Facing reality

Sarahwithlove

mark55man said:

you are managing your expenses/cards the same way I do.  I find that you tend to get a bit more back then you spend on petrol unless your mileage rate is under 20-25p.  That extra is, in the long term, meant to support the extra depreciation and maintenance costs from doing the miles, but in the short term can boost your cashflow just when you are incurring extra costs (coffee and cake) from being at work.

There are perks and benefits to being in the office but I don't like 6am starts either especially when its baltic out there

good luck and enjoy commute/office as much as you can - a good time to chillax and listen to your playlists in the car - very therapeutic !

Thanks generally I don't do many miles anymore but I suddenly seem to have an influx of days where I have to travel. Its the upfront costs that are hard to manage. We get 45p a mile so yes generally I get more than cost of petrol but like you say it covers other things too such as business mileage on insurance and wear and tear. The worst thing is having to use de-icer on my car at 7am for sure! 

I really struggled to get up this morning. On my 3rd coffee of the morning already. Used the last of my pate on toast so will have to be marmite or have porridge tomorrow for breakfast. I will need to do a mini food shop tomorrow for lunches whilst in office Thursday and Friday but hoping to hold off until tomorrow after my Xmas meal. I'm hoping I can hold off as long as possible as running out of funds quickly with a lot going on this month. 

Sarahwithlove

So I have been thinking about my finances and in particular my sinking fund/emergency fund. This morning i had 5k in there as combined them but then realised I'm being silly and not using it for what it's intended. This in turn means I'm reducing the amount left each month to pay off my credit card. So I'm separating the two. I have a saver which I currently put £50 a month in which holds £100 and will become my emergency fund. I transferred that 100 out of current sinking Fund account along with 180 for my car tax which I paid on my credit card on 1st December. I've now paid that £180 off the 0% credit card and it's only going to be used for work expenses going forward. 
I'm also going to go back through my expenses for this month as I know I have brought some Xmas presents from my usual spending money and this should too come out my sinking Fund. 
Why am I stressing myself out paying for things from my spending money or credit card payments instead of using the fund for what I saved it for. I've set up a SO for monthly equivalent of car tax into my saver my SF is in and will do the same for presents. 

satchmo1

If you soak your porridge oats in boiling water the evening before, it only takes 3 minutes in the microwave and only needs a splash of milk to make it yummily creamy. If you do it at the same time as making a cuppa you're using less electricity too. 

Plus, turn your microwave off at the wall after use, to save a fraction on electricity.

Would it be cheaper to go to the office by train?

Sarahwithlove

satchmo1 said:

If you soak your porridge oats in boiling water the evening before, it only takes 3 minutes in the microwave and only needs a splash of milk to make it yummily creamy. If you do it at the same time as making a cuppa you're using less electricity too. 

Plus, turn your microwave off at the wall after use, to save a fraction on electricity.

Would it be cheaper to go to the office by train?

Thanks I have started turning everything off at the wall where possible. Only thing I leave on all the time is the fridge and the wifi as its a pain to restart when turned off at the mains. 

Trains would be cheaper but they aren't running a lot at the moment and I still have to get to and park at the train station my end. Whereas driving i can claim the mileage and the parking back. I have just decided to put it on my 0% purchase card and pay it off when I get the expenses back. 

Sarahwithlove

Been a very busy week for me, Friday was my last day in head office until the 3 weeks in January now. Only what should have been a 45-60 min drive took me 2.5 hours due to motorway closure. Spent 45 mins stuck between two junctions moving the length of 2 cars. I really need to work on not buying a coffee everyday when at head office as could be a very expensive 3 weeks. But that's January's problem for now. 

Busy day for me yesterday, went for a coffee with a friend, (she paid) and then went to Spoons for lunch, had a pudding and was my turn to get the drinks in so ended up being slightly more expensive then planned. I also then got myself a MacD's on way home as I was tired and grumpy after walking 4 miles to watch an awful game of football.

Today I was supposed to go out with a friend but both of us aren't feeling 100% so decided to postpone so we can recover before Christmas. So I ended up taking my coat back as zip has broken and got an even better one so I am very happy. Also didn't cost me any extra. Food shop was done, struggled to get my lactose free milk, went to 3 shops! Finished the last of my Christmas shopping as well, so tomorrow night will do the last of the wrapping and write the Christmas cards. Need to go and get some cash out for my Nephews card as well. Quiet week planned until Christmas day so hoping I can have some NSD's as have a busy week between Christmas and new year. Payslips have gone up on work system and I should have a minimum of £750 to pay off the credit card but hoping it will be nearer £950 depending on what happens with my council tax payment next month. I have notified them of my lodger moving out and I should only have to make a small payment from my calculations. 

SusieT

If you are concentrating on the MBNA card it will be seriously low at the end of the month, which will be very rewarding for you to see it almost gone and a relatively short time until you can think of being on the last (non family) debt left

Sarahwithlove

SusieT said:

If you are concentrating on the MBNA card it will be seriously low at the end of the month, which will be very rewarding for you to see it almost gone and a relatively short time until you can think of being on the last (non family) debt left

Yes I'm hoping I will be able to make a payment from PADS this month and combined with next month's savings that MBNA will be gone by end of Jan. Or that's my goal! 

My mortgage is due up for renewal at end of August and I'm wondering whether I should ask my dad if I can temporarily pause my repayments to him. I'm pretty sure he will be OK with that but think it will look better if I'm not making those repayments on my bank statements. I'm also going to have to be rather frugal with my spending from January as well. I think with my payrise I shouldn't have an issue getting remortgaged but as I'm wanting to look at moving then it's best to minimise spends. I can always put my repayments into a saver and pay it back as lump sum. Still have a lot to do to get flat up to standard for selling. I may have to consider staying here for another year and seeing what happens to the market in that time. Hopefully the mortgage rates might have dropped a bit in 12-18 months. Lots to think about. 

SusieT

Sarahwithlove said:

SusieT said:

If you are concentrating on the MBNA card it will be seriously low at the end of the month, which will be very rewarding for you to see it almost gone and a relatively short time until you can think of being on the last (non family) debt left

Yes I'm hoping I will be able to make a payment from PADS this month and combined with next month's savings that MBNA will be gone by end of Jan. Or that's my goal! 

My mortgage is due up for renewal at end of August and I'm wondering whether I should ask my dad if I can temporarily pause my repayments to him. I'm pretty sure he will be OK with that but think it will look better if I'm not making those repayments on my bank statements. I'm also going to have to be rather frugal with my spending from January as well. I think with my payrise I shouldn't have an issue getting remortgaged but as I'm wanting to look at moving then it's best to minimise spends. I can always put my repayments into a saver and pay it back as lump sum. Still have a lot to do to get flat up to standard for selling. I may have to consider staying here for another year and seeing what happens to the market in that time. Hopefully the mortgage rates might have dropped a bit in 12-18 months. Lots to think about. 

With the mortgage, if you have not missed any payments and do a product switch with the same provider (you can do it online with a few clicks) rather than a remortgage, they will not normally credit check you again or ask for bank statements so you may be ok to keep paying him. Better to do as you are intending and explain it to him though and then give him a lump sum.

Sarahwithlove

SusieT said:

Sarahwithlove said:

SusieT said:

If you are concentrating on the MBNA card it will be seriously low at the end of the month, which will be very rewarding for you to see it almost gone and a relatively short time until you can think of being on the last (non family) debt left

Yes I'm hoping I will be able to make a payment from PADS this month and combined with next month's savings that MBNA will be gone by end of Jan. Or that's my goal! 

My mortgage is due up for renewal at end of August and I'm wondering whether I should ask my dad if I can temporarily pause my repayments to him. I'm pretty sure he will be OK with that but think it will look better if I'm not making those repayments on my bank statements. I'm also going to have to be rather frugal with my spending from January as well. I think with my payrise I shouldn't have an issue getting remortgaged but as I'm wanting to look at moving then it's best to minimise spends. I can always put my repayments into a saver and pay it back as lump sum. Still have a lot to do to get flat up to standard for selling. I may have to consider staying here for another year and seeing what happens to the market in that time. Hopefully the mortgage rates might have dropped a bit in 12-18 months. Lots to think about. 

With the mortgage, if you have not missed any payments and do a product switch with the same provider (you can do it online with a few clicks) rather than a remortgage, they will not normally credit check you again or ask for bank statements so you may be ok to keep paying him. Better to do as you are intending and explain it to him though and then give him a lump sum.

Yes I'm going to see what rate they offer me and then see what is out there in comparison and then make a decision. Easiest thing would be a product transfer but I need to give some serious thought to my long term plans I suppose. 

Sarahwithlove

Spoke with my dad and he has agreed for me to take a break from repayments, so I have set up to pay the money into premium bonds instead and i can pay him it back after mortgage is sorted or I move depending what I decide. Either way I think its important to get the flat to a better condition so I can either sell it or make most of the extra space. I'm hoping the weather stays dry so that I can get out to the shed on Friday and see what paint etc I have left in there. 

Been playing with the numbers, did duplicate of my monthly budget for Jan-Apr with all the reduction in payments/payment breaks to see what I should have spare for debt repayments. Hopefully with the backpay as well it will be approx £2200. That's without any additional payments from PAD's and STC. I have approx £200 in my debt repayment pot at the moment from refunds/PAD's etc this month.

I'm starting to accept that my sinking fund is there to be used instead of using the money I had ringfenced for debt repayments. Once I have paid for something I am then adjusting the standing order to reflect the new monthly amount and updating the spreadsheet as well. This does mean over time the amount available to go to debt will decrease because i will have to keep topping the sinking fund up but whilst i have it saved I want to focus on debt. 

I've also contacted my two water companies about going onto a meter, turns out I cant because I live in a maisonette but they do offer discount for single occupancy if you have more than 1 bedroom which I do. So that's handy, waiting to find out what difference it will make on my bill but all helps. 

Not left the flat since Monday evening, trying to restrict my spending by not going out. Do have a massage booked in for Friday though, its a cheaper alternative to chiropractor and kind of feel like I wasn't getting enough out of chiropractor anymore. Hoping that the massage and re-joining the gym in January will help and the massage is once a month instead of every 2 weeks so that will be some saving. My plan is to better plan my food shop/spending and absorb it in my spends rather than separate payment for it. Maybe something I will use my PAD's for. Food for thought.