Home Work!!

Hello!

Well today was a snow day from work! Yay!
 I always save annual leave for this time of the year, the roads can be treacherous and I hate driving on the ice and snow.  Luckily I have an understanding boss!

So, what to do on my free day?

Well, I've been following  Laura at No More Spending who wrote recently about Passive Income, this is defined as income from   " a venture in which an individual does not directly participate"

Hmmm! Well I don't have any of that! No rents, savings, pensions etc! 

So, what to do!? Start looking for ways to save!

Firstly house insurance, this has been bought via a cash back site and £100 cheaper than my current insurer. It will save me money each month as we have saved to pay for it in one lump sum and it's cheaper than paying monthly, with the  cash back of £30 it's a win win! 

Secondly change  gas and electricity suppliers. I no longer have any loyalty to any company and will go to the one with the best price each month.  I've saved £5 a month and £40 for switching!

Thirdly, I've volunteered to work some extra nights, we get a additional payment for un-social hours and this will bring in an extra £60. 

Not a wasted day then! 

I'm off to read my new book "The Fifites Mystique" I'll be reviewing it soon : - )

House Insurance - Any suggestions!!

Hello,

Our house insurance is due for renewal and I thought this year as we have been more organised with our finances I would aim to pay it as one lump sum.
When looking at the figures  and playing around with voluntary excesses, it became clear that this was the best way forward.
My thoughts are towards putting the maximum down as the voluntary excess as this significantly reduces the cost of the insurance. I've looked around and most things cost under £500 so if they broke we would replace it ourselves.
Is this the right thing to do?
Any thoughts?

PS I've gone through a cash-back site as well so may get something back, yay!

Frugal 13!

Hello,

Hope your New Year is off to a good start?

This post is boring and I don't expect anyone to read or comment on it.I'm writing it as an online diary/reminder  to myself of how debt keeps you down and stops you achieving what you want.

I completed my financial review for myself and  Mr M. We're in Public  Sector jobs where we have to be vetted financially due to the information we are privy to, they want to see  how susceptible we are to being corrupted!
Things are better than they were last year mainly due to my wake up call  after reading Frugal Queen and SFT's blogs ( there are many others but  they get the credit for the initial light bulb moment!)
However  one debt has really perplexed me and then bloody annoyed me!

We have a credit card with H*****X and the outstanding amount in December  2011 was £2676
This year December 2012 the amount is £2701 !!!! How can that be? On a card that we cut up last year and hasn't been used for 12 months! Admittedly I have only paid the minimum amount each month but we actually owe more than we did when we started! Outrageous!

So it's been back  to the Snowball to see what can be swapped around and start throwing more at that debt. It's not the worst APR but it is the highest amount outstanding. Our credit rating isn't  brilliant or I would look to go for a 0% deal, we're just stuck with it and will have to wear it for now.

My financial  goal for 2013 is to pay off £11,267.29  of personal debt.

That's £938 a month. I already pay £750 towards it each month so will need to find an extra £188 a month.
I can't do extra employment because of my main job so the extra will have to come from overtime, cutting back and selling stuff!

I've already started and have been cutting back and selling on eBay. DVD's and old Wii games have gone to Music Magpie and  that amount will go straight off another debt. I also received a refund on a debt that I had overpaid and that's gone straight on another over payment (before it would have gone on the sales!)

So far so good! I'll do a post each month to see how I'm  progressing. : -)

(Of course if  I was really clever I'd do a spreadsheet but that's way out of my league!)

Happy New Year!

My evening will be spent doing our joint financial vetting forms for work ( sounds worse than it is!) Mr M is at work til midnight so hopefully it will keep me up til he comes home! I'm actually looking forward to doing it and reflecting on where we were this time last year and the improvements ( I hope!) that we have made!
I'll let you know tomorrow!  ; - )

Have a wonderful evening and here's to a Frugal 13!!

Mabel and Maisy x

Food Banks and Christmas

Hello,

I know everyone's thoughts and prayers will be the families in Connecticut x

It's the lead up to Christmas and  I'm not feeling particularly Christmassy and if it wasn't for our son I don't think I'd even bother with the tree, mean I know. I think it's the realization that Christmas is expensive and we're encouraged to spend money we don't have and then spend the whole of  January broke and wondering what we'd spent it on!

We don't need anything for Christmas and with our budgeting we are busy paying down our debt.We thought that maybe we would give a donation to a  national charity however  in our town a Foodbank has just opened, it was an eye-opener to Mr M and  I, despite our job roles, that there was a need for this service locally.

‘Every church should consider a foodbank’ Steve Chalke MBE, founder of Oasis, Stop the Traffik and Faithworks

Trussell Trust are the driving force behind the foodbanks and their website gives details of local churches running the the scheme. 

They give you a shopping list, all long life items that are meal time staples: 

Tinned tomatoes,soup,vegetables and fish

Pasta and rice

Tinned puddings

Breakfast cereals

UHT milk and juice 

Sugar, teabags and coffee

We decided that we would spend our Christmas money on buying the items instead of presents. Then we had the idea of asking work colleagues and Facebook friends to see if they wold join in too. So far we have had a great response and should be able to take  a fair few bags down to the church. 

Do you have foodbanks where you are? x