2011 Make or break time

the_harrys

Peace at last- the kids are all in bed, OH is away so I have a minute to reflect on the day.

Very busy day at work, so no time to shop except 3.20 pounds on milk and 2 tins tuna (pole and line caught Sainsbury's value after watching Hugh's fish fight last week) and took back a vegetable knife I bought from Tesco 3 weeks ago which has fallen apart already so got a 5 pound refund from that making a "profit" of 1.80 pounds (my pound sign has broken).

Have to be up at 6.00am tomorrow as travelling with work- I should go and make the DCs lunches now but can't face it. I must get more organised. At least I will get a free lunch tomorrow and it will be good to catch up with a couple of work friends without spending money.

the_harrys

Had quite a nice day at work yesterday for a change but had to spend £45.00 on petrol for the work trip- although I should get expenses paid, since the fuel price has gone up I don't think the mileage rate paid by my company will quite cover it. I also had to pay £45.00 for DD1's school trip that is coming up so definitely not a NSD today.
A colleague and I (who are both desperate to leave) mused about setting up in business together- the only problem is that we can't think of any bright ideas!
It is my afternoon off today, so I will set to and get the house sorted for OH's return tonight- not very exciting but will keep me from spending anything.

the_harrys

I have been trying out the snowball calculator.

As far as I can see, even if I start paying only the minimum payment on each card, provided I keep paying the at that same level each month and don't keep to only minimum payments (which would decrease over time as a % of the remaining debt), our debt should be gone in 63 months (that would be April 2016).

That seems a long way off but actually not as bad as I thought and I would hope to clear it faster than that if we are both in work. Still need to have realistic plan but my plan for this month is STOP SPENDING and pay off card at 18.9% first.

My spend so far this month is a fraction of last month-

Spend 1-20 Dec (after all direct debits/ regular bills paid) £5900

Spend this month so far 1-20 Jan (after DDs/ reg bills) £ 125 and I have £26 left for the rest of the month now- will keep to that.

That's a 98% reduction!!

millionaire_in_training

:rotfl:slight change in expenditure there then. Good for you. IT's certainly not easy but it feels so good when you manage to do what you have planned. I love the snowball calculator as you can see at a glance what a difference it makes to your debt repaying journey if you overpay. I Have no doubt set myself an impossible target but I want to be debt free in 3 years before I have 2 children in uni so the snowball has worked out for me how I can achieve this. If it happens then fabulous, if not then I will be in a much better position than I am just now so either way I win

the_harrys

I managed to keep yesterday as a NSD but we ran out of bread so the DCs had a pretty cobbled together packed lunch today including smoked salmon canapes from the freezer (leftover from Xmas) which they didn't look too impressed with.

We were considering switching the mortgage to a 2 yr fix to lower the payments (we're on a 5 yr fix), although we'd have to pay a redemption penalty, but the deal I looked at last week (with no arrangement fee) now has a $700 fee so I think the sums are making less sense. I would also rather not have to have a valuation on the house as it would probably be quite depressing- I'd rather not know as we don't plan to sell anytime soon.

TGI Friday- hope the sunshine holds up so we can get out a bit.

the_harrys

MIT- yes the snowball is great. Good Luck on keeping to your plan- looks like you've made a great start. I don't want to be too ambitious to begin with as I don't have a great track record of keeping to a budget. I'll review in a month and see if we can bring forward our DFD a bit. I also have a DC who will probably go to Uni in 3 years time- I haven't really looked at the whole fees thing yet but none of it sounds very good at the moment and I doubt it will be any better in 3 years.

TBH I have already discussed with DS that Uni will be great if he needs a degree for what he wants to do, but he shoudn't just assume he has to go and get into loads of debt if there isn't an obvious advantage later on.

the_harrys

I need to get into doing a meal plan- I have always been pretty disorganised but this needs to change so I've made a start for next week- I usually cook most stuff from scratch although DS1 has said he would rather have supermarket pizza every night (see Tuesday) - oh well at least I can think I tried my best for them..

Fri- corned beef hash and peas
Sat- macaroni cheese and veg
Sun- Fish and leek pie, mashed potato, broccoli, carrot
Jam sponge and custard
Mon- Salmon fishcakes
Tues-pizza
Weds-potato, leek and bacon omelette
Thurs- jacket potato, tuna and sweetcorn mayonnaise, salad

I've made 2 fruit loaves for snacks so far.

Usually have a roast joint on Sunday but the budget won't stretch this week. Roll on payday!

millionaire_in_training

:rotfl:hope you enjoyed your corned beef hash. Meal plans are fab. Was just chatting to my friend who is a maths teacher about uni and the costs involved. SHe says that in Scotland the fees will probably be covered by a grant but loans will be needed for everything else. I am hoping they will both go to a Glasgow uni and can travel on a daily basis. I will feed them and they can get a part time job for their other expenses. THat's the plan anyway. We'll see if it works out that way. I would hate for them to start off in life with huge student debts

the_harrys

That's much better than the situation for English Uni's then- I think my DC will need to pay 9K a year just for the fees so we would like to be in a position to help him out if we can.
I think it's nothing short of criminal to encourage so many kids to go to Uni over the last few years and then virtually bankrupt them (or their parents) to go there- another money-making scheme by the govt. to provide work in UK plc now we don't actually have any industries left but don't get me started !

Glad it's the weekend at last but this is usually where most of the spending happens...

I'm taking DS and 2 mates to a climbing wall then they're off for a burger - so need to give him a bit of cash out of my £26 left. I've printed off some vouchers though so shouldn't be too expensive.

OH and DD1 are off out together so I have a bit of quality time with DD2 who always seems to miss out so we're going to do a bit a baking together and then take the dog out for a run.

the_harrys

Good day yesterday- I spent £5 on DS and friends, (he used his own money for the rest) but that's all but we all had a busy day. I should manage for one last week-the child benefit (£188) is due on 28th I think.

We're off out for a bracing walk on the beach now- maybe I should take DS's metal detector and see what I can find.

In the Summer it seems to be quite a pastime round here- they apparently find a fair of amount cash that the holidaymakers drop on the beach and saved me the cost of a locksmith last year when I dropped my house keys and they found them for me!

Plan for next week;
:)Stay in credit at bank
Keep to meal plan
Book show for half term for DDs with Tesco vouchers (i.e. free!)
:(Buy nephew's birthday present on credit card- bad I know, but I don't want to miss his birthday and will pay off next week once paid.