Learning to walk before I run

edinburgher

Another wildly exciting day in the financial trenches

• £13.62 to Extension
• £1.12 to Emergency Fund
• £6.64 withdrawn from Prolific. £1.17 to tax, 47p to personal cash savings, rest to personal spends

Today I am making burritos for dinner with HM carnitas. We had some nice HM breakfast rolls with square sausage for breakfast and I've got a loaf of our usual white bread on as well. The breadmaker is definitely earning its keep!

*Edit: looked at money in vs money out and decided that it was worthwhile getting rid of our £30/mth OP for now. While it seemed like small beer to begin with, we're currently putting aside £996/mth for an extension and small beer counts! I'm also considering getting the council to put us onto a 12-month direct debit for council tax. Aside from not having the 2 free months, is there any reason not to do this? Looks helpful for cashflow predictability...

badmemory

I haven't changed to 12 months because I have a couple of things like boiler service in the Feb/March time, so it makes sense for me.  It also makes sense if you are thinking of moving house to go to 12 months as you won't have overpaid as much. Otherwise probably better in your account for longer than in theirs.

beanielou

Ooh my idea of heaven. Sliced sausage on hm roll. Yum. 

QueenJess

I haven’t changed to 12 months purely because I am lazy. It would make it easier to budget though - I just have to factor it into my spreadsheet.

edinburgher

badmemory said:

I haven't changed to 12 months because I have a couple of things like boiler service in the Feb/March time, so it makes sense for me.  It also makes sense if you are thinking of moving house to go to 12 months as you won't have overpaid as much. Otherwise probably better in your account for longer than in theirs.

I'm unsure what you mean by your last sentence @badmemory? While a 12-month direct debit means there's a payment each month, each payment is lower than the 10-payment method. I haven't spreadsheeted it but I doubt there's much difference in terms of interest...

themadvix

We are 12-monthly DD here - so much less faff for budgeting.

badmemory

I just meant that those last 2 months payments are in your accounts for longer.  If I didn't have those other payments due in Feb/Mar I too would do 12 months.  If you use the 2 months not paying to overpay say your mortgage, then it would actually make better financial sense to make those mortgage payments also over the 12 months & save more interest.

rtandon27

I switched from 10 to 12 and love that bit of wiggle room each month in the budget. OH and I also don't feel that there is any reason for the council to have the money any earlier iyswim!

edinburgher

We had a takeaway for dinner, the carnitas are nowhere near ready :'(

Baileys_Babe

We pay our council tax over 12 months, it makes my budgeting so much easier.