Third Time’s The Charm

Narola1976

Morning, hope you are all well. Just popping in to say hi really as not much to update on. On a positive note, I am still within the grocery budget having spent so far a total of £70.14 of the £150 budget I have set for this month. This past weekend, I spent under £50 at Aldee which I was very pleased with. I had calculator in hand and added my shopping as I went along. Now I didn’t get everything because I find Aldee limited. I intended to go to T3sco for the rest but the weather was vile and I just could not bear it. So we are making do with what we have which is absolutely fine. I will pop in at the weekend and get the rest. I am determined not to spend a penny more than I have budgeted this month, and the same next, but will be a bit more relaxed at Christmas. OH said he would be giving £300 for Christmas food. I shall graciously accept, but I have no intention of using it all for Christmas. Christmas for us this year will be no different to the last 17 years...it’s just the three of us, neither of us have family in this country, so it’s always quiet. We are not drinkers so we don’t spent loads on alcohol and we don’t really buy masses of snacky stuff as we do not entertain over Christmas or New Year. Cost wise, our money tends to go on a nice Christmas dinner, we don’t eat a traditional UK Christmas dinner although as DD has only ever known the UK, we do have things from the UK dinner that she loves like pigs in blanket and veggies. Otherwise our meal is a bit different. 

Debt payments are going out as normal, and with that my DFD is now 2 years and 11 months!! I can’t wait to finish Argos in January. I really want to start paying more to my HSBC CC as the interest rate is so bad (28.9%) that only £20 or so actually comes off the balance at the moment. I am current paying £110, the minimum is around £105, I top it up to make it £110. It’s quite annoying but HSBC does not seem to have an online facility where you can change the payment like my other CC’s do and arrange a set payment. So I make a manual payment to ensure I pay £110. The good thing is when I finally do start overpaying, I will finish the HSBC card is 1 year. This time next year HSBC will become a thing of the past. I have decided that when this happens, I will close it because it’s safer for me. It’s a terrible interest rate and even though I intend never to owe on a CC again, I won’t take any chance that I will mess up. I do want to have a CC to be able to buy big stuff for the protection, like airline tickets if I go home, or god forbid I need medical treatment when I am there which the insurance won’t immediately cover, but that is so far in the distant future, that its not worth holding onto the card in the meantime. Besides I still have 3 other cards I will be paying off, although as they were BT cards, I have never used for them purchases.  

I need to review my savings priorities at the end of the year for the new year. One of the things worrying me is if DD does manage to get into uni next year, we will need to support her financially as she will not quality for much because of my income. She is saving as well of course, but I am thinking I will need to as well as I do not want to have my DFJ derailed. So will need to give this some thought. I find I do better with a specific savings plan like the 1p savings scheme. I have managed so far to maintain 2 of these. It has been very hard as the amounts get higher and higher. I have been saving for Christmas and my trip home, which won’t now be until 2022 all things being well. I am not sure I could afford 3 x 1p savings plans so will need to think about it some more

Right nearly time for work, I have a busy few days ahead as I have a deadline for a report and its tricky stuff, so probably a couple of late nights today and tomorrow. Have a good day, and thanks for reading and commenting, always appreciated. 

Baileys_Babe

When I did the 1p challenge I wrote down all the amounts and then saved each amount once throughout the year but not in order and marked it off my list. Say £3.50 yesterday but only 20p today, I always tried to save the largest amount I could afford a day. Others do it in reverse starting with the largest amount and working towards the smallest. 

enthusiasticsaver

Sounds like you are doing really well with the grocery budget so far and it will be great to see that Argos card gone at the beginning of next year.  Less than 3 years until you are DF is great and any little extras you can find will only bring that date forward. You have a year before you have to think about helping out your daughter.  Most people I know, us included paid them the parental contribution monthly rather than a lump sum so build it into next years budget when hopefully the debt will also be lower. Even those with high earning parents get a base level student living allowance loan. 

Narola1976

Morning, it’s Friday and I am ready for the weekend. It’s been a busy week, but pleased to say I finished my report early. But have lots of other stuff to do work wise so I hope to be productive today.  

My day started at 6am with a message from my sister about how our other sister is in bits over her financial situation. My sister’s husband left her a year ago after 25 years of marriage - they were both high earners but he was an idiot, left his job for no bloody reason and now he can’t pay what he needs to pay for my niece. She has a shortfall in her income to cover all her expenses.  My sister is really sensible with money and is not in debt, it’s just the living costs in my homeland is extortionate. Fortunately the mortgage is paid off. I have said I will look at her budget so we see where things can be culled but it’s been nearly 20 years since I’ve lived in my homeland, so my knowledge of what is reasonable costs for food and so forth is limited. I did say she would need to look at cutting every non essential. Nothing is free including schools and healthcare, so she has huge expenses that are essential if you want to survive. I also want to see if she can offer virtual tutoring classes, she is a teacher and parents will pay what they have to for education. Fortunately my other sister lives opposite to her so they can go over for meals and such. I am just hurting for her. But I am also annoyed with myself because if I did not have this useless debt, I could be helping her out - £££ currency goes a long way in my homeland. 

Then the second thing to annoy me this morning (I mean I barely had my coffee!!) was when I checked my Barclay CC,  I noticed that next month’s min payment is slighter higher than the set installment. This is annoying because the numbers should be going down not up, given that I have never spent on the card, and we are long past the 0% offer expiry. So I had to up the set minimum payment from £160 to £170. The min payment is just over £161,  so hopefully by changing it to £170, this will help. I really can’t afford to be increasing my debt payments too much as otherwise I will leave myself short to fund my expenses and savings pots. Already I am paying a total amount for all my debt (including car now) £1390.76. Without the car, the CC payments in total are £1145, this is the minimum payment of £777 plus £368 overpayment. It’s really hard but I do not want to reduce this, knowing I will be debt free in just under 3 years is what is keeping me going. 

@Baileys_Babe the way I do the 1p challenge is I have added the total for each month and then I transfer that amount to my savings account. I like to know I have paid the amount and it is out of the way. In January I will start one at the higher amount and one at the lower amount so it isn’t too painful. I have decided I won’t do a 3rd one for uni as that will be too much, but I will do the first 6 months, and then after that, I will do it backwards for the next 6, so in the end I will have saved £300 or so for 2021. It’s a start, but then yes, as @enthusiasticsaver has suggested I will build it into my monthly expenses. OH will also need to help, and I intend to make sure he does.  My hope is DD will still be able to keep her part time job, pray there is a Waitrose wherever she ends up and that she will be able to manage uni alongside working. We shall see. 

On the grocery front, so far so good. I had a £5 off £40 code for Icyland, so did an online shop yesterday which came in at £36.50. Groceries arrived this morning around 7am. I only bought essentials e.g chicken and veggies, which should see us through the next fortnight at least. I still have £43.36 left of the £150 budget.  

Right time for work, will catch up again over the weekend, have a good day

Baileys_Babe

Is it worth talking to OH now about contributing to dd future uni expenses as the longer the cost is spread the cheaper it will be monthly? Also if he starts contributing to the account now your dd knows for sure her starting figure and can budget accordingly.

enthusiasticsaver

Your minimum repayments may have been frozen since March because of the credit card companies agreement to suspend rules on what they call persistent debt (credit card balances where only minimums paid) due to coronavirus.  The suspension has been lifted this month. I would always advise setting the payment to  slightly above minimum so you do not get caught in this trap.  Upping it to £170 is a good call. Are you paying minimums on the rest?  It may be worth setting it just £1-£5 above the minimum and not reducing it as the balance comes down. 

Narola1976

Morning, its the weekend yay! Early start to the day, up at 6am.  I put the dishwasher on and am cooking lunch as I may not be around and DD needs to eat before work. I am heading out to the shops to get a few bits and bobs, but intend to stay within budget. I will report back on this to keep myself accountable. 

In terms of my minimum payments @enthusiasticsaver I was not aware of my minimums being frozen, I had no communication about this and I don’t think they were. Anyway, it is what is it. I do pay a few quid more on my minimum payments

• Argos - £44 — I pay £413
• CC1 - £161 - I now will pay £170
• CC2 - £181.13 / £195
• CC3 — £231.86 / £257
• CC4 — £104.68 / £110

Painful amounts but I am looking forward to when I start paying CC4 in Feb 2021. The payments are barely making a dent due to interest rate of 28.9%. Only £24 came off the balance! But once Argos is paid, I will be able to pay over £500 off each month and it will be paid in 1 year according to the Snowball plan.

Re uni costs, I know OH has money saved so I have no doubt he will have the readies when she goes off to uni. He is very good with saving, and is not wasteful. 

Right off to brave the shops, not my idea of fun at all. Speak soon

Narola1976

Monday morning, urgh...why does the weekend go so fast I am counting the days to December when I am off work for 2 whole weeks. 

So first things first....grocery spending. I am pleased to report that I have stuck to the budget and spent just under £150.  I even managed a treat of some Coke Zero from Heron foods, £4 for 2x3L bottles. Then OH gave me £100 to buy more things so was able to get water and other bits from C*stc*, and fixings for sandwiches for lunch. I was saying to DD with all 3 of us a home most days we end up eating hot big lunches and dinner which really is too much. We really should just have a sandwich or something for lunch instead of me cooking double for lunch and dinner. So I got some ham and salad to make sandwiches,  we have soup sachets and we can have this with a sandwich. Bread is not ideal for me, but DD bought some low carb bread from Waitr*se so will have this instead of the white bread. So while I spent an extra £100, I do not count this as part of my budget. I am reasonably confident we would have been OK without the extra bits but it will help and may give us a few meals into November which is all good. 

I wish I understood how credit card interest is calculated. I was disappointed when checking the October statement, to see that the estimated interest to be applied on my credit cards next month has increased. I can’t understand it, is it because October has 31 days? The balances are going down a little, the payments are a little higher than the minimums but the estimated interest has gone up. For example,  this month it was £110.14 but next month’s is £119.30 and I overpay by at least £20 in that card. I just don’t get it.

So I took the plunge and contacted the BBC last week to cancel my TV licence, but have not heard anything beyond an acknowledgement that I have made contact. I am not sure if I should expect an email back or a letter and how long I should wait before following up. I know everything is slower with CV-19 of course. I will give it another week or 2. I was hoping to be able to cancel before the next payment goes out, but I am sure I will get a refund if necessary. I intend to pay that £13 onto the snowball, every little helps as they say. 

Annoyingly I had to buy yet again L plates as one of them flew off the car which we discovered when we got back from the practice drive last night.  This is the second time it has happened and the 3rd time I am having to replace them. So I have gone with a different company and just hope these ones stay on. Took DD for a practice drive yesterday focusing on roundabouts. I really wish she could get her licence soon.She has been having lessons for the last 4 months which she has been paying for herself, bless. I just buy the insurance for her to practice on my car. She has her theory test end of the month. I hope she passes that. I am not sure that she will have her licence this side of Christmas. Better not to rush these things I suppose. 

The next few weeks are going to be super busy at work. I really need to keep focused but its getting harder and harder to do. I just have to try, because I have no intention of going into my holidays with work hanging over my head. 

Right need to end off, time for a spot of breakfast and then to cook the supper. I am thinking cottage pie. Have a good day.

Narola1976

I have just realised that I have not used a CC since September 2019, a whole year. And I have paid 9% off my CC debt. I am hoping to have paid off 11% by the end of the year.

Baileys_Babe

Well done on not using your credit cards in over a year, that is a huge achievement.