Third time's the charm...

LittleMissDetermined

So, finally got to sorting my finances out and now all my CC debt is on 0% interest, which makes me happy  

I'm still PADding, I need to start putting some into the EF though now that the cards aren't accruing interest as that was a little bit raided in the prep for moving house.  

It's a quiet day for me and there will be no spending other than PADs. I am off out with friends tomorrow night though, it'll be nice to get sociable again! Ahead of 'freedom day' no less. The weather has been glorious and I have managed to get though all of the laundry that I couldn't get to during the move. 

All of the bills have been sorted for the new house, signed up for a fixed term with the supplier who the previous owners were with and will worry about switching next time when there's less going on...  

ttfn 
LMD x

LittleMissDetermined

A little bit of a midweek update from me, we are all sorted in the house now and the only boxes we have left are for putting in the loft for storage. I feel relieved that we are all done and dusted and can enjoy living in the house already. 

Once I rearranged my finances so that all the CCs were on 0% I started making my daily PADs to my EF, but it doesn't give me the satisfaction of clearing the cards and watching the total come down! So, even though they aren't accruing any interest I'm going to start chipping away at them again.  Even after the increased bills from running a bigger house I should have leftover funds for some overpayments at the end of the month to throw at the cards too.

Here's hoping anyway!
LMD x

LittleMissDetermined

Bit of an update from me, it would seem that now that I have moved all of the bills etc I have had a lot of credit searches with the providers (broadband, TV and utilities) and it's really made an impact to my credit score.  At least I don't need to apply for anything else, but I'd become rather proud of how well I had built my score.  

Hopefully once the mortgage shows that will give it a boost, there's no escaping the fact that I needed to get the new suppliers up and running so it was inevitable really. 

It's been a good weekend in terms of spending and I have got to payday with more than £100 still in my account so I think that will be moved over to give the EF a boost as my PAD's are still going to CC6. 

I've been working on surveys and receipt snapping too, £10 cashed out on Friday from Snap my Eats, populous live is up to £28 and Zipzero is over £61 (some awaiting validation) which all feels positive

We still need to work out the post-move finances and who is paying for what as we don't earn equal wages and therefore our contributions should be relative to our earnings. We don't have a joint account and I'm reluctant to apply for anything else at the moment! That's something to sit down and discuss before the end of the week as a lot of the bills come out on 1st. 

Apologies for rambling on!
ttfn
LMD x

LittleMissDetermined

We have had a pretty good weekend, with the exception that our washer is kaput and we needed to buy a new one, we managed to find a decent one with 20% discount code (sizeable chunk of money on a costly washer) so that's being delivered later this week. It's a good job we have an emergency fund! I'm secretly pleased that we haven't had to buy one with a credit card so that's a bonus. 

We came to an agreement on the finances and those are all sorted now, we are both happy with what we are paying and it gives us both some money for personal spending and also some to save if we want to.  

My work recently started a savings scheme through payroll. It goes into an independent savings account directly from wages so I don't even see it.  I have decided to increase my monthly amount and save £100 a month and use it for Christmas (presents, travel and food). The benefit is that I won't see this savings account when I check my bank account, so I won't be tempted to use it.  In fact, the only time I remember it's there is when I get paid, and at that point by bank account is flush with cash and I don't feel the need to make a withdrawal!   Let's see if that continues... 

Nothing exciting planned for this week but I have a family birthday at the weekend so there will be some weekend spending on birthday frivolities, it's a big one so I don't really want to have to scrimp. Plus, it's not like we were able to celebrate last year so it's double the fun this year.

I hope everyone is doing OK, it's kind of quiet on the boards lately. Perhaps a coming out of lockdown/restrictions thing of maybe the summer holidays. 

ttfn 
LMD x

LittleMissDetermined

Good morning,

It’s been a while since I last updated so I thought I would drop in with an update.  I have still been on the forum every day with my daily PADding and I am the counter-upper this month so there’s no escaping it really 😊

My overall debt is coming down, slowly but surely and the fact that there’s no interest added at the moment really helps.  We are all sorted with finances in the new house but there’s the usual cross-over of bills etc so I’m trying to keep some budget aside for the unexpected.

In addition, there’s some work we need to do on the house, so the remaining cash from the sale of our old house should cover that but it means some hard work and disruption is on the cards.

On the plus side, we feel like we have settled well and it feels like we have been here a lot longer than a month already.

Mortgage is annoying, the interest is added daily so each day when I log into the banking app I see it creeping up.  Once my debts are cleared, I’ll start overpaying on the mortgage, we can overpay by 10% a year without penalty.

My credit score hasn’t recovered yet, but the mortgage isn’t showing yet so hopefully it’ll only be low for a few months whilst the credit score companies catch up.

We are thinking about trying to get away on holiday in the autumn, but it’s all still very up in the air in terms of restrictions. It just feels like a lifetime since we had holiday and with the stressful year we have had I think it would do us the world of good.

Hope everyone is OK and staying safe, at least we have some good weather at last to cheer us up!

 

LMD x

RelievedSheff

Wondered how you were getting on with the new house  

The interest on our old mortgage used to be added daily. It annoyed me as well when I logged into the account and saw the amount owing going up. I was really happy when I realised our new mortgage it is added monthly. I'm enjoying watching the balance jump down each month now that we are on a much better mortgage rate and a much shorter term.

I would book yourselves a break away somewhere. Everyone needs a break.

LittleMissDetermined

We do love living here, it's a breath of fresh air compared to the old house. The dog loves having the extra space too, although I'm not keen on having to clean 5 extra rooms!   

I think I'm just going to have to stop looking at the mortgage and concentrate on my current accounts and savings. Otherwise I'll just get my head in a twizzle about it. 

Defo need a break, I'm just not keen on signing myself up for any more stress with the travelling changing all the time. We will see what pans out with that. 

LMD x

LittleMissDetermined

Well, hello

It feels like a long time since I last posted any updates but things are just ticking along nicely at the moment and there's nothing really to report.  I am trying to curb any unnecessary spending but there have been a few big birthdays this month which have meant spending more than I would have liked on a regular month.

Not much planned for next month though and hubby has also mentioned he needs to save some cash for if we manage to get a holiday so it will be quiet and fairly inexpensive I'm predicting.  This is providing another appliance doesn't go POP!... 

I've jiggled the cards again as one was running to the end of the interest free period and moved it to CC7 which is on 0% until Oct 2023. This has made CC6 tantalisingly close to zero and I can't wait to see it go...I also want to get under that £15k mark as soon as possible.  I've tackled my spreadsheet and will be able to clear all of it before the 0% runs out so I'm happy with that. Love a good spreadsheet!  

I am still making daily PADs and these are for the minute still being aimed at CC6, then it will move to focus on CC4.  The PADding really helps and I've ended up paying far more off my card each month than the minimum payment just in PADs (I've also made the regular payments)

House wise, nothing new to report, we love it and feel really settled. Ongoing work being done but we will do a good job of making it our own in the long run. 

Cannot wait for pay day this month, I think I will move money to my EF as soon as I am paid so it's out of the way of temptation. I also have the increased pay-linked savings coming out this month so that should start to mount up from here-on-in and will be used as the Christmas fund from next year. 

I hope everyone is doing well, I must admit that the weather gets me down a bit, feels like we have missed summer completely


LMD x

LittleMissDetermined

Today will be a no spends day, pay day is 2 days away and we have enough food in to last to the weekend. I ended up spending £20 yesterday on some flowers to send to a dear friend who has had some really bad news and is going through a tough time. Hopefully they will make her smile and she will know I am thinking of her. 

I'm permanently working from home now so that really helps in terms of travel costs, canteen coffee spends and when I can't be bothered to pack my lunch. It also removes temptation of nipping to the shops on the way home  

I will still have to travel to various offices on occasion, but this will be chargeable travel and if I don't know the office set up, I will HAVE to take some lunch with me. It will be rare I have to travel to the office though and at the moment it's not on the horizon at all. 

Made my PAD to Halifax this morning of £17.51 rounding the bank down to £200. I'm amazed that I still have this left in the account to be honest, any remaining balance on pay day will be sent to savings along with budgeted allocation to the savings account... (out of temptations way!)

Have a lovely day
LMD x

LittleMissDetermined

Hurrah for pay day!  

I've had a good couple of no spend days and today will be the same as we don't need groceries until tomorrow, and we are off out tomorrow evening too for a date night. Other than that, it will be a quiet bank holiday pottering at home and in the garden.  

We have pretty much made our minds up that we are going to try and get a holiday in October, providing the restrictions will allow.  With that in mind, I have squirrelled the remainder of funds in both my accounts this morning along with the allocated funds in my budget (£1221 in total) to the EF.  It's out of temptations way and will hopefully deter any frivolous spends. 

Hope everyone has a lovely bank holiday weekend 

LMD xx