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Like you I allocate money to different pots and try to use other means before spending these pots , even though it is there to be spent .
Thanks Andy, yes I enjoyed the gig, I love any live music tbh. The antibiotics are doing their job and I'm back to normal now.
Glad its not just me who hates spending the pots!
I made 3 NSD's in a row over the weekend, helped by being at work and the boyfriend away at Glastonbury. Came under budget last week by £3.65 which has been OP'd. The interest has been added on today and I need to OP another £47.68 to get under £48000 :j
I have borrowed a phone from my friend until I hopefully receive enough birthday money to buy a new one next month. Suggestions for an OK smartphone for under £60 are welcome.
Spoke to the broker yesterday and, as I suspected, the affordability calculators now say no chance of a mortgage due to a lower income.
She advised phoning my current provider (Natwest) to see what deal they could offer me. Interestingly she rang one department for me and I've found out that Natwest use the HPI to work out LTV, the house value must have increased as they said my LTV was at 70% instead of 77% :j
Depending what they can offer it will be close whether I'll save any money. Is it just a case of working out how much interest the new rate would cost over the fix compared to the old rate, and seeing if that's cheaper than the ERC? Or is there anything else to take in to account?
The broker also suggested just sticking with the current fix and paying the cost of what the ERC would be as an OP. Does anyone have any advice in regards to this?
I don't know what the best thing to do is. However if I do switch it will be better off waiting until the 1st November when the ERC goes down to 3%.
£7.75 food shop today. I had a £1.85 voucher to use in The Works so got a birthday present sorted for my friend's son's birthday this weekend for 15p! I already have a couple of books stored for him that I purchased in the January sales. :money:
Have a good week!
Balance 27/07/2016 £49990
Balance 08/07/2017 £47999
Balance 30/07/2018 £44500
Balance 01/08/2019 £40700
Balance 03/09/2020 £37619
Balance 30/09/2021 £33983
When I rang them again to find out the interest rate available, the woman on the phone wasn't sure why I'd been told the LTV was now 70%. She said the HPI they use is the same as zoopla, and when I looked on there the value of the house hasn't really changed.
I'm also stressing a little about the money I need to find for these holidays. I just don't have enough flexibility in the budget to save enough, I'll have to use the savings I already have.
So I think I've decided that the £1500 I would have spent on the ERC is being used for holiday money, and I have to accept that my rate will be fixed at 4.79 for another 2 years. My new goal will be to get to 70% LTV ready for July 2019.
There's a vacancy in my current company for 20 hours over 2 weeks; 8 hours one week, 12 the other. The times work well around DS starting school and work around my existing hours, so I'm going to apply and hope for the best as the extra money would make so much difference.
I'm still keeping a spending diary, I had 13 NSD's in June and OP'd £53.11 (on top of the £100 standard OP) :j I'm really happy with this, I didn't think it was that much!
I found an amazing deal for the hotel for March next year, saving around £130, and it doesn't have to be paid until we check in, so that's a bit of breathing space there.
Balance 27/07/2016 £49990
Balance 08/07/2017 £47999
Balance 30/07/2018 £44500
Balance 01/08/2019 £40700
Balance 03/09/2020 £37619
Balance 30/09/2021 £33983
X
1 Jan 2015 = £73,735 Overpayments = £3,360 (average £280 p/m)
1 Jan 2016 = £66,558 Overpayments = £4,770 (average £397.50 p/m)
1 Jan 2017 = £57,756 Overpayments so far Jan £0 Feb £550 Mar £3022 April £690 May £1513 total £5775
Yes it's frustrating DSM. There should be different criteria when you're clearly already paying a mortgage. You managed to get a good rate though.
Thanks Swash.
The £130 TSB switch bonus has been paid so I've OP'd £48.68 and my mortgage balance is £47999
Balance 27/07/2016 £49990
Balance 08/07/2017 £47999
Balance 30/07/2018 £44500
Balance 01/08/2019 £40700
Balance 03/09/2020 £37619
Balance 30/09/2021 £33983
I had the best birthday present on Monday though when I checked my bank and had way more money in than there should have been. I'd had a payment of child tax and working tax credits, which means the claim has been awarded to me instead of my ex :j
No idea how he'll react when he finds out - it won't be pretty.
I haven't had the letter through yet so don't know exactly how much it will be each month, but I'm not going to count it in my budget anyway in case it's taken off me again. I'll use it for OP's and adding to savings.
My ex changed child tax credit over to his name last year without telling me :mad: This meant I couldn't claim working tax credit anymore (he doesn't work), I was better off when it was claimed in my name but he wouldn't change it back.
HMRC have now seen the court order and awarded it back to me. I'll have to give him 50% of the child tax but not the working tax credit. This means I'm now about £200 per month better off :j So relieved.
Unfortunately I owe them around £1200 due to overpayment last year so will use the lump sum I got this week to pay half of that.
I'll now have money to put towards holidays and can hopefully pass affordability checks to remortgage. I'm going to wait until October when my ERC goes down to 3%. Fingers crossed.
I bought painkillers at the chemist yesterday and got change of £5 instead of £2, so have an extra £1.35 to OP.
My bills are in this month for mobile and broadband which are £12.57 under budget so will OP that too.
Balance 27/07/2016 £49990
Balance 08/07/2017 £47999
Balance 30/07/2018 £44500
Balance 01/08/2019 £40700
Balance 03/09/2020 £37619
Balance 30/09/2021 £33983
You are officially a superstar. It is amazing how some people can manage their budgets so well, on a modest amount and others with a much bigger income get into all sorts of bother.
im going to follow your story with interest.
Great news on the tax credits front. Are they a once every 4 week payment rather than monthly? If you can work out a way to plan them as monthly payments, you'all have the payment when there is 2 in a month as a whole extra month for overpaying or saving.
Have a great money saving day
Wish
MFW 2020 Challenge Member #10 0/£2318
Nothing to report this weekend, I was working Sat and Sun. Just impatiently waiting for the tax credits letter to arrive.
Balance 27/07/2016 £49990
Balance 08/07/2017 £47999
Balance 30/07/2018 £44500
Balance 01/08/2019 £40700
Balance 03/09/2020 £37619
Balance 30/09/2021 £33983