Don't call it a dream.... Call it a plan

Jox · 30 January 2017 at 12:22PM

Good luck kitty and happy birthday! Sorry about the ex but it sounds like you are better off without that one!
Take care

kittykatneedscash · 2 February 2017 at 1:49PM

Since the first of January I have kept a money diary and track every penny spent, I knew January would be a spendy month I had my dog at the vets for her annual booster, a (cheap) spa day for my birthday, drinks out and a gig. The totals are that I spent a bit more than I earned but I'm not going to beat myself up over this hopefully I can claw some back in February as I don't have anything planned.

I generally spend my time at home alone with the dog now as I don't have much to do socially so I really enjoyed my couple of treats in January.

Managing to keep my grocery spends low and taking lunch to work everyday. Tracking every penny spent again in February.

kittykatneedscash · 2 February 2017 at 2:04PM

My plan is to clear the following debts and then save for the following

£952 Credit card 0% - clear this first with regular payments plus and extra money I can make from MB, TCB, selling etc

£2000 / £6000 family loan I have already saved £2000 towards this and there is no interest and no rush. Even if they have to wait 10 years they aren't bothered but I would rather clear this as I would feel better.

Increase my emergency fund to £2000 being on my own and never expecting to own a home alone with only one wage I feel I need this so don't want to use this towards debts.

Save £1500 then start to make a big effort with finishing the house renovations, I may need more but this will make a start and I need quite a bit for furniture as some point as I have rooms I don't use as they are just bare

Eventually the long term plan is to start making extra payments on the mortgage but a lot of other things to do first.

Feels good to write my plan down and I'm pretty determined so I will find a way.:j

doingitanyway · 2 February 2017 at 2:20PM

kittykatneedscash wrote: »

Save £1500 then start to make a big effort with finishing the house renovations, I may need more but this will make a start and I need quite a bit for furniture as some point as I have rooms I don't use as they are just bare

I so identify with this. I would so love to do up my spare room and renovate my bathroom but on one salary and with debt too it is hard. Although a little voice in my head says 'well done you! You did this all by yourself' Keep going. I have subscribed to encourage you

I'm older than you and a little concerned about your pension. Do you get pay increases? I used those to keep increasing my pension contributions by 1% each time. I really didn't notice that way. Just a thought...
DIA x

kittykatneedscash · 28 February 2017 at 12:30PM

Ok looking back through my diary these were some of my plans for the beginning of Feb

Pay off credit card asap £952 @0% (through regular payments and any added income I can make TCB, MB etc) - Current balance is £922 but I have £429.12 saved towards this the card is 0% I think its psychological that I want to keep hold of the money for the time being then pay it off in one lump I would be annoyed at myself if I had to use the card for any reason after paying bit here and there.

Pay off loan from parents £4000 - I still have £6000 left to pay but have £2160.17 saved towards this so only reduced by a little this month but more than nothing.

I already have an emergency fund of £1500 which I want to keep rather than use to reduce debt at the moment - My emergency fund currently stands at £1900.34 once this is at 2k I will focus on the credit card / loan from parents and house renovation fund

I am currently trying to Konmari my house starting on clothes don’t have a lot so could end up with hardly anything - Clothes done but not got any further I need to crack on books next!

As you can see I prefer to save towards debts but not actually pay them back erm... there is reason though, there is no rush to pay my parents back but I would feel so much better once this is gone but I would hate to pay some back and then need to borrow again so for the time being it's staying put in my account.

I think being on my own has made me feel far more vulnerable financially I can't see there being anyone else in the picture for a very long time but feel like a mortgage on my own is a big responsibility.

I have opened a Nationwide account with 5% interest up to 2.5K which I will keep some of the money in.

I have also switched one of my current accounts with has my direct debits for my Mortgage and utilities to TSB I only opened this account yesterday so if all goes to plan I should get £125 for switching, 3% interest upto 1.5K and 5% cashback on contactless purchases upto £5/ month. I've known I should switch around for quite a while but so far all my accounts current, savings, mortages have all been with the same bank when I sat down and actually looked around and got my head around it I can gain so much more by switching around and opening new accounts. Just have to make sure I swap enough money around to meet the minimum pay in amounts.

kittykatneedscash · 2 March 2017 at 11:10AM

So at the weekend my iPhone was lost / stolen / missing in action it wasn't insured so I've had to buy a new one gutted!! :mad:

I didn't want to sign up to a 24 month contract and increase my monthly outgoings so I bought one outright out of the money I've saved for my parents and will pay that back as soon as I can. So my Saturday night out ended up being the most expensive I've ever had. It's done now though so trying not to dwell on it and carry on with my plan.

I'm off tomorrow and not much planned for the weekend so shouldn't spend too much just a few groceries and maybe a curtain pole (all rock and roll in my house at the moment) :rotfl:

Hopefully get some items decluttered / listed on Ebay and maybe some wallpaper stripped

kittykatneedscash · 6 March 2017 at 1:33PM

Ok so my cheap weekend didn't quite go to plan I did get the curtain pole just need to figure out how to put it up I'm not even sure if I still have a drill or not, went for a lovely long walk with my mum and our dogs on Saturday morning and to visit my sisters new allotment with my niece and nephew had lots of fun building a bug hotel with them. I ended up going out Saturday night only for a couple of hours and ended up going to an open mic night last night with a new friend. I know a couple of people at the pub that was hosting it so got a couple of drinks bought from an old school friend who could possibly be a new love interest. He's very keen I'm just not sure I am ready for anything yet but it was nice to spend time together. Watch this space if it does lead anywhere he has his own company wealth management / financial advisor so maybe he can teach me a thing or two:rotfl:

kittykatneedscash · 6 March 2017 at 4:13PM

Also had my first months interest payment from my new n@tionwide account £3.48 :j woop woop interest always used to be a minus figure so this 'free money' is amazing not much but should be double that this month as I've transferred another 1k of my emergency fund over. Need to set up the switch on my TSB account and set up the internet banking I will try do this tonight if I get chance.

I listed one item on Eb@y on Saturday a handbag that was a gift a while ago that I've only used once which sold a few hours after :j Need to get that ready to post tonight too. Really feel like I am starting to get somewhere now I have taken control of my finances. (Still annoyed about having to fork out for a new iPhone though!!) My anxiety has risen it's head again today though I think it is linked to the possible love interest I definitely have my guard up now and almost think if I'm on my own I can't get hurt again so just see how things go I guess. Hope everyone is having a positive Monday.

kittykatneedscash · 7 March 2017 at 11:43AM

I set up the internet banking for my new TSB account last night and set up the switching service. I am a little nervous about this as I haven't done this before. The direct debits that come out of the account is 2 mortgages, credit card bill, gas, electric and water I hope they all get transferred ok. The switch should be all complete by 30/3 fingers crossed not a lot I can do now other than sit and wait.

Final £150 repaid from my ex this morning :j only taken 5 months and a lot of hard work from me but to be honest I was very doubtful I would get it back at all. So £100 towards saving to pay of the balance of the credit card and £50 in my saving account for 'me'. Not sure what I'm going to use this for yet but I've decided to try and build a little fund up for me I hardly ever buy myself anything like clothes etc. and I think my straighteners are on the way out I've had them over 10 years so at the moment I'm going to try and save a little bit of 'me' money.

Still waiting for my £40 from one poll which will be allocated to the credit card too not sure how long that normally takes fingers crossed it drops in my account soon

kittykatneedscash · 9 March 2017 at 3:30PM

Home insurance is due for renewal this month. My renewal came through as £17.08/month I am currently paying £14.17 for buildings and contents. Managed to get this for £8.72/month. I went through TCB and should have got £21 cashback but currently tracking at £33.60 not sure why it's more but I won't be complaining if it clears at that.:beer:

Next thing to sort is Sky phone and broadband I'm out of contract and they messed my last couple of bills up ( added sports and movies without me asking twice!!) Think I'm going to cancel and see if they offer me a better deal. If not I might try and do without Sky and just shop around for phone and broadband seems to be lots of offers for new customers anyway so if I cancel and end up re-joining at a later date should still be better off.

Don't call it a dream.... Call it a plan

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