New Life Pending.....

Moneywhizz

I think we can safely say you have caught the budgeting bug - annoyed at flying off on holiday instead of checking your pay and making sure your money is all shuffled around properly! You are doing really well with changing your mindset and I see only positive things for the future. Have. lovely holiday when it comes.

Iwantanewlife

Moneywhizz wrote: »

I think we can safely say you have caught the budgeting bug - annoyed at flying off on holiday instead of checking your pay and making sure your money is all shuffled around properly! You are doing really well with changing your mindset and I see only positive things for the future. Have. lovely holiday when it comes.

Oh it has 100% been caught. I am surprised at how much im enjoying it too! :rotfl:

Iwantanewlife

Tuesday

Morning all!

Im feeling pretty chirpy today. Last day in the office before my holiday. Just a meeting in central London tomorrow then i am completely finished. I will need to go by tube tomorrow, so pretty annoyed im going to have to spend out for that, so ive downloaded my expenses app on my phone and will do my expenses straight away on the return journey!

NSD yesterday as predicted, going to aim for another one today. I found a next card and receipt that id obviously intended to return and never did. Still within date so going to return that today. with the refund im going to grab a small pot of suncream from the pound stretcher place. I already have a bottle at home but i want a slightly higher factor for my sons shoulders and face.

SO as you all know i am away when i get paid, although my wages will go into my Halifax account, i have set up standing orders (nearly 20!!) for the different amounts of my budget pots, to be transferred straight over to my Monzo account. The bills all leave too on the same day from the Halifax account. so It really will be D - Day for me as to whether this works! I double checked my figures yesterday and I think it will work out fine, but as i have assigned every penny i am a little worried that i go overdrawn! maybe this is just me being a bit anxious as so much has gone into this new lifestyle!

When i get back from holiday, it will be Friday. I will then do a big shop using the full £50 allocated budget to stock up again on the basics as i have run everything completely down. Even out of pasta and rice lol. However, my aim will be to get the meat and staples. Then meal plan as i have been doing and spending just £25 per week top up shop.

I have been thinking a lot about what im going to do with the savings i make out of this months salary. I have decided that i am going to over pay my god awful loan by £150. However, the savings i make from the food shop (im going to guess will be about £100 for the month) im going to put into my EF as opposed to straight to debts. I think for me an EF is just so important and actually im going to take the hit on a bit extra interest and make sure i have a sufficient EF. I need to feel that safety not ive cut all my credit cards up. What do you guys think, would love some feedback on this idea? xx

Moneywhizz

If you have cut up all your credit cards, then yes, you do need to have some savings behind you just in case of emergency. £1000 is what is usually recommended as an emergency fund, but while you are paying such a high interest rate, I would say to aim for £200 - £300 and you can top it up when you have got rid of the loan.

Iwantanewlife

Moneywhizz wrote: »

If you have cut up all your credit cards, then yes, you do need to have some savings behind you just in case of emergency. £1000 is what is usually recommended as an emergency fund, but while you are paying such a high interest rate, I would say to aim for £200 - £300 and you can top it up when you have got rid of the loan.

Fab - I will easily be able to reach that sort of mark this pay day!

Thanks for your help.

savingholmes

So impressed with how organised you are on making and freezing healthy ready meals. Just a thought on a side hustle if you have fridge / freezer and microwave at work - could you sell some to the less well organised? Start with mates and if it takes off look at food hygiene certificate later? You could even make a little money off taking in a junk food supply drawer to work...

Iwantanewlife

Hi savingholmes !

I’d love to do something like that as I genuinely like cooking, work is a no go as I’m quite a senior manager in a very corporate company so wouldn’t look good. I did however think about maybe using Instagram, deffo something for me to have a think about!

After I’ve got my EF sorted and in the full debt busting swing, I’m going to save up for one of those chest freezers for the garage, then I can be the food prep queen ��

girlatplay

Agreed about the EF. Defo important to have one. I would probably save a maximum £500 whilst you have the loan, with a view to upping it as soon as the loan has gone.

Hope you have a brilliant holiday! :cool2:

[Deleted User]

Hope you're enjoying your hols! Just had to pop back and thank you for the Broke recommendation, I've just watched all three episodes in a row, as I just couldn't stop! Gripping and heartbreaking in equal measure.

Iwantanewlife

Hello, Hello, Hello!

Good Morning all, i hope everyone is well, i actually missed being on here - how crazy is that?!

Well that was a well needed break in the sun and away from work! What a beautiful place, when im away it always reminds me how much i love the sun and sea and how much i would love to pack everything up and go live in Spain somewhere. We can dream ey? Anyway, back to reality.....

As you know, this month was my first budgeting month from pay day. As organised, all of my DD went out of my Halifax account, and then all the 'pot' standing orders went to my Monzoma account. All worked like a dream! I was so impressed with myself!

My holiday spend was ridiculously low, I used my food and fuel budget for that week, £90. Out of that I spent 30 euros on taxes for the hotel, and 20 for a cream my son needed from the pharmacy, 8 euros was spent on a drink at the airport, and that was it!!! The remainder of the money got transferred over to my EF.

So the budgeting went well. The living within my means has been more successful than i originally thought, and my EF is coming along nicely. However, the debt over payments haven't really happened yet, so i havnt seen loads of movement on the numbers because of the god awful interest i have. Summary as follows:

Emergency Fund - £305.05

CC1 - £438.61
CC2 - £1360.99
CC3 - £177.47
PayPal - £215.67
B&%$ARD loan - £1359

Debt Total - £3551.74 down £16.58 however.........

Do you believe everything happens for a reason???

So it looks like i may be able to have a little more money to throw at that B£$%ard loan...... My return flight from my holiday was cancelled, resulting in us having an extra day and being put up in a hotel. We were informed that we would be entitled to compensation according to the EU regulations, for my holiday i paid for 3 people, the compensation is 250 euros per person, which is a total of 750 euros due back to me, plus the expenses.

Now i do not know how long this will take to come through, but that would be a massive result for me in speeding up my debt free future!