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Oh Bum's to it all

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  • Ugh - I know car insurance had gone up but still.... £80 more than last year
  • Cinny91
    Cinny91 Posts: 6,022 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Debt-free and Proud!
    Oh dear, I'm not looking forward to when my son gets into the loop of parties! Maybe you could try and set a trend by doing a "no present party" for your son?

    You're doing really well on your sales! Especially considering all the other tasks you're juggling, I'm not at all surprised you wound up with a stress migraine. Don't forget to take care of yourself!
  • StokieBecks
    StokieBecks Posts: 4,997 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Photogenic Xmas Saver!
    Have you checked all the comparison sites for your car insurance

    Don't just auto renew
    £2 Savers Club for 2022 #12
  • Cinny91 wrote: »
    Oh dear, I'm not looking forward to when my son gets into the loop of parties! Maybe you could try and set a trend by doing a "no present party" for your son?

    You're doing really well on your sales! Especially considering all the other tasks you're juggling, I'm not at all surprised you wound up with a stress migraine. Don't forget to take care of yourself!

    I could do but knowing this town it won't catch on, and his birthday is after all of his friends (august baby). And thanks, I'm working hard to clear the house. I reckon I can get another £400 out of it, well I hope so anyway!
    Have you checked all the comparison sites for your car insurance

    Don't just auto renew
    It's not auto renewal, so when I insured the car last year it was a renault clio, then we changed cars mid year to a corsa which added an extra £70 for the rest of the year. So the £80 for this year is due to the change in car.

    The insurance price had actually doubled on price comparison websites but I went to our current provider and made them lower it
  • Another £130 to the Amex, £9196.42 left to pay. And however much else on all the other debts.

    Still can't decide what to do about the Barclaycard that's due to run out of interest free in June. As i've said before, I could concentrate on paying it off so I can BT to Amex in June but I'll be paying interest on the Amex card whilst I do that so I think I'll lose out.

    Or concentrate on Amex, then I'll end up paying interest on the Barclaycard when it expires but that could also be hefty if the interest covers the last couple of years.

    OR just wait it out and hope I get a bonus in June. I should have £1300 in bonuses so we'll have to see. uGH
  • I would concentrate on the Amex as you are paying interest now on that.
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  • Yes I think you are right, I mean, if I am able to knock enough off the Amex by June I might be able to grab a balance transfer from somewhere, and if not the interest will still be less than the Amex.

    I've managed to reduce the Amex credit limit to 10k now. Think the running balance is about £9096.42. I'm aiming to get 2k paid off it by June. It's a totally unrealistic target but might as well give it a go!!

    March Budget:
    Amex: £300
    TSB CC: £25 (not sure what minimum payment is, if its less I'll put the difference on Amex)
    DMP: £105
    Family Loan: £130
    HSBC: £160
    FD Loan: £112.68
    Halifax Card: £28
    BarclayCard: £45
    BarclayCard: £35
    Tesco Credit Card: £25

    PensionBee: £10
    University Parking: £30
    Dog Walker: £88
    Cleaner: £66
    Social Club: £10
    Mobile Phone: £27
    TV Licence: £13
    Pet Insurance and Healthcare: £42
    Rent: £600
    Gas and Electric: £98
    Water: £35
    Virgin Media: £28
    Petrol and Food: £500
    Car Insurance: £330.09
    Pet Food: £50
    Childcare: £60
    Car Maintenance: £25
    Clothing: £20
    Stuff I forgot to budget for: £50
    DS Money: £10
    My Money: £50
    Oh Money:£50
    Spotify: £4.99

    Expenses: £2197.08
    I'll bring in £1290, OH will bring in £500 leaving a shortfall of £308.48 which will be funded from the remainder of January's student loan. Basically I HAVE to stick to the budget. Any deviation will be a disaster.

    I'm going to use my £257 costco voucher this month. I'm going to stock up on toilet roll, kitchen roll, olive oil, bin bags, rice etc. Apparently whatever I don't spend gets refunded in cash.....
    Also really really need to properly meal plan this month, I have SO MUCH FOOD!!!
  • savingholmes
    savingholmes Posts: 28,958 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    Good you have lots of food and a voucher to use up. Hope you manage to stick to budget so you are not in deficit.
    Achieve FIRE/Mortgage Neutrality in 2030
    1) MFW Nov 21 £202K now £174.8K Equity 32.77%
    2) £3K Net savings after CCs 6/7/25
    3) Mortgage neutral by 06/30 (AVC £22.5K + Lump Sums DB £4.6K + (25% of SIPP 1.1K) = 28.2/£127.5K target 22;12% updated 6/7
    4) FI Age 60 income target £16.5/30K 55.1%
    5) SIPP £4.6K updated 6/7/25
  • I just LOVE the title of your Diary.

    LOVE it.

    I am now going to subscribe :)

    Big hugs XXX
    Nevertheless she persisted.
  • I just LOVE the title of your Diary.

    LOVE it.

    I am now going to subscribe :)

    Big hugs XXX

    Thanks :beer: It's my motto at the moment lol!

    I'm rather proud of myself - I have halved my makeup palette collection by selling them on ebay. I have kept ones that I already use a lot and they are all different shade ranges anyway. I do still have like, 100 foundations

    I haven't bought anything new from the two websites that I was previously addicted to. I have looked, but now I've also unsubscribed from the emails that keep offering me 20% off!

    I've got two boxes under my vanity now, one is for things I like and worked well and the other is for things that didn't work well. When I've finally mowed my way through all the makeup (I mean realistically that'll be in 3 years time) I won't make the mistake of buying something I didn't like again. The aim is to have a capsule makeup collection as opposed to 50 lipsticks....

    I also found that I had a Makeup Revolution palette in my collection which I was quite impressed with when I used it, it only cost £5 so I have bought one of their foundations for £5 to try. I'm also making a list of "dupes" for products I love, so when they run out I will try a cheaper alternative.

    I've got some more parcels to post today, then have more at home I need to label up and post. I've ordered some bubblewrap from ebay £15 for 100 metres. I've also had to buy a small amount from Argos for £9 (15m what a rip off) or I'll be late posting what's left to send. But as I go through the house it will pay for itself as I'm still posting books from amazon and I included packaging costs when sending to ebay.

    I haven't done a weekly/monthly shop. Trying really hard to get my way through the food we already have. We're just buying bits and bobs - naan bread for the curry (I can make my own but was too tired).

    No money making this week, this week is about NOT spending instead.
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