The Three C's - Coffee, Clothes & Credit Cards

Sarahwithlove

Hello! the month is almost over, I have £3.15 to last me until payday. I need to get some milk and butter tomorrow, that should cover it. 

I did some overtime at the weekend, so that will be another £100 extra in pay next month. But that should give me enough to be credit card debt neutral in March. I think there may be some more available over next few weeks potentially but have to wait and see. I know there will in Feb/March time so it will all help.

I'm concerned that I'm not making my money stretch as far with the increasing costs of food. I may have to keep an eye on it, I did do a bit of menu planning this week which seemed to help me keep within budget better. It also helps that I did a big muscle food order so have so much meat in freezer. But I may have to start saying no to things or finding cheaper alternatives. 

I'll be back at end of the week with the monthly round up! 

Sarahwithlove

Good news, closed an old account that I moved savings from as got a better interest rate, and got £22 in interest, was only in there for about a week lol. So used that to pay for a few bits of food shopping and left the rest in my account as a buffer. I may pay it off my CC in a minute. Speaking of CC my min payment is below £100 now so I have adjusted it so it takes £100 every month or min if it is above £100. Plan is to never get to that point but as I have budgeted for £100 going forward it will all help bring the debt down quicker. 

I also have been told that there will be overtime every weekend between now and Christmas, I'm busy all day Saturday this weekend, but may work 4 hours on Sunday. feels like a good amount of hours without tiring me out too much, and would get about £50-55 after deductions.  Plus i would still have a good chunk of my day left to myself to just chill. Just might mean that my jobs will be put off another weekend. Oops. Next weekend I don't have any plans, well other than overtime now so will be able to get the jobs done. I may even get some done Friday depending how I feel as I'm going for a massage and having my nails done. 

mark55man

I agree paying off a set amount to get things done quicker is a great plan.  good luck with the overtime - making hay while the sun isn't shining - you might be surprised at how much you can do without tiring yourself out especially if you make the most of the time off you do have.

Sarahwithlove

mark55man said:

I agree paying off a set amount to get things done quicker is a great plan.  good luck with the overtime - making hay while the sun isn't shining - you might be surprised at how much you can do without tiring yourself out especially if you make the most of the time off you do have.

Thanks, I didn't do any on Sunday in the end, my dad dropped a bomb in my lap.

Basically we are in middle of sorting his will (previous company went bust and lost it) and transferring his property to me and my brothers. However he's now decided he wants to move, he asked if he could move in with me. I said no, but then my brother suggested purchasing somewhere together with an annexe for my dad. I haven't said no, and there are some pros but the cons list seems to be getting bigger and more convincing as the days go on. I did have both our properties valued today and I have an appointment tomorrow afternoon with a mortgage advisor but I'm 75% sure its a no for me even if the money side does seem possible. I just don't think I can cope, he doesn't listen to ground rules and does what he wants and turns up whenever he feels like it. so can only imagine how he would be if he lived with me or next to me as my brother keeps trying to convince me it isn't the same. Anyway going to go sort out my November round up and December plan, only a week late! 

PennysIntoPounds

Wow, that is a huge decision! 
It sounds like your gut knows that it's a 100% no though, and this is too big a life and financial change to not trust your gut on. 
Good luck proceeding with finding a solution that's right for you all x

Sarahwithlove

November Round Up

Credit Card
Starting Balance: £3521.53 as of 3rd November Statement
End Balance: £2875.52 as of 3rd December Statement 
This is 0% but the min payment is 3.25% so now DD is below £100 have just set it up for £100 exactly instead to bring it down quicker. 


Sinking Fund
Starting Balance: £2250
End Balance: £2500 - Have temporarily stopped the £250 from December as all my big payments have come out already. Jan is only breakdown cover (£35??) then nothing until June pending no car/home repairs. Once I have cleared the credit cards I can restart the regular payments in April. But for now I will put any odd extras in there such as interest, cash back etc. 


Emergency Fund
Start Balance: £1100
End Balance: £0.00 - Transferred into debt neutral pot. if i have a real emergency I have a 0% credit card or could dip into the credit card pot. 


Credit Card Neutral Pot
Starting Balance: £3100
End Balance: £5000

Credit Card Excess Pot
Starting Balance: £9.71
End Balance: £0
Have decided to get rid of this and set up a save the change type thing on my main spending account. 

Energy Pot
Starting Balance: £250
End Balance: £0
I'm in credit with new company already, will be getting another £50 for referral code and my DD is comfortably covering it at the moment during peak usage. So transferred into CC neutral pot. 

December

Busy month again for me, went to football on Saturday, drove to Northampton, we won, but that used majority of my petrol, my cousins did give me petrol money, so have refilled my tank again. We have also brought tickets for boxing day as well so its another road trip but to Bristol this time. So probably be another tank of petrol or £15 towards petrol depending who drives. I might let my cousin as she knows area well, also has a hybrid car so wont use as much petrol ha! 

Had my usual nails on Friday but we didn't do Nand0s and have decided to give that a miss for this month so that saves me a bit. We went shopping and my friend brought me lunch for driving, i was good and resisted buying anything. Mostly because I have spent too much on V1nted, think its about time I put some stuff for sale instead of all the purchasing ha! I did buy myself a new coat though on Saturday as none of my winter coats fitted me, and it was minus 3. I'm really happy with it and got it with 30% off so wasn't too bad in the end. 

I will have to draw out £50 cash for my Nephew for Christmas, and purchase tin of biscuits and bunch of flowers to take with me on Xmas day as my best friends in laws are letting me join them for Christmas. My brother is going to his in laws and I never get invited so have to make my own plans. my cousin did say I could join them but they are going out for Christmas dinner and at nearly £50 each I struggle to justify it. 

Had my work Christmas meal yesterday but my colleague who I picked up on the way got me a drink and I brought the 2nd with the change loose in my purse. 

I will work overtime this weekend but it wont get paid until end of Jan pay but I will make the most of no Football on Saturday and do a full day of work. I'll aim for 7.5-8 hours as that will be just over £100 after tax, probably slightly more with the new pay rate from Jan but at current rate it works out as just over £13 per hour after all deductions. Stupid student loan. 

I have the dentist next week but I may need to push the appointment back again as work is crazy busy so not sure I will be able to get away for it. Plus if I push back to the new year then I would have received my back pay which I can pay for it from. Pretty sure I will need quite a bit doing, luckily managed to get an NHS dentist, that's only thing making me think maybe I should try and get to appointment next week. I don't want to lose my space and that's my first appointment. I could always dip into sinking fund or put on 0% credit card until payday at end of the month. yes I think maybe that's for the best, its taken me nearly 6 months to find a NHS dentist so don't want to lose it. 

I also have a haircut booked in before Christmas, but other than football I don't have a massive amount planned, but going to football is probably going to use most of my monthly spends so will have to be a bit careful. 

I should get my switch money this month which I will most likely use to pay my car tax which is due at end of month. Then I don't have to dip into my sinking fund and next months lump sum can go towards credit card debt. 

all in all finances looking more positive, will be interesting to see what mortgage advisor says tomorrow though. 

Sarahwithlove

PennysIntoPounds said:

Wow, that is a huge decision! 
It sounds like your gut knows that it's a 100% no though, and this is too big a life and financial change to not trust your gut on.  
Good luck proceeding with finding a solution that's right for you all x

Thank you I think you may be right, I have spoken with my other brother who lives in Germany and is slightly further away from it all. he agrees my dad wont respect the boundaries for very long and thinks its too much to ask of me. Its hard because I wouldn't have hesitated for my mum, so i feel guilty that I'm not willing to for my dad but we don't have that kind of relationship. he already expects me to do too much for him just because he cant be bothered to try and its easier to ask me. Would be worse if we lived together I think. But looking at places has got me thinking about whether I want to move myself. I probably should wait until nearer my mortgage fix ending, but fees would be less than £1k I think to come out of it. Something to think about. 

OpalGirl

Good idea to keep your dentist appointment. If it is your first appointment it is unlikely that they will do much other than a thorough examination. If you do need quite a bit doing then you may need a number of appointments and you can schedule them to suit your paydays. At least this way you will have had your first appointment and be in their system.

Sarahwithlove

OpalGirl said:

Good idea to keep your dentist appointment. If it is your first appointment it is unlikely that they will do much other than a thorough examination. If you do need quite a bit doing then you may need a number of appointments and you can schedule them to suit your paydays. At least this way you will have had your first appointment and be in their system.

Yes exactly and where its NHS its not as expensive as it could be. They do 0% repayment plans for anything over £350 but I dont want to do that when I have the money sat in a saver or my 0% credit card 

enthusiasticsaver

That sounds like a difficult decision to make.  A friend of mine and her husband took in his dad after his mum died and it ended disastrously for pretty much the reason you cite in that he did not respect boundaries and never kept to his annexe and my friend constantly felt she was being chased around the house.  It got so bad she was reluctant to go home and would stay late at work to avoid having to see him.  Eventually they got him to move into sheltered accommodation where they could see and help him on their terms.