Reducing Debt - being accountable and taking responsibility

enthusiasticsaver

Yes it is a good idea to put your £30 payrise into your emergency fund as it only stands at £9.53

I have been reading today how a number of banks are changing overdraft charging structure (not heard Barclays mentioned though) so good you cleared that overdraft now. In some cases some people are facing double what they pay now to use their overdraft.

laurag89

DrSpendLittle your doing so well!

I have just caught up on your diary, and you are smashing it!

Good idea analysing your credit card to see what you have actually put onto it... I think I might do the same. I don't look what I have put on it, because I know more often than not it is likely I could have not put it on there!

Keep going like this and that debt will come down in no time

DrSpendLittle

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

Yes it is a good idea to put your £30 payrise into your emergency fund as it only stands at £9.53

I have been reading today how a number of banks are changing overdraft charging structure (not heard Barclays mentioned though) so good you cleared that overdraft now. In some cases some people are facing double what they pay now to use their overdraft.

Thanks! Just set up a standing order for all my monthly transfers to my YNAB categories (in real life they are online savers) inc. EF, car maintenance and holiday/presents. I arranged it for the last day of the month so that I can accrue some interest on the balance in my current account and my savings accounts - that'll pay for my YNAB subscription if nothing else :rotfl:

Yes, glad I'm out of overdrafts now with all the new charges. Back in the day I had a £1600 OD and a £1200 OD. I've actually got a miselling claim in at the moment with Barclays for my graduate additions account - I payed a £7 monthly fee for it as I was told I needed it to keep my £1600 overdraft after my student account expired. Also wasn't told I needed to register the mobile phone insurance. Only learned about this 'mis selling' last week on the main MSE website and as I was reading the article I thought my gosh, that happened to me too! We'll see how that goes...

DSL :j

DrSpendLittle

laurag89 wrote: »

DrSpendLittle your doing so well!

I have just caught up on your diary, and you are smashing it!

Good idea analysing your credit card to see what you have actually put onto it... I think I might do the same. I don't look what I have put on it, because I know more often than not it is likely I could have not put it on there!

Keep going like this and that debt will come down in no time

Thanks very much!! I m like a dog with a bone and like to really get stuck into stuff. The challenge will be sticking to it and not burning out my enthusiasm too soon. But, as I said my earlier posts, the medium term rewards are worth a few frugal months!

Yes, really good to take some time and go through credit cards to see how they are used. I always thought I used them for the 'big' emergency payments but actually, it seems I've shoved smaller and more random stuff on them and forgotten to pay them off. Should be out of that habit soon once my YNAB budget kicks in. In fact, I don't have any CCs in my purse anymore, but, I don't think I could travel to London or elsewhere in the uk without once if I'm away from home for a few nights. I feel like I need that comfort blanket of knowing I have a way out of any emergency I may find myself in, like booking emergency trains or planes etc etc.

How are you getting on with YNAB? I'm going get the subscription when it expires I think. I just feel so much more relaxed about money now as I have peace of mind that everything is budgeted for. I'm also looking forward to saving up for things too!

wishingthemortgaheaway

Hi DSL

Regarding your student loan - at the stage you are at with it, don't even give it a passing glance. As you say it's a graduate tax and is highly unlikely to affect your mortgage application.
I viewed my student loan as the key to getting the job, with the associated good salary I had.

I had 4 years worth of plan 1 loan and it took me 11 years to clear it. I never thought about it until 18months before the end when I got a statement that made me realise the end was in sight.
From that point (I think about £2.5k to go) I set up a small, monthly card payment of £36 to round up my salary payment to £200 and then Tilly tidied each month.
Once it was paid off I then had £200 a month more to overpay on the mortgage. (I was already overpaying the mortgage, this just made my mop bigger when it happened)

You will get there, but don't even think about it at the moment.

DrSpendLittle

wishingthemortgaheaway wrote: »

Hi DSL

Regarding your student loan - at the stage you are at with it, don't even give it a passing glance. As you say it's a graduate tax and is highly unlikely to affect your mortgage application.
I viewed my student loan as the key to getting the job, with the associated good salary I had.

I had 4 years worth of plan 1 loan and it took me 11 years to clear it. I never thought about it until 18months before the end when I got a statement that made me realise the end was in sight.
From that point (I think about £2.5k to go) I set up a small, monthly card payment of £36 to round up my salary payment to £200 and then Tilly tidied each month.
Once it was paid off I then had £200 a month more to overpay on the mortgage. (I was already overpaying the mortgage, this just made my mop bigger when it happened)

You will get there, but don't even think about it at the moment.

Thank You! I really like that idea of overpaying the mortgage with the student loan money once the loan has been paid off, since I'll have never 'seen' that money anyway. I shall add that to my long term plan!

I'll also remember to look at rounding up my salary like you once I get to a lower amount.

Thanks for your advice!

DSL :j

DrSpendLittle

Oooh, its the weekend before payday and my second weekend as a YNABer.

It's amazing how much more relaxed I feel about spending money now. Ironically I used to hate spending money since it was never mine, always the banks :rotfl:

But, now I've budgeted for the spends and these are necessary and immediate obligations, I feel at peace.

This weekend, DF and I are going to sort out our finances and rejig our spreadsheet so we have a grasp on what our outgoings are. We also need to jot down all the things that will affect our car insurance and contents/buildings insurance switches, which I need to crack on with.

DF wants to 'do something' this weekend so we're thinking of going for a walk or something to get out of the house. We're usually good with these sorts of things but he's feeling under the weather just now so nothing too strenuous is on the cards. The past few weekends have involved spring cleaning our house as we had an estate agent around to value it. Need to do some tidying though as DF is a nightmare during the working week and just dumps stuff everywhere despite my regular protests. I didn't do my usual tidying yesterday (I worked at home, he went in the office) and he came back after work and said 'Gosh it's a mess in this house' and I was like 'No !!!!!! Sherlock! :rotfl:

Anyway, should be a relatively low spend weekend but we do need to do a food shop at some point and get some toiletries. I have £23 of points on my bo0ts advantage card so that will cover things!

Have a glorious bank holiday weekend everyone!

DSL :j:j

DrSpendLittle

Forgot to add the most important plan for this weekend......

Catch up on DFW diaries and increase my subscriptions. I've read through quite a few recently - from start to finish - but I've got a few webpages open with others that I want to get through.

It's so interesting reading through all the diaries and learning about others DFW journeys and picking up tips. We have a great little community on here!

Right, better tackle the laundry pile!

DSL

DrSpendLittle

DF transfered his half of our holiday toll cost which is due to leave my account on or around the 31st. This means I can now confidently transfer £19 from my eBay profit into my EF. I didn't want to before now as I was worried it may go out early and make me overdrawn. My EF is now up to £28.53! Signature updated :j

DrSpendLittle

Morning everyone!

Just dropping by to confess...

DF and I went to the shops yesterday to look at a piece of kitchen equipment that he has been thinking of buying. Well, one thing led to another and before we knew it, we were at customer collections saying surnames and waiting for cardboard boxes. But....it was a bargain as we decided to save money by getting last year's 'model'. We also got double points which equates to £7 cash back.

DF is paying for the majority of it as planned but I have offered to pay for some since I will be using it too and eating all the yummy food that he makes with it. I did lots of work with YNAB when I got home and I've managed to retrospectively budget for this for now without reducing any planned debt payments.

But, I'm not going to make this easy for myself. I want to break the pattern of 'seeing and having'. I with therefore be rummaging for more things to sell on eB4y and also be using cash back sites to switch our remaining insurances. I've got £29 pending from switching gas and elec so that will go to paying it.

I told DF that this was the last time I'd be doing this 'seeing and buying' in future. I reminded him that I need to budget for purchases like this as my cash flow is not the same has his. He was very happy with this and appreciates my new mature money mind. I also felt a bit hypocritical since I was the one who convinced him to buy it there and then!. :rotfl:

I still feel a bit guilty about all this hence the Sunday confession. I technically haven't properly budgeted for it - I've found the money from other places. But, that said, my MSE thoughts were with me through the day and I did go about it in a controlled manner. I will still be paying £994.29 to debt repayments next month.

Saturday Round Up

We went to sainsbos and got a few bits in to see us through to payday. We still have meat in the freezer and I need to make a soup for lunches. DF baked some bread last night. I froze one portion of last night's curry that I'd made using some chicken thighs from the freezer. Usually I would be greedy and finish it off about 2 hours after dinner but I decided to be good and freeze the leftovers. It will do one of us for an easy mid week dinner.

I also spent £5 from my misc. budget (£20 per month) on a sistema porridge pot - I eat my breakfast at work and haven't been able to have fresh porridge for yonks! I also admit to having a bit of thing for Tupperware, so I really did neeeeeeed this. I also got some popcorn kernels (£2) so DF and I could have a cinema night in last night and tonight. I also much prefer to make my own popcorn than buy it. Tastes so good. I have £6.48 left in my misc. budget till payday. Rock and roll.

Today is....not so sure. Need to get some yellow split peas but other than that, I don't see the need to spend any money so will be a low spend day.

DSL :j