It's the final countdown...£10k to go

juicyjackieb

Well done with the Christmas spending; I have done the same thing this year and I am sticking to it. I saw some gifts on sale also and rejigged my spends accordingly. We love the double nectar event and we use this to buy gifts but due to the lack of games for my stepson we actually bought stuff for ourselves this year that we would have otherwise spent money on - a gaming headset for me and clothes for the OH I have dropped 4 dresses sizes this year so I also desperately needed PJ's as they were hanging off my butt!

I am going to be cashing out some rewards and small cashback I have been building up here and there and I am going to use it to start a sinking fund from January. Do you use one to help spread the cost? 

t2rry

juicyjackieb said:

Well done with the Christmas spending; I have done the same thing this year and I am sticking to it. I saw some gifts on sale also and rejigged my spends accordingly. We love the double nectar event and we use this to buy gifts but due to the lack of games for my stepson we actually bought stuff for ourselves this year that we would have otherwise spent money on - a gaming headset for me and clothes for the OH I have dropped 4 dresses sizes this year so I also desperately needed PJ's as they were hanging off my butt!

I am going to be cashing out some rewards and small cashback I have been building up here and there and I am going to use it to start a sinking fund from January. Do you use one to help spread the cost? 

Ah that's so good, what an achievement with the weight loss too!

What do you mean by a sinking fund?  Do you mean set aside monthly funds to cover annual payments, kind of thing?
If so, I used to do that, and I would definitely recommend, because back then an annual expenditure would take up every last penny we had in a month so we could never afford to go over budget on anything or have an unexpected payment required without putting things back onto CC's.  I don't do that so much now purely because we have enough disposable income to cover most annual costs in a single month *and* an emergency if it were to happen.  I suspect I will go back to doing it though, I think it's a great way to save and also to spend a little more 'guilt free' because you can spend funds that don't impact the current month's budget.  When I say spend guilt free, I really mean on things that we actually do need, but we go without because we don't want to spend, so clothes is a big one as neither of us have much of a wardrobe and have managed really with the bare minimum for the last couple of years.

We're so close now to paying off all the CC debt (current budget plan puts it at February payday as the day we get rid completely), I just want to throw everything at that and then the following month we'll have the money we usually put to debt to start thinking about how we are going to best start saving.  That might be to start building in a set amount per month for annual costs so we don't have to think about it, and give us a really good realistic view of what money we have 'leftover' as a monthly standard.  I'm excited for that day.  Lots going on between now and then though and lots to think about, lots to sort out but I'm determined that we can get there.

Anywhooze, my CC 'minimum' has gone out now, so another £50 off.  That's everything for this month now paid off or banked, aside from any xmas budget savings we might make before the month is out.  I've got a few things lined up for that, no massive savings but will keep chipping away!!

Sarahwithlove

I have a sinking Fund and it's a combo of my £1k emergency fund and yearly payments and ongoing car maintenance and house maintenance and put a set amount into it each month. Basically it saves having lots of little pots and saving pots and just have one. If you have excess each month I would set some aside as savings if was me. It becomes easy to spend on stuff you don't need and if out of sight then out of mind 

t2rry

Sarahwithlove said:

I have a sinking Fund and it's a combo of my £1k emergency fund and yearly payments and ongoing car maintenance and house maintenance and put a set amount into it each month. Basically it saves having lots of little pots and saving pots and just have one. If you have excess each month I would set some aside as savings if was me. It becomes easy to spend on stuff you don't need and if out of sight then out of mind 

Ah yes, so that's exactly what I used to do and yes I think we'll do it again when we're not throwing it all at debt.

It's partly why I am banking funds (currently £3,000) rather than paying that money off as soon as I can, in case of emergencies.  It also means those pennies are sitting elsewhere and they're forgotten about when it comes to usual spending.  I have now built in a budget per month for some things, so house maintenance for example I have £100 per month and I will add any leftovers of those pots at the end of the month to the banked funds (to date this month we haven't touched that £100).  In respect of annual spends, currently they're all in the relevant monthly budget (I budget at least 6 months ahead).  So for instance the month our car tax and insurance are due, I have budgeted £200 for the tax (easy to do as it's exactly that) and £400 for insurance (which is £150-£100 too much, but I like to make sure there's enough) then we still have £1,600 that month we can add to the banked funds, that being the worst month of the year for big spends.

What I'm never going to do, ever again, is have no money set aside, so even with the banked funds now, when I have enough to pay off one of the CC's (should be true as of payday coming in 2 weeks), I won't pay it off unless there is more than enough banked, so there is always some sitting as plus money somewhere.  Just for now, not splitting all costs monthly is focusing our mind to the credit card free date and keeping us from spending unless absolutely necessary or at the very least extremely well considered.

Sarahwithlove

It's good plan. I often look at my sinking Fund and think to myself I could clear my card with that but then I'd have nothing in the pot left over. So not worth it really to do that. 

t2rry

Another xmas order done, another £9.07 saved.
I have another couple of online baskets to checkout too, all of which give me savings, but I'm not sure whether to hold out for black friday.  They're sites that usually give a 15% discount for black friday, whilst I've currently got 10% off vouchers for them.  Makes a difference of about £7,  but I run the risk of the items I have in the basket going out of stock in the meantime;  maybe it's worth paying the £7 to have them ordered and sorted? 

ceremony

Great going so far!

How easy is it to source the items you're wanting to buy elsewhere if they do go out of stock?

If it's common brand names and you an justbuy elsewhere if you miss out, I'd wait. If it's some bespoke Etsy shop with handmade goodies then I'd probably buy now and just not check the site during the Black Friday weekend so I didn't depress myself if there was a discount

enthusiasticsaver

t2rry said:

Ok, I have a question if anyone might have a view. 

With the new lockdown announcement comes an extension to the mortgage payment holiday scheme. My reading suggests that taking it would NOT impact upon your credit file. Is that right? 

If I’m wrong there, the following questions are irrelevant as we wouldn’t consider it. If that’s right, however, I continue....

my job is a temporary contract. Given how this year has gone, whilst I’ve worked from home without issue throughout, I don’t believe it has a hope in heck of being extended. I am applying for new jobs now, I’ve seen one I really really want (permanent position) but of course there’s no guarantee. 

Whilst ordinarily, I’d be confident in obtaining a new position, it seems possibly the worst time to be looking for employment alongside a very big pool of people. 

I’m asking whether I should be considering the mortgage payment holiday scheme in anticipation of potentially being down to one income within the next 6 months. 

Strictly speaking we don’t absolutely need it, and I never considered it for a second before now, but now things are as they are I have started to wonder, albeit appreciating that generally we are in a very fortunate position right now and help should maybe be left to those who really need it.  

Any thoughts welcome

I know I am late to this and you have already decided not to go for it but I thought I would also weigh in to say I think that mortgage or any loan payment holidays should not be taken unless you really need them.  Given you are still working I would not take it.  Even if they say it will not affect your credit record I am doubtful that it really has no impact and at the very least unless you change the term payments would have to increase after the payment holiday to get it paid off.  

t2rry

enthusiasticsaver said:

I know I am late to this and you have already decided not to go for it but I thought I would also weigh in to say I think that mortgage or any loan payment holidays should not be taken unless you really need them.  Given you are still working I would not take it.  Even if they say it will not affect your credit record I am doubtful that it really has no impact and at the very least unless you change the term payments would have to increase after the payment holiday to get it paid off.  

Thanks @enthusiasticsaver, I agree.  I think I was really just having a moment presuming the worst, and wondering if I was missing an opportunity by not having thought about it before. It didn't take much to remove it from the table again!    It's good to have put it out there and easily confirm my thoughts, so thank you

t2rry

ceremony said:

Great going so far!

How easy is it to source the items you're wanting to buy elsewhere if they do go out of stock?

If it's common brand names and you an justbuy elsewhere if you miss out, I'd wait. If it's some bespoke Etsy shop with handmade goodies then I'd probably buy now and just not check the site during the Black Friday weekend so I didn't depress myself if there was a discount

Good thinking @ceremony.  I think I'm going to buy the most important items, as they're ones that I've seen go out of stock before, some are out of stock already everywhere except this one site, and they're the ones I'd be sad to not be able to get.  Some of the smaller additions into the baskets, I'm going to hold off on as they're not the be all and end all for gifting.  Good idea not checking sites on BF too.  Though actually I've never really partaken in it, I always seem to be too busy and miss it (except the ones that go on forever and email you every 5 seconds about it, but they never seem to be deals you can't get at other times in the year!!)