Money Saving and Credit Cards

My sealed tin has not seen much action over the past few weeks as I’ve not been spending cash – no cash = no money to put into the tin. I'm not tracking what goes in but I did weigh the tin and it was 7.1kgs - I'll weigh it again in a couple of weeks.  OK the notes won't register but as its mainly coinage - I'm hoping for £1,500 when its opened. In the tin today 1 £5, 3 £2, 3 £1, 3 50p, 3 20p, 1 2p, 3 1p - this lot weighed 120g.

 

 

So I have made a decision to draw out £50 cash each, any change and fivers will go into the tin and any £10 or £20 notes will go towards building up the emergency fund. So it’s a win win all round.

I did get three £2 coins and a fiver this week.

DaddyHen did the sums and transferred the balance from CC#3 to CC#2 and paid off the small amount remaining on CC#2.  Yippee he’s gone from having three cards to one – this card has the lowest interest; yes the balance has gone back over the £10k mark but with 0% on the balance transfer and the £1,000 (after snowballing) minimum being paid each month CC#2 will be paid off by beginning of February – sooner if there’s any spare cash.

We plan to clear out the loft during May – any items that can be sold will be and the money put towards clearing these cards.

How are your plans to save money and be debt free going?

  

MummyHen X

No – I am not a miser

Frugal Queen asked recently  Are you a miser?

In short – No.  But (there’s always a but and this is a BIG BUT) I don’t want to chuck my hard earned cash away so I am careful how I spend and with whom I spend with.

My preference for grocery shopping is to spend with the local butcher, baker and greengrocer; but in practical terms that’s not always possible so Mr T or Mr S will get a visit, on occasion Mr A but he’s the furthest away.  My corner shop Mr CoOp has some great yellow stickers; I always look for yellow stickers, whoopsie, items marked down; most things can be frozen but only buy if you will use it.  I recently got some yellow sticker chicken reduced from £4 to £2.05 and pork shops from £4.00 to £1.99 – they also had some Clover spread and Pizzas reduced but as they aren’t things we eat there’s no point in buying but because the lure of a nice brightly coloured yellow sticker.

We reviewed our energy supplier at the end of February.  We aren’t the best at turning lights off or unplugging equipment – do people really crawl behind the TV each night to turn it off at the mains? The dishwasher is used once a day on average, the washing machine is used on average twice a day, tumble dryer same during the winter – although we have made a conscious effort to reduce this. TVs in four rooms and satellites boxes; DVD player, two laptops, two monitors, a printer, a shredder, phone chargers, clock radios, kettle, fridges, freezers, oven, microwave, boiler, outside light, pond pump, charging drills and other equipment SonnyHen needs for work; it all mounts up. 

For a week every evening we turned off at the mains or unplugged as many devices as we could (obviously it would be foolish to turn off the freezer), took electric reading as we went to bed and then again first thing in the morning – we had used 4 units whilst we slept. The next week we just left everything as normal and we used 20 units – so YES it does make a difference

Do you unplug and switch off at the wall each night?

 

MummyHen X

Pet Insurance – to have or not to have

Do you have pet insurance for your pets?  We don’t - we used to. 11 years ago Mr Hum was hit by a car we had insurance and thank goodness we did as money was very tight and the bill was over £3,500. 

After that the insurance co increased the payments (we had three cats back then) and the monthly cost was £46 for all three back in 2000.  The annual jabs weren’t included and any scrapes they got into always seemed to be just below the £75 excess.  So we decided to cancel and since then haven’t had pet insurance and we have never had a huge bill.

Little cats accident has cost £2,567 so far - there’s still an operation to come in a few weeks.  DaddyHen thinks we should insure – I don’t well not with an insurance company.  We now have two cats who are 12½ and 10½ - 10yrs old seems to be the magic age after which the premiums go very high and lots of things are excluded.  I think we should put the premium in a box specifically for the cats – DaddyHen want to take out a policy.

We were very fortunate to have had the money in cash – no credit cards here!!!.  We still met the monthly goals – except one which was to put money aside for some ground works in the garden and some house maintenance during late spring but that can wait.

Have we been foolish or have we been wise not having insurance? 12 years of paying £46 each month = £6,624 we are still £4,057 better off over the past 12 years.

Would you insure or put the money in a Cat Box?

MummyHen X

Sealed pot challenge…

This is my sealed pot – well it’s more of a tin really.  It’s an old pantone tin from a few Christmases ago that had been relegated to the shed for ‘boys stuff’.  Well it’s now come in from the cold (and snow), cleaned up and sealed and used for my challenge.  I wasn’t going to buy anything new that would defeat the object of the challenge!!

 

I have been saving £2 coins and £5 notes since May 2012 and low denomination change has been going into the Pig for a while. All the coins, fivers and shrapnel has gone into the tin and the tin has been sealed. 

I have been sorting out stuff which will be put on ebay next weekend and the proceeds will be added to the tin.

Sold some yarn on Ravelry today - £7, DaddyHen came home with some change - £2 coin and £5 note; all for the tin.
 

MummyHen

Goals for 2013…

The last six months have been very revealing, challenging and something we should have done years ago.  I know this all sound like a cliché but it’s true; we should have done this years ago.

So what will 2013 hold - who knows - but we will be doing the following, 13 goals for 2013:

1.    Continue to spend less on food – we have now got into the habit of looking for bargains (DaddyHen says I’m obsessed with Yellow price reduction stickers).   Stock up on non-perishable items when they are on offer.

2.    Sealed Pot Challenge – see SFT SFT Sealed Pot Challenge for details;  I have been saving £2 coins and £5 notes (for some reason never get many of either of these) since May 2012, which will all go towards Sealed Pot Challenge.  I need to find a suitable pot as the jar I’m using is only small.

3.    No spending on credit cards.

4.    Finish CC#2 –  August.

5.    Start snowballing on CC#4 - September.

6.    Finish car loan – November.

7.    Finish CC#3 – December.

8.    Increase Emergency fund by £2,000 by year end.

9.    We will be losing weight - for me it’s been a battle for years, and is not helped by medication, but I am stone and half (21 pounds) lighter than I was this time last year. 

10.  Don’t start new knitting or crochet projects until the WIPs (Work in Progress) are finished – this is going to be tough.  I have a massive stash of yarn – I recently gave a huge bag to my mother and her sisters as they knit for charity and today sent over 2kgs of yarn to Frugal Mummy after her ask.

11.  Giving something back – Our local foodbank is based around the corner at the church and we’d like to volunteer, either in time, food or money.  DaddyHen & I went just before Christmas and spoke to the pastor to get an idea what involved. 

12.  Only buy what we need NOT what we want.

13.  Declutter & get rid of stuff – stuff we have so much stuff that we don’t use anymore or are unlikely to every use again, the house is full of it.  Sell it, if its saleable; or give to Charity Shop or freecycle.

OK there are Hens household goals for 2013

What will you be doing this year?

 

MummyHen X

 

Six months of blogging…

 

The year has ended on a high in the MummyHen household (we have not had any powercuts since Saturday morning - ssshhhhh)

After six months of blogging, six months of being careful with money, watching what we spend we have made some really good progress.

 

 

Credit card #1 has been paid in December good riddance – woooohooo (dances a jig).  I will write about the problems of trying to close the account.

 

CC#2 is now being targeted with final payment due in August.

 

DaddyHen Loan paid off in July.

Snowballing has begun – DH loan and CC#1 are now going towards CC#3 which should be paid off in latter months of 2013.

 

CC debt is now just over £42,000; down from over £54,000.

Emergency fund established in July.

Christmas - no cc spending everything is paid for.

 

 

And the best of all was making some lovely friends in blogland

Thanks to all of my followers and readers

Goals for 2013 are being finalised …

 

Happy New Year!!

MummyHen X