Making savings before it's too late

[Deleted User]

tori, that is gutting. There is a programme on tonight about new housing developments. I am going to watch it, I have researched the development plan for one area that I am interested in and there will be development, not on a huge scale but new houses nevertheless. I am quite tempted by a brand new house, had one twice, both unusual and there is always snagging. Gardens are small but insulation is very good. Could be interesting. Don`t forget tori that as one door closes, another one opens

Caron, I am glad you came on here, I have always admired your gritty spirit, the way you cope with stuff

caronc

kittie wrote: »

Caron, I am glad you came on here, I have always admired your gritty spirit, the way you cope with stuff

Thank you kittie - there are lot (too many) of us soldiering on, one way or t'other. IMHO you either make the best of the hand you're dealt in life or give up. I've never been a quitter:D (to my cost at times :rotfl:)

[Deleted User]

four days to go and I can start serious re-jigging of finances, ie making sure cc is zero, taking cash out for my wallet in a drawer and transferring savings.

I will be on a roll once I start adding to my brand new savings account

tori.k

Cheers Kittie.
Sadly new build is not on the table for us, our budget doesn't stretch to the size of the house we would require for the amount of cars and motorbikes we own.
Insanely the house itself is fairly insignificant. As we are outside people by nature with all the outside carp that goes with it, surfboards kayaks and mountain bikes on top of all the vehicles, so need accessible outside space, there is plenty around that would be ideal just they are 50k more than we have to spend ( always the way) we are looking for semi detached with a mid terrace budget :rotfl: but I have faith something will turn up

blackcatsx2

Tori, I’m sorry to her about the house purchase. The system in England is so frustrating - things can go on for months and then fall through. Sometimes it’s the buyer and sometimes it’s the seller but it’s always painful when things go wrong. However, I’m sure you will find the perfect place soon - a semi on a terrace budget isn’t impossible to find, just a bit harder to find.

[Deleted User]

I took some cash out yesterday, first time for months and have added £60 to my cash wallet, kept in a drawer, which I use for all shop purchases and petrol. I also filled my tank and now have £115 in my cash wallet. I need to increase that to get back to what I kept in the house previously, I only owe my cc £80 and will pay that off on monday, which is when the true savings start. I even factored council tax in for april, so think that everything is correct with no hidden surprises going forward

caronc

kittie wrote: »

so think that everything is correct with no hidden surprises going forward

I'm just about happy with my budget (or rather the spreadsheet that it's on....), I think I've factored in everything, though I'm waiting for the new council tax charges to be announced and also what my pension increase (if any) will be. Thankfully I have started a small "unexpected expenses" fund as the fence between myself and my neighbours has collapsed so I won't have to dip into my home improvements/major repairs fund to pay that. We'll split the cost so it won't be a huge bill. No doubt as the year progresses I may need to tweak categories but fingers crossed I've not missed anything too expensive.

[Deleted User]

I am going to make myself busy today as I think it could be a temptation day, ie spend to compensate for gloomy weather. I`ll get busy in my sewing room, with bag ready for the cs

I clean forgot about amazon prime, must put that on my m/s money bills, due in 2 weeks and my cc has now gone to statement, which I will clear on monday with the £80. So a very fresh clean start on monday, nothing owing to anyone

tori.k

My CC is up to £172 annoyingly with have another £25 in fuel before it's paid on the 16th as the lad forgot his MOT was due yesterday so will have to ferry him to work until Monday,
Have a viewing for an odd house next Saturday totally different then anything we have considered but it's time to start thinking out of the box, it backs on to church graveyard so be no lie-in's on a Sunday with the church bells. It's a step off the road into the living room which I hate but has a separate dining room so could flip the rooms and does have the outside space we need, and the compromise has to be made somewhere.
I'm barely spending anything at the moment, between work and housework. Next months shopping will hurt a bit as I've all but caught up with my food cupboard, still have plenty of cleaning/ bathroom stuff and a better idea of how much we are now using so I won't overstock in the future.

moneyistooshorttomention

Shuddering at the thought of going through too much hassle re my finance planning. I just don't want to know - would rather spend my time on other things.

Nice and simple - at all bills are on direct debit except those that can't be/would be more expensive if they were basically.

So I know I have 3 months of the year where there is a "yearly" bill to pay out of that months income - the tv licence month (£145 duly going out extra), the yearly gas service month (£85 going out extra) and the insurance month (£256 going out extra). Christmas costs me less than £100 I reckon (cards/a few presents/I might have a more "special" meal or two out with friends).

So I'm okay for some "spending money" every month (it's just the case that 4 months of the year there will be a bit less than normal).

With a little bit of cash to one side "just in case" and a bit of "cashflow money" in the bank account not to go overdrawn accidentally or if some minor "must purchase" comes up. A bit of savings (though not very much at the moment - as the house took so much of them for renovation work:() and the system "works".

Also got a bit of health care insurance - so that I shouldnt have to pay a big bill myself at any point if an expensive health care need comes up and the NHS is awkward about paying for it (eg I've got to the agegroup where many start developing cataracts). Fingers crossed that will never happen to me obviously - but a friend of mine that moved here recently too was gobsmacked to be told recently that she would have to wait a year (!!!!:eek:!!!!) in between first eye and second eye being done (though the "proper wait" between eyes is 4-6 weeks and she'd been blithely assuming that that is what would happen...).

You know you've become very cynical about what money you might need to pay healthcare costs for the NHS when you know you could just whip out enough cash to pay for a long (ie expensive) taxi ride to a hospital if an ambulance was needed/called - just in case it took literally hours (rather than a few minutes) to get to the caller. Followed by - you've seen the hospital "restaurant" - so you've also got enough money to one side to pay take-aways to bring food to you...