Tryingtobesensible2026

Faith76

Have lurked and read a few of folks diaries and inspired to start my own. I have my mortgage as my main debt currently owe £89509.05 on a five year fixed rate coming to an end April 2027. Very aware and watching interest rates at the moment regarding this. I have to thank one diary member for an idea from one diary I read about a Sprive app when used for shopping you can make overpayments to your mortgage. Just can’t remember who this was now. Did a T shop this morning , never do a big shop there as A is my main go to but wanted to fill up on petrol and didn’t fancy driving further just for A. So up nice and early as was worried about ques for petrol. Had a couple of vouchers for spending so much and managed to get shopping bill down by approx £123 to £113. Also used the Sprive app and put the £2.00 odd across to mortgage. I am also overpaying by approximately £40.00 a month as well. My other debt is my car which should be paid off by July as had a loan for 7k which ends then. I did start a mortgage free diary on this site some years ago but stopped so will be interesting to re-visit that. Also some little wins today loaded a few items on V and sold a sewing machine I have had for an age but hardly used and a book. So that will go to savings. I have hardly anything in savings £68.00 so this is my focus to build up. When loan is finished going to use what I paid to that to put in savings too. I do tend to do the lottery and have really cut back doing this this year so when I think about doing it I am just going to pop that tenner in my savings instead. My big worry at the moment is my daughter thinking about uni as she will be applying in September. Have advised about not going so very far away if she can but up to her. This is because I did over 6 hours away and if she want’s to pop home for the weekend an hour or 2 away would be far far easier.

beanielou

Happy shiny new diary.

Faith76

Morning and thank you beanielou. Well a few fails to report one of which is the Sprive app. It has taken £122.00 for a T shop and £1068 for a Am shop, great. I am useless with technology as it is but tried it with Tesco and thought yay £2.00 made towards mortgage overpayment. Then checked my account last night and saw two payments made to Sprive in addition to my payments £113 to Tes as had vouchers knocked off and a pay made to Ama. I then looked at instructions and realised you had to get a voucher? This never appeared for the T shop but I certainly did put the voucher code in for my Ama purchase so what the heck. Anyways I really did fall into a stressed mood last night whilst DH and daughter were watching tv. I was having to sort out e-mailing the thrive customer service to get my money back. I have not told DH he just thought my stressed mood was over a couple of pounds. Anyway deleting the app as not user friendly for me at all. Hope I get money back pronto. Best not to tell DH on this one yes I have been stupid. Read reviews about them and they all seem good so it’s obviously me and tech. Then read about my money going across to mortgage will probably be contacted as they would want to know surely if against the capital or interest. What a hassle. Anyway spends yesterday apart from that fiasco youngest daughter’s school shoes are turning into flip flops as have come away from the front. I thankfully spotted them on Friday Daughter said they would be fine and I said not for much longer you will be walking in bare feet. So have a next day delivery coming today from Ne-t and Ama as got her some insoles too. Needs must she needs them. To be fair the pair she had have lasted well from September to now so about right for a new pair. Another stupid thing I have done which can’t tell DH about is I have paid a deposit twice for my youngest daughter going away with school to Paris £120 so need to get that back or put down as the next payment installment. Have to wait to see if she gets a place on the trip first though. I have absolutely been going down a rabbit hole over thinking about DD and university costs. In all honesty I can’t afford the accommodation costs simple as that. I thought I would look into it and compare different uni’s and the costs are so different for example Salford and Sheffield almost £100.00 a week difference but absolutely still extortionate. Nothing at all like it was when I was at uni. So she will have to pick local and travel will have a general chat with her over the next few weeks. I kind of have to be fair as have been chatting about options after college etc but yes if she want’s to go down the uni route then live at home and travel. Plus she has a great part-time job at the moment at a local hairdressers that gives her a really good part time income and she can keep that job. My other spends this week have been for my mum for Mother’s Day a card and chocolates from M—np-g. She has received these also arrived yesterday. Will be popping to in laws later to drop card and flowers off for MIL and to drop my dog off as WFH tomorrow but end of year and on phones. My dog is super reactive to the postman so unfortunately can’t do phones for my morning shift if she is there. Another thing I have tried out has been G—s-o subscription for food. I thought I would get one box at 50% off then cancel. It was okay but we don’t really eat like that all the time as like lighter meals several days a week as in just jacket spuds , cheese and beans and honestly I was knackered after work to start cooking from scratch all the time. So I ended up freezing most of the chicken and will be using for Sunday lunch today instead. The last two meals were wraps but DH suffers very badly with reflux and can’t have all the red onion’s lemon etc in that dish so made my own version that everyone could eat and on Monday will do the last one which is a pasta dish. Will try H-ll- Fre-/ next time but make sure I am off from work so can tackle the meals from scratch. I don’t think it’s all that cost effective to be honest as DH pointed out it worked out at £7.99 per meal which is pricy we just don’t eat like that literally on some nights we just have beens on toast. So wouldn’t carry on with these things but was nice to try out. Anyway happy Sunday and well done if you got to the end.

Faith76

typo error took £10.68 not £1068 jeez I would be in big trouble if that was the case lol

Sunshine_girl2

I watched the Dragons Den programme about the app the other day and was going to recommend it to my DD maybe not now . My two adult children both went to local universities luckily and ended up with no debt . I was a single mum then working 2 jobs to help with expenses , I am located near one of the universities mentioned and the rental costs are extortionate for some of the areas.

Faith76

No Sunshine_girl2 I don’t recommend.Just looked at my account and amounts have gone from pending to definite payments to Sprive so frustrating just waiting for customer service to get back to me now

Coxy11

Hi @Faith76 happy new diary x

I use Sprive - was given a referral code from DS1 and we both got £5. I used it a fair bit for Christmas gift buying.

One thing I would say is I’ve only ever used it for online purchases. For example Amazon - put items in the basket and go to pay page where you know the amount plus any postage - then go to Sprive and request a voucher for that exact amount. You then get a gift card in your Sprive wallet to use.

The one annoying thing is it takes the money instantly from your bank account whereas I normally put gift buying on our CC and pay it off in full every month. Just had to make sure I had the funds readily available.

I haven’t sent anything to the mortgage yet as have made the max overpayment for this current year. Will be able to send it across after 01 April, so it’s currently in my balance.

I feel your frustration with the school shoes and the uni accommodation costs. That sounds like a sensible solution for DD to live at home and keep her PT job provided the nearby uni does the course she wants to do.

Have never tried those food boxes but seems like a lot of money if some of the family have dietary needs and can’t eat certain things. Do you meal plan and can you batch cook something like bolognaise or chilli in a slow cooker to freeze, then all you’d need to do is cook rice/pasta and reheat on busy work days?

Faith76

Thanks Coxy11 some useful tips there. Safe to say I am not safe with the Sprive app lol you live and learn. Yes I really do need to do some batch cooking never have and really should.

Faith76

Had a lovely Mother’s Day yesterday, treated to flowers and chocolates and a Sunday roast made by DH. Posted a couple of Vinted parcels, a book and a dog lead but every little helps. Expecting £4.00 from a coat I sold on Vinted shortly too so will transfer across when available to savings. Had a lovely cake and coffee visiting in laws. Looking forward to getting dog back later too miss not having her around. We wanted a butter dish and MIL had an old L-r-ack toast holder that she has gifted to us and she went on e-bay and got us a matching butter dish the one with the little man. Really pleased with them. This set DH on a rabbit hole and I have a Claris Cliff tea set which my mum gave me a good few years ago. We have found out it’s worth nearly £400. I am gobsmacked never would I have thought. Anyway it’s never ever being sold and will remain on display and will pass down to my daughter’s one day. Heard back from Sprive this morning and they are going to refund me. It is me not having a clue how to use the app. They have explained in detail how it works, I was clueless but now it’s explained better will be able to use. They could not help with the Am—on payment though so will have to get onto them as did put the voucher code in. Inspired with making overpayments to mortgage have sent across 10.00 this morning. Payday tomorrow thank goodness

Coxy11

Glad you had a nice MD and have made a little bit on V!nted. If you have several items to sell it’s better to list one per day as that seems to work better with the algorithm rather than bulk uploading. I’ve had more success like that. I take all the photos and just upload whilst having my morning cuppa.

Glad that Sprive have been helpful. I messed up with Amazon once by not selecting gift card as my choice of payment - it automatically used my credit card. Luckily I cancelled immediately and redid the order. Hope you can get it sorted x

Faith76

Thank you useful tip for Vinted 🙂