Young And Dumb

Baileys_Babe · 10 October 2019 at 8:46AM

Depending on your budgets you could just do rough calculations in the shop and more precise calculations once you get home.
To make this easier put your shopping through the till one category at a time so it all grouped together on the receipt.
Or you could put each category through the till seperatly so each category has a receipt.
You can put one category through the till and ask for a subtotal.
At various times I have done all of the above, if you are or wish to justify, you can either say they are from different budgets or they are for others.

Do you write a list before shopping? Do you meal plan? I found doing both of these saves me both time and money. My list includes items from various categories, but broken down by department, f&v, chilled, frozen, alcohol, tins etc as I find I can shop quicker. Also it highlights to me before shopping if I am possibly overspending in a category.

Mx_Emmin · 10 October 2019 at 8:56AM

Baileys_Babe wrote: »

Depending on your budgets you could just do rough calculations in the shop and more precise calculations once you get home.
To make this easier put your shopping through the till one category at a time so it all grouped together on the receipt.
Or you could put each category through the till seperatly so each category has a receipt.
You can put one category through the till and ask for a subtotal.
At various times I have done all of the above, if you are or wish to justify, you can either say they are from different budgets or they are for others.

Do you write a list before shopping? Do you meal plan? I found doing both of these saves me both time and money. My list includes items from various categories, but broken down by department, f&v, chilled, frozen, alcohol, tins etc as I find I can shop quicker. Also it highlights to me before shopping if I am possibly overspending in a category.

I write lists, yes, the list tends to be organised by the order of asiles in the store - so where I can find, what order they'll go in my basket, so I'm not doing loops of the store

Edit: I also meal plan. Well, I batch cook, which is roughly the same thing. I cook for 3/4/5 days at a time and divvy it up into boxes.

I use those scan as you go devices the stores have so I can keep track of how much I'm spending as I go. It adds up all the amounts for me. Pro: less human interaction for an anxious bean. Con: cant separate it out or put stuff through in batches.

Next paycheck I'll play with adding separate pet food/treats, household non-edible, and human groom categories... although I dont know how much to put for some of those.

Every time I have 2 - 3 NSDs to let my bank catch up to my purchase my YNAB and bank disagree by a little less. First it £8-something, then £5-something, today its £2-something (I just dont have the exact figure to hand, I did work it out and write it down earlier). Curiouser and curiouser...

Baileys_Babe · 11 October 2019 at 12:13AM

Mx_Emmin wrote: »

Next paycheck I'll play with adding separate pet food/treats, household non-edible, and human groom categories... although I dont know how much to put for some of those.
.

Could you look at past receipts as a guide to what you have spent previously?

Ben8282 · 11 October 2019 at 3:06AM

Reading what you have written, I don't really feel that you have any great financial problem at this time with your current level of debt, assuming of course that it doesn't increase.
The overdraft should be repaid as a matter of priority from your savings. Using an overdraft at all is not good and having it reported every month that you are using your overdraft will not be to your benefit if you decide for any reason to apply for further credit. It is costing you more than any possible interest that you are earning on savings. Repay it now; the facility will still be there to use if some catastrophe occurs.
If the cards are all at 0% and you are making the minimum payment every month without difficulty, then these debts are not an immediate concern and only need to be addressed when the 0% periods expire. How much longer have you got at 0% on the two Santander cards? You need to plan to get them paid off by then rather than immediately. I don't know what your income actually is but I don't get the impression that it is particularly low. Personally, I don't think that your debt levels are high and, as your emergency savings exceed your debts, you are, in that sense, already debt free. Unless the Santander 0% cards are very close to the end of the 0% period I think you could even treat yourself to the new laptop that you need.
In view of the relatively low balances on the Santander cards, if your credit files are in reasonable order then you may well be able to obtain a new balance transfer card to extend the 0% rate on this balance until it is more convenient to repay it.

Mx_Emmin · 12 October 2019 at 6:21PM

Baileys_Babe wrote: »

Could you look at past receipts as a guide to what you have spent previously?

I dont keep old receipts, but I reckon I can ballpark it and go from there

Ben8282 wrote: »

Reading what you have written, I don't really feel that you have any great financial problem at this time with your current level of debt, assuming of course that it doesn't increase.
The overdraft should be repaid as a matter of priority from your savings. Using an overdraft at all is not good and having it reported every month that you are using your overdraft will not be to your benefit if you decide for any reason to apply for further credit. It is costing you more than any possible interest that you are earning on savings. Repay it now; the facility will still be there to use if some catastrophe occurs.
If the cards are all at 0% and you are making the minimum payment every month without difficulty, then these debts are not an immediate concern and only need to be addressed when the 0% periods expire. How much longer have you got at 0% on the two Santander cards? You need to plan to get them paid off by then rather than immediately. I don't know what your income actually is but I don't get the impression that it is particularly low. Personally, I don't think that your debt levels are high and, as your emergency savings exceed your debts, you are, in that sense, already debt free. Unless the Santander 0% cards are very close to the end of the 0% period I think you could even treat yourself to the new laptop that you need.
In view of the relatively low balances on the Santander cards, if your credit files are in reasonable order then you may well be able to obtain a new balance transfer card to extend the 0% rate on this balance until it is more convenient to repay it.

I've answered some of these in previous posts, but I'll go through this one thing at a time.

I repaid off my overdraft a few months ago - in August. I've locked it behind me for the time being but I reckon I could get it back if I needed to; I just didn't want the temptation.

My Argos card 0% period ends next February but there's less than £15 on that so that goes next month.

My red Santander card 0% periods ends in... March, I think? But I am on track to pay if off by New Year.

My black Santander card 0% period ends in 2021, and I hope to get it paid off by then, even with the laptop, but I'll deal with the specifics of that in the New Year. I haven't got a written plan for the black card yet. Once I've paid off the Argos card and red card it'll free up the money, snowball style, and I can tackle the black card then. You're right that I can reasonably expect to be accepted for a balance transfer card in 2021 though.

One thing I haven't mentioned on this thread is that my income is 18k. That's a relatively new figure, I got promoted in the last couple of months, before that I was earning 16k-ish, maybe 17k just about. A few months ago I was stressing about how low that is/was, but it's the weirdest thing - as I get my spending habits under control, that figure gets more and more liveable. Who'd have thought?

Nonetheless, long term I do hope to increase my salary - but seeing as I was promoted literally two months ago it's a bit cheeky to go for it again just yet. I know what I want to do within my organisation but there's already people in those roles so there's no room just yet. I've only applied to one job recently - that one I mentioned on 4th October my brother pointed out to me? The Civil Service FastStreams thing. I have applied but it looks pretty competitive.

I think you're right when you say my debt isn't that high, and my savings are starting to outpace my debt. One of the best things I've been getting from my personal journey is the gift of perspective. A year ago it all felt insurmountable. Six months ago it felt like it would take forever to clear up. Now I think I can it to a manageable place by the New Year, fate willing. My only remaining quibble is how to wriggle that new laptop into there.

Mx_Emmin · 15 October 2019 at 1:24PM

So. I need a new laptop.

My original plan:
Horde Christmas money, Birthday money, work bonus month is March, save on a monthly basis, then by late March/Early April I should have £500-£800 pounds, I'll spend £1000 and put the rest on CC

My brother has just told me he has a spare laptop. He wants £500 for it. We next see each other at Christmas. We've discussed my needs and get reckons it'll last me 3 to 5 years if I don't buy anything too cutting edge game wise in that time.

Sounds like a good deal, I just need to find £500 by Christmas.

mark55man · 15 October 2019 at 4:12PM

£500 will buy you quite a good new laptop.

Unless you need a MacBook. Go and ask on the tech board with your requirements I bet you will be surprised.

Mx_Emmin · 15 October 2019 at 5:14PM

mark88man wrote: »

£500 will buy you quite a good new laptop.

Unless you need a MacBook. Go and ask on the tech board with your requirements I bet you will be surprised.

I trust my brothers estimation of what laptop I need

I dont really understand specs so I just tell him "I want it to be capable of [x]" and he shows me one that meets my needs

He's very much the "computer guy" in our family

He also works w computers and gets good deals on them, so we can get cheap computers from him when we need to

The question is more "can I rustle up £500 by Christmas?"

Mx_Emmin · 15 October 2019 at 6:40PM

According to my budget calculator, if I stop putting money into my Emergency fund (currently at £950), shave £20 off each my groceries and social spends, and account for the fact that I have no family birthdays this end of the year... then just about. Pretty tight though.

In all likelihood I'm going to end up putting my divorce savings goal back three months to do this but god knows **he** isnt saving any money for it so I dont think 3 months will matter

Itll go easier once I pay off the Argos card completely (next week)

Baileys_Babe · 16 October 2019 at 8:18AM

Are you likely to be getting any money at Christmas? Could that either go towards it? Or to replace the money you haven't put in various pots?

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