The Edcawber Principle

edinburgher

Why are you off the coffee Alex?

Busy day in the office today, but my attention is starting to drift towards holiday, only 4 working days to go

Spreadsheets have been updated and while I'm looking forward to starting simplified CC payments etc., I'm effectively going from "in arrears" to "in advance" overnight. This will probably make our finances look pants and I look forward to the changes working their way through the system. £600 or so to pay tomorow.

AlexLK

I've been off coffee for quite a while after seeing my doctor about a health condition which resulted in some horrific hospital tests which were all thankfully OK. Was told coffee would not be helping the situation. It wasn't but I also found I was much less anxious, could concentrate much better and I stopped getting splitting headaches when I stopped drinking it. Seem to have no tolerance for it now at all. Well, you asked.

edinburgher

I did, I did

It would seem that I am becoming quite the gardener. Spent an hour and a half in the front garden last night battling thatch. It's like the Avengers film that they begged Hollywood not to make :rotfl: The patch of lawn I was focusing on was an awkward triangle that slopes and is currently good for nothing bar being an occasional cat toilet. It is my bete noire and still looks like crap after I removed 4 bin bags full (thatch, not cat !!!!). At least the moss killer is working, everything has a chocolatey hue (he's possibly an Avenger).

I have started in advance "from 1st of the month" type budgeting where spends are recorded for calendar months (not from when I get paid). It has conspired with a hefty credit card bill and the usual £1100 suckout on day one of the month to make me feel very, very poor. Feeling less like a financial genius, more like an idiot. No giant piles of money to pay off debt, lucky just to have enough money to pay all our bills for May.

What's worse, I don't really have any firepower left to fix it, I'll just need to wait and see. This is going to be harder than I thought. To try and stem the blood, I have slashed budgets and will stop using CC to pay for as many things as possible, other than that I'm just waiting for some savings to mature

On a lighter note, our mortgage is now at 85%, a high LTV, but the first "band" lower since we bought the place.

beanielou

Baby steps

hiddenshadow

edinburgher wrote: »

Just bought a hose

I misread this as house and thought your lifestyle daydreaming had gone a bit too far! :rotfl:

We're probably only 12-18 months from achieving the foundations of our daydream lifestyle (paid-for house + majority working from home). On the one hand I'm excited about it, on the other hand I just want it to be 2 years from now so all the house selling/hunting/buying/moving/etc kerfuffle can be done and dusted! (If only we could teleport ourselves and our things places...)

edinburgher

I can think of much better things to do with my money

Started using my debit card to pay for things. I feel so dirty :rotfl:

beanielou

edinburgher wrote: »

I can think of much better things to do with my money

Started using my debit card to pay for things. I feel so dirty :rotfl:

Why? :think:

edinburgher

No cashback, no magic airline points, I am a regular dirty consumer, not a financial wizard

Managed to pick up a fancy bottle of Spanish wine for significant family wedding anniversary. It was from the year after their wedding, but I'm sure they'll forgive me £34 spent, which is pretty good for a "big" anniversary.

lulabelle1

Hey Ed, hope you and the family are well.

I'm not sure I fully understand your CC situation as I missed a good few months but in my experience the downside to using the CC for everything is that it's an endless supply of money.

We literally for many many years did ALL of our spending on a CC and then paid it off on payday. If we'd have been using cash/debit card, I dare say we'd have at least put off some of the spending that we did (especially towards pay day) and may have even not bought some things at all.

Pay day would arrive and the huge chunk being payable to the CC company each month just seemed to get more and more silly as the months went by.

I've now closed my CC account and use my debit card - it's early days and it's going to take some getting used to, but I feel like I have to give a little more thought to my spends, which I think, can only be a good thing.

(Edit to add - I also didn't renew my Prime membership at the beginning of this year which I'm convinced has saved me money. It was getting all too easy to "think" I needed something, one click later it was ordered, and sometimes it was even delivered the same day!! No time to think and deliberate whether the thing being ordered was really "needed")

I hope it gets easier for you in the forthcoming months.

Best Wishes

edinburgher

Hi Lulabelle, good to see you

• Renovating a house that we could only just afford that was last sold when I was 2 (I'm now mid-30s) using borrowed money
• Mrs E being on maternity leave
• Some sort of moronic scheme involving investing some of the borrowed money
• Buying a car outright when we couldn't afford it
• Living beyond our means
• Being !!!! at budgeting

That's all the honesty I can stomach for one day

Your thoughts on Prime are also appreciated and I will cancel it, but not for a couple of years as it is a Godsend when you have a little person at home. The thing I don't like is how you have Prime and then you consider Am@zon music and then you're streaming films from them, and then they ship some of your groceries. Drip drip drip!