Geriatricmum vs inner voice: A monologue

Geriatricmum

enthusiasticsaver said:

Do you really need to do the lottery? The chances of winning are so remote and you have very little free money% 

Just did some quick maths and it costs £135 a year for the lottery. I'll think about it. 

Geriatricmum

Spendless said:

Of course the £10 towards the o/draft - my maths is often shaky! 

I'm guessing the lottery is a works syndicate and you'd rather not run the risk they all hit the big time and leave but you have to stay working  - whatever the odds? 

No, it's just a weekly euro millions draw. I cancelled the Direct debit. It doesn't make sense to keep going with it. 

The clubs. I think what you need to do here for future is see this as a monthly bill even if the money is taken quarterly so each month you need to save approx £27 towards this.

Yes that's a good idea regarding the clubs, it's just sensible. 

MFWannabe

Geriatricmum said:

OK so after I pop my portion into the joint account I have £556.65 left with that I have already paid:

£97.93 to Virgin and I need to earmark £130 for MBNA. That leaves me with £328.72.

I have reduced my overdraft by £10 (which I have been doing for a few months now) it's sitting at £360 just now.

I'll NEED to pay for the following:
transport which is £46
clubs: £80 (this is quarterly) 
Phone: £34.78
Lottery ticket: £12.50
Barclaycard:£180
Overdraft charge £5

This will leave me with - £39.56

I'm in a bit of a pickle. 

I think I should pay £90 to the Barclaycard which will leave me a £50 buffer for unexpected bits. 

It's a lean month!

Think you need to cut the amount you pay to Barclaycard and not spend the money on the lottery ticket that cuts your monthly expenses by  £102.50. 

There’s no point stretching yourself too much if you really don’t have to; you can always make an extra payment on the Barclaycard at end of month should you have money left over 

Geriatricmum

MFWannabe said:

Geriatricmum said:

OK so after I pop my portion into the joint account I have £556.65 left with that I have already paid:

£97.93 to Virgin and I need to earmark £130 for MBNA. That leaves me with £328.72.

I have reduced my overdraft by £10 (which I have been doing for a few months now) it's sitting at £360 just now.

I'll NEED to pay for the following:
transport which is £46
clubs: £80 (this is quarterly) 
Phone: £34.78
Lottery ticket: £12.50
Barclaycard:£180
Overdraft charge £5

This will leave me with - £39.56

I'm in a bit of a pickle. 

I think I should pay £90 to the Barclaycard which will leave me a £50 buffer for unexpected bits. 

It's a lean month!

Think you need to cut the amount you pay to Barclaycard and not spend the money on the lottery ticket that cuts your monthly expenses by  £102.50. 

There’s no point stretching yourself too much if you really don’t have to; you can always make an extra payment on the Barclaycard at end of month should you have money left over 

Inner voice agrees and has said I should wait until the end of the month to pay barclaycard because you know a pipe might burst or something. 🙄

I've cancelled my lottery direct debit so my revised budget is:

Overdraft reduction: £10
transport: £46

clubs: £80 (this is quarterly) 

Phone: £34.78

Barclaycard:£we'll see

Overdraft charge £5

This will leave me with £152.94

I think this month I'll concentrate on having as many NSDs as I can so I can stick as much as I can on the Barclaycard. 

redofromstart

i was going to suggest that rather than £12.50 a month into the lottery you invest your emergency fund into premium bonds (min 25 each time I think so alternate months) where you have the still small chance of a call from agent million but you also still have the capital as an emergency fund at the end of the year. Might be worth thinking about if you drew of winning something. I got nothing more than £25 win on PBs  but I still liked checking! 

enthusiasticsaver

I think if the clubs is something which is ongoing you should set up a pot and save for it. If it is £80 a term (presumably or is it quarterly?) you should save £20 a month. 

Geriatricmum

redofromstart said:

i was going to suggest that rather than £12.50 a month into the lottery you invest your emergency fund into premium bonds (min 25 each time I think so alternate months) where you have the still small chance of a call from agent million but you also still have the capital as an emergency fund at the end of the year. Might be worth thinking about if you drew of winning something. I got nothing more than £25 win on PBs  but I still liked checking! 

Premium. Bonds have honestly never been on my radar as a thing I would do. I'll do some reading up on it and clue myself up. Thanks for the suggestion 😊

Geriatricmum

enthusiasticsaver said:

I think if the clubs is something which is ongoing you should set up a pot and save for it. If it is £80 a term (presumably or is it quarterly?) you should save £20 a month. 

Yup, so this £80 is for the January to April term. I'll pop it in my monzo account so it's out my way! DH has it easier he pays monthly for another hobby DD7 does.

Inner voice:"need to start saving for any clubs DS1 is gonna do"
Me: "I know right? so expensive!" 

Spendless

It's more than £20 a month because you pay 4 times a year (quarterly) so every 3 months. This time I'm checking my maths but £80 x 4 = 320/12 = 26.67 (or I'd round up to  £27) 

At what age is DS1 likely to start attending clubs? Don't get me wrong I regret not saving for my kids Uni accommodation (their loans come nowhere near paying it) but I could have left this as late as the sixth form years. Obviously the longer you have the smaller the amount to save but if this isn't going to be on the agenda till he's at school you've got time to prioritise the debt first. Once its gone you've got more money in your budget for clubs.
 Also depending on what clubs the other is doing, this may fall be the way side by the time  of the Secondary school/ My eldest did clubs from a young age (4 maybe?) but stopped all at age 12. My youngest started at 10 and never stopped. I was always grateful for the one at a time despite only a 3 year gap.
 
Think since the lottery wasn't a works syndicate it was sensible to cancel.

No, I've never considered PB either. 

enthusiasticsaver

@Spendless The club money is termly so three times a year or £240. That equates to £20 a month but saved all year round. Initially it may mean extra saved until there is a buffer allowing for the facts the terms don’t exactly equate to quarterly. My simple brain would just prefer to stick £20 a month in all year round.