Ongoing Journey to being a Frugalista..

brizzlegirl · 2 May 2018 at 10:19PM

Hi Lou
Seems a waste of money? The pricey bit is the first few years when the depreciation is massive. Think we are best keeping the car, paying the cost (around £11k) and then maybe exchanging it for a newer one in a couple of years. Were looking at hybrids but recharging is an issue round here. OH was also suggesting we refinance? Am reluctant to do that is we can do some 0% shimmies.. but who knows. Will have to ponder.

Hope everyone is good, thanks for stopping by x

beanielou · 3 May 2018 at 4:04PM

brizzlegirl wrote: »

Hi Lou
Seems a waste of money? The pricey bit is the first few years when the depreciation is massive. Think we are best keeping the car, paying the cost (around £11k) and then maybe exchanging it for a newer one in a couple of years. Were looking at hybrids but recharging is an issue round here. OH was also suggesting we refinance? Am reluctant to do that is we can do some 0% shimmies.. but who knows. Will have to ponder.

Hope everyone is good, thanks for stopping by x

Fair point.
Most poeole I know seem to re lease as they cant afford the balloon payment.

greent · 3 May 2018 at 8:33PM

We've just paid the balloon payment on OH's car last month (was due Oct/ Nov, but cleared last few months of lease payments and then the final bit in one go last month, saving £170+ on interest (better than nothing) My view is that the car is worth more than the balloon payment cost, so it made sense to - and means we are finance free going fwd

brizzlegirl · 4 May 2018 at 8:39PM

Hi there - balloon payment is around the same as the trade in value But reckon we can scramble together the balloon payment via % offers on a couple of cards. Two came through just yesterday so I will have a look at what we can do and maybe raid another EF. I will not touch the S&S ISA tho as that is sacrosanct.

Just been out for DD1s celebration. She is a cheap date!! £80 for 4 including a generous tip and drinks for me and OH. Off to the cinema early doors tomorrow.

Hope everyone gets some time off this weekend. Will try and sort scores on doors soon.. x

beanielou · 4 May 2018 at 8:56PM

Look forward to the scores on the doors.

Have a lovely weekend

xx

Seasidegal58 · 4 May 2018 at 10:03PM

Glad to hear the eating and exercise is paying off. I always find that when I am eating really sensibly all sorts of things like heartburn and a blocked nose plus cough disappear miraculously!

Kids turning 18 is always expensive! DD's celebration meal didn't sound too bad at all though.

And well done you for altering your jacket yourself which was a simple job. Most people don't seem to bother these days - just take their clothes to the tailors or buy new things! (Most youngsters seem to be guilty of the last as quite a few don't appear to be able to sew!).

Have a brill weekend brizzle.

brizzlegirl · 6 May 2018 at 10:34AM

Hello all :wave:

So.. have just spent about an hour on the spreadsheets and YNAB, sorting out what happened in April and also trying to get the money together for the car final payment.

Might as well get it out into the open, it isn't very good. We have been knocked sideways by vehicle repairs , big household spends, less income in the month etc, but also lets be honest we also did things like have an easter holiday, I bought some clothes and the list of spends on clubs and lessons just goes on and on and on.

So our savings rate was 13%. Pretty carp. Must do better. We did put money into S&S ISA and our pensions, but not as much as we should and our EF has been ravaged by the holiday spend which I sorted in early May. So I have about £330 in emergency and R&M funds and £1k in the tax fund. Very disappointingly the OD seems to be creeping up again...which is pretty shocking. So thats a priority to get back very much in the black.

On the plus side I have put the money aside for the car so in a month or so we will have 1) paid off the last holiday CC and 2) have sufficient funds at 0% from two CCs to pay for the car outright. Its not great, but at least there will be a sizeable reduction in our required outgoings - although as we have decided to switch the payments onto the CCs we borrowed the money from it won't be an obvious difference. We will keep two CCs for the loyalty points and pay them off each month in full.

Decluttering totals were woeful but until the glorious weather the AFDs and exercise totals were not bad.
Not drinking alcohol during the week is getting easier, partly as I am so tired at the moment and as the two don't mix with me, its been a cup of tea rather than a glass of wine most evenings. (I so know how to live :rotfl:)

Have updated my spreadsheet, signature and YNAB and here's hoping for a really good May. And June and July. Need to be firmly on track, especially as our highly profitable lodger is moving on in a few weeks.

Hope everyone gets a chance to enjoy the weather, thanks for reading and supporting and generally popping by x

lucielle · 6 May 2018 at 10:47AM

It sounds like you know what you need to do. I just struggle with putting it into practice! My youngest DD is 18 today.
L

brizzlegirl · 6 May 2018 at 11:03AM

List of jobs for today:

- [STRIKE]order contact lens supplies from a cheap site that I originally found on here[/STRIKE] Done
- start filing the mountains of paper in the study..they are towering heaps which makes no one feel great

- put all the appliances on to make good use of the sunshine and free electricity boost - washing machine and DW about to go on
- finish off some gardening
- s[STRIKE]hift payable amount of £11 odd from TCB to my bank account [/STRIKE] Done
- relax with friends and family and get the MSE mojo back

x

brizzlegirl · 6 May 2018 at 11:05AM

Thanks L...wow we both have Spring babies...(well not babies anymore, clearly :rotfl:)

She is just peeling herself out of bed to go and revise. Her friends stayed over and then all headed out at 10 for work and/or revision. Pretty committed bunch really, although the paid work is a necessity for most

which makes me sad. DD1 gave up her job last week as she goes into the final month and of course her earnings never kept the household afloat so hardly the same stress.

Need to get stronger on trimming our costs. Just showed DD1 the YNAB reports of what we get through most months and she was shocked....

Ongoing Journey to being a Frugalista..

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