Sunday 11 August 2019

Thoughtful advice

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Word of the Month: Release

A HUGE 'thank you' to all of you who sent me such excellent, thoughtful and well-considered advice. It's hugely appreciated! I've had loads to think about and have more or less come to the conclusion that I really need to tackle the card with the highest interest first - it makes the most fiscal sense, although hammering down the lowest balance makes a lot of sense to me too.

But realistically, at the end of the day, the reason I'm struggling so much is that I just don't have the extra cash to do things for fun/learning, and that's extremely frustrating. Throwing so much money at a card with such a high interest rate and making only incremental inroads into paying it off is getting to me.

To that end, I've done a little searching online this morning to look for zero-interest balance transfer cards. How did I not think to do this before?! (Thanks, FT!) There are several available, but I might give it a couple of months and bring my current balance down a bit before I apply. Doing a free eligibility search is fine, but anything deeper will affect my credit if I'm not approved after all that, so want to lower it as much as I can. I need to check my credit rating, it wasn't very good the last time I checked, so despite their claim I'm 90% eligible for several cards, I don't want to leap into a quaqmire.

This is also why I wonder if focussing on getting rid of the smallest debt might be worthwhile, to both lower the amount I owe and to allow a potential application for MORE credit to go through. Anyway.

See? This kind of thinking is what stops me moving forward - my decision making process sucks! Ha ha! 'This is great! Oh, but that's a good idea, too. Hmm. I wonder if I can do both? No, that's not effective. Oh, that other thing is good too.' It's exhausting...

Anyhoo. Regardless, I'm making some extra money and I'm looking forward to my first 'new' little paycheque which should be next Friday. I'm not sure what's going on at the Spar - I've not yet got a sign-in for the till, haven't watched my training video (so technically shouldn't be selling booze & cigarettes and can only assume that my details are at HQ and have been sorted out and that I will be getting paid), but it's fine for a p/t job. Mindless and appeals to my sense of order, as I've said before. I got to do date checking yesterday and cleared a bunch of 'expiring' food from the shelves. Strangely satisfying, but what a waste. :( Still, I get a superb deal on buying some of this stuff PLUS 10% off and spent less than £3 on a pizza, some buns and two chicken meals, so pretty decent really.

I've just realised I haven't added my Word of the Month to either July or August. My word for July was 'clear' and I don't yet have one for August. It just didn't appear. I have to write up my journal today, though, so hopefully I'll get one.

I deactivated my FB account again this morning, for how long I don't know. I took myself off for a few months at the beginning of the year and made great progress with my writing. Since I've been back on, I've struggled to focus. I had a breakthrough for the murderer's motive on Thursday and now that that's organised, I can move forward. Can't have a murder mystery without a proper motive! I already feel better, and my friends understand so nothing to worry about there. I've been feeling prompts to do it recently, and today was the day. Besides, I'm fed up with US politics, UK politics and finding things to be sad/angry/helpless about. Seeing what friends are up to is nice, but so much in the feed seems to be 'sponsored' by one thing or another these days, it's just distracting.

I asked another (male) friend in the US to ponder a reason for a motive (the same one I asked my neighbour), so I'm looking forward to hearing what he comes back with. I still need to talk with a thatcher, though, as that's key to building one of my main characters. One of the ladies in my writing group is kind of, sort of, but not really acquainted with one, who said that he'd had an 'out of the blue' call from someone (else) writing a book with a thatcher in it. Why do I feel I need an introduction - how old-fashioned is that?! Most people love to talk about their jobs, particularly if they love what they do. 

What the hell am I waiting for?!

I'm going to have to make some phone calls/send emails...geez. The problem is that I keep hearing my Mum's voice in my head - 'oh, you don't want to bother them.' (The implication being they're too busy and important to bother with nobodies like me) But the world has moved on considerably since then and if I am 'bothering' them, they'll tell me so and I'll keep trying. It costs nothing to ask.

Holy crumb, can I procrastinate or what?

Anyway, lots of 'aha!' moments the past few days, so I know that I'm on the right track at least (at last?).

Hope you're all having a lovely summer!

2 comments:

T'Pol said...

I think, I would tackle the highest interest card first too. When I was buying my rental property, I needed to borrow just a little money so, my sister and brother-in-law (both in banking) looked for opportunities and got me three lines of credit. (Mortgage terms were not favorable or something like that at the time). I remember paying the highest interest one first. People go with the smallest balance just because of the level of satisfaction it provides. I like logical over psychological. Lol!

Here is a tip for decision making. Take a clear sheet of paper divide it into four. List the two options you have, the columns will be pros and cons. Write down all pros and cons you can think of for both options. When you are done, assign numerical weights to them. Add the numerical values and voila! Decision is obvious (most of the times). If my mind is not clear enough, I do this.

I am sure if you put your mind to it, you can get rid of the debt and use your money for savings and fun things better.

Northern Living Allowance said...

T'Pol - you're brilliant! That's an excellent suggestion, thank you. Writing things down, and list making is always helpful, so I don't know why I didn't think of this before. I've covered pages with numbers, but not a pros and cons. Fantastic - thank you! xx