finance – Fitness Finance Life

2020 is THE year

finance fitness January 5, 2020January 5, 2020 by admin

I’m making 2020 the year of change, the year that I have to sort my self out both in health & in wealth.

Wealth

I have plans to start paying down my debt, slowly at first but throwing what I can at it when I can. I have set up a separate YNAB budget just for debts as well as it’s own bank account.

I am also setting targets for things I want to achieve throughout the year.

Lewis (bonfire night) £100 / £10 pcm
Christmas £200 / £10 pcm – to be added to as & when
Offers £300 / £15 pcm – to be added to as & when
Savings £no target / £10 pcm – to be added to as & when
Daytona flights £1010
Daytona hotel £2000
NASCAR tickets £1500

The Daytona holiday isn’t til Feb 2021 so have time to save up.

Health

As of 5th January, I am 166.4 lbs

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My measurements are:

As you can see I have a ways to go. I have plans to join a crossfit box in February, it’s £75 a month but cheaper than other boxes and it for 3 classes a week rather than the usual 2.

What are other peoples plans for 2020?

The struggle goes on

finance December 21, 2019December 21, 2019 by admin

It would appear that I don’t have enough money to cover all bills for January!!!

Between now & 1st Janaury I have the following things going on:

Xmas drinks
Boxing day drinks
OH’s birthday
New Years event

I have £60 in the bank and £38 in Paypal. I think I still need a little food but have just had a food delivery so that will be dinners for the next few weeks thank goodness.

I get OH’s bills share on 29th, as the 29th is a Sunday I no doubt will get it on 30th not 27th like I want.

So onto bills.

30/12 – £650 into bank
30/12 – £47 mobile + £55 cable (1/2 of bill)
30/12 – £548 left in bank

02/01 – £16 gym + £34.99 gym
02/01 – £13.20 TV Licence
02/01 – £483.81 left in bank

03/01 – £1 + £5.93 debt payments
03/01 – £25 Vanquis
03/01 – £30 other credit cards (not even min payments)
03/01 – 421.88 left in bank

07/01 – £5.99 Netflix
07/01 – £415.89 left in bank

10/01 – £306.99 into bank
10/01 – £722.88 total in bank

11/01 – £700 rent (£50 still owed)
11/01 – £22.88 in bank

17/01 – £246.77 into bank
17/01 – £50 rent
17/01 – £50 cable
17/01 – £169.65 left in bank (spends)

Yeah, it’s going to be a struggle, I haven’t even mentioned the electric or water or if I have to pay a bigger first payment to cable. The £169 most probably won’t be there on the 17th. I’m avoiding paying my credit cards as I just can’t afford to. I will make up for it come February.

I can’t get a loan unless I want to use a guarantor (not likely) & my parents are on a cruise til mid-January I think, so there isn’t much I can do really,

Struggling

finance life uni December 3, 2019December 3, 2019 by admin

So I had a meltdown as at Christmas event on Sunday. I don’t know what really went on I don’t remember much of it. One min I’m having a great time the next I’m in tears and feeling all alone. I can’t face seeing the people I was with that day (other than OH) or going to that pub for a long time. In fact, I don’t even want to leave the house. I called in sick for my placement yesterday and cancel my bank shift for today. Now I need to make up those hours and that pay.

Speaking of pay, I have no idea how I am going to pay the bills in January or the CCJ if I get one. One thing going my way (I think) is that I might be able to push the ccj back to January by saying I can’t do the mediation on 12th December. I can’t see I’d get a court date for December. Also, Moriarty never show up to court so it goes against them.

I’m feeling very down at the moment, not saying much at all and looking distant.

One good piece of news. I got my final uni marks yesterday and I got 88% on one of the components!!! I’ve never had anything like that before. Due to having 2 very poor marks, my overall grade will be sitting on the border of 2:2/2:1 but I’m happy with that. On;y the OSCE to come back but no-one ever fails that.

My finances laid bare

finance November 19, 2019November 19, 2019 by admin

What can I say about my finances, other than they can only improve from this point forward.

I have a few different strategies for certain debts: statute-barred; repayment; DMP.

I used to be in a Debt Management Plan and I even had a DRO at one point but I never learned my lesson so it seems. Those that I’m not paying off I am going down the statute bared route & hoping that I make it through 6 years (1.4 years down). I am having issues with one account and I’m currently fighting a CCJ in court.

I wanted to make a post detailing my plans and making me accountable. I intend to update once a month on how everything is going.

Statute-barred

Creditors have to take legal action about debts within certain times which are set out in the Limitations Act 1980. For most sorts of debts and bills in England and Wales this time is six years.
If the creditor doesn’t start court action within this time, the debt is not enforceable because it is “statute-barred”. When a debt is statute-barred it still exists legally, but because you cannot be taken to court for it, you do not have to make any payments to it.
This six-year period begins when the creditor has a cause of action – this is the point at which the creditor could go to court for the debt.
If you are making the normal monthly payments to a debt, you can’t be taken to court for it. It is only when you have missed payments and the creditor can go to court that the 6-year period starts.

I am going this route for most of my closed & defaulted accounts. So far only one has taken me to court where I’m fighting a CCJ, the others either aren’t contacting me or are sending idol threats via text. I am counting down the months til I can say bye-bye to them.
If any of these come back and start threatening court, I will drag it out as far as I can then try to set up a DMP with them then look to offer full & final settlements down the line. I am going to do this alone and not through a fee-free company so I have full control over everything and can offer more money to one if I have some left over at the end of the month

David Lloyd [gym] £580 – no longer on credit file – heard nothing [poss SB]
Trugym [gym] £86 – no longer on credit file – heard nothing [poss SB]
Lending Stream [PD] £86 – no longer on credit file – heard nothing [poss SB]
QuickQuid [PDL] £539 – taking me to court
Natwest [Loan] £4888 – Default on file – treats by text [1.4/6 SB]
Natwest [OD] £766 – Default on file [1.4/6 SB]
Very £766 – Default on file – treats by text/letter [0.11/6 SB]
JD Williams £1241- Default on file – unenforceable [1/6 SB]
Cash Plus [card] £280 – Default on file [1.4/6 SB]

DMP

A debt management plan (DMP) is a debt solution that can be used to help people pay back their debts at an affordable rate. It’s normally suitable for someone struggling to meet the repayment amount they originally agreed with their creditors.

I have no debts under this arrangement as yet but I do have all documentation ready to sent if/when needed.

Repayments

I have 4 debts that I am doing to this with after they default. All to be repaid ASAP

Marbles 741 – £50 a month – 15 months
Aqua 285 – £25 a month – 12 months
Uncle Buck 632.72 – £25 a month – 25 months
SafetyNet Credit 1250 – £50 a month – 25 months

One day I may actually learn my lesson. Today is the day…I would like to possibly get a mortgage by the time I’m 45 (2026) and need all defaults off my file by then.

The only way is UP

When a bank job isn’t a bank job

finance life August 22, 2018August 22, 2018 by admin

Yesterday I had an interview for the local eye centre. I’m not looking for a new part-time job and don’t really need a 2nd job right now (other than increased debt payments) but I wanted a bank position where I could work as and when I liked and was local.

I applied for the job on the 31st May with a closing date of 6th June. This was clearly for a bank position. I’d given up on it and started to think had I actually applied or forgotten.

Anyways on the 9th August I received an invite to interview and quickly booked my slot for 21st August. All this time there was no mention of hours other than on the advert. I arrived yesterday, had a good interview and was shown around. It wasn’t till the end of the actual interview when I asked about shifts was I told it was a full time position! Hold on a min, the advert stated bank and I’d gone to the interview for a bank position!

I really like the sound of the job and if I wasn’t doing my nurse training or it was a part-time position I would have jumped at an offer. I hear today if I was successful and if so I have to turn it down.

The trust have since placed a new general bank advert but I can’t apply as I am on placement on the interview day. I think I am just going to wait til after placement in December and hope something comes up. I still have my part-time role, bank within the same trust (only same department for 3 months, then I can work in other areas), and bank with another trust, so I’m not short of money thankfully.

I’ll just chalk this up to interview experience.

Finances: Tools to help me budget + pay off debt…

finance April 4, 2018 by admin

YNAB

YNAB is a budgeting app/software where you budget to zero each month, ‘every dollar has a job’. There are 4 basic rules that you should follow:

Rule 1: Give Every Dollar A Job

Rule 2: Embrace Your True Expenses

Rule 3: Roll With The Punches

Rule 4: Age Your Money

For a fully detailed explaination check out YNAB

YNAB has really helped me figure out a budget for me, there is often some tweaking throughout the month and I have not perfected it yet but it has really helped me see into the future. I am continually learning new things about the programme and they are continually adding new features.

I started off with classic YNAB which was a piece of software you placed on your pc, eventually I moved to nYAB which is an online programme as well as app. I don’t use the app so much as I prefer to do transactions on the main portal, but the app is a great way to add transactions as & when they happen. The programme costs me £4.44 a month and is well worth it.

I will do a whole post/s on how I use YNAB soon.

PAYE Tax Calculator

My wage changes each month depending on how much unsocial I do. To produce the best budget I can on YNAB I use a PAYE tax calculator to workout my take home pay. You can add deductions for student loans, pensions, change your tax code as well as change your NI letter. My tax code, therefore allowance is slightly higher than most on the basic code as I have claimed for uniform. It doesn’t give me much extra but it all helps.

I use this for both my main job as well as my bank/second job.

Category: finance