Putting it down on paper...and making a plan (arrrghh!!)

**Kat**_2

Wow can't believe how much your diary reflects how my and DH USED to be. He is now fully on the debt bandwagon with me so don't give up trying.

The fags rung the loudest alarm bells with me. It was exactly how we were. Now, neither of us buy fags, but if someone else gives us one and we say yes, neither gets a telling off.

Have you done a SOA so you can see how much money you both should have left at the end of the month for debt repayment?

ps - *subscribed*

skyvicky123

Lemon_Tree wrote: »

Just some thoughts on what you've said. About smoking (i've never smoked so shouldn't really comment) but if you feel you can quit but don't because your OH doesn't i think you need to change you mindset around. Don't feel you're missing out, instead i think i would take the money I'm not spending and put it aside for something nice for yourself/DD and when OH asks where's his tell him he smoked it! Sorry i can be too blunt sometimes.

Well done for getting started with the planning, the biggest thing to remember is to always come back even if it feels like everything is going wrong. It will be much worse if you don't come back.
good luck and looking forward to following your progress.

Lemon Tree - thanks for your post - I know what you're saying about the smoking - I am going to give it some thought Don't worry about being blunt with me I am world renowned for not beating about the bush!. Also on the posting even when things go wrong...well see the next post once I have got the strength together to write it xx

**Kat** wrote: »

Wow can't believe how much your diary reflects how my and DH USED to be. He is now fully on the debt bandwagon with me so don't give up trying.

The fags rung the loudest alarm bells with me. It was exactly how we were. Now, neither of us buy fags, but if someone else gives us one and we say yes, neither gets a telling off.

Have you done a SOA so you can see how much money you both should have left at the end of the month for debt repayment?

ps - *subscribed*

Hi Kat

Thanks for subscribing - looks like you are a few months (at least) ahead of me so hopefully you can help me out! in bringing my OH fully on board. He is beginning to realise I am not going to give in on this.

Yes, I have done an SOA but due to changes in work stuff etc it keeps changing so haven't posted it yet. Basically our situation is that we have spare money to throw at our debt currently but this may change soon for a short time. More will be explained in my next post but this might have to wait till lunch time as feeling pretty drained by it all and need to muster the strength (god it's only 9am and I could easily crawl back under the duvet and hide today!)

Positive stuff is that it's pay day! I have cleared tesco CC and Egg CC altogether and need to sort out the smaller payment to MBNA.

I will have more to clear off the debt from this month's salary but don't like to do it until end of month so I know the money is there if needed x

Thanks for reading and subscribing - hope I don't bore you to death!

Lemon_Tree

looking forward to your next post, sounds like it may be interesting

It's my OH's payday today so i get to sort out his finances tonight when i get home, mine's not till Monday, boo hiss, so it's another leanish weekend, though as OH is working this weekend i'm going to try and spend my productively

**Kat**_2

I wait with bated breath for your next post - hope you're ok..

skyvicky123

Hi Kat, sorry it's been a manic day and just got in from food shopping...well the story goes a bit like this (hope I haven't built it up!)

Currently a have a childcare sharing setup thing with a friend but she is pregnant and going on mat leave in July. To put DD in nursery for the extra 2 days (I work 3 days) would leave us around £350 pm worse off.

Me and OH gave it a lot of thought and agreed I would go back FT (still have big nursery bill but increased salary offsets it leaving us in the same position financially as we are now)

To add to the complicated story OH is also my boss. He SAID he had checked it out with his seniors and got the okay. I went ahead and booked nursery place from July.

Yesterday I get a phone call on my day off from OH saying our MD says he won't let me back FT.

Queue much panic and stress for me (we are going to be broke, we'll never clear our debts etc) Plus it felt like a massive kick in the teeth for me as I thought tbh they would bite my arm off. Without being cocky (I hope!) I am good at what I do, hit my sales targets, have lots of experience. Plus we just lost another FT sales person so thought I was also doing them a favour.

Anyway, having calmed down a bit things seem a bit clearer and we could still manage to stay on track. Mortgage comes down in July, we get our 15 hours free childcare from January, plus a 3% rise at work for us both. Plus thinking of the benefits to us personally it would be nice to have my 2 days to be with DD.

On the days I work I leave at 7.30 and get in late (around 6.30pm) OH works even longer and is often out of the house at 6am and not back till 8pm. He is still working now on his laptop next to me.

I do worry though that MD wants me out, despite me performing well. He has a well voiced concern about women with kids or of child bearing age, he won't employ them in high profile jobs (I KNOW!) I think he is worried that I won't be able to put i extra hours, might go off on mat leave again for another (no danger there!)

Anyway me and OH have had a few heated discussions, but now have agreed to forget about it til Monday and enjoy the weekend!

Hope all is okay with you?

skyvicky123

I still can't seem to help treating shopping as a leisure activity...I know I shouldn't. With the cost of parking, sausage roll between me and DD and a few bits from £1 shop my spend came to £6.30 so not too bad I suppose although...

I VERY nearly bought some beautiful dresses for DD in TK Maxx. BUT I didn't as although she needs them for the summer I hadn't planned it yet. I want to set a budget and put a list together of needed items as well as getting the full clothing budget together. In the past I have always ended up buy loads of stuff for her just because I like it and then finding I can't assemble an outfit that goes together!

Last summer I bought all her summer stuff on Next website at a cost of £150, then spent months paying it off. Not this time - although I do like Next as they have a full range and it's easier for me to know I am buying stuff that I can put together as a full outfit. Then I buy basic bits from Asda / Tesco for nursery.

This time round the clothes will last a bit longer as she is in 3-4 years now so really need to think about buying stuff that can be layered for summer and winter.

TW I checked the price of shin of beef (for stewing in cheap utchers and it's £5.50 which is more than Tesco's pre-packed stuff. ...thought so :cool: Also having tried it it's MUCH tougher than the Tesco stuff and quite stringy.

Final note to self. Charity shops are NOT cheap for clothes! Saw some lovely summer dresses for me with labels from Next, Per Una etc and they wanted £12.99!!:mad: Would rather buy new from the sales thanks! I do love looking for books and toys in the charity shops though - much better value!

OH still in bed (it's his lie in but think he is taking the p**s a bit now) Sent DD up to jump on him but she couldn't open the door and he just left her standing outside! Might start storm in and grab a load of washing at the moment (martyr style) so he feels guilty.:rotfl:

Lemon_Tree

vicky my OH sleeps for england as well on his days off, i try and use the time to update banking, play on MSE etc but eventually enough is enough and i start making loud noises. I wish i could sleep as much as he can.

skyvicky123

Lemon Tree - I know. When it's my lie in day I feel short changed! It's just I can't help making mental lists of jobs I should be doing!

Well tomorrow I will be taking my kindle to bed and lazing about generally all morning! OH will take DD to feed the ducks so proper peace and quiet!

Just been for a walk round the park with OH, DD and Barneylabradoodle. Great to blow away those cobwebs...

Now for a bit of sofa lazing...

Raised about £6.00 after postage for a book sold on Amazon but really should list some bits on Ebay later x

skyvicky123

skyvicky123 wrote: »

Objective updates

Objective 1 - When get paid 25/03/11 Clear and close Tesco Credit Card - cleared but need OH to close it!
Objective 2 - When get paid 25/03/11 Clear and close Egg Credit Card - Cleared but waiting on final interest b4 I close it
Objective 3 - Change loan to a 3 year term roma 5 year estimate payments will be £315 at 8.9% and will have facility to overpay (OH to spk to santander) Bloody lucky this hasn't been done yet considering the FT work situation. Although we could prob still afford it I wouldn't want to commit yet.
Objective 4 - When get paid 25/03/11 pay £140 off OH MBNA - Done
Objective 5 - When £33 comes in from Amazon pay off OH MBNA - Done
Objective 6 - Send off form for 16 month 0% deal from Santander - Posted but somehow it got a bit soggy in my ag so hope they accept it!
Objective 7 - When cash from side job in (April) pay this off MBNA CW (£500)Objective 8 - When bonus comes (est £6k in July) in pay off TV balance in full and £4.5K off OH MBNA

So the list becomes:

The big things:

1. Close Egg Card
2. Get OH to close tesco card
3. Pay side job cash off MBNA OH Card (£500)
4. Bonus (est £6K) pay off TV and £4.5K off MBNA OH
5. Save up some money to get DD new clothes for summer.
6. When £10 in from quidco pay off MBNA

The little things

1. Wash, dry and iron then list baby clothes on Ebay - 1 bundle in wash now.
2. Take key to dog-walker
3. Iron DD clothes for next week
4. Box up the music magpie stuff and take to work on Monday!
5. Get OH appointment at docs re: stopping smoking. Think he needs tablets.

Dinner is ham salad with mozzarella (freebie from a mate!) for me and pork chop and salad for OH (apparently ham wasn't "meaty" enough for him!

I am sure the frequency of my posts will slow soon but for the last 8 weeks or so I have developed a total obsession for moneysaving so might as well go with the flow while the motivation is there!

skyvicky123

So I have just opened a loyalty ISA with santander. It's instant access etc and I plan on using it like a regular savings account as I will never reach the limit!

Anyway the things I am thinking of paying in there for are:

Car Tax annual £120 (£10 PM but due in July so will up to £30 for now)
Car Servicing £120 (£10 PM) just done so will think about later
Birthdays £240 (£20 PM) drop to £10 for now
Christmas £480 (£40 PM) drop to £30 for now
DD Clothes budget Need to get some money together ASAP so poss £50 PM for 3 months and then drop to £20 PM
Next year's Car Insurance £22 PM - will have to wait for now
Next year's home insurance £15 PM - Just renewed so might have to pick up later

The black writing - thats £167 PM. I'm not sure that's affordable so for now will drop to essentials (just those in red) That's still £120 PM ....hmmm but what if I could get this target amount in the account simply through underspends in grocery and entertainment plus ebay and amazon sales? Definitely think I can get £40 out of this week's budget so that will help.

At the back of my mind though I keep thinking should I be saving when I have debts? But then I am not behind with the debts and don't want to find myself in the position of running them up again due to big expenses. Christmas and holidays are always my down-fall.

Now I forgot to budget for holidays. Oh dear. We are sort of planning on a cheapy in June but we haven't worked out a funding method yet. In the past we have always taken a mortgage holiday but the sensible side of me is saying this isn't very MSE. Need to formulate a plan for this. Possibly sell DD's pram (that sounds worse than it is...she is 2 1/2 and we rarely use it). Have a cheapy one as well as stupidly expensive one which would prob make £300 on Ebay.

Then possibbly a car boot. It worked last year for a last min holiday for me and DD with my mum (we aren't really close but she needed a break following death of both her parents, relationship breakdown etc) She had nobody to go with but she messed me about for ages. (OH didn't understand why i wanted to go with my mum said he was too busy at work to come, said we couldn't afford it and insisted I raise the cash myself (despite him blowing £500 on lads skiing holiday). I bloody did raise the money and that showed him. Had a great time and he ended up taking the week off at home:mad: and I came back to a much more contrite man (who had cleaned the house from top to bottom, greeted me at the door, cooked my favourite meal and ran me a bath...) think somebody learned they missed us!

Think that might have been the only time I have REALLY put my foot down about something. It's not that i'm a push over, just I hate upsetting people. I'm all mouth to start with but quickly end up backing down. This time though I was stuck between upsetting my mum and my OH so in the end I had to choose what felt right and I couldn't let my mum down.

Anyway...back on topic. I must work out a solid plan to pay for a holiday but first of all need to get OH to think aout what we are going to do. Next step on the plan is to get £120 in that savings account by EOM.

Fromy July time will re-adjust the savings amount. Incidentally this is when I will have to start paying out more nursery fees so will be tight.

What a long post but I feel more organised now!