Spending, saving, snogging and smiling!

Snaggles

Hello again :hello:

Inspired by BB and her new diary, I've decided to take the plunge again myself.

For those who don't already know, over the last few years, me and my husband have tackled approximately £25k of debt, finally becoming debt free sometime last year. :T

Along the way, our oldest son was diagnosed with Aspergers Syndrome (a form of autism), we had a baby daughter, my husband Stuart lost his job, we had several bereavements, Stuart suffered from depression, and we generally had a pretty rough time for a while. We tried very hard to keep our marriage alive, but the strain drove us apart, and we separated 6 months ago. I am currently living in the house we jointly own, and he is renting a house nearby. I care about him a lot, we are (mostly) amicable, but there is no going back.

Our long term plan is for him to buy me out of this house, and for me to buy a 3 bedroom house (we only have 2 bedrooms currently, and Ryan needs his own room, meaning Natasha shares with me, which isn't ideal for her OR me).

But first, I need to get a grip on my spending, work out proper budgets, and learn to stick to them. I used to have such a tight grip on our finances, but since the split, I've slipped a bit (okay, a lot).

I've realised since becoming single that I'd let the old Snaggles get buried under the stresses of everyday life, and I wasn't happy. I was tired, withdrawn, I didn't see my friends, I didn't go out, I was actually pretty miserable most of the time. Being a single Mum is hard work, but I am happier than I have been for years. I feel different, more positive, more hopeful, more alive.....and I don't want to lose that.

It's fair to say my love life recently has been....ermmm......colourful! And I've made some pretty bad decisions, to the absolute despair of my friends, who have mopped up my tears time and time again, without complaint (I love you all by the way ). I can't promise I wont do it again - I probably will! :rotfl: But I do listen to you all, and I do value your advice.

Being single and starting to date again is weird, scary, exciting, not to mention expensive, but I've realised that if I'm going to be a mentally and physically healthy single Mum, I do need to make sure there's a bit of time and money built into budgets and schedules for me to have a social life, a love life, a bit of time for me.

On that note, I will whizz off to update my SOA, so you can [STRIKE]laugh[/STRIKE] [STRIKE]gasp in horror[/STRIKE] [STRIKE]shout at me[/STRIKE] give me your honest opinions.

Snaggles xxxxxxxxxxxxx


ps My sig means 'Protect me from what I want' - I think that says it all really :rotfl: :rotfl:

benbenandme

Yay, its just like old times on here, now if only IA would resurrect her kitchen noticeboard then everything would be hunkydory
Looking forward to your updates, scary how many of us on here are single mums now too :rolleyes:

jinky67

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay Snaggs

I like you

spud30

Yayyy happy new diary Snaggs :kisses3:

Snaggles

Okay, here's how my SOA stands at the moment:


Income

• Salary - 380.00
• Maintenance - 150.00
• Child Benefit - 132.00
• Child tax credit - 389.00

Total income = 1051.00


Outgoings

• Mortgage - 250.00
• Council tax - 65.00
• Electricity - 60.00
• Gas - 55.00
• Water - 30.00
• Telephone/Internet/TV - 60.00
• Mobile - 45.00
• TV Licence - 12.00
• Grocery shopping - 290.00
• Petrol - 60.00
• House Insurance - 18.00
• Life Insurance - 21.00
• Contact lenses - 13.00
• Lottery - 5.00 (work syndicate - can't leave mid-year)
• MRP - 12.00
• Charity donation - 5.00
• Childrens savings - 20.00
• Childcare - 40.00 (Holiday care for Ryan averaged over 12 months. Natasha's nursery fees are deducted from salary)

Total outgoings - 1051.00

So you can see that there isn't a spare penny, literally!

And I haven't included any socialising, clothing, birthdays, Christmas, car tax, MOT....etc.....etc.

There isn't anything in there for car insurance either at the moment because I paid it upfront when I bought my car, but in 6 months time, I will have to either pay it upfront again or include it in my monthly budget.

Shall I start crying now??? :rotfl:

posted_2

Perhaps put the childrens savings (they wont miss it for a long time), charity on the backburner until things are more affordable.

Food/mobile/TV/lottery are things you could prune

benbenandme

No need to cry, theres lots of potential there and you're used to this game and will be fine

Outgoings

• Mortgage - 250.00
• Council tax - 65.00 over 10 months or 12?
• Electricity - 60.00
• Gas - 55.00
• Water - 30.00 metered ?
• Telephone/Internet/TV - 60.00 ouch!
• Mobile - 45.00 ouch again!
• TV Licence - 12.00
• Food - 290.00 really really ouch !!
• Petrol - 60.00
• House Insurance - 18.00
• Life Insurance - 21.00
• Contact lenses - 13.00
• Lottery - 5.00 (work syndicate - can't leave mid-year)
• MRP - 12.00 what is this??
• Charity donation - 5.00 maybe stop for a bit?
• Childrens savings - 20.00 ditto
• Childcare - 40.00

Thats just a quick look Snaggles, but some of those could be cut back a bit, or changed suppliers (via quidco of course), which would free up some money for socialising, birthdays, car tax etc etc.

Also, your income bit doesn't include any scratchcards, ebay, surveys etc, which are all mightily useful and stuff we singletons can do indoors in an evening when the kids are in bed

You'll be fine hun, just a bit of re-jigging and you'll be absolutely fine

Snaggles

There are a few things I CAN do if the situation gets dire (cross posted this with BenBen & Posted, sorry! ):

- Pay my mortgage on an interest only basis instead of capital repayment (I may do this anyway, bearing in mind I am going to sell the house to Stu within the next year or two hopefully)

- Cancel my MRP (if I lose my job, I think I would have enough coming in from benefits etc to cover my mortgage and bills, so it might be worth the risk...)

- Ask for more hours at work (but increased childcare costs and an increase in the amount of time Ryan has to spend with his childminder through the holidays make this a less than ideal option)

- Grocery shopping - I should be able to reduce this, although it does include nappies for Natasha and ridiculously expensive night time 'products' for Ryan, which straight away cost £15 a week. :eek:

- Cancel the childrens savings temporarily, and the charity donation

- Contact lenses - have already cancelled because I've got a 6 month supply, but have left in the budget because I will run out later in the year.

Also, I do sharesaves through work - I have these deducted from my salary before I receive it. If things get really really bad, I can cancel one or more of these - I pay £250 in total - but these are my savings for my future, so I really need to try not to.

I have just cashed in the one that was due to mature in August 2010, because I don't think it will make a profit. I am putting the extra £50 (plus the £50 I would have put in anyway, because I start a new one every year) into a new 5 year sharesave, with a very low option price, so I stand a good chance of making a very healthy profit in 5 years time).

So because I have cashed it in now, I will get £2300 back. £1000 of this will go to Stu because that is, in effect, his share. The rest I will use to replace the appliances that have all gone faulty this week (washing machine, vacuum cleaner, cooker, lawn mower), and to top my account up so I have a bit of spending/emergency money over the coming months.

I will then have a sharesave maturing in August this year, which also wont make a profit, but will still be £3000. Again, Stu will get £1000 of this. The rest will go towards my 'new house' fund, or more likely, will bail me out of the big financial hole I'm in by then...

I wont have one maturing in 2010, but after that will be back to one per year, of at least £3k, possibly more if the share price has risen.

benbenandme

Just a though but could you look on freecycle for any of the appliances? Just that if you get a new place to live it may have washing machine built in already etc, and you may not need one then?

Snaggles

Blimey, that was my 15,000th post!!!! :eek: :eek:

Snaggles

benbenandme wrote: »

Just a though but could you look on freecycle for any of the appliances? Just that if you get a new place to live it may have washing machine built in already etc, and you may not need one then?

Yes, hopefully - I've been watching Freecycle like a hawk but nothing has come up recently. Ours seems to be all wanted ads and not many offered items.

The cooker still has a working hob, it's just the oven that seemed verrrrrrry slow tonight, and I managed without an oven for 6 months last time it broke, so I can cope for a while.

The vacuum cleaner just doesn't pick much up - but I have a small hand-held one that is great, it's just back-breaking doing the hoovering on your hands and knees when its a big room! So again, not urgent.

Lawn mower - it overheats, and I have a big lawn. Maybe if I keep on top of it so it only needs a light mow, it will keep going a bit longer!

Washing machine - the quick wash programme seems to work. The rest do work but the dial doesn't move on automatically. I can do it manually, but with 2 kids who create a LOT of washing, having to stand around and do that every time I put a load in isn't practical.

But yes, I can probably struggle on with all of the above for a little while to see if something comes up.