Diary of a 30-something idiot

Kim_13

MeandO said:

Please take Mr Fox’s credit card away from him too. In fact, close it down!

He did hand it over of his own volition a little while ago, I believe Fox had advised he report it lost so as to effect a change of card number (the original was saved on various websites.) My comment on that would be (at least) to remove any app and change the password, as the new card details may well be viewable from there or on the CC company’s website. 

MFWannabe

@foxandflowers
Firstly I’m glad you posted, was getting very worried about you x 
im not going over what has already been said before 
I was very sad to read that you’ve been feeling completely overwhelmed and think you need to speak to someone regarding how you’re feeling
sending you a virtual hug🤗

Secondly I would sit down and redo your soa / budget, a proper achievable budget and stick to it. 

This budget needs to be based on now and you need to relist your debts and look at it all with a fresh pair of eyes before making anymore major decisions x 

slm6002

Like others have said please cut up the credit card and remove all remembered payment details for it.  You don't want to start the cycle again

foxandflowers

Updated budget (including April prices for bills). 
Debt total this morning is £40,978.08. Determined to be under 40k by summer, but also gutted I left my debt colouring in workbook at home, because there's quite a bit to colour in!
I have 2 friend loans outstanding (pls note that I will be setting up an SO to friend 2 this week as per budget), Stepchange & whatever the situation is with Prowaste. Either that will be knocked off, or paid by the end of the week. They haven't got back to me yet so I still don't know if I owe them any money or not (I probably do but it's been ages since then so maybe they will let me off?)

I have cancelled YT Premium, but I miss it a lot. So it's still on the budget while I decide if I want to put it back in or not. If not, that money will move back into the "General" pot. 

Debsnewbudget

Well done, now you need to stick to this actual budget for a month ( which includes Easter ! ). If you can then that will be a major step forward for you. 

Have you drawn this up with your partner so he is involved ? 

If you cannot stick to it then there are still a lot of “extras” that can be trimmed going forward, but for this month just monitor EVERY single penny you both spend so you know if its a “liveable” budget for you going forward.
hugs

HearThem

What benefits do you get with Monzo plus? I’ve had the basic account for a couple of years and have savings pots and budgeting information available with the free account. 

Petal88

I will say I can't quite believe you spend nearly £100/month on subscriptions (if including YT). Our household income is pretty healthy and I would still not have all those subscriptions at once! I even cheaped out on the ring doorbell sub 😂 Definitely something to rethink if you end up coming short on your food budget every month!

How much did you have left with Prowaste btw?

WinterWarrior

Hi Fox, will £360 py cover the car insurance and mot costs? Where is the car tax cost? 

I think you could reduce breakdown costs by shopping around. I pay similar for the AA in a yearly amount, but that covers 2 of us in any car we happen to be travelling in. For one person, or one car, this seems high. I think green flag or even a new joiner deal with a different big breakdown company could knock that figure right down. 

The mobiles are high, but I appreciate you may be locked in.
Personally I think YouTube isn’t a big ask, you deserve something nice from your wages. It’s not a lot per week and you get enjoyment from it. 

Ideally I think you need to be able to have a small incidentals pot just for you, in case you do need to eat out at work or get a coffee somewhere. This would stop poaching from other pots, if you could work it in by reducing some other bills? Maybe cut out the holiday pot until times are less hard? 

I definitely think MrFox needs to source his own spending, through work preferably. Did you manage to have a conversation with him about contributing?
please feel free to ignore, this is just my thoughts from the outside, which I hope may help. 

Keep up the excellent work Fox 🌷

foxandflowers

£150 to Prowaste - if they want it. 
Monzo Plus - better % AER (not much good currently) / can deposit cash 1x a month for free / customise my categories / do advanced roundups to my savings pot / auto export my transactions automatically.
Incidentals pot is the General Pot - am hoping that this doesn't get used, but if it does, it's okay. If it doesn't it can go on debt/savings. 

Kim_13

WinterWarrior said:

Hi Fox, will £360 py cover the car insurance and mot costs? Where is the car tax cost? 

I think you could reduce breakdown costs by shopping around. I pay similar for the AA in a yearly amount, but that covers 2 of us in any car we happen to be travelling in. For one person, or one car, this seems high. I think green flag or even a new joiner deal with a different big breakdown company could knock that figure right down. 

The mobiles are high, but I appreciate you may be locked in.
Personally I think YouTube isn’t a big ask, you deserve something nice from your wages. It’s not a lot per week and you get enjoyment from it. 

Ideally I think you need to be able to have a small incidentals pot just for you, in case you do need to eat out at work or get a coffee somewhere. This would stop poaching from other pots, if you could work it in by reducing some other bills? Maybe cut out the holiday pot until times are less hard? 

I definitely think MrFox needs to source his own spending, through work preferably. Did you manage to have a conversation with him about contributing?
please feel free to ignore, this is just my thoughts from the outside, which I hope may help. 

Keep up the excellent work Fox 🌷

I imagine the tax is the DVLA item. The next target will be getting to a position of being able to pay this annually in full, as there is a 5% surcharge for Monthly Direct Debit (but this is still cheaper than paying 6 monthly.) Ditto the TV Licence (their quirky system seems a nightmare when on a budget - paying for half of next year’s in advance.) I imagine most millennials and younger treat it as a subscription and dip in and out for the iPlayer boxsets, so very presumptuous of them to assume a person will need to pay for a licence next year.

In an earlier month’s budget I believe one of the mobiles was listed as being locked in until June, but can’t remember which one. 

Could you swap the Spotify down to the free version and keep the YouTube instead? It seems you personally get more from the YouTube.