I'm tackling my debts in 2010

Lemon_Tree

hi, good luck with your chat with your hubby, it's not going to be easy but you're in a place where there's lots of people who know what you're going through.
Only you know how prepared you are to cut things back but in reality can you afford to go on breaks/holidays? can you really afford £75 hair cuts? I can't so i've found a cheaper hairdresser and now have my hair done about every 3-4 months, and usually try and ask for vouchers for it for birthday's/christmas.
the one thing i would stress is that you need to start saving for the annual things, often times is when the annual bills are due that people come a cropper, i know it was the case when i first started on here.Ok it means that your closing balance will drop but at least you know you can afford the annual things. Also you need to think long and hard about what you spend on everyone for christmas, i know it's hard with kids but you're on the road to a few changes and as a family you need to get used to it.

I don't mean to sound harsh, and i know you've got some tricky conversations to have with people and some tricky times ahead. You are very lucky to be coming out ahead at the moment but if things don't change the debt numbers just keeps going up.

Feel free to tell me to bugg out.

bramble1

Good luck! I've just started to tackle my owns debts (OH can sort his out!)

I'm looking forward to starting the new all organised!!

Intergalactic_Floozie

I give my husband 'pocket money' as I couldn't be having him dipping into the joint account willy nilly - I'd never keep track of a thing otherwise!

Nottoobadyet

Do you happen to live anyplace urban enough to have haircutting schools nearby? Stylists also need models for when they try out at a new salon. I haven't paid for a haircut since I've lived in London - gumtree is always full of students and professionals looking for models, and if you have a popular cut (bobs are especially in demand) you could probably do that all the time. They are always closely supervised and Ive never had a cut I haven't been happy with - the last one was with color and was fantastic.

Granted, I have quite long, well-behaved hair that will do with being cut just once or twice a year and I hardly color (though I may do more as the grey comes in faster...), so I may be a bad reference for these things!

emmie26

Cant believe all the good advice I'm getting, I think the hairdressing bill is going to have to be dramatically cut, I've only just had it done and then its my birthday in January so maybe I could ask for vouchers and when those run out visit a big hairdressing college thats nearby.

As for hubby he was not too happy about a couple of things on the budget, mostly the annual things which I think are the cause of most of our money problems, we coast by day to day with nothing put aside for xmas, holidays (camping or center parcs), birthdays, car expenses etc. So when we need to spend money on these things it just has to be found and normally involved me going into my overdraft (Its currenty -£700 because of xmas). However we have agreed to put £900 each into the joint account that and the child benefit we will pay all the bills from that. I'll post the revised budget later.

I'm really hoping for another day where I don't spend any money it feels really good, unfortunately on friday I know that I've got to go snd get some of the last few xmas pressies but I have 2 things to take back to the shops because they were impulse buys, so I'm hoping that I can get all the last pressies for the same cost technically making it spend free day.

emmie26

Money In
£1960

Money out
Mortgage £675
Council tax £100
Loan £100
Water £32.40
Gas & Elec £69.00
Household maintenance [STRIKE]£100[/STRIKE] £0 This will be incorporated into cc payments.
Garden [STRIKE]£25[/STRIKE] £0
TV, Phone Internet £45.14
Tv Licence £10
Mobile x2 [STRIKE]£35[/STRIKE] £0 We will pay these out of our own money
Food £200
Eating out [STRIKE]£20[/STRIKE] £0
Drinks at home [STRIKE]£20[/STRIKE] £0
Car Insurance £25
Car Tax £12
Petrol £80
Car Payments £138
credit cards [STRIKE]£200[/STRIKE] £300 This may have to be reduced if something needs doing in the house
Childcare £100
School meals [STRIKE]£40[/STRIKE] £0 Our son is going to take sandwiches in the new year
Dentistry [STRIKE]£5[STRIKE] £0
Haircuts [STRIKE]£20[/STRIKE] £0
Optical bills [STRIKE]£10[/STRIKE] £0
Clothes [STRIKE]£75[/STRIKE] £25 This is just money for the childrens clothes ours will have to come out of our own money.
Big One offs [STRIKE]£150[/STRIKE] £40 this is just for xmas

Total £1951.54

We both should then have approx £300 to spend on any frivolous things like haircuts eating out etc but if we don't spend any of it then it can be put towards debt. I am determined to save at least half of mine.

curlygirl1971

Hi Emmie

Just wanted to say a huge well done......am sure that in a few months time some other 'newbie' will see your thread and feel inspired by your story and achievements

Don't feel disgusted by the figure you owe - feel really proud that you're taking control and dealing with it

Make sure you write everything down and keep track of what you are spending

Best of luck

emmie26

I'm feeling really good at the moment I just wish that I'd joined MSE forum a long time ago I think its a really good environment to be in, unlike the 'real world' everyone here is really honest, if people have spent money on here they are honest about the fact that it has added to their debt. Me and hubby were so good with money after uni, we got rid of all of our debt (except student loans) before our son was born and we were determined to never spend on the plastic again because we knew how hard it is to pay it off, yet a couple of years ago we looked around at all of our friends who were in similar jobs to us in similar sized houses, and were amazed at the lifestyles that they had, holidays, new cars, clothes you name it and decided we wanted a bit of the action. We started with a 0% loan on a new car and it has absolutely snowballed from there, envy is one of the seven deadly debt sins. Now I feel envious of some of the people on here who have reduced their debt dramatically or even paid it off completely(I even ventured onto the mortgage-free board, but that was a little to out of reach:A).

Today I have been very frugal was all set for a NSD however drew £50 out of the bank for the two work do's I have this weekend, am drivng to one and getting a lift to and from the other, I'm determined not to spend too much. However, when I got home my lovely OH asked if I had any cash to pay for his kickboxing training, so he's had £10 to be honest I probably owe him 4x that as he has always got cash lying around that I dip into. Anyway this has reduced my budget for the weekend to £40, £25 of this is to pay for one of the meals the other is paid for, £3.75 I owe to one of the girls for the joint pressie for our boss so that leaves £11.25 for drinks I'm not sure if thats doable, but I'll give it a go.

Tomorrow will definately not be a spend free day i need to get the last few pressies for people, but I have a cunning plan

Refund for dress and shoes = +£65

Pressie for dad = £20
Pressie for brother = £20
2 x childrens pressie = £20
Lunchbox for son = £5 (this is so he can start having packed lunches in the new year.

If I can cut down on any of these then I'll spend the difference on OH cause all he has at the moment is a CD and a book, very grim! Wish me luck!

curlygirl1971

hmmmm many people with good lifestyles are doing it on credit also......you never know what goes on behind closed doors and in someone else's bank account. But yes I know what you mean about wanting the same lifestyle - I think we've all fallen for that one at some point. At least you have woken up and smelt the coffee - some people would have just continued and gotten themselves into even worse trouble. £16k is reversible with some hard-work and a little patience and before you know it you'll be back on the MFW threads looking to move into the next phase.

I like your plan! This time of year is always hard to budget for - lots of extra expenses but January should be easier. Glad to hear that you are getting out as well as your OH. It sounds like he still needs to come round a bit more to the whole idea of budget management. Don't give up!

emmie26

what a disaster have massively overspent, doh!

Got the refunds + £65

Then the trouble started

OH pressies - £40
Brother - £33
Dad - £20
Children - £16

Total Overspend today = £44 :mad:

The trouble happened because I needed to get OH something £40 is about £200 less than last year. Then went to get my brother some aftershave from boots and thought I would use my advantage card which had £15 on it however when I got to the till my advantage card wouldn't work so I paid and added it to my overdraft cause I would have been embarassed to put it back in front of all the queue (stupid I know).
Di'nt get a lunchbox for my son because the cheapest one was £10 which is a ridiculous amount so I'll have a look in the supermarkets they might be a bit cheaper.

I am now determined to stick to my budget for the 2 nights out, I really will feel gutted if I go over. :cool: