Obsessive and Organised

Booboo123_2

Hello World,

After "lurking" for some time and reading loads of diaries I am going to start one to write down all of the rubbish I have rolling round my head!

At the moment myself and OH have a combined £7110.23 of debt which we manage fine and were never late on payments. Were lucky to both have well paid jobs and I get paid Monthly and him Weekly so theres usually always money in the bank.

We recently had a baby and along with the expenses that brings I will be losing alot of my salary when I get onto maternity pay.

So I would like to keep on here in the hope that I can get through being on maternity pay and also to start building up a little savings.

My diary is named as such because I am very organised (maybe a litttle too much) but this is good and means Im usually on top of things. I also have a bit of an obsessive personality so if I get somethng in my head I cant let it go, which can be good or bad! Good like coming on here every day and Bad like having every colour of nail polish from Boots?!

Anyways next post will have the financials x

Booboo123_2

As at 03/04/2011 -

Loan - £630.08
CC1 - £1838.19
CC2 - £1917.14
Car - £2724.82

Total - £7110.23

It feels good to write it all down and now I can see how to pay these off? hmmmm.... will report back

Forgot to add my savings which at present are £300 but this fluctuates. There are loads of things we would like to do so a big focus is going to be on savings

Booboo123_2

So today (like most days) is a NSD but to be honest I never really spend money in the day. I do a weekly shop for food for the house and im at home most of the time with the baby or if I do go out it's just for a walk. The money we do spend is on clothes/ shoes/ jewlery etc. We like the nice things so when we have cash we always treat ourselves.

The Credit Cards were cut up and have not been used for 2 years but unfortunatly they dont go down very quickly, will need to have a wee think about how to remedy this.

1 loan is finished in August but I might finish this early, the other i'm looking into at the moment as it is for OH car which is ready to fall apart.... not sure about this one either.

At the moment I am just going to concentrate on getting these savings up as at the end of May I go onto 50% pay which will be a big hit so having a buffer would be good.

I have a couple of spreadsheets my main one is great as I work out how much money in Direct Debits will come off of each wage (mines and OH.. we have a joint account) then whatever is left over can be spent/ saved etc. (usually spent).

Will do a mini SOA but have cut down as much as I can

Flee_2

Good luck with your debt reducing. Congratulations on becoming a parent. I am planning on having a baby next year but I must cut down my debt first.

Booboo123_2

Okie dokie - the facts and figures!

Income:
Me - £1070 pm (which is 90% of my usual salary as I am on MAT leave)
OH - £1500 pm (usually more than this but varies and this is the lowest that can get)
Child Benefit - £80pm
Child Tax credits - ???? (Have applied but havent heard back yet so will update when I know)

Total - £2650

Outgoings:
Rent - £550
C Tax - £163
Gas & Electric - £91 (was £60 but with the heating being on all winter they out my DD up - this should reduce again in the summer!)
TV Licence - £15
Sky - £63
Mobiles - £90
My Car - £160
My Insurance - £30
OH Car - £170
OH Insurance - £80 (had a driving offence so this is still high)

Credit Card 1 - £35
Credit Card 2 - £45
Stupid Loan - £160

Total - £1652


So 2650 - 1652 = 998

I think its correct that we do have this and sometimes more but we spend it on lots of things and have a really nice life/ things/ experiences. If it wasnt for going on Maternity pay I wouldn't be that fussed but when I go onto SMP things will be a bit tighter and I still want to be able to enjoy the nice things

Off to cuddle by little baby and give him his bottle Happy Days!

beanielou

Happy shiney new diary

Booboo123_2

Thanks BeanieLou & Flee

Well today is another NSD as me and baby are going to have a quiet day at home - the weather is horrid!

Not much else happening in the money area - There is £140 in the bank and OH is paid on thursday and I have done all my shopping for the week from my meal plan! tonight we are having home made soup and paninis. Still waiting to hear back from Child tax credits but I think with it being year end they will probs take there time to get back!

Today I am going to polish and hoover round the house. Got a wee bit ironing and change the bedding and I'm all up to date on my housework.

I ordered Jillian Micheals 30 day shred at the weekend to try and help shift the last of my little baby belly. I'm not allowed to do any exercise yet but I have my 6 week ante natal check next weke so after that will get into the DVD - I really missed exercising during my pregnancy and now I need to try and find the time with the baby so I thought a quick DVD would be best! I'll update my progress on this diary to keep myself on track.

Have a nice Tuesday everyone x

Booboo123_2

Morning,

Put £50.00 into savings so im up to £350 of maternity savings. I would like £2000 to tide me through till I go back to work next year but I dont know how possible this will be. It might be that we manage 2000 altogether but money is in and out quite alot as these savings are to help with our bills when im on MAT leave.

Direct Debits this week are £90 so will have about £200 to put into savings this week I think, but will need to wait and see how much goes into the bank tomorrow.

My Maternity pay drops to 50% on the 26th May so this is my target date to have the savings topped up.

We have 2 savings accounts - 1 is mines and 1 my OH at the moment the savings are going in my account and will then be used as and when they are needed to assist with bills etc. I think we will use his savings account for the mortgage deposit savings account. We would like to buy our own home at some point in the next 5 years so dont need to go for this crazy quick but would like to make a wee start even £50 per month till I go back to work!

I think we would be looking to buy a house at about £150,000.. what sort of deposit should I aim for for this, 10%?

Anyways... I dont think i will manage a NSD today as I have a few cards to post at the post office and i'll need to get some diesel.

Bye for now x

wendz86

Just thought I would pop in and say Hi. I have just gone on maternity leave , expecting my first baby in 2 weeks. Congrtualtions on your little one!

I am also trying to save as much as possible before my pay drops. Sounds like you are doing really well so far.

Booboo123_2

Thanks Wendz and congrats! Its great being a mummy

So I have been thinking this morning of all the things i would like short term:

Easytone trainers
Teeth whitened
Topshop Trench
Kindle
iPhone
MAC bronzer and blush and mascara

and a million other things of course...

Usually I would just get these things but now we are saving I will be good - I might get 1 thing at the end of the month when I get paid and that will be my fix ! In a couple of weeks I will probs want something different anyway! x

Baldybear

We have just bought a house and had a large deposit, from parents downsizing and we had 32% of the house value. Even then we still have alarge mortgage. Most companies if you want the decent rates look at a Loan to Value of 75% so you would need at least 25%. Its really hard to save that sort of money, we are only lucky via parents or would be stuffed!

Also just a quick thought, you mentioned that you would like quite a list of things short term, is it worth saving for these separately, or how about making a target of paying of your debt and say at 10% you treat yourself? Maybe put 10% to debt and 10% to savings for treats so not wasting your money??

I havent updated my figures recently but am very nearly debt free, bar car loan and stupid mortgage! But am gald I sacrificed a few things short term to be able to have more money in the long run to buy what I needed and not worry about debts. Sorry if this sounds preachy, not meant to be, just offering my personal advice and wisdom. I dont mind if you ignore me and tell me to s*d off