Finally taking back control after a decade of debt

londoner2019

Weekend has been spent in agony - have somehow ended up with an ear infection managed to get an appt on Saturday where a doc shoved an instrument in my ear (at great pain) and said "ooh, it IS swollen" and prescribed antibiotics. 

I've been coping with my hearing being very muffled ever since, and while it's less painful now, it's still very frustrating. 

Bonus is I'm not really doing anything at the moment, which includes spending money. Still looking at possibly the largest surplus at the end of a month that I've ever had since tracking my spends. That's some motivation to have a quiet October!

londoner2019

Nothing much to report on here. I can hear now, at least. Ended up with a flu as well as the ear thing. Has really set me back with work stuff, exercise stuff and general motivation to do stuff.

My sleep patterns are not great these days - will be exhausted at 8-9pm, but if I try and get an early night, I just lie there, anxious that I'm not falling asleep. If I wake up anytime after 4:45 - 5am I just don't get back to sleep. There's just something internal that tells my brain there's no point. I've tried listening to white noise, soothing sounds, even those bedtime stories about nothing / mundane stuff. Not sure what to do next.

Budget-wise, am set to end the month with a surplus, based on what I'm spending each day. I think seeing that predicted surplus motivates me to have a NSD - but in reality I'm not being extravagant, NSDs occur when I've already done a big shop and I'm not going anywhere to meet anyone.

londoner2019

A happy 2024 MSEers - an update as it's been a while!

Christmas was/is always a busy and expensive time - I set aside 500 for some gifts and extra spending... but I should have also set aside some extra for a little trip. I'm going to up that amount this year, because while I had to do some rejigging, the 500 certainly helped me out! A lesson for this year. January might be a little tight, but not so much that I will need to dip into any savings.

I've also been fortunate enough to earn a little raise, starting at the end of this month. Big items this year for me are a trip to see my sister on the other side of the world, and to pay off my SL. With the raise and a little bonus, I think I can afford to stump that up and get rid of it next month, having done some back of a cigarette packet calculations on my estimated self assessment tax bill.

That will give me an extra bit of cash to play with each month. Along with the extra in the raise, I'm going to place more into my SIPP, which should then also mean I can reduce my tax bill next year with extra relief. I'll also finally start paying a little extra on the mortgage.

I see people all the time suggest working out annual costs and save for those - Christmas (and a building insurance bill) are the only things I currently do that for, aside from pots for holidays and nice things.

I've worked out what I'm putting into each pot each month for the whole year - by the end of 2024 I should have zero student loan, built up my safety net savings to where I want it to be, and paid for a fairly pricy trip. 

Already looking ahead to 2025 (I can't sit still), I'll want to save for travel, and then build in some savings for gifts, things around the house, and finally get to paying my partner back. They don't even want it, but it's for my own peace of mind. THEN I'll want to build a bigger savings pot, something like an ISA that I can't withdraw from, as well as build up funds if we ever moved house (stamp duty in London being a killer).

I know I should focus on the little wins and goals and see what I've managed to save so far, but by having these pots and being a bit "big picture", I am never tempted to dip into any other pots - it never crosses my mind that my safety net savings can be used.

Anyway, that's me. I'll be back in a month or two!

londoner2019

Hello gang - hopping on as I'm under the weather this week and for some reason playing around with my budget spreadsheet while sipping tea is helping in a weird therapeutic way.

After today's budget, I decided to begin calculating my estimated spend and tax bill for 2024-25 - so far away, I know, but I like to be able to set aside a certain amount each month, and then I can work out how much I can throw at various pots for the rest of that year.

I had a bit of an expensive December-February - as I mentioned in my last post, I put 500 away for Christmas but in reality that should have been 1000... my plan this year is to double that pot. And a couple of trips here and there meant I was unable to put much away the last two months - but in reality, I should have just used the holiday pot instead. 

Being ill also means I can have a quiet weekend - ideal if you want to claw back some pennies in the budget. 

Student loan will be going this month - just need to call them to get a final settlement figure. I intend on upping my pension with that new surplus, as well as overpaying the mortgage.

I've also spent some time looking at what the budget means for things like NICs and income tax - turns out I'm able to claw back another little chunk each month because of today's decisions. Which means my monthly saving can jump a bit more, and as long as I stick to my budget, I should hit all my targets by the end of the year.

Bit of a boring post but when I've been messing around with estimate figures, it's really nice to see what the next year might look like.

londoner2019

So my March pay came in, I reallocated to my various pots, and now we have made our first overpayment on the mortgage! Just 200 (100 each), but every little helps.

Next step today - call Student Finance and get a full settlement figure from them and PAY IT OFF.

Third step - look into cash ISAs. I have my self assessment tax bill set aside in an easy access savings account, and due to interest rate rises I have earned more interest than the personal savings allowance allows. Given I won't be parting with this cash to HMRC until next January, it feels rather prudent to move it somewhere tax free ahead of 5 April. I'm looking at Moneybox for it.

Lonelygambler

Congratulations on the student loan payment! 

Your journal is a great read. 

londoner2019

Thank you! Got off the phone with Student Loans Company this morning and it's GONE. 12 years since I began paying it off. 

Coupled with my pay raise from January (the extra of which I had been putting in a separate pot to go to the SL), the end of the tax year, and calculating my next tax year bill, my monthly budget from next pay day onwards looks very different. I have an extra 850 a month to play with. 

I've allocated 100 on the mortgage overpayment, 250 extra into my pension SIPP (up to 750), and 500 to save elsewhere (this means I can put 1000 in a pot/several pots each month). This doesn't impact my general expenses budget at all, which I've been comfortable in living on for the last year. 

The biggest trick for me was not to overstretch myself on savings/paying off CCs. I've said it before, and I'll say it again - taking things slow and steady is better. I used to try and put 1k away / onto a CC when I was earning significantly less than now, and also having to pay off a SL, and I would just run out of money at the end of the month and have to dip into a CC / savings pot. I took that down to 500 and it became less stressful. Now I can work on building up funds for house emergencies, Christmas, a planned holiday, and my "extra month's pay in the bank" safety net. All at a comfortable rate.

I also successfully opened my cash ISA (Moneybox) and managed to shift my tax bill pot into it before the end of the tax year. So that's earning 5.16% tax free. 

londoner2019

Another little trick I've added to my budget spreadsheet - calculating my average daily spend.

I want to know I won't run out of money before the end of the month, so on top of adding every spend in there, I figure out my monthly budget and then divide it to calculate what I can spend per day (on average). I then take my remaining funds, remaining days in the month, and see if I'm under or over that. I also calculate how much I'd have left over if I continued on my actual daily average spend. It's nice to know if I need to have a few quiet/no spend days/weekends, and also the "estimated surplus" at the end of the month is a real motivator to not spend on frivolous stuff!

londoner2019

So a few things shuffled around. I locked in my tax return and it's come out 450 less than I was expecting, so that's nice. It's money I already have locked away, so that can move to one of the other pots.

Looks like I can start booking my travel for the end of the year as well. Further incentive to bolster that holiday pot.

Monthly budget is going to plan so far this month. Last month I ended up with more than planned for the final weekend, but then Easter happened and it got spent... no big deal, but need to be watchful for when I don't have that buffer.

londoner2019

A little update. Made some hefty flight bookings out of the holiday pot, but this is what the pot is for! So many times I would have taken it out of the month's spend, or put it on a CC...

And I overindulged a bit on BH weekend with meals out with friends, meaning I need to have a few more spend free days to even out the monthly spend. But I can spend time at home, that's no issue for me.

I have got 350 sat in a "don't know where it goes yet" pot thanks to a little extra pay for some additional work last month. I'm planning on shoving it in the house pot, or the holiday pot, but I'm preempting needing a bit of it for the end of this month. But by not moving it into my current account yet, the mentality of it not being in there to spend is helping me somewhat.

I have a shared garden space with my neighbours, and they are finally (after 3 years) getting interested in sorting it out. So I'm expecting to have to shell out a bit for that. But I don't mind too much. 

I also have been juggling my pots around in terms of which accounts they sit in. For ages, I had 1k Emergency fund in a easy access saver, but that was getting 1.5%. Now that's in a Santander account (4.2%), while my other buffer money is now in a Moneybox easy access at 5%. The other pots sit in my chase (4.1%). I know, I know, with my spreadsheet, why don't I just shove it all in the Moneybox, but a) I like splitting it across banks, and b) keeping them in separate pots is less confusing for me.

FINALLY... I've been looking around for jobs. I'm fortunate that my current job pays pretty well, and is not too taxing... but it's pretty unfulfilling. I could stick with the "work to live" mantra and switch off at 5pm, but I'm feeling pretty disengaged right now and perhaps I need something I care about and I can sink my teeth into. Whether that involves a pay cut or not, I don't know...