Trying to take the stress out of the debt - little steps

Triggles

I've never done one of these diaries before, so I'm not quite sure how to go about it. I guess the easiest way is to just jot down things and see what develops as we try to whittle away at our debt.

A few bits of information about me. I'm 43, DH is 44. We've got 4 kids (DS24, DD23, DS3, and DS1month) and 2 grandchildren. Currently, DS23 and granchild live with us, but plans on moving out after the holidays. We are renting, DH works and I am a SAHM. I also have started doing Usborne Books in the last year, although I am currently on "maternity leave" from that.

We have some heavy debt - some from mismanagement of monies, some from bailing out our 2 oldest children with uinversity fees and unexpected debt, and some from unexpected debt that hit us just after we financially helped out the oldest children. Go figure. No mortgage though, and the car is paid for, thank goodness.

Let's see, what do we do to cut down on expenses now?
- meal plan
- buy store brand and basics foods whenever possible
- DH brings packed lunch to work every day
- DH rides bicycle to work
- walk whenever possible
- remoska to keep oven use down, especially in summer so we don't heat up the house!
I know there is more, but it's late and my brain is a bit sluggish.

Things I'm planning or am just starting to implement:
- organising ahead of time for Christmas and buying presents when on sale (have already started this)
- prebuying nonperishables for over holidays and winter when on sale (already started this, putting aside a little wine and beer for when people are visiting at Christmas/New Years)
- paying for groceries in cash - much less likely to impulse buy when I only have a set amount of cash
- setting one night a month for takeaway and sticking to it (we've been horribly lax with takeaway, especially just before and just after I had the baby for convenience - big expense though!)
- putting aside a little bit of spare cash here and there all month, then using the total at the end of the month to pay extra on a low balance debt to bring it closer to being paid off

We do have a loan that will be paid off this month - so that's £160 we can use to pay off other debt! But we have a tendency to live in the overdraft and it makes me very uncomfortable. So I want to slowly dig out of that and pay off bills so we can stay out of the overdraft, eventually be debt free, and have some savings put aside.

I've convinced DH to do a one or two meatless meals each week, and we can have a "limited meat" meal by using half a package of mince for spag bol or chili and bulking it out with other things. Hopefully that will have an impact on the grocery bill. Unfortunately, with a newborn, there is formula to purchase and nappies as well. Unfortunately breastfeeding is not an option at this point for us (not open for discussion, although obviously would have preferred to, just can't), and we freecycled our cloth nappies from DS2 awhile ago, not realising we would be needing them again. We're not willing to invest in more cloth nappies at this point, as it's a huge expense. DH works for a supermarket and we at least get a discount, plus we buy the store brand nappies, so that helps. And DS2 is slowly but surely being potty-trained, so hopefully just one in nappies soon.

I'm hoping that by keeping this account, it will force me to stick to meal plans, money saving ideas and such, and see whether or not they worked or if they had to be altered to suit.

I'll pop back on tomorrow with the day's plan and go from there.

Triggles

Just did nighttime feed for baby and was mulling over debt situation and things in general. I spend a lot of time online looking up things and researching and just reading (especially on this site). Part of this is due to interest. Part of it is because I spent part of this pregnancy on modified bedrest due to medical problems, so I got in the habit of sitting on the internet quite a bit. A bad habit, I think. I need to cut down my computer time drastically in order to get other things done. There are lots of financially beneficial things to do online though - the daily clicks, entering competitions, bingoport for Amazon vouchers for Christmas and such - which I would like to do. How to streamline? Maybe simply a daily time limit and keeping it to evenings, when the kids are in bed? Or naptime during day? I also enjoy looking up craft stuff for DS to do online, which takes a little browsing time. I'll have to sort this out for the best way on this.

Right now, I'm relying on boxed ready-made formula during night feeds. Due to DH's work schedule, I do night feeds during the week. My back is still causing me problems (and I'm running on massive sleep deprivation right now), so I am not using powdered formula bottles during the night, as it's just too much to be running up and down the stairs to get the bottles and heat them up. Takes me right by DS2's room as well, and he is SUCH a light sleeper, I'm concerned about waking him up as well. God knows I get little enough sleep with the DS3 up during the night, without DS2 being up as well! But I'm annoyed with myself over this as well, as it's more expensive.

Okay. To do tomorrow during day: think about amount of time online and on computer and decide the best way to streamline it and keep it reasonable. Along with other things, which I'll list in the morning. Got to get a little sleep now.

Triggles

Alrighty. Kids are up, (not dressed yet but will get there) fed, and moved down into the living room. Bottles washed and in steriliser, so I can prepare the bottles for the day. I forgot to take the meat out for tonight's tea to thaw, but it can be micro'd by DH, so I'll let him take care of that this afternoon.

Today I want to finish our Lakeland order (we have a few things we really do need to replace/purchase including a few Christmas items), shred a few pieces of post that have our details on them, check the bank balance online, and make a list of general incomings and outgoings so I can go over them. I also need to do the menu plan and grocery list for next week - I'd like to keep it under £40 (maybe £50-55 with formula/nappies added in?).

We bought a ceiling fan recently that we paid an electrician to install, but apparently there's a fault in the wiring, so they've sent us a new motor part for the fan - but now we have to pay another £40 for an electrician to come out and rewire/install the motor unit. Rather annoying, not to mention expensive. I wonder if it would be worth it to send a letter to the company requesting they reimburse us the £40, as it's due to the fault in the fan that we had to pay it. Worth a try - the worst they can do is say no, right?

hypno06

I would certainly try and claim back the £40. As you say, it is only because there is a fault in the fan that you have to pay more for the electrician, so that falls to the manufacturer to reimburse. Ask your electrician for a proper receipt that mentions "repeat visit due to fault" or something similar.

Triggles

hypno - thanks for the tip on the receipt - I didn't think of that. They are coming to do the work on Monday, so I will make myself a note to ask for a written receipt mentioning this.

We've hashed out the issue of personal spending money this morning. We're each keeping £20 cash for miscellaneous expenses during the month. Doesn't sound like much, but it's just for miscellaneous junk - coffees out, an improv takeaway, a stray bar of chocolate. We don't generally use that much anyway. Then there's a child fund of £20 per month for the kids - for a McD's meal for our 3yo maybe, playgroup fees, soft play fees, and such.

Caroline73_2

Hi Triggles,

Can you get Usborne up and running again? Lots of events at this time of year, you can get bookings at soft play if you were going anyway - save on admission fees and sell at the same time!

Triggles

Caroline - I'm on Maternity Allowance right now, so no, I'd get in trouble if I was working when I'm technically supposed to be on maternity leave. Otherwise I would definitely get things going. So not until end of February, when leave pay is completed. Otherwise I was told they could pull the allowance as it's considered "double dipping" to be working AND collecting Maternity Allowance. I discussed this with my upline as well, and she agreed. (Although I will be putting in one order just before Christmas, as I want to order some books for Christmas presents!)

DH made a lovely turkey stirfry last night - we forgot to take out the turkey, but he micro-thawed it, so all was well. We really debated over whether or not to spend the money on the microwave, but just in thawing out meat for tea it has paid for itself. That was the most likely culprit in our decision to order takeaway previously - so if you add up the takeaways we've avoided over the past month or two by micro-thawing the meat, it has easily paid for itself! A good investment, I'd say.

Today I want to spare some thought about Christmas. We've gotten a few gifts for the grandkids, some for our toddler, none yet for our 1month old. Nothing purchased yet for our older kids or other family members. I'd like to put aside a certain amount of money to just be used for Christmas, but not sure what a reasonable amount would be. It would need to include cards, postal fees, gifts, holiday food and drink, including the ingredients to bake Christmas Cakes which I'll probably be doing within the next 3-4 weeks. The older children often lean towards wanting cash - but this makes things a bit more difficult. By shopping early and watching for sales, we can buy nice gifts at really good prices. But handing over money is a whole different thing - you can't get a SALE on cash at the bank (OH, how I WISH we could!LOL) It's obviously less expensive for us over all to avoid cash gifts, so we're not going to be doing that this year. I told DH that I wanted to choose "household" or "couple" gifts for our DS & his wife, as well as our 23yo DD. They're not only old enough to understand financial reasoning, but it was bailing both of them out financially that actually PUT us in this financial position to begin with. So I think spending within our means is not only the best approach, it sets a good example for them.

As far as Christmas cards are concerned, I used to work with a stamping/scrapbooking company, so have TONS of stamps, ink, papers and such, and I am planning on making the Christmas cards myself this year. I used to do it all the time, but didn't the last few years as I just got bogged down doing other things. I enjoy making the cards, so am hoping to save money AND have a little fun at the same time.

I've got to go through my baking supplies and see what's getting low and check the dates on my spices. I just replaced a few recently that were out of date. I think my cinnamon may be out of date but it's a huge container and still looks and smells okay. I wonder if it's necessary to replace it right now? That sounds horrible, but what exactly IS the shelf life on spices anyway??

I worried about the expense of making Christmas cakes, as we always make a few, but I added it up last year, and the big part of the expense is the ALCOHOL for the cake. So if I'm careful and watch for a good sale, it should be alright. Thank goodness DH works in the supermarket, so he can let me know when the sales are on.

Another thought - kitchen roll. Is it a waste to buy it? I have TONS of kitchen cloths, which I can use for spills and such. Why buy the kitchen roll (which is not that horribly cheap anymore) when I could be using cloths instead and just bung them in the wash? The big issue will be retraining everyone in the house to use a cloth instead of the kitchen roll. That way we have the roll I have left for really nasty stuff that I don't want to wash! LOL

Caroline73_2

That's right - I didn't realise your were on Maternity Allowance - you have a sensible upline!

Could you get your 3 year old to do Christmas tree handprints for cards - (in one of the TMD books, lol) If you have any of the brown paper from your usborne orders your 3 year old can hand stamp that as wrapping paper.

Kitchen roll - easy, hide it and put cloths in it's place.

When me and my siblings had babies, our parents stopped buying for us and bought for our little ones instead. At 23 & 24 they should be able to accept that things are tight.

Triggles

Caroline - The handprints for cards would be great for some of our relatives (like DS1, DD, MIL, my parents, aunts/uncles) - thanks for the idea. I have some nice paint that is washable (so easy cleanup!), which would work great for this! I actually don't have any of the brown paper at this point, but I have tons of Christmas wrapping paper from sales last year, so we're all set for that. (I think DH will be glad to see it used - think he's tired of seeing it! hahahaa)

Yes, the kitchen roll will have to be well hidden. (I wonder if they do a lock-up storage for kitchen roll?) DH uses the stuff a lot. I think he figures he's making it easier using the disposable rather than creating more laundry for me, but I don't mind the laundry - it's not going to add to it THAT much!

We actually do buy for their children (DS1 & DIL's, and DD's), and we've lowered the amount we spend on them because of this. But I think this year we will need to lower it once again. As their parents, we like to buy them a little something, although yes, the focus really is on the grandchildren now. I thought about putting an inexpensive basket together for them - one for DS1 & DIL and one for DD - maybe with a few nice little items, like a bottle of wine, a little chocolate, and something small for the home. DD will be moving out shortly, so we're looking to pick up a few things for when she moves (small and inexpensive, but helpful for when moving into first flat) and putting that in the basket. Does £20 spent on a basket seem like we're being cheap? Honestly, when we were young parents, any present bought for our children seemed like a present for us as well (first because it was for our children but also because it was something we didn't have to spend money on! we were really skint when the kids were little!). I'd like to pull out that old chestnut "it's the thought that counts" and frame it somewhere. LOL

We have one credit card that has a fairly large balance on it (£7K) and the interest is quite a bit - I feel that we're not making any headway with it. They called the other day, saying they'd noticed our income had gone down (since I'm not working since we moved to this area) and wanted to know if there was anything they could do to help with the card. DH of course (men and their pride) said no, what's the problem - we're making the payments. The caller said to call them if they could help. Well, I've been thinking, maybe we SHOULD call them and see if they would be willing to freeze the card, stop the interest, and allow us to work on paying it back with slightly smaller payments. The worse that could happen is they could say NO, right? And they DID ask what they could do to help. We ARE making the payments, but only just - and it can be a struggle sometimes. I think if we asked if we could do that for just one year it could make quite a difference. Even if they said well, if we freeze it then we'll have to do it permanentlyy and close the card from future use - fine with me. I don't plan on using it again and just want it paid off. It would also allow us (if payments were slightly lowered) to put the difference on another bill and get THAT paid off. I realise it would affect our credit, but so will defaulting on it, so this (IMO) is a better option.

*Jellie*

Good luck with your Christmas prep- I ought to make cards again this year too

Triggles

Ouch. Went to supermarket and spent more than we'd planned. Although to compensate we did cut down on a few things we had planned on purchasing to prepare for Christmas (some alcohol to put aside) as that will simply have to wait.

Our 3yo got poo on the carpeting in his bedroom this morning. (He's potty training) So not our best wake up on record. :rolleyes: DH was all for buying a carpet cleaner, as it's something we've talked about, but after looking them up online and pricing them, we decided now was not the time to be spending that kind of money, and we called MIL and borrowed hers. DH is currently upstairs cleaning the bedroom carpet now. We'll probably take the time this weekend to clean the living room carpet before returning it on Monday or Tuesday.

We're having a beef roast for tea today. We debated not buying it, as roast can be quite expensive, but you have to live sometimes, don't you? We figured that even if we just have beef roast once or twice a month, and do chicken the other 2 Sundays (or lamb or pork if we find a good sale), then it's not so bad.

Today is free listing day on ebay, so we're listing a bunch of things to sell. We've been postponing listing them (procrastinating, really for no good reason), but today being free listing day gave us a good deadline. Scary enough, DS3 is going to be out of his moses basket and into his cotbed quite quickly as he is soooo tall/long. The cotbed is from when DS2 was little and is all put together and ready to go. We did have to buy a few extra cotbed sheets as DS2's toddler bed uses cotbed sheets as well. We don't have a tumble drier, so we have to make sure we have a couple available for each bed in case of accidents.

I'm trying to declutter the house somewhat, while DH is trying to get DIY done. We purchased some of the needed DIY materials a week or two ago, and he will be working on it over the next couple weeks. We'd like to get the living room sorted and painted by the first of November. Then we'll move on to work on the entryway/hallway/stairwell.

In the kitchen today, I'm planning on making some apple crisp, as I have a couple apples left over from earlier in the week. It's easy and I know I have all the ingredients. I'm thinking about making some homemade bread as well in the breadmaker. Or possibly doing the dough in the breadmaker and baking the loaf in the oven. I hate those little paddle holes in the bottom when it's baked in the breadmaker.

We have a few things we need to buy from Lakeland. I'm going to go over the order one more time to make sure we're not purchasing anything on impulse. I'm also sending an order in to Yankee candles, but this is for Christmas presents for MIL & SIL. They both love candles and some really nice ones are on sale there, at 70% off. :jSo a very nice gift at a very nice price.