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New Year New Diary :)
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Off the MSE bandwagon a bit, I went out to my sister's birthday party last night - it turns out that our dad was there (half sisters) whom I have not seen since I was about two, so I proceeded to drink wine and pretend he was not there :rotfl: as a result of the wine, I spent £25 on a chinese for OH and I :rotfl: the damage isn't too bad, I'll still get through the month.
I have discovered today our radiators operate their temperature separately to the thermostat I have been adjusting, so no wonder our gas bill is so high all of the time. They are now set more appropriately and the one in our hallway is switched off completely as we don't need that area heated and our front door is a bit bowed at the moment anyway so the heat was probably just going straight out.
A chilled out day today catching up on housework and trying to make some extra pennies online to counter the wine and Chinese! The only time I need to leave the house will be to do the food shopping and go to the gym, so plenty of time to relax beforehand.0 -
Long time no post, things are much the same, plodding through no milestones hit yet.
Just popped onto my thread to share that I had a win with my car insurance renewal. I had done dummy quotes and all had given similar results to the renewal with my current company, over £2k per year and over £190 per month. I accepted this as I have had two accidents in my first year of driving.
For a laugh, I fired up the laptop yesterday and put in my details as it was 21 days (the optimum date) until my renewal. First two quotes = £650 for the year/ £50 per month. I could not believe my eyes. With my new policy I will be £170 per MONTH better off, and no black box judging my driving all of the time. I am over the moon.
This means I will have a totally new budget to work with in a few months, and even more so when OH gets his house sale and his equity. I think at that point I may start a new diary as it will be repaying money to OH to build up our future house deposit, as opposed to high-interest consumer credit debt
A good start to the week regardless, and I hope it continues0 -
That is an awesome difference in the car insurance.I am a Forum Ambassador and I support the Forum Team on Mortgage Free Wannabe & Local Money Saving Scotland & Disability Money Matters. If you need any help on those boards, do let me know.Please note that Ambassadors are not moderators. Any post you spot in breach of the Forum Rules should be reported via the report button , or by emailing forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com. All views are my own & not the official line of Money Saving Expert.
Lou~ Debt free Wanabe No 55 DF 03/14.**Credit card debt free 30/06/10~** MFW. Finally mortgage free O2/ 2021****
"A large income is the best recipe for happiness I ever heard of" Jane Austen in Mansfield Park.
***Fall down seven times,stand up eight*** ~~Japanese proverb. ***Keep plodding*** Out of debt, out of danger. ***Be the difference.***
One debt remaining. Home improvement loan.0 -
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If you are saving such a lot in car insurance, can you put aside £50 a month for the next 12months then, when you renew next year, you can pay the upfront price. I'm pretty sure it's an 18%ish interest rate to pay monthly.
This is how I started, and, eventually I got to the point where I save for everything monthly, but pay annually.Outstanding mortgage: £23,181 (December 19)
MFW 2020 Challenge Member #10 0/£23180 -
wishingthemortgaheaway wrote: »If you are saving such a lot in car insurance, can you put aside £50 a month for the next 12months then, when you renew next year, you can pay the upfront price. I'm pretty sure it's an 18%ish interest rate to pay monthly.
This is how I started, and, eventually I got to the point where I save for everything monthly, but pay annually.
Yes that is 100% my plan for next year as for the whole year upfront would have been just over £500, so I will set aside money over the next year from the savings I am making0 -
Well, a few bits have happened in the past month or so, so time for an update:
- We need to move out of our house by the end of July, so that was bad news, but thankfully as of the 1st of June the new rules on Tenancy Fees will come in to place. If we manage to move without a deposit also which is apparently becoming more and more common, it should be a relatively cheap move
- I interviewed for a weekend job on Saturday, and was offered it on Sunday. It is 6 base hours per week with the opportunity to do more like 9 or 10 per week. This was my idea to be able to contribute more to the household bills that OH has coming out of his account as we are both skint at the moment with our debt repayments until the house sale. We have agreed I will give OH an extra £200 a month which should make a big difference to his budget each month, and anything over the £200 I make will go against my own debt repayments
Smaller changes:
- I have finally been accepted to do some extra online work in the week so I should be able to bring in a small amount extra there, too.
- I made an offer for a small defaulted debt that is with a DC, £170 sum being settled for £75.
- I have two savings pots with Monzo. 1 is locked until my car insurance is due for renewal next year which will hold the money for my car insurance upfront, breakdown cover in full, and hopefully the money for a service and MOT but if I can just do the first two, that will be enough. 2 is "Money to Carry Over" which is basically where I will aim to squirrel away money that can go into next month's budget rather than spend it just because it is there. This pot gets locked until the end of each month
I have re-done (again) a budget spreadsheet which now includes a column for expected additional expenses, so next month this includes the money for my dentist appointment, debt settlement cost, and will also include the cost of the work my car needs doing before the MOT, and cost of MOT, once all of this is confirmed - next month will be tight due to all of this but it all needs doing and should be do-able.
Getting accepted for the job (and admitting that we needed me to bring in some more money) has got my bottom into gear and should be much more organised going forwards. I have said that countless times, but it's pointless picking up extra hours if I'm going to stick to the same bad habits! OH is salaried with varying shifts each week and also brings in the much bigger pay check, so I am happy to pick up a few extra hours0 -
Great news on the jobI am a Forum Ambassador and I support the Forum Team on Mortgage Free Wannabe & Local Money Saving Scotland & Disability Money Matters. If you need any help on those boards, do let me know.Please note that Ambassadors are not moderators. Any post you spot in breach of the Forum Rules should be reported via the report button , or by emailing forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com. All views are my own & not the official line of Money Saving Expert.
Lou~ Debt free Wanabe No 55 DF 03/14.**Credit card debt free 30/06/10~** MFW. Finally mortgage free O2/ 2021****
"A large income is the best recipe for happiness I ever heard of" Jane Austen in Mansfield Park.
***Fall down seven times,stand up eight*** ~~Japanese proverb. ***Keep plodding*** Out of debt, out of danger. ***Be the difference.***
One debt remaining. Home improvement loan.0 -
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I must make an effort to get back into the habit of posting on here regularly, I feel like I am talking to myself though :rotfl:
Paid £5 that I cashed out from PA into the "carry over to next month" pot so I will have at least £5 left over from this month when payday hits, which is more than I have had in a long time! I added Monzo to my PayPal account so that I can simply put any extra money I make straight there if I want to, without the temptation of it sitting in my main current account
I am currently doing some voice recording work which is very long and dull and I don't 100% know if I will get paid for it as the deadline was last week but I couldn't get access to it until this week which we spent time communicating about, and I could still start the work when I finally got access this week so I will see how it goes. I have queried twice whether I could complete it and had no response. If I don't get paid, lesson learnt. If I do - happy days. I need to clear it anyway to start some work on the same app afterwards so I do need to get it done.
I'm waiting for a call from the new second job about my first day, I had sort of assumed it would be this weekend but they might not be in immediate need, I guess. I'll be a bit surprised if they phone tomorrow and ask me to come in on Saturday. Sunday, perhaps, but Saturday would be really short notice. Do-able, but short notice. I have my starter forms all filled out ready to drop in, just waiting on the call.
I am planning on having a spend-free weekend this weekend, we have the kids until Saturday, possibly until Sunday morning and then OH is working all day Sunday so I have no real need to spend any money other than our grocery money when I do the food shopping on Saturday evening.
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