Countdown from £28k...

ryanm8655

Ebay headphones arrived...broken...

Opened it up, all looked good. Then as soon as I took them out of the case the plastic exploded and one headphone was dangling off...clearly they were broken and they’d bodged them back together so that they appeared fine. The other issue was there was no charger included (the listing specified they came with the charger). So I’ve returned...

Went to John Lewis and just bought some new ones using the voucher I got from former work colleagues. Two year guarantee. Won’t be messing around with used electronics again...the remainder shall be paid for by a boozeless October. The noise cancelling and sound quality is a big step up from my old pair, will help hugely with the focus while working as completely blocks everything out. 

My bank account shows my pending final payment from old job due on Monday. It’s only about £180 shy of a full months pay thanks to the holiday pay. Not sure what I’ll get from the new job but should be about 80% of full pay so should be able to make a big dent in the debt. Happy days.

Sarahwithlove

That's annoying about the headphones but sometimes it's worth just buying new and it sounds like you put your vouchers to good use. Great news about the pay as well for you. Do you think you'll get emergency taxed on your new job? 

alt80

At least you'll get a refund and you've got a pair sorted now. Lots of scammers on eBay, appreciate there's lots of good stuff too. Won't say I told you so re used electronics haha. 

We always use JL for electronics because of the additional guarantee.

Great news re the pay.

enthusiasticsaver

Two paydays in one month sounds good.

ryanm8655

Thanks for the replies.

Suspect I may be emergency taxed...they have my tax code but not my p45 yet. I’m in the 40% band anyway so thinking it won’t make a crazy big difference but that said I’m being paid about an extra £2k, which will be taxed at higher rate so think I’m slightly overestimating the pay but it’s still going to be considerably more than usual. Will clear the barclaycard tomorrow and then assess the lay of the land on Wednesday payday. What happens if I am overtaxed? Assume I’ll get a rebate at the end of the year or it’ll be deducted from the tax I pay in future?

It’s been a bit of a whirlwind weekend...one of the relatives I live with came off their bike and broke their arm and I had to take the other to A&E on Friday (they’ve had loss of sensation in their arm and leg on opposite sides for a while but it progressed to face and they started slurring their words). Turns out they likely had a stroke last year (they were sent home and told it was a migraine by the same hospital) and they’ve had 2 strokes recently on either side of the brain. Scary stuff and they aren’t old... Turns out they have some kind of rare blood disorder where their blood is too thick and prone to clotting. They’ve been calling the gp about this for weeks and were just sent to the chiropractor. Likewise it turns out they knew about the blood issue last year but didn’t say anything...They’re still in at the moment while they try to thin the blood...hopefully she’ll be home tomorrow.

I’m the only adult who can drive at the moment so have been frantically running errands.

A very spendy weekend all in all. Expensive headphones, broke my alcohol ban and bought a couple of nice bottles of red (my uncle came down yesterday - I have not missed hangovers). Also bought a few bits for the kids to take their minds off things. Filled up my car for the first time in ages at £70 (fuel has crept up again). Plus had a take away Friday night to save cooking. A bit of a disaster in terms of frugality but they are exceptional circumstances and I do have a double payday to come at least.

Oh and I bought a new shirt in the sale (already had it but it ripped, so returned to John Lewis for a refund when I bought the headphones), so that’s another chunk. Need to be good for October but don’t need anything expensive and don’t have any birthdays so hopefully will be a frugal one. Will probably treat the family a couple of times (e.g. fish and chips on a Friday at about £40), just to help out as it’s hard to cook with a broken arm and my cooking skills are distinctly average

Will come up with a proper plan on Wednesday for the month ahead.

Thanks,
Ryan

lantanna

I’m sure they are very grateful for all you do, money well spent imo.

Sarahwithlove

Yeh you usually get a rebate at end of tax year. I applied for my dad's online for him and was in his bank within 5 working days 

alt80

Tax overpayment for PAYE; this explains it well - https://www.litrg.org.uk/tax-guides/employment/what-if-i-pay-too-much-tax

Hope your relative is out of hospital soon.

Little worse than a red wine hangover lol. I love a decent red but never more than 2/3 of a bottle these days. I don't think there's anything wrong with spending a bit once in a while if you can afford to do so. Appreciate the debt won't be coming down quite as quick as you'd maybe like but doesn't sound like you're spaffing money up the wall to me mate.

ohdearhowdidthathappen

Sounds like you're helping loads and I'm sure they're appreciative.  Tricky to budget effectively in such times!  Hope they make a speedy recovery

ryanm8655

Thanks for the replies all.

Some debt busting news...just cleared the remainder of the Barclaycard (£1852.52), so just two cards left now and total at £8052.92.

Virgin - £4282.64 (0% until 21/10/2021)
Natwest - £3770.29 (0% until 23/09/2021)

Will clear a bit more off of the Natwest on Wednesday's payday, not 100% sure how much it'll be as not sure how much I'll be taxed etc. But hopefully drop it into the £6k realm. Next plan is hit the Natwest hard...on course for debt free by Christmas...hoping to clear £2.5k per month from now on.

Another milestone I've just realised I've passed is £20k of debt cleared...never thought I'd have been in this position a year ago...