Getting the balance right

elantan

edinburgher said:

Is your CC still about £1000 El? One of my suggestions would be to move it using a BT card and start paying the minimums, should save you about £50/mth and debt not so big that you should worry

great minds think alike Ed, was looking at Santander for that exact thing, they have a card with zero fees for balance transfer, I had read the blurb wrong and thought it was also transfer to bank account but it isnt sadly as a wee current account boost wouldve been handy for the stock market  

Its £700 so not sure if its gonna be worth it, might be better to keep that offer for a time where we can make more use of it? were paying 75 a month off of it, but putting the diesel money onto it and paying that off ( then spending that) was sitting at just shy of a grand £300 paid (£75 and £225 diesel) with a planned spend of £225 for diesel ( any less is a bonus) then next month it should be £925 with a further £300 paid etc. so the interest charged will be on 700 this month , 625 next month, and that's if I dont find wee bits and bob's to pay to it which I usually can 

Will discuss it with Mr El tonight  

elantan

Pension money paid, I'm currently  leaving it in cash as I reckon the markets have a way down to go yet so plan on waiting for that to happen and make some purchases then. 

We get paid twice a month, middle of month ( today) for Mr El and end of the month for me, which suits us, it means we dont pay everything at once but it also means if were struggling we only have two weeks or so to go. 

Talking last night and this morning were thinking a wee day at the beach with a friend tomorrow and a BBQ or something ( weather dependent) sounds like a great way to spend a day, so freezer blocks are in the freezer, bottles in fridge, and tonight when I get home camping gear looked out for cups, plates etc so tomorrow it's a case of nip round to supermarket and buy stuff for eating. Mr El is making the dough for pizza as well. the plan is no takeaways will be purchased.

Have a braw day everyone xxx

Karmacat

El, I'm sure you're right, that financial education with a willing Mr El is worth a *lot* - I really hope its taking root, for your sake.  Great news.

powerspowers

elantan said:

powerspowers said:

What about swapping your takeaway? We tend to have chip shop takeaway now rather than curry/Chinese or do fakeaway pizza from supermarket so spending ~£10 rather than £30 each time? 

I agree that adventures need a budget. Although Covid taught me about adventures starting at home and appreciating what I can get to by walking/cycling/bussing to from here. 

Good luck with the new diary and fire plans 

Hi all , bare with me while i reply, still not got to grips with the new site yet

Hi  @powerspowers pleased to meet you, welcome to the frustrating world that is my diary, ( i sometimes wonder if i stop posting through sheer frustration of my life) 

Are you ready for this one? 

My friends from MSE that have met both Mr El and myself will be screaming at their monitors, not at you, at the frustration of my situation. To let you understand years ago i noticed Mr El took pleasure in cooking, so for his xmas many years ago i booked us onto a cookery course, Mr El is an amazing cook, he makes the most amazing Chinese, Indian, pizza, cakes etc. Honestly, his food is far superior to the restaurant or take away, and he cooks often ( my waist line is testament to that) but he likes his take away every week, i moan about it cause it aint as good, and fairly often he is heard to say i can make better. We like to eat out as well as he likes to dissect the meal and learn  how to make it at home. 

This weekend i have asked Mr El if we can have pizza, he has agreed. I am looking forward to it, I am going to try and broach the subject of cutting back on our eating out, i think i would rather have just one delicious meal out a month than the rubbish were currently buying. 

Frustrating isnt it? 

As a person that took 3 weeks to make it to the end of my drive way post covid i totally agree adventures dont need to be huge and can start from home, i went through a stage of Swedish death cleaning that was very enjoyable   

Nice to meet you too!

I hear you on home cooked being nicer than takeaway, especially if you are foodies! It’s nice have someone else cook though and feel like you’ve had a treat. One of my friends waxes on about how he’d rather cook Chinese as it’s nicer than takeaway, but that’s not the reason we have takeaway! 😂 Enjoy your pizza 😋 

savingholmes

Let's hope the penny drop with your OH. In the meantime enjoy the pizza and then the beach... 

beanielou

Enjoy your weekend 

elantan

Hi all, 

(Wo)Man plans while god laughs, 

I didnt make the beach   the plan was get up take the kayaks and BBQ stuff and have a day relaxing and having fun on the beach before coming home to pizza. 

I dragged myself out of bed after 10am and couldve slept so much longer, I'm knackered, I need to remember I am trying to get back to work full time and some sort of normal life. This will take time annoyingly, but I need to develop patience with myself. 

I'm.anxious about next week even more, next week I start back in one of the more physically demanding areas of my role that requires me to wear atleast a stone of extra PPE weight. Now i need to do this, i love my job and get an immense sense of job satisfaction from it. But wearing this extra PPE is so heavy and restricts my breathing and movement, i will be so stiff and sore after my shift ( even pre covid days this happened) one of the days next week I will have to wear it for just shy of 13 hours, and I am anxious about it. It needs to happen and I will get there, but I have decided ( especially after yesterday) I am making no plans for next weekend apart from resting and sleeping. 

Anyway enough self sabotage talk pizza was lovely, today we are making lasagne and trying to organise for food for the week as I need to get better organised and look after my health, being so tired I have badly neglected my health, this has to change. 

Tilly tidied all the accounts and put it towards the credit card came to very very little ( less than £3) but its money towards clearing it. 

Have started a spend diary as I need to keep on top of where we have a leak so I can plug it, have given more thought to an adventure budget but not figured that one out yet, used a discount that people in my sector can use with a certain supermarket, it comes to 10%,  so just over £2, should I maybe do something with this ? just now it goes back to the food budget but maybe I should separate it and use it for something 

have a great day everyone, I'm  thinking I may stay on the couch for a bit 

skint_spice

Resting is good and the weather was rubbish not like the last time we went to the beach ☀️ 

elantan

Aye wasnt great here either, no doubt will be roasting tomorrow when were back at work 

savingholmes

I'm another person that has to use their weekend to rest as much as possible - so I get you. Good luck with your shifts next week.