Debt, debt go away (and don't come back another day)

Morning.

Did some ebay listing (finally!) - 6-9 month bundle which was huge...took ages...but that's one less box of clothes upstairs. No idea what I am going to pack it all in - was 7kgs!

Still have the 9-12 months bundle to do, but she's still in a few of the leggings etc so I will wait a couple more months on this one.
Can't wait to get rid of it all!!

DH away with work for next 2 days, and besties coming to visit on Friday night. Trying to tidy and sort out the house, and need to try and get a bit of 'work work' done too - going to try and do that this evening as no DH around to make me feel guilty for working whilst I am officially on holiday!

Really big month coming up with work in Sept, budget round, and 2 major events to run. eek. bit nervous already.

Brrrrr, it's a bit chilly and Autumnal feeling. Mind you, I love Autumn and winter so really can't wait for the season to change - much easier than getting disappointed about lack of sunshine.

Made a butternut squash soup yesterday, still got some for lunch today and another bag full in the freezer. Looking forward to soup season starting properly soon - always saves me loads of £££ on lunches.

3 ebay sales already - but have priced most of it to sell quickly as I am fed up of having it around. Posted one yesterday, will send another off by RM today, but also need to buy some brown paper as we have run out. Got a couple of auctions which will be a week or so. Planning to use cash made to buy DD more clothes (socks - we seem to go through LOADS!)

Am back to work next week - for the whole week -will be a bit of a shock to the system - but thankfully have the following week off again! Then it will be full on at work until beginning of October. **Slight feeling of impending dread**...will probably be fine, but it's the anticipation that's annoying!

Waiting for a van insurance renewal reminder for DH's van - nothing received as yet, but only 1 month until it expires. have vague memories that last year I was itching to get sorted, did loads of searches etc, and then the quote from his current supplier was still the best by far.. so trying to save wasting my time, but getting impatient. Good news is we already have some pennies saved up towards it - may be enough to buy in full....or maybe not.

Did a bit of research on our mortgage last night - our deal runs out in Mar 17, but as I have now trashed my credit rating, and both of our incomes are less as we are both part-time, I think we will struggle to get a good deal....however because the interest rate is currently so low, when the fixed rate ends, the payment should go down by £40--£50 a month which will give us more cash to throw at the debt / emergency fund or just make general living a little easier. So that's not all bad.
Trying not to feel ashamed / embarrassed / miffed about the trashing of my credit rating, but I do....think I still can't visualise a life fully without credit on the one hand- but on the other, I never want to use credit again....too easy to get snared in a trap. I guess when we're fully settled into living by our budget and with a good EF cushion maybe I will start to have more faith in my ability to budget. I think I have been telling myself for years that i am bad at budgeting, and almost have fixed myself in this behaviour (in comparison to my sis who has always been super tight and organised!) Well no more. By the power of YNAB, I will prevail!

On the subject of YNAB - we now have 3 budgets - our main household one, DH's work one, and a "secret" one. I have stashed the EF and moneys saved for DH's tax bill into an online saver, and wanted to take this out of our main budget with the aim that those funds are gone / not there / only for dire emergencies. I am still pinching pennies from one budget line to another a bit too much at the moment (e.g overspent in groceries during Aug) and need to keep on the ball.

Solar panel credit should be coming at start of Sept and will be using this to start Xmas shopping - a couple of presents already bought but the lionshare to go. This will help.

anyway the babe has woken. Time to get on with my day - cleaning, washing and baby entertaining calls, with a trip to the post office in between.

TTFN Ramble (very true to my name today)

Hey PSL. What a lot of lovely things you had to say - made me smile. Your sister sounds like mine too!! Love her to bits but darn it's annoying. She's veggie, and doesn't drive so I think this helps, but most of all she is just so sensible with it all. Over paying the mortgage / saving up for house repairs etc.....the only thing she is not sensible in is still smoking!!! I hope she doesn't spend a lifetime saving and being sensible and then lose her health, but I can't live her life for her! Each to their own demons I guess.
Not stressing too much, but a bit wishful that I had started this journey much earlier. hey ho. My kiddies are going to be budget savvy - I will make sure of that!!

Hope you have a lovely weekend and that your studying goes well. How long to D-Day?

I think it was the same for my parents too -although I know at different points my parents have borrowed. My mum doesn't set a great example in that she's a shopoholic, but she always earns the cash and pays for it all - and is very generous with presents. Makes it hard for me to "keep up with the Joneses" though. I can remember doing something at school - but it was more about opening accounts and what account did rather than how to budget. Definitely a useful life lesson.

This year instead of us each buying Christmas presents for mum, dad, sis & husband, I suggested a secret santa - so we buy for 1 couple, spending £100, rather than me spending £120 - £30 each on them....the daft thing is both my sis and mum/dad don't actually need "anything", just buying what what they want when they want it, and so are struggling to think of a present list - whilst on our list, I have loads of stuff / ideas as I never buy anything!! My sis has actually asked for the cash as she wants to buy a very expensive pot for outside her house, so that's an easy sort for me!!

Going to suggest only buying for the kids with DH's sister's family - as they have 4 kids, and I try to budget £10 per child, but it's not very easy to find nice presents for £10 these days. So if I could drop spending £60 on SIL and husband, then I could increase the Kiddies budget to £15 each, and still be better off overall.

Here's my Christmas budget (plus we're overrun with Christmas birthdays - nightmare!):

£100 - Secret Santa
£30 - Dad's birthday
£30 - Sis Birthday
£50 - DH Ma & Pa
£45 - DH sister's kids (1 present bought already)
£25 - other Birthdays (2 x godchild)
£30 - SIL birthday
£36 - God kids
£20 - Friend Gift
£50 - SS
£30 - DD
£60 - Christmas eve box (presents to DH, me, DD & SS)
£30 - FIL birthday (Jan)

£535!!!!! - Some potential savings to be made as DH is going to make chopping boards and hand carved spatulas and spoons (that's would save £80) - also plans to open an etsy shop as he makes a mean fake christmas tree out of chestnut. Needs to pull his finger out, but might be a nice way of bringing in some good cash before Christmas

This is top level - hopefully we will spend less, but still the amount of cash required is sO much!! Having 5 birthdays within a month of Christmas does probably mess it up somewhat...
Aiming to have £40 of vouchers from one survey site (got a long way to go on this one - work to do! Should have another £40 /£50 from another survey site which is on track. Will have approx £220 from solar credits, and I've got about £130 to cash out on TCB. So that's £440. Not to far away - and if we save £80 by making some of the presents, then we are about there.

Ooh last year I forgot we gave SS £50 to buy christmas presents with too - made him work within a budget and he really enjoyed thinking about what to get people and shopping (prior to this, no-one got anything!!) Think I will have a chat with him and suggest we put in £30 this year and he can "earn" £20 towards his budget by doing chores between now and then - or that he thinks about "making" some presents.

Thankfully this year we are going to my sister's for Christmas so I expect we will contribute in some booze and buying cheeses and nibbles so this won't be too pricey.

ooh friends have arrived yay! ttfn x