Positive Balance: Focused on Budgeting

PositiveBalance

Hello ES!

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

I personally would rather just balance transfer to one credit card rather than two so would tighten my belt for the two months to get the balance down to the £2945 even if it means no new clothes and raiding the insurance pot. You could pay minimums to try and rake together insurance money in September or last resort stick it on the Santander card providing there was room. That balance should be repayable within the 27 months so no more balance transferring.

Absolutely! The problem is it's hard to calculate how much I get paid with overtime until I actually get my payslip a few days before payday so I'm not going to be 100% sure I can do before I'll need to transfer, but I will give it a damn good go! :T

In other news, I've had two unexpected surprises this afternoon:

1) Text from MBNA saying they are setting up a DD as per my instructions (so they must be issuing the card).

2) A £100 deposit for the £26.99 part refund on the present I was expecting 'as a treat' from my lovely brother. This has left me conflicted as I am Miss Independent, but boy, that helps toward not needing to use the MBNA card!

3) Spoke to my previous broadband/phone supplier about the 'missing' refund but they paid it. I've realised that it has been spent (:mad:) on a 'non-check in' fee at the airport (:mad::mad::mad:) which is ballcocks but I'm more annoyed that I didn't realise it had gone in to my account in the first place as I though I had the budgeting things down by now. It seems I have a bit of work to do with my banking app, which is a bit selective on which information is shows you at what time. :mad:

I've realised that from the outside having a £50.00 per month clothes fund probably looks like a *total* extravagance, but the truth is until last month I didn't buy any new clothes that weren't a national emergency in about 2 years, so I looked like an absolute scarecrow going round. I'm having to replace literally everything. I work in a 'casual' place, but it's not *that* casual!

I'm starting to think that I might just squeak paying off the difference between what I can transfer to Santander and what is currently on my CC. It's very hard to read given how my payslips work, but I will honestly try me best. :A

ellebelle_x

Hi PositiveBalance!

I've just caught up with your diary I feel your pain when it comes to budgeting, it's accounting for the little things here and there that I forget to do..and then all of a sudden there's no money left but plenty of month

As for apps, I've tried Cleo which is linked to facebook - it syncs to your bank accounts and analyses your spending. It is good but all the messages all of the time got annoying, so I stopped using it.

I used to use Moneybox so I'm giving that a go again, don't know if you've tried it?

Ellebelle

PositiveBalance

ellebelle_x wrote: »

Hi PositiveBalance!

I've just caught up with your diary I feel your pain when it comes to budgeting, it's accounting for the little things here and there that I forget to do..and then all of a sudden there's no money left but plenty of month

Indeed it is! I'm definitely getting better and I'm planning on implementing an envelope system this forthcoming month, but there is still a long way to go! :eek: At least I have got better at the 'all-or-nothing' thinking a realise that if I make a mistake not to just utter swear word and carry on down the same path, but to mop it up as best I can and start again. I think that's definitely helping!

ellebelle_x wrote: »

As for apps, I've tried Cleo which is linked to facebook - it syncs to your bank accounts and analyses your spending. It is good but all the messages all of the time got annoying, so I stopped using it.

I used to use Moneybox so I'm giving that a go again, don't know if you've tried it?

Ellebelle

Hmm..I don't like the idea of anything that links through FB after the Cambrideg analytica scandal but Moneybox could be worth a go?

PositiveBalance

Oh yes: forgot to mention that once I've got this transfer malarky sorted I'm going to just pay a small amount for a few months until I get a £1000 emergency fund à la Dave Ramsay behind me as I have no current savings. I'll then hack away at the debt again.


I've wanted to throw everything at the card for now as I was really scared that I might not have got a 0% BT but now that is in the process of being sorted it will make allow me the time to put that emergency buffer in place. Hurray!

enthusiasticsaver

Getting an emergency fund in place is definitely worth doing. I get your point re the clothes fund but just thought keeping to just one balance transfer and aiming to repay the card and just use the Santander balance transfer was simpler. Now of course you also have the MBNA option should you not manage to get it all moved.

Nice to get the £100 from your brother.

PositiveBalance

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

Getting an emergency fund in place is definitely worth doing. I get your point re the clothes fund but just thought keeping to just one balance transfer and aiming to repay the card and just use the Santander balance transfer was simpler. Now of course you also have the MBNA option should you not manage to get it all moved.

Nice to get the £100 from your brother.

Yes. I'm trying to figure out what the best way to build it up is: divide the balance on my new card(s) by the number of months interest free and pay that with any spare going to the EF or just paying the minimums and building it up as fast as possible then throwing everything I have at the card(s).

Realistically, to get it in any shape any time soon it will probably have to be the second option.

Don't worry - I'm still aiming to just go with the 1 card, but given that how much extra I will have depends on how much overtime I can do and it's hard to calculate how much you will earn even then, I may/may not quite make it.

Santander PIN has arrive this morning so I assume the card isn't far behind it.

I did lots of gardening yesterday. It's looking much better but sill needs lots of work. Alas, the inside of the house looks like a tornado hit but I can't do everything at once. (That's my excuse and I am sticking to it! )

enthusiasticsaver

To repay £2945 over the 27 months is just under £110 so pretty much the basic payment you make now. I would guess though the minimum is lower than that and you have insurance to pay in September and as you say no emergency fund as you will have raided it to pay off the credit card. I think therefore until you have built up some savings and paid the insurance I would pay minimum or slightly above and then ramp it up once you have £500 in savings, I know Ramsey advocates £1000 but I think £500 covers most basic emergencies. Perhaps use your overtime to build up your savings and when your savings reach a certain point pay a lump sum off the credit card. It depends on whether you want it gone as soon as or are happy for it to run for the 27 months. What are you going to do about the MBNA card? Will you be tempted to spend on an empty credit card?

PositiveBalance

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

To repay £2945 over the 27 months is just under £110 so pretty much the basic payment you make now. I would guess though the minimum is lower than that and you have insurance to pay in September and as you say no emergency fund as you will have raided it to pay off the credit card. I think therefore until you have built up some savings and paid the insurance I would pay minimum or slightly above and then ramp it up once you have £500 in savings, I know Ramsey advocates £1000 but I think £500 covers most basic emergencies.

You are full of good advice ES!

To be fair, I have been considering the £500/£1000 EF question myself. I think £500 is a good idea for an 'initial' baby EF then ramp it up, as you say as Monsieur Ramsay says to save that much if you earn less than 20K a year and that is definitely me!

I think my plan of action is this:

1) Do big balance transfer
2) Pay off as much as possible on remaining balance hopefully meaning I won't need to transfer onto second card.
3) Save up enough for house insurance in September
4) Make up £500 baby baby emergency fund
5) Start to increase CC repayments.

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

Perhaps use your overtime to build up your savings and when your savings reach a certain point pay a lump sum off the credit card. It depends on whether you want it gone as soon as or are happy for it to run for the 27 months.

I really want it gone ASAP as this is the first bit of debt repayment: I still have to repay £5439.01 to the person who lent it to me in the first place. I would ideally like it gone by the end of year as I have a gut feeling that Brexit hasn't started kicking in properly yet and that I will be glad to have as little debt hanging around as possible when it does. I foresee choppy waters ahead and want to make myself as financially stable as I can for when the waves start. (I've made a good start by securing a very good mortgage rate for the next 5 years and this is part 2 of getting myself sorted financially.)
Plus, I have my house to do up and it is going to cost thousands. It needs far more than a lick of paint to get it to a reasonable standard.

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

What are you going to do about the MBNA card? Will you be tempted to spend on an empty credit card?

Nope nope nopity nope and an extra nope for the cherry on top. After the year I had financially last year (long story) I will NEVER be in this position again. Every. (Plus I'm having to work far too hard to get out of debt and I'm too lazy to go through this more than once in a lifetime! :rotfl:)

In other news I have had a simply dreadful day with online banking at 2 instititutions, the worst of which was TSB. Given that TSB are suffering such terrible IT problems at the minute, it is literally gobsmacking how bad their in-branch customer service is. I went in today to perform a transaction that could not be done online due to the IT issues and was basically told to go to another financial institution to perform the same transaction or close my account with them. Did I want to close my account with them? I was asked on more than one occasion. :eek:

Absolutely SHOCKING customer service: if that's how little they rate their remaining customers, they are going to lose more than the ones who are leaving due to the IT issues and I guarantee that as soon as I have had the chance to open a replacement account I will gone like a shot!

PositiveBalance

Right, so payday...

As I can't log into my online banking any more (:mad:) I'm having to go off my budget but I'm transferring the following 'pots' to my CC:

Clothing: £50.00
Holidays: £50.00
House insurance: £83.33
Difference between earnings and budget: £119.90
Remaining from unexpected £100: £77.56 (approx. £26.99 was already paid out)
Total: £380.79

Given that I am aiming to pay off £873.43 between now and mid-July and that I still have £111 minimum payment to come out this month and next month, this should leave me with £270.64 left to pay next month after the minimum payment, so this is looking like it should be do-able! :j

*Transfers money*


CC balance now £3437.64.

PositiveBalance

Since I posted last time:

1) Had a Purse Location Issue which meant that I had to cancel most of my cards meaning that I can't do the balance transfer onto the Santander card until the new one arrives. Grr!

2) Have implemented the Envelope System which is going well apart from the fact that the food envelope appears to be diminishing too quickly!

3) Have received Santander card. I was looking forward to doing the transfer ASAP until 1) happened.

4) Have received everything from MBNA apart from the actual goshdarn card!