Living in the black

Yellow_mango

Yesterday was almost a NSD. Until both boys announce they are going to birthday parties on Friday evening, so I had to get presents. They’re at an age where it’s easiest just to get amazon vouchers, so that’s £30 down. I should probably start a habit of buying vouchers when I have a little spare money and keeping them in a drawer for these occasions.

£30.12 left for this week’s spending, with nothing else I’m aware of needing buying.

DH got paid today, a day early, so I was able to start my pot shuffle. Everything’s all set up nicely for the month now and squirrelled away, including a bit of extra spending money for our holiday :-) When I get paid tomorrow that can stay in the Barclays account to cover the bills.

Yellow_mango

I’d also like to keep a track of my debt balance here.

Since it is all at 0% I’ve decided not to actually pay it off until the rate expires, but to keep the cash in my Barclays ISA (paying a princely 0.6% interest!). So more of a debt neutral I guess.

This is separate from the savings I am keeping in my Starling pots to cover irregular expenditure. Savings to cover annual bills will be in the same account as the debt off-set so I’ll need to keep a bit of a track of that.

Balances today:
Virgin - £1,481.88 - 0% until October this year
BC balance transfer - £3,316.85 - 0% until Sept 2020
My son - £427.05 - I’ll transfer this to him once he has his bank account all sorted out.
BC spending - £3,779.24 - still being paid off in full - June statement was £3,097.21 - to be paid on 10 July.
Total debt - £9,005.02

Total savings available for offset - £0.00

Yellow_mango

I’m wondering how long it will take before I stop obsessing and fiddling and planning over this and just let my plan run? I’m spending WAY too much time thinking about it all (and overthinking I’m sure).

Today I changed my mind about where to keep some of my pots. I’ve decided to keep the Barclays ISA for the debt offset savings, and use an empty TSB account I have for the school fees and gas / electric and annual expenses - stuff that is a bit irregular and I need to let build up a bit. I have a debit card for that so it means I can pay annual insurance etc directly from there, as well as various direct debits (including the school fees) without any further shuffling round. As a bonus it pays 3% interest, so more incentive to let it build up a bit.

NSD today.

enthusiasticsaver

Well done on the pot shuffling. It will take a while before you find a system which works for you. Keeping a debt savings pot and then repaying just before the 0% runs out will work as long as you are disciplined enough not to raid the pot for something else. Otherwise I would reduce the debt immediately considering savings interest is so low.

Yellow_mango

enthusiasticsaver Well done on the pot shuffling. It will take a while before you find a system which works for you. Keeping a debt savings pot and then repaying just before the 0% runs out will work as long as you are disciplined enough not to raid the pot for something else. Otherwise I would reduce the debt immediately considering savings interest is so low.

Thanks for dropping in again :j

I’m not sure why I’m so reluctant to pay off 0% debt. I know the interest I can earn on it is negligible. I think it’s just about getting value for money! Like I’m going to squeeze every last bit of deal out of them now I’ve paid the transfer fee!

I might revisit at some point, if I just get too irritated having them sit there. The BC in particular has quite a high minimum payment that annoys me when I see it going out, so I can see me paying that off as soon as I can!

Just when I thought yesterday would be a NSD, a payment went out for the milk delivery late last night. Oh well.

£25 left in this week’s spending. Not enough for a takeaway. Both boys are out at parties anyway, and DS1 needs picking up from the cinema after midnight tonight, so no wine for me this evening.

I’ll put any leftover this evening (hopefully the whole £25) into my debt pot (aka back into the Barclays account to go towards the big BC payment in July). New week starts tomorrow.

enthusiasticsaver

Excellent budgeting and pleased to see that you don't borrow from following week for a takeaway. Same logic as me in that I fancy a bottle of wine tonight for the weekend and only have £4 left in my purse so I sold something and just got £5 for it. My new monthly budget kicks in Monday when DHs pension goes in and mine went in today. 1st of the month is our restart though. I have a gift voucher for cream tea with a friend tomorrow and only plans for Sunday are visiting DD and a walk on the coastal path with a picnic so no spends apart from car parking.

Yellow_mango

A few money related things over the last couple of days.

1. I opened an HSBC Advance account. I will use this to run all my school related expenses in one place. So will put £1800pm in there to cover school fees, trips, uniform, clubs, etc etc. I decided that having it in a separate current account was easier as then I can make relevant payments directly rather than shuffling around. I should also get a £175 switching bonus (I switched a personal current account I wasn’t really using).

2. In a similar vein, I will use my TSB current account for all debt related stuff. I’ve moved all my credit card dds over there. I can then sweep any leftover amounts from other accounts into there and make extra payments directly from there when I feel like it. Or keep as a separate offset saving. My £25 leftover from last week’s spending has already gone in there.

3. I did decide to do a £1000 money transfer from my Virgin card so I’m not worrying so much about the overdraft over the next couple of months as I pay off the BC. So total debt’s gone up, but I’m happy it’s only temporary. And it would have gone into the OD anyway.

4. Dh called to change the address on his motorbike insurance, and they refused to cover him under the current policy as it will no longer be kept in a garage. So offered to cancel it and requote. The requote was crazy expensive, so we hit a comparison website and got a quote far cheaper than we were already paying. Plus paid for the year upfront. There was a £43 cancellation fee, but that’s a saving of more than £20pm going forward, so I’m pleased with that.

5. I persuaded DH to cancel his expensive mobile contract now he’s out of contract and move to a £10pm PAYG. I might need to agree to an extended TV package in due course so he can access BT sport, but it’ll still work out about £30pm cheaper.

6. We’re leaving for holiday next Friday, so have decided to make do without any grocery shopping other than bread, coffee and dog food this week. We have plenty in the cupboard / freezer to get through the week.

Feeling like I’m on the right track :-)

enthusiasticsaver

Great update and it looks like you are getting to grips with this now. I think the money transfer is a good idea if it stops you going into your overdraft. Presumably though after 10 July the £3097.41 on BC will be paid off? That will surely reduce the debt even with the £1,000 on Virgin?

Yellow_mango

Happy new month!

All of my transfers / shuffles are done and I’m actually feeling quite content to let the plan run and do it’s stuff.

Grocery shopping at the weekend came to just under £60, and that included £18 on pet foods £16 on clothes, and £9 for suncream. So actually about £25 on food. We’ll be mostly eating sandwiches and pasta this week, but I’m sure we’ll survive!

£160 left in the spending pot this week. But the cat is going to the vet on Tuesday and I don’t have anything left in my Pet pot. Its just a vaccination so hopefully not too expensive. Can’t think of anything else upcoming this week, but I’m sure something will come up!

We’re leaving for our holiday straight after work on Friday, so will most likely be eating on the way. Have to make sure I leave enough in the pot for a burger on the motorway.

enthusiasticsaver

Good to have a plan up and running and sounds like the weekly budgeting is working for you. I love the beginning of a new month.