Designing my new life

designingalife

Thanks @Sarahwithlove fingers crossed. It would make a big difference to our lives in financial and work life balance . If it does not happen then I will focus on getting debt free and building and emergency fund which will still be good for our well being and stress levels 😂

designingalife

So been having a think today about clearing the credit card and loan and getting into good habits. So areas I need to focus on,

1. Staying out of the overdraft
2. Building and Emergency Fund
3. Proper Budgeting

i am usually about 350 into the overdraft at the end of the month, this is mainly due to unplanned spending and overspending on food shopping and an aspirational budget, for example I don’t include in my budget for my Dogs insulin and syringes which is over £100 a month.

The emergency fund I will try and begin once I have cleared the debt.

i have also been considering things I can do to get rid of the debt quicker.  So today I have transferred the card debt from 19.03% to 0%. The fee was £64 but I was paying £25 a month in interest and there is no way I will pay it off in 3 months so there is a saving there. Also if I get a prescription from the vet I can bulk buy insulin and save a significant amount.

It is also possible to get a 0% money transfer to clear the loan but I have not worked out if that is worth doing yet.

i am working Xmas day so will get extra for that to throw at the debt in the new year. 

I have a small amount of scrap gold I can sell, there is an important piece of jewellery which needs a repair so holding off to use some for that and will sell the remainder, I have other things that I need to get rid off old electronics, some good quality clothing etc that do not get used which will serve the dual purpose of clearing out prior to (hopefully) moving and raising some cash to get rid of the debt quicker. I have some tight deadlines for university work submissions as well as work (I am key worker so have to continue going in to the work place) so will need to carve out some time to get stuff organised and figure out where I will sell it.

i also have a jar of coins to cash in, and plan to do a bank switch to raise an extra £100 quid or so.

i also have a phone contract to get rid of.

Sorry for rambling on feeling quiet motivated to now focus on debt reduction and budget management as the house move is in the lap of the gods and I need to get the debt paid off separate from that any way.

Will set aside some time to work out a prioritised plan and the just work through the list ....... I do like lists and crossing things off.

i do feel I have a lot going on but in a good way and a lot of opportunities to male positive changes.

Hope everyone is bearing up during lockdown, stay safe folks.

Sarahwithlove

Sounds like you have lots of things you can do to help make paying off the debt easier. I too like you found having a list to cross things off really helped me. Good luck. 

designingalife

So 12 days since I last posted and a few things been happening. House has been on market for 10 days, no viewings so far but kind of expected that given lockdown, just waiting and seeing what happens.

Unexpectedly may be changing jobs soon, still within my company but working for a different department, got a phone call out of the blue asking if I was interested and had a teams interview on Monday. They are keen so my CV has been submitted to the client which will decide if we proceed. Should hear next week, money is the same but will be home based rather than at the building I’m currently in, I am keen but if I’m not chosen I won’t be to upset.

Not much to report on the debts, my key goal this month is to stay within budget and the overdraft so I start next month with my full salary to work with. I got a cheque for 10.30 today 😀 which I deposited but then got the interest £17 for the credit card which I have now transferred to 0% 😞

Went to do a bank switch yesterday only to find the offer closed the day before Doh 🙄!!

Have 10 days off and am determined to use them wisely, have started to declutter and organise stuff to be sold, have filled a bag for charity shop and did a pile of shredding. Tommorow I will tackle the mountain of stuff in garage ready for a massive tip run on Monday, and will do a big shop at L’s as constant shopping for groceries every day or two is one of our biggest areas of expense, I also have a £5 voucher. Car goes in to the Garage so that is £400 + so if I can pay that and stay out of the overdraft at end of month I will be chuffed. I have also following the balance transfer set the minimum payment to £165 (10%) so if I don’t  spend any more on the card both the car and the loan would be gone in 10 months at the most, but hopefully I can get rid before that, have also set up my emergency fund but not much in it yet.

Hoping to run every day as it does motivate me and helps my mental health, I also have 2 university assignments to get done, which I am behind with, so busy time.
Hope everyone is doing well and staying safe

Sarahwithlove

There will be another bank offer soon I'm sure just keep an eye out for it. Although I'm running out of banks to switch to 🤣

designingalife

Sarahwithlove said:

There will be another bank offer soon I'm sure just keep an eye out for it. Although I'm running out of banks to switch to 🤣

Lol 😂 here’s hoping I will
 keep my eyes peeled 👍

designingalife

So a successful day today. Weather was very nice so managed a 5 mile walk with DW and then a 3 mile run. Have been through the garage and now have the old sofa frame, side tables and and bed frame broken down into large pile of car sized wood pieces (at least 2 trips) plus a piles of miscellaneous stuff to go as well, gets it out of the way and one less job to do if we move, if we don’t then at least we have reclaimed the garage 😂

Also started on one of my 2 uni assignments and have just put the laptop away having completed 12.7% of the required word count 😂. 

Also written the shopping list for big shop and have my voucher on the counter ready to go 👍

Have a good night folks and stay safe

designingalife

Another productive day. 5 mile walk. No run though. 2 runs to tip with car filled to the brim. Garage now reclaimed 😀. Got big shop and meal planned so enough for 2 weeks breakfast, Lunch and Dinner.... total was £110 so under budget happy with that.

just put laptop away, Uni assignment word count up to 35% 👍

Tomorrow taking car for major service not going to be cheap but hopeful I can pay it and still be out of the overdraft by payday.

Have a good night folks and stay safe 👍

designingalife

Deary me what a day. Started well , up early began the 75 mile trek to the garage for the cars major service, light traffic and there early. Spent a couple of hours in Durham, such a
lovely city have never been before. Would be on the shortlist of places to live if I could afford it 😂. Car done on time and washed..... it was filthy. Call from estate agent got our first viewing , first time buyers on Thursday fingers crossed. Got about 5-6 miles walking in. So gets home to find out the job the wanted me for they no longer do as I’m over qualified and too expensive according to the client...... bit annoyed as they knew all this before they contacted me but I’m ok with where I am so that’s ok. 

Silver lining is the have selected someone who was due to come to work for me in the new year who I was apprehensive about and their replacement is someone who is top notch so every cloud and all that but still a little disappointed. Then got a call to say my DGS had a fall and  was in A&E DD concerned he had broken thumb 😱. X-ray carried out and all ok, so he FaceTimed and I was able to kiss it all better and he was happy with that 😄. No run or assignment today but will do tomorrow along with prepping house for viewing ..... relaxing with a beer 🍺 No work til Monday.

Hope everyone had a good day , stay safe

designingalife

Hi all
Hope everyone has had a good weekend 😀
Not too much to report here, viewing was cancelled at the last minute , these things happen but the last minute nature meant many hours of prep had went in for nothing so was a bit annoyed at the time. Nothing else to report on that front. Looks like I will be in the overdraft this month due to large bill for car I had not saved for and 3 birthdays again not prepped for.
On a more positive note I am getting the car on a service plan to eliminate the big bills and have set up an account and registered my dog to get insulin on line, just need prescription from vet and
then should save 35 a month which will cover most of the car service plan just need to stay on it and get the paperwork done.
Waiting on credit card DD getting finalised which I have set up for minimum of 10% of balance per month.
Checked my Sky package today, it is 60 per month and I also have Netflix and Disney plus. I only have Sky entertainment plus multi room and broadband with phone line. We live in a town house and have our main living room upstairs with a TV room downstairs which we use during the day as it’s on same floor as kitchen, this costs £ 15 a month just to watch in another room , so if we move that will save us £15 plus our broadband and phone line is £30 which I am sure I could get cheaper, hanging of a bit to see if we move but will review early in new year.
Have just got back from 2 days of watching DGs which means early start to drive there and stay over with a late return the following day, 3 x 12hr shifts next 3 days at work and then back over for another 2 days childminding.
Have managed a run yesterday but not one today, trying to focus a bit more on self care activities over next few weeks as feeling a bit low and despondent. Have decided also as I am working over Xmas and New Year to do Dry January a month early and do it in December and if I am feeling inspired to January as well 👍
Take care everyone and all the best for the week ahead