a neat figure, it is much better to stick to the plan of making all overpayments to the priority debt.

WannabeFree

I just want to say don't get your hopes up of a quick turnaround of being a better school. My smalls school changed to an academy 3 years ago after going into special measures and we've had 3 different principals and no one wanting to take it on now! Mine are on the transfer list but it is very long

Also Halfords have a huge sale on camping things instore. Not sure if it's online too?

x

Treadingonplaymobil

Week 64: Day 6

Away for the weekend, but just popping by to share my reduced daily earnings goal after bringing in another bit of money yesterday. Only 90p less than yesterday, but I'll take that.

Mini goals:
- £14.94/30 May rounding down pot.
- £2,380.87/£5,000 2018 debt repayment goal.
- £28.14 daily earning goal.

enthusiasticsaver

I agree with keeping laser focus on cc debt too. Concentrate on overpaying the mortgage when the debt is gone, particularly as you added the Tesco loan to it and presumably will add to it for extension. These little extra payments do make a difference though.