The road to victory

capuchin

Good morning all, hope you have a fine day ahead.

Thanks @GeorgianaCavendish - I'm not hugely worried, it was just a little bit of an annoying and totally avoidable kink in the planning due to a lack of foresight!

I think the lenders do/should have some sort of charter to commit to paying back some of the interest they charged in these situations. Not everybody needs a DMP or other nuclear solution, but sometimes just a little help along the way. To be fair, they have all been of limited help due to company policy, not their own wants I feel.

I THINK I have a handle on the annuals now. there's a few little things like British Cycling which may need handled (My muscles have atrophy since I got unwell so I'm definitely not cycling for now!) as well as some other bits like a Numismatic magazine at £5 a month and xbox ultimate (probably the latter is worth it but the former has to go.) Nothing huge. There's also a potential social care cost to pay for partially. (I don't feel I need so many hours help, but others do, and I should take it as I'm entitled to it apparently.)

Starting to look into my income and streamline that as the way my money comes in currently is a mess. I *may* be entitled to some mean tested benefits, but it's quite possible I won't due to 'savings.' Still I can turn it to something positive and I should be grateful that at least some of my impulse spending went to something useful.

I want to consult from home a few hours a week, but people are starting to get concerned that I'm trying to run before I can walk. An extra £50-100 a week would go a long way to these debts.

I think my Christmas presents are done now! I'm an avid HUKD acolyte so tend to jump fast on those deals. Hard not to spend sometimes though. Good point about the cashback sites, I totally forgot they exist

shell16

GeorgianaCavendish 

I have a spreadsheet for Christmas presents, I keep track of what I’m planning to buy, what I’ve bought for each person and the cost. I have overspent in this category before - I am always buying “just one more” present. The spreadsheet helps me stay on track and not overspend, plus I can make notes about discount codes or special offers. I’ve got a few things left on my list but waiting to see if there are any offers this month. Don’t forget about cashback sites to get some money back when buying presents! 

Hi Georgina, I have an app on my phone perfect for Christmas you may wish to look at and of course Capuchin!  I used it last year and its fab!  Its called Christmas Gift List and you put in all the people you wish to but for, a budget and also theres a reminder icon for when the present is bought and another when you have wrapped it.    Just thought I would mention it. 

GeorgianaCavendish

It might be worth emailing British Cycling to explain your circumstances and see if they can do a partial refund of any subscription paid as well. A few years before I started my MSE diary I had an operation & treatment with months of recovery and I wasn’t able to exercise for most of the recovery time. I had a few exercisey things like unused class passes and subscriptions, even though my circumstances were outside of the normal refund policy most of the places were actually really helpful with discretionary partial refunds or extending expiry dates so I could use them at a later time. Even one that couldn’t refund me let me use the money towards another service, so I ended up having a massage instead of going back to exercise classes (which I really felt like I needed more at the time!) 

GeorgianaCavendish

shell16 said:

GeorgianaCavendish 

I have a spreadsheet for Christmas presents, I keep track of what I’m planning to buy, what I’ve bought for each person and the cost. I have overspent in this category before - I am always buying “just one more” present. The spreadsheet helps me stay on track and not overspend, plus I can make notes about discount codes or special offers. I’ve got a few things left on my list but waiting to see if there are any offers this month. Don’t forget about cashback sites to get some money back when buying presents! 

Hi Georgina, I have an app on my phone perfect for Christmas you may wish to look at and of course Capuchin!  I used it last year and its fab!  Its called Christmas Gift List and you put in all the people you wish to but for, a budget and also theres a reminder icon for when the present is bought and another when you have wrapped it.    Just thought I would mention it. 

Thank you Shell - that app looks really useful, I will check it out! 

capuchin

Sooo, weekly update time!

Almost made it 7 NSD's in a row - my plan was to last until today, and I ALMOST did.... until I had to put £250 late last night on credit! More on that later.

BIG BIG news, I've taken out a Virgin credit card with 27 months @ 0% and a 1.2% transfer fee. Dumped both the balances from MBNA and Lloyds onto that one for a total of £3500 at a transfer cost of £42. (Which I've decided to pay upfront from my personal spending account)

This has shifted my priorities somewhat. The plan is now to pay off paypal ASAP (before I have to repay loan) and get 1 more balance transfer card for shifting the Halifax and FD balance  to 0% next month. This should bring the total cost of debt to around £15 a month and a 'debt free' date of around 2 years time.

Remaining debts. £14,455

Loan: £5000 (3.4% - 6 Month Moratorium - 5 months remaining)

Virgin: £3500 (0% for 27 months)

Paypal: £1560 (19.9%)

First Direct: £1485 (16.9%)

Halifax: £1325 (20.9%)

Natwest: £1565 (8.3%)

Weekly accounts:

Main: £221.30

Spending: £117.86 (and £57 on my amazon account)

Gross debt: £14,455 (Monthly interest cost £80) - Debt up by £53. Monthly Cost of debt down by £50/month.

So the other big news is - I ordered a car last night!!! (hence the £250 deposit) - I've not been able to physically get to the dealership and I don't have support for that amount of time in a day, so was afraid I wouldn't be able to order until 26th, when my mum is coming up to visit and could take me. However the dealership have been brilliant and made the order with the factory pre visit. It's also an electric car (Hyundai Kona) so my fuel costs are going to be super low (hopefully!) - It doesn't arrive until April but I'm super excited as it means I may be able to actually get outside and get going with life. Not really MSE but I'm just so excited. I'll save the other £750 from my personal spending account for when it arrives.

@GeorgianaCavendish This is a good idea. I'll fire them off an email today! Thank you It certainly can't hurt!

@Shell16 That app looks useful! For next year/birthdays. This one I'm done. Thanks! Ps. I'd keep updating your blog. It does get a bid sad when people don't reply and I was guilty of that to start, but I think it's just a psychological thing to start with. I'm keeping mine up mostly for self accountability. If I'm boring and people don't care, this is their issue, but I find it useful to write out my planning to get it clearer in the head! (for the record I've read your blog, just not replied yet. But it's not about me, do it for yourself )

capuchin

@GeorgianaCavendish British Cycling are absolute asses! Even though I apparently sent them an email cancelling in 2019, and just didn't cancel the direct debit, he refused to do anything but a pro-rate refund for this year. Nasty people. Still, it's another £35 or so! So thank you

GeorgianaCavendish

Great news on the balance transfer and the car! Exciting times 😊 

Booo to British Cycling! I’m glad you got something out of them but their attitude is really disappointing

capuchin

I'm currently trying to plan a MSE friendly holiday to the Scottish Highlands (1200 mile roadtrip) for the spring if that can even exist! Hoping I can spend a week away with only £100 extra (over my usual £100 a week) - An eco friendly MSE friendly roadtrip.... I'd never even have considered one 2 years ago

Tough ask but should be possible, and also motivate me to work harder on physio!  The extra £100 is for 2 nights in B&B's at locations where I can't get convenient free charging without doing so. (And also so I don't stink!) The other £100 is for food, so around £15 a day for eating!

So far the route is looking like this:

Manchester > Inverness

Inverness > top of coast and around, all the way to Applecross

Applecross > Mallaig

Mallaig > Fort William, and then back to Manchester

capuchin

All debt refinanced to 0% now except paypal! Giving myself until mid march to pay that one off. (£1560 left)

alt80

Not sure how many people on here are running electric cars but I have one (EQC) and having had it a few months now it's a great car and I actually like the electric element despite not liking the idea of it when first suggested to me (on here haha). Tbh can't sing it's praises enough.