Why is spending money so easy......

Snwps

Online food shop done today to be delivered tomorrow. Spent £73.21 so in budget. Hoping to keep this up for sure in February. 

I feel lately that all I do is work, home school (although DS2 is now in a routine he's pretty self sufficient) cook/clean and sleep. I don't go anywhere due to lockdown and dont like going out anyway. But I'm loving staying in. Weather outside is cold and rubbish so quite happy staying in cwtched up warm. Maybe in the spring when the weather changes I'll feel like going out again. 

I've reset the app 'Debt payoff planner' and started again, input all my figures and APR's. Its showing the debt should be cleared February 2022 (1 year 1 month). And thats with me using the money previously used for snowballing and putting into savings pots in Monzo. We'll see how it goes. 

I've also joined the Pay Off All Your Debt By Xmas 2021 challenge to see if this keeps me on the straight and narrow. 

Oh and I've set up a google calendar with all important dates on there (think I read this tip on here). So I get reminders on my phone in the run up to things like 'renew car insurance' and when 0% deals are ending etc. Even things like terms times and annual leave and birthdays. I use a small pocket diary but being able to see a full month format (I hope) can get me ready for the month ahead. And whats cool is you can set it up on annual repeats so no need to do it all again next year. Feeling a bit more organised. I'm always so last minute i.e buying birthday cards on the day of someones birthday lol

Any other hints and tips you guys can share?

Snwps

Aint it typical you think you get your ducks in a row then bam out of the blue it all turns to !!!!!!!

DH had underpaid tax 19-20 year, only by £50 so I logged on last night to check the amount owed to HMRC and I checked his tax code and employment details and theres been a !!!!!! up with this tax due to him working 2 jobs. From what I can gather looking at the PAYE site it shows he's only working at job no 2 and as it's below the threshold he isnt paying tax. Theres no mention of his main employer on the HMRC site after April 2020. He has been paying Tax and NI with his main employer so thats a relief. Looking at his payslips both jobs are using the code 1250L, where as the 2nd job should be BR. I've done some sums in my head and I think he's going to owe about £2k. I cant do anything about it this weekend but will phone HMRC on Monday and find out what's gone on and how this error came about. He was paying tax on job #2 from November 19 to March 2020 but then when the tax year changed there was an error, it must be and error as the situation didnt change.

Goes to show you should always check your tax code!!

So due to this I've jad a complete re-jig of my debts this morning. I had about £8k on interest bearing credit cards. I didnt want to shift these to new 0% cards as the plan was to clear these in the next few months. Now I have the uncertainty of DH's 2nd job income being lower due to the tax issue, I thought it best to shift all interest bearing debt to new 0% deals. I really didnt want to get more credit but I'll be saving money with not paying interest. It does give some relief not paying interes. I will need to check next month to see if there is some interest for last month to make sure the cards are £0 balance. 

Snwps

I dont have any more payments to come out before end of the month tomorrow. This weekends DD's will come out on 1st Feb (Monday), so thought I'd do a monthly round up today. 

Round up @ 30/01/2021 
Debt Figure - £24,214.71
Debt Cleared in January - £3,330.42 cleared
Debt ADDED since 08/01/2021- £585.60 *   

*The debt figure at 31/12/2020 was £27,545.13. I had built up funds in our bank balance and paid off £3916.02 by 8th January post, taking total to £23,629.11. This was my mistake, I overstretched and overpaid beginning of the month and left us short. Then the debt increased due to balance transfer fees (see earlier post) so the figure has gone up temporarily by this £585.60. So fresh new month in February and with the new budget in place and all the debt on 0% and pots set up in Monzo, I'm ready to get cracking. 

Plan for February

• Stick to new budget & build Monzo pots
• Keep doing the weekly online shop - once a week sticking to budget
• Sort HMRC issue Monday
• Pay off final Capital One balance from DH 2nd job on 5th
• DS1 Birthday in February. Will be a quiet affair so no big spends just a quiet night in 
• Sort energy bill - been with new provider for 2 months now and I've still not had a bill. I'm still paying monthly DD so shouldnt be a huge balance owing I just need to check we're not overspending due to everyone being at home. I have raised the issue with my provider, its some IT issue I'm waiting for them to sort it.

One thing I am glad I done last year was not buy DS2 new uniform in September. I had uniform here from DS1 from the year before which had hardly been used and looked like new so I just bought some cheap shoes from Matalan and a new bag (MIL normally gets shoes from Clarks)

Snwps

Its a lovely snowy day here today, like a picture off a Christmas card. I'm quite high up and tucked out of the way so no gritters or cars which means it stays pretty. There have been plenty of peope out walking, some dragging their kids behind them on sleighs lol. We were lucky to have roast dinner cooked for us today so all the yum without the hassle and cleaning. My kids aint that excited with the snow now (teens) as they were when they were little, especially as theres no snow day tomorrow as we're still in lockdown and school closed so are home anyway.

Nice quiet few days at home for us this weekend. This means cheap weekend no spending. 

I spent a little whilst last night setting up the banking apps for our debts to make paying them easier without having to get DH involved asking for codes or getting him to do things. Its an easier way to keep track of balances instead of having to log in each time. I then had the idea of rounding down the debts to the nearest £10 to get things nice and tidy. I've read on here that a few people do this. I spent £30.88 last night doing this so the new debt figure is £24,183.83. I just have the 2 new balance transfer cards to do this to when the accounts are up and running .

RobM99

Cripes, you're certainly "giving it some welly"!
Lots of posts and long ones so I have skimmed through them, now I'll bookmark and keep up to speed!

Snwps

Loan 1 £1,016.19
CC1 £1,560.00
CC2 £2,030.00
CC3 £3,589.03
CC4 £6,600.00
CC5 £4,440.00
CC6 £3,475.41
HMRC £500.00
Cat £302.99
TOTAL £24,183.83 - £13,309.42 Paid since 25/05/2019 (35.5%)

CC3 & CC6 are the balance transfer cards I sorted yesterday. So All debt now on 0% interest. CC1 deal to end 31/03/2021 so that's the once we're concentrating on now to clear before the end date. The rest have quite long deals so should be OK. The loan is due to end this year so just 7 DD's left until it's gone. 

RobM99

Looks a plan. Top stuff!

Snwps

Lol Im sorry for the long posts and ramblings, its just when I get started I cant stop. My mind runs at 100mph. I try to keep them brieft next thing I know it's a novel.

Snwps

I had a bit of an epiphany today (if thats what you'd call it). I've been too-ing and fro-ing about this new budget with putting £290 into the Monzo pots instead of putting to debt. I know deep down its a good thing to save as well as pay off the debt and set a realistic budget but part of me wants to pay every penny to clear it quicker. I've realised that I had set my DD's for the debts for more than the minimums, rounded to the nearest £10 plus when one debt cleared I'd snowball that payment onto another debt. So today I looked at what the minimum debt payments would be and it totals around £407 per month. We're paying £740 per month so we're already over paying by £333 per month just by keeping these DD's as they are. 

This makes me feel more positive about the new budget. Cant wait to get going.

Snwps

In other news, DH had a drone from Christmas off Amazon and we left a review and emailed the seller to tell them and they're sending a free drone for our efforts! He's a very happy boy. 

I've seen on another post that a YNAB user who's a student has a year free subscription. I emailed them to explain I've had my account for a few years but I too am a student and they've agreed to give me my next years subscription free. My 2021-2022 subscription has only just renewed (Jan) so I have to wait until Jan 2022 for the free year. Still a saving in my book.

I'm returning 2 bra's tomorrow as they dont fit so theres a £50 refund there. And I recently bought an item online for £15 but it didnt fit so I contacted their customer service to see if I can return and they said how about we refund you £10 and you keep the item, great news ! Then I sold the item to friend for the original £15 so I've made £10. 

Online shop arranged  to come tomorrow. It should be around £61 so in budget. I do need to go to F.foods too to get a few crates of cans of pop for DH for work and coffee. 

I've also blagged another free roast beef dinner cooked for the family on Sunday.