Late to the game – midway through my DFW journey

savingholmes

Well done 👍

Martico

Quick update: I've finally cancelled my last frivolous subscription, to Beer52, which means £24pm less spend.
That £24 has gone straight to the Sainsbury's CC.
I've got so many good local breweries where I live that I'd rather support them if I fancy a can at home, and this also gives me more control over my spending. 

Martico

This Chase 1% cashback, 1.5% interest on instant savings and 5% interest on round-up thing is great. Just finished all spends for the day, and savings are up £29.20 (interest is paid on the 1st, I transferred a chunk of the 1% reward and had money left over from my daily budget), CC down by £24 (due to cancelling Beer52 and putting the money I'd set aside for that DD into paying down the Sainsbury's CC) and food etc spend has been minimal.

I've been looking through the diaries here (thanks all!) and I like the look of NSDs. I'm not generally a big spender (other than DIY things, stuff for the house etc) and I like the idea of NSDs. I just checked my spreadsheet and managed 5 NSDs in June without thinking about it. The way that I budget, each NSD = £40 either to CC debt or boosting my savings / tax pot. So I'll set myself a target of beating that total in July. 

And my other target is to reduce the CC debt to under £7,000 by end-July. That requires an extra £148 to pay those down this month once the minimum payments are accounted for. Should be manageable. I like to under-promise and over-deliver, so secretly I'm aiming to do much better, but don't tell anyone.

Sarahwithlove

wow sounds like you have a good plan in mind and hopefully can take advantage of the pay increase due to exchange rate at the moment. I think as long as you are saving alongside paying off debt if need be by end of the 0% period you could always consider using some to pay off some or majority of remaining. I think working out your tax is a good idea as hopefully then you could start to save a little more each month to cover the outstanding tax. Do you bank with any other banks? I have my ch@se account for spends but also s@ntander for all my bills and they are currently offering me a monthly saver at 2.5% for up to £200 a month so worth checking what your bank will offer if you have any other accounts. 

Martico

Thanks Sarah, yes I'm pretty sure I'm on course, at least to save enough this year for tax and hopefully still some contingency, as well as chop off a bit more off the CCs. The account where my pay goes in and DDs come out is my old one with Barclays. I empty that for all except those costs on payday, into Chase current and Chase savings. I'm keeping the BC one, partly out of laziness, and partly because it was such a faff to get work to register it properly, that it I'd rather not rock that boat. Plus other offices I've freelanced for have the details already stored, so it's easier all round. But another monthly saver might be a good idea, thanks, I'll check it out. 

Martico

Another week, and all generally positive.

Last weekend was quite spendy though, with petrol, big shop, some garden equipment, a big night out and a gig ticket putting my 30-day average daily spend up to £35.86. Still below the supposed budget of £40, so it allows me to save, but well above the £20-£25 rolling average I got to a couple of weeks ago. But I have a strimmer and a compost bin now, so new toys to play with and I’m able to clear a space in the wildflower lawn to pitch my hammock.

I’ve still managed to put at least £5.50 into savings every day, which is what I need above the monthly payday chunk (£900 on pay) to reach my savings goal in time for the January big tax bill.

I also won £25 on Premium Bonds, which has gone straight to a CC.

State of play today:

Cards (all at 0% for at least a year still): M&S £1,440 / Sainsbury’s £2,125 / Virgin £3,630. Total £7,195. All min payment DDs on those still to come out this month – another £75 overpayment will bring the total below £7,000 by the end of July.

Savings: £1,721 instant access / £4,900 PB. Target is £14,000 total by end-Jan, which would allow for tax payment plus around 3 month of emergency spending.

Really want to chip away more at the CCs – after today’s big shop I’ll pick up some fresh veg and bread mid-week, but otherwise I’m set for pretty much all week. Need to pay an annual sub as well, but that's only £35.

NSDs so far in July: 3

savingholmes

Nice win.

Have fun strimming! Hammock sounds fun but I'd be like the cartoon person completely tangled up in it.

Martico

Two weeks on, and payday coming this Thursday/Friday (along with mid-year tax payment)

I've spent more than I'd hoped to, but still well within budget, which is the main thing (30 average daily spend is at £32.44 from a low of £24.78 in early June - mostly one-off purchases for the house/garden). And I have £190 left in my current account, which is plenty to take me through to Thursday, even allowing for a £30-40 petrol top-up.

I've chipped away a bit more at the CCs, so the total will fall below £7,000 once the Virgin DD comes out on Wednesday. And I've continued to add to the savings / tax pot.

Also yesterday I finally got to the front of the queue for Prolific and have already done 5 surveys - £3.45 is confirmed, and I'm waiting on confirmation on another £1.50. Not bad for spare moments. And they've mostly been interesting too, thanks to all DFWs who have mentioned prolific. In setting that up I also logged into my PayPal account for the first time in forever, and discovered a £5 float I'd left there. Kerching

State of play today: CC debt = £7,027 (from £7,195 two weeks ago). Savings + PB = £6,810 (from £6,621)

Cards (all at 0% for at least a year still): M&S £1,363 (from 1,440 2 weeks ago) / Sainsbury’s £2,075 (from £2,125) / Virgin £3,590 (from £3,630). Total £7,027 (from £7,195). Final monthly DD will bring the total to £6,991 by the end of July.

Savings: £1,910 (from £1,721 two weeks ago) instant access / £4,900 PB (same). Target is £14,000 total by end-Jan, which would allow for tax payment plus around 3 month of emergency spending.

Boom!

Aimingforthegoodlife

Wow you have made amazing progress and worked so hard! Great work, numbers look fab!

savingholmes

Great progress. Good to get a balance with garden spends too