Our MF way of life starts today.

babybakey

Right well thats it were definately over spending !!!

Just added up this months reciepts ( from the 18th Jan as hubby gets paid then) and we have spent over £95 on things we really didnt need , take aways twice, junk food from the little shop , chocolate, cans of pop etc.
I think i need to show hubby the actual costs of our way of living as were only half the way through our month and if that figure was to double its not far off £200 that could snip sooooooo much off the mortgage for us! .
Im self employed too and because of a wedding fair i did this weekend just gone i spent over £145 on things to do a whole display for the day. my takings for the month so far are £123 !! not good. however i met a good contact there who has called today and offered a free stand at a wedding event tomorrow so you never know this could be worth it and i wont have much else to spend out on just some eggs i think as i have everything else ( hmmm said this earlier i think)

I think from payday this month i will start a rule we buy in bulk cans of drink and bottles of pop and once theyre gone theyre gone until the next month. if hubby cant do without a drink he can have squash or tea etc. at £1 a bottle and over £20 going on it every month its a big ammount across the year im the same with sweets and chocolate i spend a fortune especially at that** time of the month . No more though i need to find other things to cheer me up as im lardy and skint now and nowhere near paying off the mortgage or overdraft.

if we stop all this rubbish we could pay the over draft off in a year too !!!!!! now that would be good!

financialbliss

babybakey wrote: »

i have had a few people say i should pay off the overdraft before starting to pay the mortgage off so going to try and work how we can do that quickly.

Its hard though we have 3 very small children so i have to work around

Hi babybakey

I went :eek: when I read that you dip into your overdraft every month. To quote your other thread:

babybakey wrote: »

We know we cant save to save our lives we have literally nothing in savings and an overdraft of £2.5k which we will pay off here and there but its £1 a day to be in the over draft so £365 a year to have it.

If I stopped you in the street, you'd not give me £365, so you should try not to give your hard earned money back to them. You're probably paying the fees months, so don't really "feel" it, but that's £365 of your money you're giving back to the banks.

I know it can be easier to say than do sometimes...

Have you thought about posting a full statement of affairs, ie income and expenditure, any credit cards etc?

If I was you, I'd possibly kick the mortgage into touch completely, look at the debts and pay them off in turn starting with the highest APR.

Lots of helpful people in this mortgage forum - here to help, but you just need to ask / post questions here.

Financial Bliss.

hastie

Totally agree with above post. You have recognised your long term goal of MF, now time to pay all debts, car loans, store cards, overdraft. Be in a position each year to pay yearly premiums in full, (often saves), THEN get really stuck into the mortgage overpaments.
Not being negative, you are starting boldly and that is good, but it is easier in the long run to prioritise your debts.

loving your enthusiasm.:)

CathT

Shelly, have really enjoyed reading your diary. You have been offered some sound advice so far but a SOA would be really good and then people can offer tips as to where you can save money and what you could prioritise etc.

mummalove

Hi Shelly, great reading your diary and feeling your light bulb moment :idea: I love hearing how others are reducing their outgoings and how to make that extra £1. I wish you luck and will be following your progress x

babybakey

financialbliss wrote: »

Hi babybakey

I went :eek: when I read that you dip into your overdraft every month. To quote your other thread:



If I stopped you in the street, you'd not give me £365, so you should try not to give your hard earned money back to them. You're probably paying the fees months, so don't really "feel" it, but that's £365 of your money you're giving back to the banks.

I know it can be easier to say than do sometimes...

Have you thought about posting a full statement of affairs, ie income and expenditure, any credit cards etc?

If I was you, I'd possibly kick the mortgage into touch completely, look at the debts and pay them off in turn starting with the highest APR.

Lots of helpful people in this mortgage forum - here to help, but you just need to ask / post questions here.

Financial Bliss.

Hiya ,
apart from the mortgage the only debt we have is the overdraft of £2400 weve said as soon as the money comes back from the courts ( taking car dealer to court) were going to pay it off and manage with one car for the time being and save for a second again, we did pay in cash but have been left in a right tight state since it broke etc and have used the over draft to get by and enable hubby to carry on getting to work :-( dont worry what we get back will pay it off and more!

We only have the mortgage at £550 a mth , and the over draft at £2400 i push over as much of the left over cash i can every month , most months its a few hundred so bit by bit were clearing it but its hard whilst were still having all this hassle with the car dealer to focus on it. Its not our fault we have the debt its his and feels horrible having to have it.

everything else is normal bills , car ins etc which were going to try and get lower. but no credit ( well for the car insurance we pay monthly so there is credit there but its not like a credit card etc )

We dont have any credit cards , other over drafts etc. We got rid of all of that a couple of years ago.

im going to look into all our normal regular bills and try and reduce them but i cant see a way of paying the debt off any easier. i wish we didnt have the overdraft normally we would never have taken it out. The car dealer has a lot to answer for. :mad:

babybakey

just thinking out loud, would we be best off looking for a interest free transfer credit card and transfering it to that ? can you do that ? ive never had to do something like that. i doubt you can move over overdrafts.

financialbliss

babybakey wrote: »

just thinking out loud, would we be best off looking for a interest free transfer credit card and transfering it to that ? can you do that ? ive never had to do something like that. i doubt you can move over overdrafts.

Hi babybakey,
You may be able to get a 0% balance transfer CC, ask for some credit card cheques and pay these into your current account.

Looks like 12 to 15 months on balance transfers:
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cards/balance-transfer-credit-cards

Not an area I know much about, so perhaps asking on the credit card forum may give more informative responses.

£2,400 over, say 15 months is £160 a month. Does this sound achievable?

Note that there will be balance transfer charges applied. At a charge of 2.9% that's a £69.90, but compared to your overdraft charges, that's a saving.

Key is to attempt to clear at the end of the 12, 15 or whatever months, so you don't revert to a much higher APR or incur further balance transfer charges in order to transfer the balance elsewhere.

FB.

babybakey

well the last few days have been hard weve finally filled the questionnaire for the court case ( were taking a car dealer to court for selling us a death trap , which is why were in the overdraft still) and was told it could be another 7+ months before we get a hearing. im gutted we had hoped it wouldnt be long so we could get back to both working more hours i cant work as much with just one car as it means im stuck doing all the mundane things like taking the kids to Dr's appointments, doing shopping visiting the inlaws , school clubs etc have to be done when hubbyshome , hes out of the house anything upto 13 hours a day when i cant really get much work done ( im a cake designer) with the 2 little ones round my ankles. so the usual hours i work when hes home im stuck as im catching up with all the normal mummy things i do.
I think were going to have to just try and plough the over draft off and see how much we can do but we cant start our MF journey properly until we have our money back. Weve decided we shall be getting a car again with the cash so wont be paying off the over draft with the refund but should in turn be able to earn much more once we have another car again as i can get everything done when hubbys at work then i have the time hes home to work myself. its much easier.

I am still keeping to spending less and the boys have done well and have nearly finished the next lot of cereal so will get to choose some new ones this weekend bless them.
Weve been saving the pennies from our wallets etc too every penny counts and all that. I saved lots on the shopping and have only spent £200 since Hubby got paid and the freezer is still full so wont be going again until he gets paid next friday (18th) were getting the essentials locally and its really helping.

I will keep up the diary as you never know a miracle may happen and we might get a court date in a few months so can plough onwards then. Ive had a few good cake orders this week too so fingers crossed theyre the start of many orders for the summer !

babybakey

Hi Everyone,
Well i hope youve all had a great Febuary and are looking forward to March. Ive been very busy setting things up for my new part of the business , teaching cupcake classes. So far ive not had any take up but then im guessing it is the end of the month this weekend so people are broke until payday. I have however had SOOOOOO many cake orders through its been great i managed to nab myself 2 free wedding fairs at the end of Jan and begining of Feb and im doing really well from them in fact ive just dropped off another invoice now to a bride whos just confirmed. Im hoping the is the start of something good, its been trickling along for so long and it feels like now finally the names gettign out there and people are trusting my business as a brand , which is great.

Weve had to spend a bit on things for the home this month but ive decided until the orders get done im going to bank all my business money into the account with the over draft so that a. its away from our usual money as the bank wont let me start a business account as i wont be earning enough monthly. and so that B. it works in our favour and holds off the over draft a little more everymonth. as i need the stock etc ill use the account but where i can ill leave all my profits in there to dwindle down the over draft bit by bit in one month alone ive managed to get it to just under £2k so that £500 off the balance. if i could do that every month ill be laughing!

Ive signed up to internet banking - yes i know finally got *with it* and joined the land of the living, its great i only joined today and ive already transfered over £200 to the over draft account!

Weve got the old penny bag filling up every few weeks i empty the mini money box we have into a bag and its got a goot wedge of coppers etc in there must be £5 at least now.

over the next few months we will have a fair bit of outgoings whilst i sort the classes out and get them running well i need to get the house as clutter free as possible and weve ordered the new floor to be laid. its commercial and will look great not like the hospital ones in looks but in sturdiness and cleanliness its the same just with a wood effect. best of both worlds the fitter says we wont ever need it replacing in a home as your never going to wear it out. Faberooney!

last month i made over £170 selling odds and ends we were really pleased. plus it makes more room. i have a huge box and a blue Ikea bag full of stuff to sell still though so ill have to manage a bit here and there when i can.

If i can get the classes started and busy i should be able to bank a good £600 in the overdraft account everymonth and weve said we will transfer over £400 of hubby wages too so that it earns us the free £5 then ill transfer it back if and when we need it. otherwise it will build a nice nest egg. I just have to get my head around hwo to get the classes busy then we'll be well away!

Well i hope your all well , hopefully ill have more good news soon have a fab March people !!!! p.s. i turn 31 on thursday. oldie !!! haha

Shelly x