In need of encouragement...

purplehippo276

IrishSean said:

purplehippo276 said:

How are you finding using cash for your allocated spends?  I tried this before in one of my previous get out of debt attempts (there have been many incarnations over the years but I've finally found my stride this time!) and I didn't work for me as if I bought anything online (or right now in shops that don't accept cash - as some here aren't accepting it just now) then it was a pain to put money back into my account to cover it.  Interested to hear if you've been able to crack it, as I would prefer to pay for cash for my allocated spends as there's definitely something psychological about using cash that makes it harder to spend.  Paying by card doesn't always feel like spending money!

Hey Hippo, thx for popping by; so far so good on the cash front.
If we are buying coffee, snacks etc it's OK. Also we shop Tesco & Lidl so they're fine with cash. The Mrs buys a bottle of wine in cash.
We actually don't have much in the way of online spend on ourselves, hobbies etc. that might make the casual spend difficult. We used to get magazine subscrips years ago but kids meant we never got time to read😂
My only social spend is monthly card school but that off since Feb due to Covid & i'm going dry until halloween so no cheeky bottles for me 😉
We had a major conflab about about phones, contracts & insurance which both of us admitted is a mess. No idea of real costs: son needs his hand set fixed, insurance hadn't kicked in last year!
£75 new screen needed which is OK I guess. 

Had posted about a Monease card but never got around to it. If we do buy stuff online we sort of 'honesty box' it off our £100. No more EO2HO reduces the spend on ourselves too, hehe.

Lastly most of our clothes buying is need rather than want so it's not included at the minute. 

Ta for reading☺

Glad to hear you’ve found a good system! Personal spending is way down for me too, and definitely mourning the loss of E2HO! My kids aren’t old enough for phones yet (4 & 8) so dreading the day they are - sounds like an expensive business! 

purplehippo276

findingthisdifficult said:

Fewer transactions - great news!  but as you say early days...keep going.

Good news on your son too, hope he didn't have to wait too long for his test results, I feel like it really varies on how long it takes depending on where you live.  Welcome back to the DFW fold

Don't get me started on VR headsets, Mr FTD wants one, I'd love to get him one for Christmas but I wouldn't even know where to start. 

@purplehippo276  I know what you mean about the preferring so spend in cash and the faff of moving money across if you spend online.  I wanted food shopping and frivolous spends to be cash but it didn't work for me (probably a good job, given the current situation and all of my food shopping being online)  What did you find worked for you in the end?
I have an account specific for spends which I think has helped a lot as it's complete separate bank to the bills account.

@findingthisdifficult Oh yes! Sounds like we have a similar setup - one account for wages to go into/bills and direct debits and another for spending. I transfer £100 a month into a pot in Monzo each month, then each Saturday withdraw £25 into the main account as my discretionary spending for the week. Will stick to this system even once the debts are gone as it works so well for me. 

IrishSean

I'm still wrapping my head around DW spend; it's a good £400 pm, groceries, treats etc. I don't want to go down the line of receipts & paper ledger like we used to (I was a veritable accountant 15 years ago, lol, then the slid started).
Getting the car back tomoro; more work needed on top of the cosmetics. I can't tax cause @$$holes at DW insurance firm haven't put car insurance details on national database yet😬😬😬. Apparently both firms we're insured with are dreadful. I used a local company in the North of Ireland for years who are excellent but chased the cheaper premium (thx Go Compare😕). If we need to claim it'll b holding onto our butts, haha. 

IrishSean

Im thinking credit might be tightening again.
Lenders are seeing my total Aug short term debt at £240 & £0 long term but my balance transfer offers have fallen to their lowest % likelihood since Feb with top ones dropping from 90% to 60% & no new lenders on the list. Is what's keeping me focused on clearing it as I think if my balance rose & I need access to a BT it may be more difficult. 

Am taking @findingthisdifficult advice & paying off some of the CC balance @ 0%, even just for psychological boost of having it below a grand. 

Ernie's lost my numbers again; well done to anyone who did pick up a premium bonds prize
👌😉

Sarahwithlove

I think as long as you have a good balance of savings and paying off credit card that's what matters. It's something I've become to realise lately. 

IrishSean

Sarahwithlove said:

I think as long as you have a good balance of savings and paying off credit card that's what matters. It's something I've become to realise lately. 

Ty Sarah; I agree, when we're outside the grip of 'danger debt' so to speak it's prob journey rather than destination that's important. 
It is fascinating to read how similar those with diaries feel; feeling debt averse, jubilation in getting one debt or a big debt cleared, agonising over debt vs spending vs savings, checking credit scores & offers for 'validation' of progress made. All seem to be shared experiences. 

I am weening myself off expecting too much from mse credit club & clearscore as these are not normal times & tbh it's a bit weird that my one of my benchmarks for success is looking for offers of credit i've no real intention of availing of!😂😂😂

I am glad I did the diary; the support & advice has most definitely stopped me falling back into old spending habits. I'd go further to say it's motivated me to become better in all my finances.

Ta for reading

findingthisdifficult

I thought the same about credit tightening again, we have little debt to speak of really but credit club shows us as being weak on affordability on most things which is odd as when we earned significantly less they let us borrow a lot more.  Obviously I'm not looking for any credit right now but hoping for a new mortgage soon...need to get that in action as soon as I think. 

I also agree that posting on here motivates me to become better too, I can genuinely say I had no idea what I was doing with my finances when I started my diary, where as now things feel a lot more in my control (although I still don't budget down to the last penny and I could definitely be saving more money)

IrishSean

findingthisdifficult said:

I thought the same about credit tightening again, we have little debt to speak of really but credit club shows us as being weak on affordability on most things which is odd as when we earned significantly less they let us borrow a lot more.  Obviously I'm not looking for any credit right now but hoping for a new mortgage soon...need to get that in action as soon as I think. 

I also agree that posting on here motivates me to become better too, I can genuinely say I had no idea what I was doing with my finances when I started my diary, where as now things feel a lot more in my control (although I still don't budget down to the last penny and I could definitely be saving more money)

Sept is turning into a mare😱

What thought would be £200 for fitting car parts had £300 more added for suspension parts needed that had to come out to fit springs anyhow.

That's all notion of chipping at my own CC gone; what's worse is remaining months groceries, fuel for school runs &DW weekend away plus 3 birthdays to come out. 

Focus now revised to now free-falling into the OD too much, so that I can stive to balance by end of Oct at latest. Like you & other @findingthisdifficult i'm in an infinitely better place financially than 6 months ago but these 'emergency fund munching' expenses are proving a real pain in the hole.

Making nutella crepes between homeschooling @ 11am, any1 online then can have a virtual 1😉

IrishSean

☝
...*not* free-falling into overdraft...

findingthisdifficult

We've got the MOT this month, that'll eat some money for sure.  I hope Sept improves for you, although it is 2020 & nothing can be guaranteed

I was a bit like noooo don't freefall in to the OD then I seen your amend - phew!

Damn I missed the crepes, I hope they were good.