Spendy Wendy to Saver Savvy

Spendywendywoo

Another £5 towards the car balloon as the lotto win we had on Saturday landed in the account this morning

Spendywendywoo

Nothing much to report today, it's been a quiet week on the spend front as we are using food from stores (feels so good to be declutter the freezer). 

Finding more time to read too as I am not making meals from scratch, just started my 24th book of the year. 

Busy day today, starting at half 9 so nice productive morning

Hope everyone is well, 
Wendy x

Blackcats

It's hard to feel continuously low level anxiety about reaching a priority target and in my view minimising stress is very important.  

Could you pool your savings just on paper so you feel reassured about the balloon payment but keep going with your monthly savings towards the car payment and see how close you get without dipping into your other savings?  Remember by the end of November it won't necessarily mean you need to donate all of your other funds and might just need a top up. 

Scott_Weiland79

Just a little tip thats saved me abit cash not a huge amount i noticed you drive 

Have a look at an app called 

Petrolprices: Uk and France

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=apposing.petrolprices

It will be on google play or the app store it has an orange logo i will post a link later when not at work, but it tells you in your area the cheapest petrol station. I am not savings a five to a tenner every time i fill the car up every little helps. 

Some good tips on here too, use top cashback everytime you buy anything online. 

Have a look at curious cat and qmee apps for doing surveys

Also if you can have a look at current accounts that offer cashback when you buy stuff, Chase is a good one.

Spendywendywoo

Thank you @Blackcats and @Scott_Weiland79, I appreciate you taking the time to comment (I'll check the petrol app for sure, as well as some of the other suggestions you have provided). 

@Blackcats, all the money saved for annual expenditure (future bills like insurances) are saved in the same savings account as the car balloon payment as the larger balance in the account attracts more interest than it would saving it in different accounts, but I record what each penny is allocated to.  All I've done this week is changed the spreadsheet to show that more money is accounted for the balloon payment and then when that is completed in November, all monies available from there in will go towards annual expenditure again. The future bills I had saved for aren't due until the very end of the year and also early next year so there is time to build them up again, provided our circumstances don't change (though getting rid of the debt is my priority). I love how you think and how you provided a logical way to approach the situation, I struggle with that type of thinking sometimes as my anxiety is so high but yourself, and others, have been particularly kind over the last 9 months providing different perspectives and I really appreciate that, thank you

Scott_Weiland79

I only found the petrol app recently as i normally just top the car up with 20 quid here and there as i dont do a lot of miles.

But recently i did Kent and back 3 times in a month with work, i found a service station a Jet station 1.3 miles from my gym selling petrol @ 129.9 per litre. Compared with the 134.9 i had being paying in Tesco.


re the anxiety and stress re saving and debts. I get it but do what works for you.

I was old school with mine I used to buy 2-3 big a4 notebooks from home bargains and i would write every 3-4 days an update.

I did pre step used to write down each debt/balance/survey earning/budgets

I would make a payment to each/highest apr would get the most money. 

I would have a page for survey earning one year i clocked about 1500 quid. 

And i would also keep track of earnings from

Cashback earnings/vinted/ebay/fb market place

Any additional bits i would get in 80-90 percent would go off debt the rest i put into savings.

It got easier once i went to stepchange. As i just did the same but surveys/extra money went in an account and i made overpayments to my dmp.

Spendywendywoo

@Scott_Weiland79, it sounds like you have had quite a journey, but taking positive steps. I agree that tracking certainly helps, and it doesn't matter how as long as it works for you

Spendywendywoo

Just updated the budget, all looking good and on track to where I wanted to be, still astounding with the difference the changes we have implemented have made in a relatively short amount of time. 

Today is a busy day work wise so going to make sure I get out for a 20-30 minute walk today at lunch.  I have finally mastered my sleep pattern, it seems, and I am getting almost 8 hours of sleep and waking up around 5/5.30am.  Atm I am not utilising the time very well, I do journal (10 mins max) and have a coffee in total peace and quiet but then navigate to social media or playing a game on my phone... I am going to make a conscious effort of doing some movement in a morning - not even necessarily a hard workout, just some movement exercises and stretching. I'm going to track my exercise almost like I have with my budget from now on - I've built up a habit tracker in Excel and will be using that going forward. Aim is to drink quite a bit of water too as I have been very lax with that of late.

Hope everyone is having a great week
Wendy x 

Suffolk_lass

If you are concerned about emptying that pot to make the balloon payment, apply for a 0% interest 0% fee credit card and put a portion of the payment on a credit card and balance transfer to the 0% card. It allows you to pause and save again - I completely understand the mental impact of emptying that reserve pot. I found the relief of paying it off really helped, and the extra money from not making the monthly payments was redeployed to pay down the 0% card in the time limit. Just thought this might help.

Spendywendywoo

Thanks @Suffolk_lass, I've had a long thought about it these last few days and I'll just be relieved to pay it off and have no debt (other than mortgage). I guess I could apply for a 0% card if any large unexpected bills come my way but I do have, and will still have a car maintenance EF (£300), home maintenance EF (£300), Christmas pot (£900) and EF (£1000) in the pot so not without any extra money at all. I have the car service and MOT next month but I've already got the monies for that saved too, again unless there are any major repairs needed, in which case I will dip into the car maintenance EF for the time being. I think I'm comfortable with the spend, I guess I'm kicking myself for having the debt in the first place, but we live and learn and I'm lucky to be in the position I am