October Pay Day

Pay Day Today! *singing happy days are here again!*

Had a go at The Debt.

Credit Card 1   was £164.05      paid £24.50    now £139.55
Credit Card 2   was £174.00      paid £26.50    now £147.50
Overdraft:       was £400          paid £0.00      now £400.00

Starting Debt: £1990.80
New Total: £687.05 in the red.
% Debt Paid off: 65%

I am not paying off huge amounts at the moments, but I am trying to keep the momentum going as I do not want another month like September, where ultimately the debt has increased.

Still not great, but I have put £200 into savings, which means I hopefully now have enough to complete the task preparing the flat ready for rental.

I still need to

• Get the carpets cleaned.
• Obtain the electricity safety certificate
• Obtain the gas safety certificate
• Arrange a Man with a Van to move furniture

BANG! There goes the majority of the savings

I also now only have 3 more weekends to complete the clear out, that is, if someone wants to rent W Towers. Watch this space M'dears!

Frugally yours
Abigail
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The Debt, An Update.

Tomorrow is Pay Day. So, I thought today I would give you a bit of an update about where I am with The Debt.

Credit Card 1  Currently: £166.00
Credit Card 2  Currently: £174.00
Overdraft        Currently: £400.00

Total: £740.00

So my debt has increased after having to buy the washing machine and increasing my overdraft by £100.

But, I am still determined to pay it off and have now set myself 6 months to do so. March 2012.

I cannot set much more than minimal amounts in October, as most spare cash will be funnelled towards paying workmen to ensure the flat is ready to let.

Frugally yours
Abigail
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September's Debt Repayment & Working In Sales

Today is Pay Day, and I should be doing the conga around the room.

I am not.

Today I earned commission for the first time in a while £600 net to be exact, plus I got an added bonus of £100 for my expenses.

I should be whooping, laughing and paying off the additional debt I accumulated over the last couple of weeks and blogged about yesterday.

I am not.

When you work in sales, your financial life becomes feast or famine. You work from month to month never able to plan based on a salary as you never know what you will take home.

This month I have a nice amount to play with however, some of the work I have done is looking decidedly wobbly and I am concerned that my employer may claw some money back if things go badly.

So today I made a very small repayment of £50 across credit card 1 and credit card 2. My total debt has now been reduced to £837.70.

I am hopeful that by the time I return from holiday I will know more and can throw much more at the credit cards if everything looks stable.

I would be crackers to blow the lot on paying off my credit cards to then find myself in a position where I had to hand it back and end up owing my boss £600.  *shudder shudder* 

Life's tough in sales, and it I could my past self one piece of advice it would be to find a trade and avoid sales.

Yes, you make a lot of money quickly. The highs are fantastic. I remember one month taking home "£price of a new car" but the downs are so bad.

Stress, as the pressure is piled on by an employer, no money and living hand to mouth as basic salary is low to encourage 'hunger' for commission / bonus and a feeling of being trapped as you find you are used to large bonus payments and need them to pay mortgage, cars etc - items it is not easy to downsize quickly.

Yes, I would change a lot if I could and trying to swap careers in the middle of a recession is tricky to say the least.

However, Saturday I fly off with The Chap to Spain for 10 days. At least I know I paid a little off and have met my financial obligations without defaulting on anything EVER. And, when I get back it might be to good news that everything is stable and the commission can be flung at the credit cards with gay abandon!!!

Frugally yours

Abigail

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Arrrrrrrrrrggggggghhhhh! Falling Off The Wagon.

A cute little story to start today.

I was on the phone last night with my sister who has returned from her  summer holiday just spent with her husband and 3 yo son.

On the flight on the way home they were playing "I Spy" with my nephew and the following exchange took place.

Nephew "I spy with my little eye, something beginning with G!"

After a few minutes of incorrect guesses...

Nephew "Would you like a clue mommy?"

Mummy "Yes , please"

Nephew "It wears glasses and it lives with my Grandma"

The answer.... Grandpa... who was safely at home in Staffordshire.

***

I love these stories of kids and their logic and yesterday as I was thinking about our telephone exchange, I thought how much I wanted to go back to being a kid.

The reason?

As I mentioned at the end of yesterdays post, my washing machine has broken.

It sounds as if it is trying to take off, the whole kitchen rattles when it is on and the last straw ..... all my whites are now brown in places, rust coloured tie dye is not a good look on bed linen, towels and most especially knickers.

Completely depressed about it yesterday.

The call out fee for a washing machine repair man is £25 plus parts.

I bought this Hotpoint machine second hand (2yo) for £60 10 years ago from an old lady moving into sheltered housing. In exchange for 10 years service it has washed my clothes, bedding, pillows, etc without a murmur or a call out from the repair man EVER.

I was really mulling over the repair / replace issue again yesterday. But I just do not believe it is worth looking at a repair as I am fairly certain it now has multiple issues.

So time to buy a new washing machine after the 2 new tyres, the shower repair, the new hob, the new front door etc etc.

I called a local business for a quote on a similar machine. For £170 I could get a reconditioned machine with 6M warranty or for £250 I could get a new machine with 2 yrs warranty and they would remove my old machine, and deliver / install the new machine on Friday.

Before you start shouting "You can buy a new machine for £170 you silly cow!", I know, but installation / delivery / removal of the old machine is extra and I am buying from a small local privately owned business where they remember my name surely that is worth paying a little extra? I feel comfortable dealing with them and not some corporation.

My new machine is being delivered on Friday.

Now for the kicker, I had to use the damn credit card. First time in 4 years I had used it, and last night I had to dig them out from the cupboard then look up the pin number, then ring up and check they were actually actioned as they were still attached to the paperwork they were sent on.

So a massive fail, but if I had used my savings then I would have absolutely nothing left.

As we know I have 2 credit cards. CC1 has a balance of £0 and CC2 has a balance of £200.71.

CC1 has an APR of 24.9% and CC2 has an APR of 15.9%, so I should probably choose CC2 to use then, right?

Wrong! As CC2 is currently on a 0% balance transfer deal my new purchase of £250 would go under the existing balance of £200.71 and continue to attract interest of 15.9% until I was able to pay off the £200.71.

CC1 will offer me interest free purchases for 52 days by which time I should have the majority cleared, keep your fingers crossed about commission this month kids!

I am fed up about falling of the wagon (please don't hate me, but I want this blog to be honest at all times) and using my credit card after 4 years abstinence, but I need a reliable machine especially with renting the flat out shortly.

So there it is, at least I thought about how to buy it as wisely as I could.

To return to my original point, I want to be a kid again when all your money was spent on toys and sweets. Credit meant borrowing £1 from your mum to buy an umbrella hat, and most importantly if you put a muddy top in the washing basket 2 days later it turned up laundered / ironed and on your bed for you to put away.

Magic!

Not so frugally yours
Abigail
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April Debt Reduction

It is Pay Day and that means Debt Repayment. Hurray! one step closer to being debt free.

As I have already paid for our upcoming Amsterdam trip and as the car needed to be repaired, this month I am not able to pay off quite as much as normal. Boo...  :o(

CAR LOAN           £0
CREDIT CARD 1:  Was £452.58      Paid £120.00      Now £332.58
CREDIT CARD 2:  Was £634.36      Paid £26.34        Now £608.02
OVERDRAFT:       Was £300.00      Paid £0               Now £300.00

ORIGINAL DEBT: £1990.80
MARCH DEBT:     £1386.94
APRIL PAID:        £146.34
NEW TOTAL:       £1240.60

I have paid 7.35% of my original debt back this month, and 37.7% of the total back since January . Small steps...

I am still hoping to be debt free by December at the absolute latest, and want Credit Card 1 finished by early June.

For those of you who have only recently started reading my blog (welcome!!) Credit Card 2 is interest free for 12months, so my priority is Credit Card 1 as I still pay interest. Though it is minimal, this month £2.45  

I also put £200 into savings and paid circa £35 for my monthly service on the flat. All the other monthly bills have been taken care of. My direct debits (mortgage etc) come out of a bills account I set up so that so I never go overdrawn.

I need to set my April food budget. £20 / week. So £80 to take me until 26th April 2012.

I have also today been checking my tax code as it changes on the 5th April. I will be better off by £14 per month. Thank you kindly.

What could you do with £14??

Frugally yours
Abigail
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Debt Reduced.

It is Pay Day, and that means I can tackle "The Debt" again.

I made £100 net in commission on top of my salary this month, pretty poor, but better than a poke in the eye with a bent stick, plus last week I had an expenses cheque for £150 which cleared this morning.

The result.....MY CAR LOAN IS PAYED OFF - 1 month early!!! So happy.

I transferred first thing this morning (actually whilst lying in bed, I have an App for that) £223 through to pay it off completely. What a way to start the day! Got up and shimmied my way to the bathroom for my morning ablutions.

It did not leave much left to pay off the credit cards this month, but now I can really start hitting them in April.

Here is my new March statement.

Car Loan,       Was £223      Paid £223     New Balance £0 (aka zilch, zero nada)
Credit Card 1, Was £479.52 Paid £29.39  New Balance £450.13 (+ interest)
Credit Card 2, Was £660.00 Paid £26       New Balance £634 (interest free)
Overdraft,      Was £300      Paid £0         New Balance £300

Starting Debt: £1990
Feb Total: £1662.88
March Total: £1384.13
Amount Paid off this month: £278.39
Percentage paid this month: 13.98%
Total Percentage Paid off: 30.44%

I also transferred £200 into my savings account and have paid my monthly service charge of £35.48.

I am now going to starting hitting Credit Card 1 as that is costing me £3 / month in interest. I want it gone by June at the latest.

As a little treat I bought myself that bread book I blogged about yesterday from Amazon - 1p total with P&P - £2.81

http://www.amazon.co.uk/One-Hundred-Bread-Machine-Recipes/dp/1856057143

I just want to make everything in here even though I do not have a bread machine. Now I know the basics of bread making I can still follow the recipes.

Forgot my bread for lunch again today, so had a sandwich  from Subway - £3.

I feel in the last few days I have fallen off the wagon. I have not been running around spending money unnecessarily, but I do think I have taken my eye off the ball somewhat. So after my visitors this weekend it is back to boot camp. £5 for 5 days etc.

Isn't life great?
Frugally yours
Abigail
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To Pie or Not To Pie

I quite like Thursdays, well I like each day of the working week on a sliding scale as we get closer to Friday. My favourite time of the week is when you first get home on Friday evening. If I could just bottle that feeling of the weekend stretching out in front of me then I suspect, I really would not have to worry about my debts or financial future at all.

To begin with, a quick update, after the new credit card arrived the other day, I rang them up and checked the balance transfer had gone through. It had, £690.00 on it.

I also thought to check the payment date and it was set to something like the 29^th of each month. Well as I pay the credit card off sometime between the 3^rd and 5^th depending on payday this would have meant I would have incurred charges for late payment as I would not have paid the card between the date the statement was raised circa 10^th and the date the payment became due circa 29^th. Can you imagine my horror if this had happened?

So I urge you, if undertaking a balance transfer, just check the payment date with customer services on the phone. I really am pleased about doing this, but I will have to remember that the company will add a £20 BT fee on shortly. This is the only charge that is going on that card for the next 12 months, believe me!

I also rang up the old credit card, and checked they had got a zero balance on it. I had not accounted for interest from the old account when transferring the balance over, therefore had £6.01 outstanding. I paid immediately, so the credit card should close automatically. But, I will be keeping an eye on these pests.

A good job done!

Another good job is the £5 challenge I set myself this week, (well in actual fact £7.50) I went out today and grabbed a packet of crisps 50p (well this is a frugal blog not a diet blog!) and also popped into my local 99p store. It is like Poundland….only cheaper….by a penny….get the idea? And bought a new car washing sponge. 

Huge isn’t it? Think I am going to cut it in half.

Anyhoo, this means £2.31 left for tomorrow. That is loads! I think I might be able to do this kids!

 I also like the fact that by using cash as I have, it has meant I am able to track my current account online a lot easier. When you see a balance on the screen I know it is accurate, as I have not been waving the debit card around purchasing overpriced knick knacks.

I did earlier this evening, dig out my rainy day jar (i.e. an old mah-ooo-sive pub whiskey bottle and emptied it. £45.70 in shrapnel. Cannot decide what to do with it whether to bag it up and knock it off the debt or wait until it gets a little higher say £50 / £100. Nice dilemma to have though isn’t it?

The Chap is coming over tomorrow night after work for dinner. We are planning a day out (venue to be decided) on Saturday to get away from all the DIY. I will not feed him my frugal fare, so I will tomorrow have to pop and grab a couple of things after work to make dinner, I am going to take this out of my weekend budget as officially the working week will be over. Cheating! I hear you cry…. Well my blog, my rules…:o)

I do have a bit of a dilemma, there is this absolutely beautiful pie dish at my local House of Fraser, I like it so much I have been in three times this week to keep looking at it. Reduced in the sale to £4.25, so not a fortune, yet a really useful size for one. I have stopped myself from buying it so far, but I know that if I do not buy it in the next few days then I will miss out.

http://www.houseoffraser.co.uk/Linea+Curve+20.5cm+pie+dish+red/138638799,default,pd.html

What does everyone think I should do?

I did pop over to pick up that book I got from freecycle this week after work - Rebecca By Daphne Du Maurier

I am loving it! Such a great story, read 50 pages in the bath this evening. Perfect... and Free!

Frugally yours

Abigail

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NSD, and Another Frugal Five

Today, I achieved an NSD. What is an NSD you might ask? Well it is a No Spend Day. Which means no money got handed over to anyone during the course of the day. That is a SUCCESS! Yay me!

So halfway through the week and I still have £3.80 in cash in my purse. Hope I can make it until Friday without getting more cash.

I am really trying to get more financially organised and as part of that, my new credit card arrived, so officially I have only one credit card and the overdraft costing me any money in interest.

Had a quiet evening last night, I was supposed to go to my evening class, but as I felt so ill as I am still nursing this cold. I decided to go home. Grabbed a bath, then turned off the heating (remember target of £250 for next quarters utilities) and started cooking. Bumped the eggs dish for the fish fingers, and ate it with boiled cabbage and some frozen home made cauliflower cheese, very tasty and just what i faniced as a bit of "soul food" when feeling under par.

I have started thinking about upcoming expenditure and gave myself a shock about April. It suddenly came to me in April I will need to pay the Utilities again, pay my car tax, buy a present for The Chap's milestone birthday and the service charge on W Towers will be going up. So I need to start planning now.

I also came to the conclusion yesterday after putting £30 of petrol in the car that the money left in my current account will not last until the beginning of February when I get paid next. I was being a little optimistic, I think, as at the beginning of Jan (if you remember) I put £300 away into savings to pay for the gas and electricity. When that bill arrived I actually did not go into savings to pay it. So if I do end up taking some cash say £50 or £100 from my savings to help me through the next 2 week, then I really think that it will still be a win for January, some money put aside in savings and over 8% off my debt.

ANOTHER FRUGAL FIVE FOR YOU

1. Did you know your freezer is most energy efficient when full, as it takes less energy to keep the drawers at the required temperature. Lesson: keep it full. When cooking make too much and freeze the rest into portion sizes. The same is true of your oven. When baking, fill up the spare space with baking trays and tins. More energy efficient, better for the environment and lowering your utilities bill.
2. Always look for alternatives, a case in point. I belong to a book club and need to read Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier. My local library did not have it, so I posted a Wanted on Freecycle, Within 12 hours I had received an email offering a 1970s copy of the book. From a lady half a mile from my home. All free. Great!
3. Mend it! Always, look at the option of mending an item, even in todays throw away society, big money can be saved. A man 10 miles from me mends Dysons for £35, and The Chap recently got his xbox mended for £25. But this month’s award goes to my sister. My nephew dropped her iphone about a week ago smashing the glass back. Apple wanted £200 to repair it. She googled her problem and found a “You Tube” clip on repairing her phone. She then had to buy the special screwdriver and a new back, which came in at £25. It took her 5 minutes to do it herself. Now that is a great saving!
4. Shopping, do not get tempted with "buy one, get one half price" deals in the supermarkets. Ask yourself, "Do I need another?" As when you buy these deals then you are SPENDING more money, not saving yourself money. This is a good lesson also in any sale. You are NEVER saving money at a sale but spending less.
5. If you live in the UK, join Martin Lewis' MoneySavingExpert website and sign up for his weekly emails. I have had free pizzas, cheap shoes and countless deals because of this man. Well worth the 2minutes it takes. Plus you only get 1 email per week and no spam.

Off to see The Chap tonight as been a week since I saw him last. Really looking forward to it!

Frugally yours
Abigail
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It Is Good To Talk or You Are Not Alone

You are not alone.

It is January 2012 and you sit down to look at what you want to do this year, perhaps a nice holiday or a new car?

And slowly you realize that the debt that you were in in 2011 has grown and the £8000 is now £12,000.

It seems like all around you your peers, friends and family are enjoying the good life, holidays, expensive technical toys and fancy cars. They do not appear to be in debt so why are you?

Well, what I want to say is it is good to talk.

About 12 months ago when I really got the money saving bug, I started talking to my friends and family. I explained I was in debt and trying to pay it back, that my credit card took priority over a dinner out or an expensive weekend away. 

Honesty breeds honesty and it is an important tool in changing your financial habits. I am not saying ask you next door neighbour or friend how much debt they are in. But often if you tell someone they will tell you. Then, you realize you are not alone.

You  will discover that probably a lot of those around you are in debt too, you may even find that yours is minimal compared to those you envy.  Someone might be scathing, (well they have been with me) but I do not care, this is my business and I am taking care of it. Some might even say they have not got any debt. Take into account they could be lying.

Often that Wii, Ipad, new car, or even the deposit on a house has been paid on a credit card. Did you know the average UK credit card debt per household for 2012 is £7,982. Well if that is the average, there are many people out there without debt and many with a significantly higher figure. Ask yourself as you look at those you compare yourself with, which out of these two categories do you think they will be in? 

However, it has made me realize that I AM alone when it comes to paying everything back. Not many others are.

Paying back the money, makes me feel good

I will in 12 months be debt free, will they? I will be able to fall asleep and only worry about the mortgage, which I know I can afford.

In talking about finance with others, we stop pretending to be richer than we are, and therefore we stop feeling we are owed the new car, the ipad and the ensuite bathroom.

Talking is a good thing, and one I intend to continue to keep doing.

As a slight aside, I went out at lunchtime today and spent £2, nearly 27% of my weekly cash budget from Sunday, but I did get 3 tins of diet coke and a multi pack of crisps which should last me the rest of the week at lunchtime. You have got to love Poundland!. 

Total left: £3.80.

Frugally yours

Abigail

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To The Batcave! (or the reality of my situation)

It takes me just over an hour to get to work in the mornings and just under to get home in the evenings, at this time of the year when I am leaving home in the dark and getting home in the dark too, I often tend to drive without the radio on for half of my journey and have a quiet muse.

On my most recent journey, I started thinking about my debt and whether the figure I had given you was entirely accurate.

I arrived home and in a very “To The Batcave” moment immediately approached the filing cabinet and began to document exactly where it all lay. Here is the result…

Overdraft           £300.00

Car Loan            £445.00

Credit Card 1      £535.94

Credit Card 2      £709.86

Total                 £1990.80

It seemed I was inaccurate in my earlier post by £40.

However, yesterday was payday and I spent my lunch hour paying my bills immediately. I knocked £111.00 off the car loan meaning that should be paid off by April, and then £25 off each of the credit cards. This is more than the minimum payment, but really is not bringing down the balance by much.

Credit Card 1 has been on a balance transfer rate of about 4% for the life of the balance and since I have not bought anything since doing this it has not worth changing for the time being as it is cheaper than a loan – my priority has been on paying off the car loan and then tackling Credit Card 2.

I really looked at the Credit Card 2 statement yesterday and realised that I am paying £12 in interest every month. My goodness if yesterday I would not pay £3 for a wooden spoon, then you can imagine my reaction to £12. So I applied for a new credit card and was accepted I then arranged a balance transfer and have got 0% for 12Months at a charge of £20.00 for the handling fee this over 12months should save me about £157 in interest and means that at least until the car loan is paid my £25 per month will actually pay off the balance and not half balance and half interest. It will be paid off within the 12months, so another reason I am glad for that 30 minutes quiet time travelling to and from work. 

If I can pay off credit card 2 and the car loan by the end of the year that is a total of £1154 off my debt.

As a slight aside, I do know I have an “excellent” credit rating, but Credit Card 2 actually cancelled their card with me about a year ago. The reason? Well I used to have a balance of circa £7000 with them until a few years ago when I started paying everything off and stopped using the card. It appears they do not like this much and cancelled the card after 18months. They could not ask for the full balance back and I was able to pay off something every month as per normal- but it does make you think doesn’t it? They can cancel your card just because you stopped extending your credit and started paying them back! There is a lesson somewhere in that.

Anyway yesterday, I paid off a total £161 off my debt. Bringing the total down to £1829.80, but interest will be added on for next month.

I also put £300 into savings but I fully expect all of that will be needed to pay for heating over the last 3 months and the bill should arrive shortly.

The one bill I have not paid is service charge for my flat. The Housing Association I have to pay, recently amalgamated with another Housing Association, and suddenly they decided I will not have an annual bill but a monthly one instead of £35.48. I did not realise and have got into 1 months arrears, so I need to toddle off to the post office and pay £70.96. I would point out I have been on the phone to them to complain at their unilateral decision making process. I think I may have used the term “sharks” in there somewhere to the poor chap on the phone.

So perhaps I should document, a free thing that I really love to round off what is actually quite a heavy post. Well this is it…

My bed. I have a kingsize bed all to myself and sleep cocooned like a caterpillar in the sheets. I have a high thread count cotton duvet set bought in better times.  I used to spray the White Company pillow spray on my sheets every night too as I love the smell of rosemary and lavender. However at about £12 per bottle, that has been replaced by the more sensible Avon alternative at about 99p (sleep therapy range) I spray it on then go and have a wash and by the time I go to bed really it smells wonderful and I never have a problem dropping off. Plus sleeping is free – if allowed I could be inherently lazy.

Got some nice plans to the weekend – will share soon.

Frugally yours

Abigail

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