Spend Nowt, Buy Nowt, Owe Nowt

XSpender

apple_muncher said:

I love that you are always trying new ways to manage your money.

It's because I am not very good at it apple  It doesn't come naturally to me.  

Although I track all our spending, we have stopped using CCs (178 days and counting) and I haven't had an overdraft in 12 years I have come to realise that to stay out of debt I need to do more including setting up sinking funds and saving to them monthly to avoid the 'oh heck it's Christmas/back to school/a birthday/we need a new boiler and there is not enough to cover it' scenario or robbing Peter to pay Paul. I have always been good at paying bills so I am treating payments to sinking funds like bills in my budget.

The other thing I didn't do before was analyse where my money had gone in the month.  I planned where it was supposed to go but didn't know where it went even if I had saved and not used credit. I would move money around the budget from one part to another and had no record of what our original plan had been and where we had over or under spent.   It's not a very good budget if I don't know how much to accurately allocate to each expenditure category.  For June I know that we are over in garden, under in fuel and gifts and spot on in spending and food.

I have noticed a difference this month in that all the money I have had in refunds or returns has been used to OP the CC and cover the unexpected £83 vet bill and I have not had to top up budget categories because we are short and have overspent.  I am usually waiting on child benefit to hit the account but this month I may OP it to the CC as I budgeted without it so it is surplus.  

We are spending less because of lock down and are on a mortgage holiday but we are also on less than 60% of our usual income. Let's hope we can keep this going.

Bizzywizard

Hi XSpender,
Good luck with your job! I don't blame you for paying off the one card with savings, its one less thing to think about and one less DD going out each month.Regarding not getting the balance transfer on the other card, has your hubby applied for one, instead of just you? This is what I did, last year my DH had the debt but could not get the 0% deal, so I applied and got 2 cards (I'd had no CC's since I was 18 now I'm 45)!  we then transferred the debt onto my new 0% credit cards. I know this is not suitable for everyone, but its really helped us.
Best regards,
Bizzy

brizzlegirl

Good idea to ask OH to try to get a CC deal before this all shakes down. Sorry you’ve been low, it must be so stressful and it’s amazing how positive you always seem, so don’t be too hard on yourself. Think positive, you’ve got this assessment thing licked!!! 

Love the birdbath gift  

XSpender

I am no longer facing redundancy. The client has identified additional work that needs doing this year which means all of us facing redundancy have kept our jobs.  Those who opted for VR will still be leaving.  I cannot tell you how relieved I am.  I may have drunk a couple of cold beers to celebrate 🎉 

It has been a good day.  DH is getting great results at work which is making the stress and exhaustion worthwhile and I spent the day with my mum, stepdad, sister and DS in my mum’s garden.  It was lovely to see them.  Mum gave me a big pile of charity shop paperbacks to read then donate again, all of which are books I will enjoy.  I am glad the library will be reopening soon and I can cancel my Kindle Unlimited subscription.

I have gone a little over budget on food, maybe £8, as we had run out of fat free yogurt, strawberries, ham and cheese which are all essentials in this house.  I am also over on booze due to tonight’s celebratory beers.

I need to create a schedule that will work for me and DS when I go back to work but tomorrow we will be playing in the garden in the sunshine and not thinking about next week (much).  After 91 days off work these last 6 are going to fly.

I need to find a better place to work than the dining room now that I will be 100% home based until October and about 80% after that. I do have a desk in one of the bedrooms but the room needs sorting out a bit to make it more office friendly. I should really get a proper office chair.  I will also have to pop to B&M or Asda for some reading glasses as I have managed to snap the arm off one side of mine.

On Friday I will celebrate further by paying a chunk off our debt  

WinterWarrior

I recently found that you can sort kindle books on amazon to list lowest price to highest....there are lots of free books and some of them are good! It seems to be a ploy to get you to buy the rest of the series in most cases and I have sometimes gone on to buy the rest, but they do still work as stand alone stories. Possibly everyone knows and I’m just late to the party, but thought it was worth sharing 😊
congrats on keeping your job, such a relief! 

badmemory

Definitely get yourself a good office chair.  They are worth their weight in gold.  There is nothing worse than the backache you can get from using a dining chair or one which does not give you proper support.  The chair may go away but the backache doesn't.  Make sure you adjust it for your upper leg length.  My chair (as I can't get one short enough in the leg) has a pillow on the back with a pillowcase to match the chair holding it in place.  A footrest may help too.

brizzlegirl

I am SO thrilled for you. Just popped by to the forum to check to see how you are and saw this. Great news. Have another beer or two today to keep that celebration going. 

Well done!!! Xxxx

apple_muncher

Yay!! Great news!! Definitely worth those beers! And now all your plots and plans can happen - sooo exciting.

f0xh0les

OmvG!  Congratulations, that is brilliant news - I'd still do a 5 yr mortgage fix as soon as you can, penalty free.

Enjoy the sunshine and sort that home office. I'd say the chair is definitely a work expense.

Really happy for you! Great news!

XSpender

Suzanne54321B said:

I recently found that you can sort kindle books on amazon to list lowest price to highest....there are lots of free books and some of them are good! It seems to be a ploy to get you to buy the rest of the series in most cases and I have sometimes gone on to buy the rest, but they do still work as stand alone stories. Possibly everyone knows and I’m just late to the party, but thought it was worth sharing 😊
congrats on keeping your job, such a relief! 

Thanks Suzanne54321B. I do make use of the free Kindle books but find after choosing say 5 or 6 of them the next time I go on to look for them there is nothing much available.  I have just finished reading the 10th in a series (should have been £4.19 but free on unlimited) that I started reading for free on kindle.