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

Snwps

Ive been putting off posting for a while now, but I need to face the music. Debt figure has gone up to £18,987.67 with only 1 DD payment left to be paid of £30 before end of the month. This means the debt figure at end of July will be £18,957.67.

July has been a bad month spend wise. It all started a few days after my last post. We seen a van for sale online and it would be ideal for DH for work. We've been looking to get a van for a few years and now the DS's are older and they rarely come out with us we dont need to have 2 family cars. So I gathered all my money we had in savings and bought it with cash outright. This left the pots empty but I know this is going to be a temp situation. Next came the hit to the credit cards in the form of tax, insurance and MOT for the one car, which was already in for the MOT at the time we purchased the van. There were other misc spends on the cards which resulted in the debt figure going up this month. One of which was a little 2 night break away just DH and myself, but then we got covid and couldnt go. Like I said, a bad month all in all. 

Anyhow, its done now. I've drawn a line. Sat down updated YNAB and the bank/debt balances and we're back in the game. 

Plan of action:
- This month just pay the regular DD's to the debt. Any overpayments to be put back into the pots to build back up. £600 of my pay this week will be saved, along with the normal £270 which is saved each month. I'm not too sure yet how much DH will get paid from job no 2, when he gets paid end of next week. This will also go to savings. This should then bring the pots back to where they should be. I may use the £600 from my pay end of August to savings too but will review the pots closer to the date.
- From September go back to all overpayments to debt. There are 2 cards which need clearing ASAP.

We now have a spare car. We've laid the car up and taken off the road. Ive sorned it and yesterday cancelled the insurance. Should be getting back just over £100. Im unsure what card was used to pay this back in May but either way the refund will go to the debt. The plan is that we keep the car ready for when DS1 passes his test and he can have it. Its a good little car and it makes sense to keep it knowing its reliable than sell it and buy a new one in a few months for DS1 not knowing its history. Its over 12 years old so not worth much if sold anyhow. 

Snwps

Payday today. Debt stands at £18,831.42. Slightly less than I thought it would be as the refund from the cancelled car insurance has been credited back to the credit card. £106.25 refund. 

YNAB updated and pots filled. Pots currently sit at £980.16 and consist of emergency fund, christmas/birthdays savings, annual bills savings etc. As mentioned earlier Im hoping to add DH's 2nd salary next week to the pots, then we can carry on with overpayment to debts. I've also updated YNAB/Spreadsheets with breakdown of spends for July and its better than its been in a while.

Final food shop done today, and as long as no more spent this month, £544.32 spent in total, which is a lot less than we've been spending recently. I think this is down to only doing one online shop per week and making it last. Im also not having to buy packed lunch stuff for DS's. 

Fuel also come in £7 under budget this month, but DH and I have both had 2 weeks off work so not needed to travel as much. 

Takeaways sitting at £254.83 which is less than previous months but can still be improved.

I done a friend a favour a few months ago and measured and ordered a custom item online. They didnt feel confident in doing it themselves so I offered. I cocked up with one of the items, and input the wrong measurements which meant I had to reorder and repay using correct measurements. I cant return and get a refund as it was my mistake and its custom made so I'm currently out of pocket by £152. My friend has offered to pay but I dont feel it fair as it was my fault. She seems insistent so will see how it goes. I've written this off for now though. Kicking myself for not double/tripple checking before ordering. 

DH and I have been talking about selling the car we've taken off the road. I honestly dont know what to do with this at the moment. I know Ive mentioned before its 10 years old and got a brand new MOT so should be worth about £1,500-£2,000 (I think the £2k is a push). Its done about 130k miles though. 

Snwps

Ended the month on a NSD. Im going to keep track and try and have more NSD's in August. I dont know if its me but tracking spends and NSD for myself personally is easy but trying to keep DH on a leash is another thing. 

Im waiting to take our meter readings for July, will do before bed. Then will update spreadsheet to check usage. We still have 2 months left on our fix rate, and we're paying more than we're using to get a little credit ready before winter comes.

Looking forward to August I cant see much happening. DS's are home for the school holidays. Although both are working extra mid week shifts with their part time jobs to earn themselves a little more money over the summer. DS2 even asked me the other day to help open a savings account with his bank. I know I was shocked myself. lol I do have DS2's GCSE results to look forward to so will have a little celebration day if he does well. Only 1 birthday this month so birthday spends should be minimal.

I need to sort applications for DS2 for college in September. 
I also need to apply for his provisional driving licence ready for lessons early next year.
I need to rearrange my 2 night trip for sometime end of August/early September depending on when DH can get time off work. Not sure if this was mentioned in earlier post, we booked a short break away but then the day we were to go we both tested positive for covid so had to cancel. Luckily they agreed to move to a future date so didnt loose the money paid. 

DHs 2nd job salary will be lower this month. Plan is to put to savings anyway so this will go to EF. Should then be able to get back to overpaying from later this month. 

Allotment is blooming. Weve got buckets of broad beans and we're giving lots away to family and friends. Runner beans are now in full swing so got lots of these to eat, as well as peas. Still waiting on apples, tomatoes, cucumbers, cabbages. We still have half of the potatoes in the ground and are ready to pull up when needed. Weve had lovely salad potatoes too and onions and garlic. Weve made a start on our overwintering veg and sowed a load of seeds. 

Snwps

Well I'm rubbish at these NSD, I've just checked back on YNAB and I've had 3 NSD's for the month, would be 4 including today but Ive just grabbed a Too Good To Go box from our local Harvester so £3.99 paid out. I've not used this app before so thought I'd give it a try. They're always sold out by the time I log on so we'll see how it is tonight. I've also been checking out Olio but everything seems to be too far away, which defies the point if it's going to cost me in fuel. 

I've been putting everything I have lately into trying to reduce our electricity use. Our gas usage isnt a problem, we're using about half the average gas but a lot more than average electricity. So I've been getting the whole family involved in turning things off when not in use, not leaving on standby, quicker showers,etc. Today I've made 2 home made lasagnas and bulked out with oats and veg and cooked in oven at same time, also cooked 2 pasties for lunch too. Should just need reheating now. 

I've also seen on another post that Santander has increased its cashback to 4% for gas/electric in Sept/October and increased the max payout from £5 to £10 so I've upped my DD to £250 to claim the max £10 cashback. I'll review after to see how the account with BG is looking and may reduce back down or leave it over winter to cushion some of the price increase. Our fix is ending 30th September so will have a huge rise in p/kwh to adjust to. 

I've just made a list of things I could trim back, if I needed to get back to the bone. 
- Water - switch to meter (DH not keen on this one)
- TV Licence - cancel it, dont watch live tv anyway we have other subscriptions (cancelling this one scares me!)
- Gas/Electric - can only try and reduce usage as much as possible to save here
- Sky - I could cancel the TV and just keep the fibre BB (I WFH and kids are both gamers) but Im in contract until April 2023, then would have to return the sky Q box and find another free sat box (I dont have an ariel for free view, and my TV isnt smart)
- Boys phone contracts - they're on sim only at £6 each but I could get them to start paying it each month seen as they're both now earning in the PT jobs
- Vodafone - DH & I are both on sim only contracts until December. We're only paying £8.41 each but could review this in a few months as found a sim only with Vodafone still, through carphone warehouse at £6 per month for same data (4GB). I did ask on chat if they could offer this now but was told 'no Im on the cheapest sim only available until December' so I'll wait, I'll have more leaway to negotiate then.

And that's just bills. I'm always looking to see if we can save on groceries shopping and misc spends and you'll have seen from my many other posts that I struggle with this (and take aways) but I can honestly say if cost of living gets as bad as they say take aways will be the first thing to go. (DH wanted one last night but convinced him I'll cook when we got home so little win for me there).

Payday Friday, roll on!

Snwps

Also, while looking at sim only deals I was really suprised to see the contracts being for like 150GB or 250GB or unlimited data. I personally barely use 2GB on my plan let alone the extra 2GB I had as an 'offer'. And dont get me started on the price - £35 per month...for a sim only...I used to pay that and have a brand new hand set every year. (God I'm sounding old). I'm glad I dont feel the 'need' now to have the most up to date tech. I know when my phone does go to phone heaven Im going to by a handset only and continue with my sim only plan. I've done this for my kids and my mum and the phones they had were really good. OK not top spec but it'll do. 

I suppose my mind set has changed over the last few years. I'd love a new car but looking at the prices I'm happy to keep my little 10 year old put-put car. The same as grocery shopping, 10 years ago I'd not go to Aldi/Lidl or buy own brands. These days I get a buzz from saving every penny I can on my food bill. Like the Too Good To Go bag mentioned in my earlier post. I'm quite excited to see how it pans out.

Snwps

Well the TGTG bag was cancelled last night by the restaurant half an hour before collection time. Nevermind will try again.

Todays not been a good day. One car in the garage needing work and the other goes kapput, so will be in the garage tomorrow. Not what I need right now. 

Snwps

Its been a very costly week here with 2 cars having to go into the garage for repairs. We've spent out £250 on these repairs but both are now back on the road. The first car was paid from the 'Car Maintenance' Fund but the second cars more costly repair was initially paid on the credit card, but I've moved money from the 'Emergency Fund' to clear it off so no damage/debt added. So Savings has taken a hit and will need rebuilding over next few weeks. 

Payday yesterday, YNAB pots filled and £643.60 paid off debt. At today £18,246.34 but have one more DD coming out on Monday for £30 so all going well end of month figure will be £18,216.34. I think we're back on track now. Onwards and downwards!

I managed to get a TGTG bag from Greggs the other day for £2.59 and it was really good so will be doing that again. 

We have a load of runner beans here to eat/freeze/give away, need to get onto that. Weve dug up all the potatos now and in storage to last over next few months. We have a few unexpected Caulis that may actually come to something so keeping an eye on them and about 3 swede ready to pull. 

Snwps

AAAAHHHH! Im stressing out over energy prices. I have been for months but my anxiety level today is through the roof. I'm sure Ive said before my fix is ending 30th September. My prices will be as follows

Gas - Current 2.415p/kwh - SVT Oct 14.76p/kwh - Been offered 12 month fix BG 20.206p/kwh
Electric - Current 14.595p/kwh - SVT Oct 51.89p/kwh - Been offered 12 month fix BG 68.706p/kwh

Gas will be 6 times more expensive on SVT & 10 times more expensive on fix
Electric will be 3.5 times more expensive on SVT & 4.7 times more expensive on fix

I dont know what to do whether to stay on SVT or move to the fix. I've used the MSE tool and it says my increase from SVT to fix is 135% and says to consider taking the fix but based on last years usage its over £9k a year! I'm drastically reducing usage, and I mean drastically. Its the electricity thats the issue for me and if I can maintain the same useage each month for the whole year than I used in August I could be OK but how much difference does the winter make on electricity use, seen as I have GCH. 

I know Im not alone in this panic I just honestly dont know what I can do. There is no end in sight.

Snwps

I've been running some comparisons on gas/electric usage since I've started monitoring/cutting back in July, and found:

Electricity -
July 2022 used 41.26% less than July 2021 
August 2022 used 66.76% less than August 2021

Gas -
July 2022 used 10.24% less than July 2021
August 2022 used 57.04% less than August 2021

Really hoping to keep this up, it'll make a massive difference in usage/bills when things start getting rough.

On debts, first DD of the month come out today for £20 so total now is £18,196.34. Going away for a couple of nights next week and so looking forward to a little break just me and DH. 

In the process of getting boys ready for college so busy with enrolement/induction. Cant wait to get the timetables through to get into a routine again.

Snwps

NSD 1/15 today. Goal this month is to keep track of NSD. If I can get half the days in the month as no spend then great. See how it goes. 

Busy day in work today had loads to do and ended up working a little later to get everything done. Then had nice dinner with DH and sat and watched a movie cwtched up on the settee before he had to head off to work. I went shopping last night and got stuff for his packed lunch for work, save him going to the shop on his way to work each night. He can spend up to £10 a time and this is where I struggle to control. So really plan to have food here for him to take with him (goal #2).