Rawr_'s Saving Diary

Fatbritabroad

ValiantSon wrote: »

Using a broker can be worth it, particularly with regards to them knowing which lenders are best to apply to in your position. Have a look at the information about brokers on this site.

You don't have to take any of the insurances they may try to sell. Just refuse and if they continue trying tell them that you aren't interested and it isn't up for discussion.

Depends which broker you use mine has never even mentioned insurance. 200 fee plus whatever commission they get is worth it not to have to fill in most of the paperwork tbh (accepting that's not very mse:D. Also last time I remortgaged a better deal came up just before we started the remortgage process. He contacted me to tell me and saved me 100quid a month. I'd have never have bothered to check again once I had a promise

rawr_

Time has flown by. Hope everyone is ok. Happy to report that I've saved £493 this month - tiny bit under my target, but I was desperate for a few new things that I can wear for work. Plus my boots were falling apart, so I had to replace them, but I got a bargain so I was happy

Household bills/food: Have an expensive oil bill this week, so I'm a bit concerned that I won't reach my target for saving in March. We're also off next week (haven't had a week off since October!) so want to plan in a few things for me and hubby to do. We've been working so hard that I'd like to treat us to a meal out or something like that at least. Food wise I've done my shop for the week, and have a few things in the freezer that will last us a few more meals too. My aim this week is to go back to Aldi, as I keep shopping at Tesco cause I'm being lazy and like to use the self scan guns ha.

Ebay: Got a few things listed on ebay - not big things though. Still haven't got around to cleaning and photographing my polly pocket collection to list; I really need to as I think I'll get around £200.

House wise it's still quiet. Just waiting for something to come on the market still!

Side business: My aim for next couple of months is to get set up properly so I can start doing wedding invitations. I need to register with HMRC and get some more things put on Etsy, as already started listing things. I've got some save-the-dates and invites to do for someone at work, so doing samples at the moment. I'm hoping this can bring in a little bit of money on the side!

*little.squirrel*

Well done on this month's savings! Still a great amount, and let's face it, we all need a few bits and bobs to keep us going

Make time to get that Polly Pocket on eBay - I've been selling small things but I find myself looking round the house to see what else I can sell!

rawr_

*little.squirrel* wrote: »

Well done on this month's savings! Still a great amount, and let's face it, we all need a few bits and bobs to keep us going

Make time to get that Polly Pocket on eBay - I've been selling small things but I find myself looking round the house to see what else I can sell!

Thanks! It got to the point where I couldn't remember the last time I bought any *decent* clothes (I made the most of the Sainsbob 25% sale!) so my wardrobe was getting pretty bad haha.

I do really need to sort it out. I'm off work next week and we're just having a week at home so hoping I can get stuff like this sorted! :T

rawr_

My car went bang and the costs of repair meant that it was cheaper for me to change the car. To do this, I had to take a loan out to cover the cost of something decent and long term, as I didn't want to get another car that was only going to last another year. I'm happy with my purchase, but it did stress me out a little. Especially as I didn't get the interest rate promised so it's costing me more than I thought. Not sure why I couldn't get a loan with a good interest rate, as I have a brilliant credit score, but I didn't really have time to wait around, as without a car we can't get to work. I want to overpay on my loan payments as much as I can, as it's over 6 years and I really don't want it hanging over my head that long.

So even though I feel a little defeated, the positive side is that I now don't have to worry about this happening in the future, as the age of the car was playing on my mind a lot lately. And I got a pretty lovely car too :j

After this Friday, DH is going to to change his standing order from the House fund to my savings account (woohoo!) and reduce it to £100 per week so that he has a little money to play with, as he's done so well for the last 18 months (I'm a softy). So now my savings account can be purely focused on a maternity fund (Which is what my save 6K this year is going towards!) :T DH has a plan for paying his first year of Uni with shares from work and the bank of mum & dad - so I think we're safe there. It will just be making sure we can survive with him working 4 days a week, which I'm certain we can. And he won't be going until Sep 2019 so we've got quite a while yet to make sure we're ready for that.

Oh yeah ... how is it half way through March?!

rawr_

This month has turned out to be a fairly expensive one so far. I get paid next Friday so have been sorting out my finances and seeing where I am. I've only managed to put £200 away this month, which is a pretty disappointing amount compared with January & Feb. I may be able to put more away on Friday, but it'll only be about another £50. I guess as of next Friday I'm going to be having an extra £100 a week added to my savings pot because of DH - so it's not all bad news :rotfl:

Today I'll be doing my weekly shop. Last week I only spent about £50 which was really good for us (including cat food), and I think that's because after weeks of shopping at Tesco, I've decided to go back to Aldi for all the basics. I still go to Tesco for the bits I can't get in Aldi, but this reduces the food bill quite dramatically. Me & DH are plant based, so we get a lot of our meat substitutes and dairy free bits from Tesco.

I still haven't listed my polly pockets I know I know, I really need too. I think it's because I need such a big box I'm putting it off because of posting! I did list a game last week though and got £6 (woohoo! :j) which once it goes in from Paypal I will transfer to savings. I also need to get a mothers day present today, as my mum is back from her hols and I said I would do it this weekend instead.

I also need to remember to do a meter reading for our electric tonight, they always predict and charge way too much if I don't do it in time so I must remember! DH has a driving lesson after work so won't be home until 9pm, whatever will I do with myself?! :rotfl:

rawr_

Today we had a house viewing, which I thought had a lot of potential; when we looked around, not so much! It's a shame, estate agent photos (and descriptions) really do say something different than what the house is actually like. Oh well, I don't get quite as disappointed anymore as the longer it takes to find somewhere the more money we can save living here.

I've been reading a lot of 'Debt free diaries' over the last few days, and some of them are so inspiring! It has inspired me to draw up some clear budgets and track my spending properly - I have done this in the past but it always tails off. I think if I'm going to be trying to overpay on the car loan and make transfers into my savings account, it would be good to keep a solid track of our finances. So at the end of this month I will tally up everything spent this month (although there will be a few unusual expenses because of what happened with the car) and draw a budget up from that.

Today's been a NSD :j which I think I've had quite a few of in the last couple of weeks! We've got a couple of weeks left at work and then we're off to Cornwall for a week to stay with DH's grandmother, his mum, dad and brother are going to so it's a family get away for the week. It will be a fairly cheap one as we'll be driving down (about 6 hrs) and then they'll be a lot of home cooked meals and walks. I'm looking forward to getting away for a week, the last get away was to Scotland in July and it feels like forever ago!!

rawr_

It's Monday which means I'm feeling organised and raring to go! I'm setting myself a few tasks this week, one of which I completed at the weekend

[strike]1. Switch Electric to a cheaper tariff[/strike]
2. Cancel car insurance
3. Cancel M&S CC
4. Cancel Virgin CC

The credit cards have been empty for months now, so Mr Rawr has suggested I cancel them. The car insurance is still running for my other vehicle, just need to cancel before the DD goes out next month. I've been putting it off as theres a £50 cancellation charge. I'm working from home tomorrow so I'll aim to make this phone calls tomorrow as I'll hopefully be able to call when they're less busy.

I have sorted some personal and joint budgets (hoorah!) so I'm feeling super organised. The budgets may differ slightly for next month (which starts this Friday as that's when I get paid) as we're off to Cornwall on the 31st, but we shouldn't need to spent too much more, just probably extra on fuel for the car as it's extra miles. Budgets are listed below:

Personal Budget
Diesel £100.00 Leftovers into Savings (if any)
Breakdown £8.18 DD
Joint Acc. £600
Car insurance £39.50 DD
Coffees £20.00 Left overs to pay Car
Birthdays/Occ £20.00 Left overs to pay Car
Car maintenance £50.00 Left overs to Savings
Other £30.00 Left overs to pay car
Mobile £25.82 DD
Parking pass £37.50 Online monthly
Netflix £7.99 DD
Loan £164.71 DD
Left £358.29 Into Savings

JOINT BUDGET £600
FOOD £275.00 Goes into Savings if not spent
Council Tax £171.00 DD
Contents Insurance £18.44 DD
Oil £40.00 Stays in account
Cat insurance £11.80 DD
Electric £24.00 DD
Water £10.00 DD
Internet £23.99 DD

I tallied up that we've spent £375 on food this month, which is disgusting for only two of us (and two cats). I really need to get this spend under control. I'm sticking to putting £600 into joint, even though our Council Tax has gone up, but we'll see how we get on this month and I can alter accordingly if I need too. TV license comes out of MR Rawr's account so I don't worry about this, it was agreed he would do this as I have extra car expenses. I have set myself a few budgets I wouldn't normally (coffee, car maintenance) as I sometimes take my mum for coffee, or meet friends, so at least the money is allocated and then if I don't spend it, it;s a plus and will go towards over payment on my car loan.

Today should also be an NSD :j I'm feeling positive!

ValiantSon

I know that you aren't keen on credit cards, but it would be worth keeping at least one. I'm not advising running up debts on them, but Section 75 protection is very valuable. You could keep the card only for use on purchases over £100 (when Section 75 kicks in) and only make those purchases if you have the money in your account to pay for them. All you need to do then is pay the credit card off with the money and you have got yourself some protection if the item is defective, or the retailer starts messing around.

gwyneth_valiant

What a great diary! Well done so far! I'll be following along if you don't mind :beer: