Positive Balance: Focused on Budgeting

Shelbi

Hi Positivebalance,

Just a fly in visit to say well done on opening the 2 saving accounts & to wish you the very best of luck with the promotion application..have everything crossed for you..

Shelbi x

PositiveBalance

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

I don't think there is any harm in being honest about your financial limitations. If this person is elderly is it because they are on a fixed limited budget? I know it is difficult as presumably you enjoy having this person to stay but making it difficult financially is tough and will have a knock on effect for future trips. Maybe they have no idea your finances are limited or you are paying off debt.

Glad to see you managed with just one balance transfer card. How is the insurance pot looking for September?

Hi ES. :wave: I'm just projecting into the future, really. Especially since there has been little overtime this month which means that my August pay packet will be a bit threadbare. It is an elderly person (who would kill me if they heard me saying that :rotfl:) on a fixed budget. They would never impose, I just wish I could offer - especially if it is likely to be at Christmas time.

I've run a guestimate budget for next month. It's a rough guess as my salary is always impossible to know exactly how much I get paid with overtime and our payslips aren't available for another few days. If I put half of how much the insurance cost last year and the whole of how much the travel is likely to cost plus everything else (new passport needed etc.) I'll only be able to make the min payments on my CC and not really put anything toward the emergency fund. I can see my usual holiday and presents pot getting raided for that...Annoyingly, I'm due a small annual work bonus, but as per usual don't know when it's getting paid. :mad: August would be good for me, thanks!

Interestingly, I looked at my inbox earlier today to see the exact date it is due and it might not be until mid-October, which would suite me very nicely. *Crosses fingers*

How are you, ES? You drop by and I never ask about you. *Plumps cushions on chairs, puts tea and cakes on table*

Shelbi wrote: »

Hi Positivebalance,

Just a fly in visit to say well done on opening the 2 saving accounts & to wish you the very best of luck with the promotion application..have everything crossed for you..

Shelbi x

Thanks Shelbi. I'm not holding my breath, TBH: I'm good at my job and would hopefully be good in the new role, but I have this strange notion that people should be promoted on merit which is contrary to the unwritten rules of my place of employment which dictate that you only get promoted if you suck up to people!

Puddleglum

Hi PositiveBalance, I've been lurking and cheering you on from the sidelines. Just sticking my head above the sofa to agree with your last paragraph. I went to a work do last night and was actually shocked to discover how in the people who get promoted/take lots of time off/generally get favoured are with the boss and his wife. The ability to drink lots of alcohol and be loud without passing out seemed to be a good boost on the promotions ladder.

Anyway good luck with the budgets. You're doing great already!

PositiveBalance

Puddleglum wrote: »

Hi PositiveBalance, I've been lurking and cheering you on from the sidelines. Just sticking my head above the sofa to agree with your last paragraph. I went to a work do last night and was actually shocked to discover how in the people who get promoted/take lots of time off/generally get favoured are with the boss and his wife. The ability to drink lots of alcohol and be loud without passing out seemed to be a good boost on the promotions ladder.

Anyway good luck with the budgets. You're doing great already!

Thanks, Puddleglum!

Alas, my experiences are not quite the same but similar. What makes it worse is that I work for the kind of public body where you would imagine that this kind of thing would not happen....but it's the most nepotistic place I have ever worked.

PositiveBalance

Nearly £30 spent on food today, but after tonight, this is not a situation that is likely to continue for much longer.


Roll on payday!

PositiveBalance

Hello again!

Very annoyingly. I have just written a fairly long post and my browser crashed and ate it! :mad:

This month has been going mostly OK although I did have my bank card cloned. Luckily, my bank noticed the transactions and have sorted it all out although I will have to wait a few days for my new bank card to arrive.

I knew that this month would be a bit tight and that I would struggle to make anything more than my minimum payment on my CC so I planned to make the minimum payment plus £1 extra.The minimum payment was £29.45 this month but as I used it a small amount at the end of last month and paid it back as soon as I got paid (zero budgeting fail) this seemed to count instead of my minimum payment but I made sure that I paid this off plus the extra £1 I had planned to pay off as well to bring the balance down to £2914.55.

I tried to figure out what percentage the makes my repayments so depending on which way you look at it, I have repaid 42% of my original CC debt or have paid off a whopping 1.1% off the inital balance of my new CC! :rotfl:


I was hoping to have paid this off entirely by the end of the year but it is looking increasingly unlikely. I still have £2914.55 to pay and a £500 emergency fund to be set up as well. That would mean that I would have to pay off/save £853.64pcm which is unlikely to be a realistic amount I can pay off every month. That doesn't mean I'm not going to try my best, though and get it down as low as I can.


Alas, there has been little overtime this month but my small annual bonus is rumoured to be getting paid this next month which would be useful as it would cover the hole left by the lack of OT.


We shall see if it really happens...:cool2:

Puddleglum

42% paid off! Go you - that's fantastic! Keep going, you're doing great.

PositiveBalance

Puddleglum wrote: »

42% paid off! Go you - that's fantastic! Keep going, you're doing great.

Thanks Puddleglum (I do love your name, BTW)!

£200.00 repayment to source of loan today plus just over £100 lunch out (that was just a fiver!) and some much-needed treats for my guest (don't ask - couldn't not)! I need to get the receipt out for the correct amount, though.

That means that I have now paid off 56% of my debt to source.

Getting there...slooooooowly.

Happy evening, y'all!

PositiveBalance

Hello!


Long time, no write...


Guest is still here and I have repaid another £220 to source.


I've been trying to get bits done around the house, most of all the gardening (oh, the gardening)!


I'll be back when I get to spend more time online.


Take care. x

Puddleglum

Hello PositiveBalance. We are still here for you! Well done on the repayment. This is about the time of year when I give up on the gardening, accept that it all got away from me again, and resolve to do better next year!