Facing reality

another_casualty

Howdy Sarah ! 

Just stumbled upon your diary , and it seems that you are bearing up really well 🧸and are in the right frame of mind to keep on the straight and narrow, which is difficult enough . Regarding broadband , and energy suppliers don't forget to shop around . You're doing really well 😼

Sarahwithlove

db2016 said:

re the crack / chip, if its small, you can buy kits to do it yourself. its nothing more than a liquid and some curing agent to harden. a RAIN X kit is £10 and even a quick google shows halfords do it for £30.

surprised at the cost, usually chips are no charge (inc excess) repairs, or lower than that.
and depending on the location it can also be an MOT fail (i think its within a set radius of the drivers normal view).

Thanks I had a look but its a crack and it's spread over the last few days and I have to use my car for work so I've just gone for it and booked it in for Wednesday to have it replaced. Not ideal but not worth the risk. Unfortunately my insurance charges an excess but at least it doesn't effect the no claims. 

Sarahwithlove

Busy weekend for me, went with some friends to watch football, was a long day, 3hr drive each way. We stopped off for food at my favourite restaurant so that was £15 and then £4 on parking and £50 in tank to top up on petrol. My friends gave me £30 between them towards petrol so that was a good chunk of It paid for. Had my cousin round today for Sunday lunch and did a top up food shop which should get me through this week without having to buy lunches at work. I need to be a lot stricter with food and coffee as last week I went a bit off track last week. Still within budget for this month with my two credit card payments being made as planned. This is an expensive month for me what with my brothers wedding and future sis in laws hen do so I will be happy if I make it to the end of the month. Has anyone had their new council tax bill yet? Some co7ncils gave out the rates on their websites but my local council hasn't yet. Looks like it's going up by 3.9% going to be a tight budget for me over the next few months, YNAB really makes you think of how you need to plan ahead for future purchases. 

Sarahwithlove

Wow just realised I haven't posted for 10 days, it's gone super fast. The weekend was my future sis in laws hen do where I ended up spending bit more then planned but she had a fab time so that's what matters. It's all come out of my personal allowance which hasn't taken as much of a hit as expected due to cancellation of football this month.
It looks like the wedding could be called off, got 10 days and it's going to be close. They have already had some people pull out due to self isolation. Have to wait and see. The honeymoon has definitely been cancelled. They may still try go away in UK but I've said not to bother booking anything because wherever they go is likely to be in almost lockdown by end of march I would have thought. Its crazy times. We've just had the go ahead from work to stop doing face to face visits, so will be telephone assessments for us. Have to go in office twice a week to post forms and print out stuff but that's it. For now anyway. 
Had my council tax bill through, due to my hosuenate moving in the middle of last year my CT monthly DD jumped significantly. This year's is going to be less then what I was paying last year via DD so that's handy. Especially as our gas/electric has jumped as used more since she's been here permanently. So hopefully it won't have as much impact as I thought on my budget.

Speaking of budgets, I've paid my minimum payments on my credit cards this month and debating whether to hold off with my overpayments. I only have £400 in an emergency fund and although I will be OK in terms of wages, I get 6 months full pay sick leave, I worry in case I have any other emergencies.

So do I hold off and just keep it aside in a different account in case or just pay it off. Its still 0% for 15 months so i don't have to worry about that but it's whether knowing its there I will loosen the chains in terms of budgeting.

Who knows. YNAB is definitely helping, I have been doing this religiously. So that's something. I think the next few months are going to be crazy for us all. Let's hope we all get through it OK. 

Sarahwithlove

So after a bit of uming and ahing I decided to get a 0% purchase card today. Its for 20 months and is going straight into my safe, locked away in a hard to get to cupboard. Hopefully I won't need it but just in case it's good to know I have something to fall back on. This has made me feel a bit better about paying my standard credit card repayments as ideally I want to keep with them and know that by end of my 0% balance transfer period they will be cleared. There's so much being postponed at the moment it's crazy, just waiting to hear if the mcfly concert we've booked for at start of May will be cancelled. If so be a potential £50 back. I've decided I'd rather it be a refund then postponement, it was a bit of a spur of moment thing I regretted about 2 minutes after getting it. Also with football being postponed I also won't need my season ticket money quite so soon and can look to spread the cost over a few more months. At the moment looking for different ways to get a bit more buffer in the pots. Going to ring up my TV and cancel my sports channels from end of April when my contract ends, also going to haggle for a better deal or go to alternative. I've been price comparing so have a figure in mind.
Still waiting for update over wedding but that could be a potential £50 back in the budget as will likely be postponed until later in year now. I'm going to budget all these things into my YNAB budget but it will give me a chance to spread the costs more.
In some good news had my yearly service charge through and its a bit less then last year so either will mean a reduction in my DD if done over 12 months or will stay same if over 10 but I'll get two months without. Handy especially as still no update on payrise and with all that's going on probably be delayed again.
We've been told to work from home so that will reduce my petrol costs quite a lot, I use about £150-200 a month at the moment. Downside is that if go from no mileage to a full month I need to make sure have that in spare budget to allow for that it gets paid in arrears. So when my mileage comes through with pay at end of month going to put it into the petrol pot and just keep carrying it over each month until things sort themselves out. There's so much to consider at the moment and think ahead about in terms of money planning. I'm lucky that I can keep paying my bills and don't struggle in that respect but I need to find more to do to avoid boredom shopping. It's very much something I suffer with.
Weather is improving as well so I've cut the heating back now to an hour in morning and an hour in evening. Seems to be working OK at the moment. Hoping by end of month I can turn it off completely. I've knocked it down a degree so hopefully if it's warm enough it won't even cut in. Could be an increase in electric though as will be home all day and using broadband. Oh well, swings and roundabouts.

Freezer is pretty full, just need to get some more breakfast supplies (cereals and Crumpets for freezer) and UHT milk for my morning coffee. Not going to go crazy and buy excess but I always like to have a spare milk in cupboard and Crumpets in freezer in case I run out before going to shop as I have food allergies and so much more expensive to get from local shops. Will be keeping to our weekly shop for fresh food as much as possible but think it won't be long before we're on lock down. Rest of Europe is already at this stage and less then a week ahead of us. Crazy times we live in. 

Sarahwithlove

It's not been a good day in our household, my flatmate was made redundant. Not sure how it's going to work until she gets a new job so for now have decided to hold off on the extra credit card payments and have put the money aside just in case. I still have my target on YNAB and if I can't do extra this month or next I will be able to make it up over next year I have left to pay it off. Not ideal but I don't have enough of a safety net to feel comfortable at the moment.  

Sarahwithlove

Wow has it really been that long? The days really are merging into one at the moment. So did some moving around in YNAB this month to get my emergency fund up to £1000. Now just want to try and get my £1500 in savings for long term expenses. I have about £500 at the moment. Once that's in place I will really tackle the credit cards. At the moment just making minimum payments and it hasn't had too much effect on the future monthly amounts to reach my goal of clearing them. It should be doable as the money that's going into my emergency fund and saver each month can go towards it once I know I have that buffer in place. Of course I will have to plan for next year's expenses for car etc but I will have the full 12 months rather then just 8.

Looks like my service charge is over 10 months as no new schedule has arrived yet or DD come out. It was last year but I thought that was more because it was my first year setting it up. Its not going to be much different to current one so not too worried. I'm hoping that being at home all time will mean less spending, I just need to sort my online shopping habit that I seem to have formed due to boredom. I can't think of anything else I need at the moment but my wishlists are getting extra long. 
Hope everyone is keeping well. Stay safe and stay indoors. 

floorspeed_2

Glad you are posting again and have a emergency fund growing at the moment.

stay healthy and safe 👍

Sarahwithlove

floorspeed_2 said:

Glad you are posting again and have a emergency fund growing at the moment.

stay healthy and safe 👍

Thanks its mostly because there hasn't been much to report. Due isolation its only really been good shopping and some online shopping which I've managed to reign in. Brought some new clothes as discovered that other then my work wardrobe I only had two tops to wear casually and some of my leggings had holes in 🤣 
I also ordered some new plants for the garden after deweeding it last weekend. And think that's mostly been it for me.  Trying to be good. Even got my old kettle out as mine was on the brink and started using again after a good clean. Was nothing wrong with it just doesn't colour match my kitchen but I'm not so bothered about that at the moment. Holding out until my toaster goes as well and then I will buy a new matching set.
Hope you are keeping well too. Stay safe. 

floorspeed_2

Yes with the current circumstances one starts to realises what we actually need. I personally had 135 T-shirts at one point and only 2 pairs of jeans, I still only have 2 pairs of jeans but a lot less t shirts now but that’s just how I roll with my wardrobe.

i hope you have considered some vegetable/fruit plants maybe as a small project? 

Ah yes the kettle and toaster miss match can happen due to failure, I would suggest a put the kettle on emergency fund of 50p a week into a small pot would solve the potential loss of a caffeine fix.  I am sure you will get a set with a toast tho.

lastly yes I am well and its my night off so letting loose to a degree.