£77,366.35 reasons to be debt free!

In_my_dreams

rubydoiwannabee wrote: »

If okay with you I will pop in often and share your journey with you.

Feel free to share my journey, it's going to be a long one! My OH is brilliant at food shopping and doesn't let us have treats so the kids much prefer me to go instead we have a secret list for the secret box which Daddy doesn't see

He has been better this week and our £75 spends are in the pot, been there since Saturday and nothing touched. I need to pay for a vest I bought from the running club and actually asked him if it was ok........his face was a picture, I don't think I've EVER checked if anything's ok before!

Now we're in it together then it has to be paid off as I really think there's no going back on this. All we need is 0% offers to dry up and we are well and truly........fuddled!

rubydoiwannabee

In_my_dreams wrote: »

we have a secret list for the secret box which Daddy doesn't see

I'm loving the sounds of a secret box for goodies...

How old are your children?

In_my_dreams

They're 4 and 10 and ace! They now have housework to earn pocket money. Little one gets about 5p a job but you would think it was £10!

WorkingHardDFW

I just wanted to say well done for posting up and good luck on your journey. So much of your experiences to date resonate with mine when I/we started on our DF journey.

Like you we've got good income and to all on the outside looked 'well off' however we'd spent (no pun intended) years overspending and not really facing up to our issues.


My advice for what its worth:

• Keep a spending diary. I use an excel spreadsheet which allows me to analyse what we're spending. The difference between what we are actually spending and what we thought we were spending was our debt!! I know its common sense but its taken us years to learn this . My system is a spike on which all our receipts go (OH like yours has gone through various stages of denial and this was a simple system to get him onboard).
• Budget, budget and budget again. Those who know me on here know that I constantly revise our budgets but it helps me understanding (in conjunction with above) how we spend our money and on what. You name it I've a budget pot for it from haircuts, school trips, clothes, holidays, various insurances etc etc
• Post up your SOA and keep posting on here and take part in the various challenges on here. They really do help.
• Enjoy the feeling of being in control of your finances - its a wonderful feeling even when the setbacks come along

Sorry I've rambled on far too much it was just so that I heard so much of myself in your posts, including an OH stuggling to cope with the reality of the debt.

Good luck and keep posting....

kissjenn

In_my_dreams wrote: »

FIL has offered to buy us an annual family pass for National Trust which would mean we could have cost effective days out with the kids. Going to look into it a bit more first...

Hi,

Don't know where you are in the country but for us there is very little NT round here and lots of Scottish Heritage. May be worth having a quick check to see if you have lots more one than the other where you live. Also Scottish and English Heritage used to allow visits over the border meaning you could use it on hols as well. Also recommend buying it at a site you are visiting as they give you the entrance fee off the price (so you in effect only pay the joining fee) and you maximise the length of time it's valid for. 1 trip to Edinburgh Castle was half our annual membership!

KJ

rubydoiwannabee

In_my_dreams wrote: »

They're 4 and 10 and ace! They now have housework to earn pocket money. Little one gets about 5p a job but you would think it was £10!

I think that is a really good way of getting them to understand the value of money. We do a similar thing although the kids tend to lose interest after a while, not in the money but in the jobs!! Mine are aged 6 and 14.

In_my_dreams

WorkingHard - thank you for your post. We really do suffer from the "you must be loaded" comments and that is the thing my OH finds difficult as he feels embarrassed that we have a large joint income and so much debt. I know that our problem was we had decent salaries and spent more than we had as we felt we "deserved" it. Now we are earning more than I could ever have imagined and here we are throwing it all at debt.

I will do a SOA, I suppose I don't want people to be too critical of us but I need to approach it right this time and not make our lives too difficult if I restruct the money too much. Will go off and do it now............

Spending diary has been a life saver this week and then I put it all into a chart and got a pie chart and everything . Think it made OH see the effort I was putting in so getting some response back. Intend to put a bit more away into savings for xmas, school uniform etc to build up a buffer and then hope to reduce it again. I do also need to re-budget as it has been that way for a while.

Kissjen - we do have a few NT sites around but TBH when I looked today not as much as I thought. Would like a pressie like that for Xmas as it would mean we can have cheaper days out but we've told him we're going to have a look round first to make sure it's the right thing for us. I had a look at the English Heritage site but they don't seem to have family membership?

Happytogetdebtfree

hey in my dreams welcome to the boards and all the best with your journey xx

WorkingHardDFW

Its is hard being skint when people think otherwise but as I think you've already mentioned I'm sure a lot of people are living beyond their means without having had their LBM.

I'm a real fan of pots of money for as you say buying kids clothes, insurances etc etc. I don't think OH gets this but he does appreciate when the car needs servicing etc that there is money available.

We've got no NT near us so its never been worth our while doing but if you've got them near you it sounds sensible.

In_my_dreams

Workinghard - are we married to the same man?? :rotfl: I have an account for bills, account for general spends, account for savings (kids stuff, insurance money etc) and everything is allocated and he thinks I'm a freak! We also have a £2 pot which is half full and I'm determined not to open until it's full!

Just sorted out pet insurance with £40 cash back and 3 months free :j TBH I haven't looked around for insurance properly for the last year and I really need to look if I can get better deals!