Back filling the big hole I dug with my credit card

AllThatStuffIsJustStuff

Hi pennywise - thanks for stopping by. We are all very excited about going away on the weekend. This will only be our second break since our honeymoon. The first one was snow covered so hoping this one will be too. I love the snow and it doesn't look like we're getting any down here soon so I hope venturing north will improve our chances.

This is just another reason it's a good job me and PBS have each other - there can't be many other people who think a long weekend in the lakes with two small kids and a dog is a perfect thing to do in December. I imagine most people would think we are mad. But for me there is no nicer way to spend a holiday day than walking out in the cold in beautiful scenery then going back to a cottage to warm up in front of the fire with a nice pint of winter ale. There is nothing better than that

Northern_Lassy

AllThatStuffIsJustStuff wrote: »

Hi pennywise - thanks for stopping by. We are all very excited about going away on the weekend. This will only be our second break since our honeymoon. The first one was snow covered so hoping this one will be too. I love the snow and it doesn't look like we're getting any down here soon so I hope venturing north will improve our chances.

This is just another reason it's a good job me and PBS have each other - there can't be many other people who think a long weekend in the lakes with two small kids and a dog is a perfect thing to do in December. I imagine most people would think we are mad. But for me there is no nicer way to spend a holiday day than walking out in the cold in beautiful scenery then going back to a cottage to warm up in front of the fire with a nice pint of winter ale. There is nothing better than that

Hello :wave:
Just read your diary and I am glad that things are getting better for you. I can see the Lakeland mountains from my bedroom window (in Lancaster)... ("hello" to Pennywise!) It looks beautiful, hope you have the loveliest holiday xx

pennywisepoundstupid

HI NL i'm very near you, just slightly north.

Northern_Lassy

pennywisepoundstupid wrote: »

HI NL i'm very near you, just slightly north.

Woohoo :j Hello fellow Northerner It's a cold one this morning isn't it?!! The fire's on three bars, it's shuddering from the shock :eek:
Hope the Lakeland mini-breakers don't get snowed in at the weekend! Make sure you pack yer thermals

PiggyBankShaker

Hi Northern Lassy and pennywisepoundstupid, we had a fab time up your neck of the woods - SO beautiful. Sadly we didn't get the snow we wanted but nevertheless we had a wonderful time. It was really relaxing and just what the doctor odreded (if there had been a doctor, which there wasn't but you kmow what I mean)

We spent just over £170 I'd say, including diesel, excluding the cottage, which was ok. I still have money left from payday and we're both getting paid again next week which should see us through Christmas hopefully. There's no money to put towards debt overpayments, but I am getting the first of my increased pay in January which will clear most of the remainder of my £1635 debt. Then ATS debt is on 0% until October. We'll clear that before the 0% period ends.

Annoying the car has had to go into the garahe AGAIN but hopefully it won't be an expensive job.

PiggyBankShaker

The car cost £150 to fix, annoying but not devastating as it would have been this time last year. The most annoying thing was that it was a stupid fault, nothing mechanical.

We spent £69 on a hotel over Christmas as the thought of staying with ATS mother was too unpleasant, we also need to pay for the dog to go into kennels. This is on top of £60 for his annual vaccinations, worming and flea treatment. The house insurance was due and ATS saved £34 on last year's premium.

However, ATS also had to spend £160 of unplanned expenditure, but that's his thing that I won't report here. He put it on his 0% credit card and we'll just deal with it in the new year when we have the extra income from my job.

We've done the same with our Christmas spending too, partly for the ease of not having to monitor the finances daily as we're simply too busy. We had a bargain on iTunes vouchers for the 8 teenagers we need to buy for, £15 vouchers for £12 in Wilkinsons. It was £2 more than we planned to spend per person, but it does make us look super generous

We're just off out to finish our Christmas shopping and then we're all done and can relax and enjoy the holiday.

PiggyBankShaker

Hello 2012! Going to start off by doing a review of 2011, highs, lows etc etc. ATS is going to do one too and we'll compare how similar or dissimilar they are.

Money
This is the 'biggy' of course, the whole reason why I am on MSE. I had my LBM in Dec 2010 when I had NO money at all left after making debt payments and things were getting worse and worse each month. I vowed to sort them out once and for all in 2011 and roped ATS in to help me.

So overall I would say this was a GOOD area in 2011. I paid off £1400 overdraft, then changed banks and haven't really used an overdraft (expect for just 10's of £ at the end of the month) since. I also paid off £6,257 CC debt. And both of these at a time when my income was the lowest it has been for over 5 years. I am really pleased with this. Only £1595 to go and I will be debt free (excluding mortgage) for first time in 12 years!

We also made an extra £3000 of income from selling tat and a gift from my parents. Which wouldn't have been possible at all unless we had worked at it as constructively as we did.

Work
Another GOOD area. I have two jobs. One is part time fixed term contract that I have had for a few year and which expires in May this year. It doesn't pay a great deal, about £12,000ish. The other is a job I got in June 2011, which was originally part time, but in December they offered me full time hours which I started this week. This pays £23,400. I love the job and the people and I (almost) couldn't be happier.

Home
I'd say this was a FAIR area. GOOD because we finally installed our amazing woodburning stove, which we love and also for laying the parquet floor in the living room. We also decluttered A LOT, but there is still more to do. We also replaced the roof on our extension, which had started to leak and which eventually brought down the bedroom ceiling.

But BAD because, there is still so much to do, like the back yard (total unusable mess) kitchen (awful, needs 'gutting') Garage (total mess) hallway (needs finishing, tiles, skirting, wallpaper, plaster etc) back room (ceiling and carpet) our room (wallpaper and BIG sort out) hallway and stairs (painting and flooring)

BAD also, because we have not yet managed in 4 years of living here, to have a system of keeping the place tidy, which in turn makes me depressed and anxious. We MUST sort this out this year.

Family
GOOD! Our second, and last, child was born in Feb 2011 and he is fab. Our daughter is 3 and she is a star. If only our respective in-laws would sort themselves out this would be a perfect area. Seriously though, ATS and I have never been closer and pulling together to sort out the debt has done wonders for our relationship.

Other
I'm sure I must have forgotten something? We went away for a little holiday, the first since early 2009. It was brilliant. Health is good too. I haven't had a return of the dreaded PND which I had feared. I think that's it.

So I'd give 2011 a score of 7 out of 10.

AllThatStuffIsJustStuff

I intended to do this on December 31st, but I didn't have a chance then and I haven't had one since. I know PBS has done hers but I've avoided reading it before I do mine so we have an interesting comparison of how we viewed things

Thanks to everyone who has read and contributed to our diary, it has really helped spur us along. Hope you all have an excellent 2012

Money

The best year of our five or so years together without a shadow of a doubt. The fact that we managed to combine our second lowest income years with the first actual debt reduction is quite an achievement. What's more, we've actually reduced our unsecured debts (ie, excluding the mortgage) by over 50%.

Our income is, until May at least, now higher than it has been since Feb 2010. This is a real improvement over 2011 and a vast difference to the later half of 2010 when we were completely skint.

Best for me though, was the sheer amount that we raised from selling off unnecessary possessions. The TV, the computer games, the general tat, the CDs, the DVDs. All gone. I think we got well over £1,000 from it all. Possibly even £1,500-2000. Great result for stuff we weren't really using.

Bad thing is that our savings aren't where we'd like them to be, not least after having had to use a good chunk on the roof (though PBS' parents helped a lot there)

Overall, 2011 has been fantastic financially and we are set to consolidate our progress in 2012 and clear the debts completely. Income after May is still up in the air but I'm more positive about that than I have been recently so all looks good.

Work

At first, the job I got in January 2011 was a lifeline. It stopped the debt increasing and helped us take the first steps towards bringing it down. It was, however, a rubbish job that got progressively worse. PBS then got her dream job on better pay and that has led now to her having full time work. It also allowed me to quit the rubbish job. But ultimately, both PBS and I were able to get a job at one point in 2011, which is good going in the current climate.

The big downside was both mine and PBS's false starts on our businesses. PBS's still has potential but mine is dead in the water. Didn't put any real money in to it so no issue there, but a shame that it didn't come off.

Home

The house has undergone some heavy transformation in 2011. The two highlights were unquestionably the parquet floor and the stove. Two things we'd been desperate for when we had a higher income, so to achieve them in more difficult times was truly remarkable.

It would be easy to dismiss the flat roof as a disaster, but in reflection and looking long term it is a good result. Realistically, when we moved in it was likely that both flat roofs would need replacing within years (and the main tile roof may need work in the coming years too) so it is actually very reassuring to have one of them in a full reliable condition. Ok, it slowed some of our prettification, but a pretty house without a reliable house won't stay pretty for long.

What was my disaster on the house front was the woeful August weather. It completely halted all work on the back yard. It's just such a mess out there that it is really frustrating. It has also impacted severely on the work I wanted to do in the garage, which in turn has made managing materials for the work in the house much more difficult. Grr to the Welsh summer.

Family

Obviously the arrival of DS was the big event of 2011, although it seems a long long time ago before he was here. DD has continued to develop very well and is still ahead of where she “should” be for her age. DS didn't quite manage to get walking in 2011 but I'm sure it won't be long now.

Relations with our respective parents remain fraught as ever. We stayed in a hotel when we visited mine at Christmas time, which has on the one hand made my mum even more negative towards us, but more importantly set our intentions clearly and puts us on a good footing for the future. If she wants a relationship with our kids she is welcome to one, but I've reached the point now where it is on reasonable terms or she can get lost. I'm not going to put the kids out for her. Not anymore.

Other good news is that I got the snip, though not officially cleared as a success yet. I am really pleased that we have so definitively made the decision not to have any more kids. Not because I don't love having kids (I absolutely do), rather that it enables us to look forward with the two of them. I think this has also helped with keeping PBS anxieties under control to the extent that we have.

Other

As mentioned in the money section, I am really chuffed about how much stuff we have shifted out of the house. Without getting too Buddhist about it, I really do believe that we are better off without so many possessions around us. For 2012, I want to push this on and not only get rid of things for the money, but for it's own sake. So many possessions tie us to the past. If they aren't helping our future, they can go for me.

Similar, but slightly different is that we have also moved to buying more second hand stuff. This has really helped with budgeting, but also in other ways too. DD is currently playing with the train set we got her for her birthday. It's a colossal thing and we simply could not have afforded the equivalent new. The switch to second hand (or reclaimed) for the house has also been fantastic, not only bringing better value and quality but also real character. I really can't believe we would enjoy the stove and floor as much if they were new.

I've really been pleased with how my cooking has come on in 2011 – not least the famous home made pizzas that PBS still makes me cook at least once or twice a week. I have lost the momentum on the bread making though. Though in practice that was only worth doing for it's own sake. The economics of home bread baking don't stack up if you aren't able to deliver top end quality. That said, I am delighted to have acquired the skill set if nothing else.

I think that just about covers it all but I have no doubt forgotten something huge. Will no doubt realise it when I read PBS's review

PiggyBankShaker

AllThatStuffIsJustStuff wrote: »

not least the famous home made pizzas that PBS still makes me cook at least once or twice a week.

:eek:

MAKE YOU COOK! Ha! You are just as addicted as I am and you know it.

PiggyBankShaker

Today is a good day. I have paid just over £600 towards the credit card debt and it has taken it to below the £1000 mark. That debt is now a three figure sum for the first time in over a decade and it feels brilliant. My next payday in February should see the back of that debt once and for all. I really can't wait.

I have added ATS credit card debt to my signature, as after we have paid mine off we'll be tackling that. Even though it is in his name a lot of it is joint debt from this we bought for the house. I really do see it as one big debt now, which is testamount to how integrated our finances have become.

Work have given me an interest free loan of over £1000 for the remainder of teh course fees that I need to pay for my professional qualification. The course starts on the 25th Jan and I am excited by that too.

Just need to keep our heads down between now and payday and not spend too much money.