Take 2, a shopaholics diary

shoppingobsessed2020

thanks @CRANKY40 & @GeorgianaCavendish &  @WinterWarrior

im logging on now to reduce both overdrafts, £150 on his lloyds and to £500 on the joint (interest and fee free to £500) that should cover any emergencies.

im going to close my barlays when its clear and the same with my mbna and virgin, im just going to keep tsb with its 1K limit for monthly shopping.  next i will keep as its handy but ill lower the limit on that as well.

i then need his lordship to close his barclays (clear), halifax (clear) and id even say close his mbna as well just leaving his 7K lloyds card.  if we cant cover an emergency with the lloyds card then its a sad state of affairs going forward

shoppingobsessed2020

CRANKY40 said:

If he's away at sea is there any chance of him getting a tax year in or does he not go far enough out from the uk coast?

hes always international, never in the past 15yrs has he had to pay tax due to being out the country that much.  he always gets his tax years in thankfully.  wouldnt like to have to find tax to pay on top of everything else we do!  the few days a year hes in uk waters dont make a dent in his tax days which im very grateful for.  its also why we are entitled to child benefit, although i dont know if that will change now that hes got his promotion.  will need to let his tax advisor know but shes pretty on the ball with those thingss.

CRANKY40

We renovated the "project" house that we bought using the late MrC's tax years - so helpful 😁

shoppingobsessed2020

we dont even get tax back, as he works under an international contract/company he is paid gross so no tax taken out which is why he is has a tax advisor as i dont trust us trying to work out tax days and keep within rules, not when its such a large amount.

i do wish it was taxed at source as that would be a nice savings account but weve got another few years of him going to sea and then it will be retiring to a shore job and having to move where the work is which means me giving up my cushy little job to go where his work is.  although that means i might get to fully use my brain and go back to what i trained in as monkey boy will be at uni or in an apprenticeship by then so wont be needing me home with him full time.

shoppingobsessed2020

im an idiot, forgot to include my monthly private prescription in my above soa.  that £250 a month and i dont qualify for it on nhs at present.  

today was a pricey day, bowling is not cheap!!!!!  then lunch i dont even want to know how much i spent.  well i do, but im not happy about it.  £80 on bowling and lunch, then £53.05 grocery shop delivery.  still got  £50 ish in my purse, grocery shop was on my card.

thankfully next 3 days are no spend days as got training courses, and i will be rethinking fridays plans to treat monkey boy as this was double what i wanted to spend.

on the plus side i checked the new loan payment schedule and first payment isnt taken until july which gives a little more breathing room.

i also did some gardening, and anyone that knows me knows hell froze over today as i valeted my car myself!  draw the line at washing it myself so will take it to the car wash at the weekend but the inside is nice and clean.

havent yet been given hen booking costs back, thats just over |£250 that im owed but its on my card at present.

going to go and blitz some ironing and have a whizz round downstairs, ive still got washing on the line but ill get that in before i go to bed.  

GeorgianaCavendish

I know you had plans for paying off a big chunk of debt this payday, but could you instead keep this money back to help with any unforeseen costs that come up between now and the next payday? 

If you log every spend for the next 4 weeks then you’ll be in a better position to draw up a more realistic budget and make sure all those things are covered. 

The most important thing is that all of loan money goes towards credit card or overdraft debt, so you haven’t added to your debt total. Maybe give yourself until your loan repayment comes out to make any big overpayments, and instead really focus on tracking and budgeting. 

shoppingobsessed2020

thanks @GeorgianaCavendish, my plan is to put "spare" money in all my little pots for house, car, work, food &fuel, presents etc and just leave direct debit funds in the accounts.

my new natwest account is my fun money account so its where i transfer my play money to (portion of entertainment budget) and im just going to use that for my day to day spending.  ive taken all cards off apple pay apart from my tsb card with its 1K limit as that is going to be my emergency card, every other card will be left in the safe.

the loan money has gone bar 2K of it which i have floated the joint account with for now (and will be correcting tomorrow on pay day), and i have cleared the majority of the big mbna card (approx 2K left) lloyds credit card, both lloyds loans, tsb overdraft and i cleared the lloyds overdraft earlier this month.  Ive done a new budget from tomorrow with just his lordships pay for this month only.  instead of our month resetting mid month when i get paid, im going to change it so that it resets when his lordship gets paid and my wages can be used to fund pots (car, work, presents, entertainment etc) so that there is no confusion.  makes sense to me but i appreciate i ramble  

GeorgianaCavendish

That's a good idea to have the pots and to separate out the fun money in its own account, it will help untangle the finances. And I think its a great idea to stick to a monthly budget with your DH's salary, and use yours to fund the pots. 

I'm a big fan of using pots - I've got them for the annual expenses like insurance, MOT, Christmas etc where money slowly builds and transfers out once a year but I also have a lot set up on my Virgin current account so I can budget my day-to-day spending properly. I transfer a lot between the current account pots depending on the demands that month, but it helps me focus my mind when I'm spending - it used to be too easy to tell myself that overspending on coffee & lunch was ok because I had definitely underspent on personal care, only to discover that I'd run out of something and needed to buy it now. Being able to see the difference helps me control my spendy urges   

The other thing I do (which MrC says is "obsessive" ) is have a 'Credit Card' pot. I cycle most of my transactions through a credit card but I never spend on the CC without transferring the money over to the credit card pot. Then I know that I've got the money ready to clear the month's spending as soon as my budget resets. I know this approach isn't for everyone, but having spent years overcoming what I think was a spending addiction, I feel most comfortable doing it this way. 

outoftheviciouscircle

@GeorgianaCavendish I'm exactly the same but I use YNAB so it is all sorted out on there for me. That way, I know that I am not adding anything to my credit card that is not in my budget, therefore I cannot afford it.

@shoppingobsessed2020 I couldn't believe how expensive bowling has got. I took my nephew a while ago and told him not to get used to as I wouldn't be taking him again lol

shoppingobsessed2020

all funds moved, pots all funded, more paid off the mbna card, think there is approx 300 left, but given i cant log on to that account im being conservative and leaving a small balance which should get swept by this months and next months direct debit.  i would phone to pay the balance, but given every time i have to speak to them i end up in tears on the phone its not worth being debt free on that one account, i just dont have the energy to spend 3/4hours on the phone getting passed round various teams because they dont fully understand power of attorney.  they are the most frustrating company ive ever had the misfortune of dealing with.

have approx 2K left this month going to move it to a general slush fund pot and then at the end of the month i can raid it and pay a chunk off something else.

all pot money is accounted for so the plan is to use my credit card as i usually do (tsb not barclays) and then just pay it off each month as the pot funds should cover the balance as my portion of entertainment plus food and fuel would cover 600 of the 1K limit and im not planning on taking my purse out with me anymore.