A Thread for After Debt?

JulieGeorgiana

Looks like we are finally getting the same... I might venture out today... for fun and not for nessesity

I'm a miserable woman, I really am

2spicy

This thread is great ... We still have another 4 years to run on our DMP, but aim to kick this down to 2.
Love to hear the stories, how people are / arnt managing.

On another note, Im just slightly north of the Artic Circle at present with work.. looking forward to comming back to the UK on Friday for some warmth!

rising_from_the_ashes

JulieGeorgiana wrote: »

I think I am the only person in the world who HATES this weather...

... too hot!

Give me 22 Degrees!!

22 Deg is too hot for me nowadays - just can't take the heat now!

Mort wrote: »

I have had mist and rain today and the temperature has been in the low teens.

Yup, been cold here since Tuesday ..... have had to put the heating on for 1/2 hour in the evenings:eek: it's the end of May - it's usually off by the start of April! (will need to go off or I'll never balance out my d/debit payment before winter again:(:()

2spicy wrote: »

This thread is great ... We still have another 4 years to run on our DMP, but aim to kick this down to 2.
Love to hear the stories, how people are / arnt managing.

On another note, Im just slightly north of the Artic Circle at present with work.. looking forward to comming back to the UK on Friday for some warmth!

Hi 2spicy & welcome to our merry thread:D Hope it's still warm in the part of the UK you're coming back to (but I guess pretty much anywhere may be warmer than where you are just now:)) Best of luck in your debt busting mission

rising_from_the_ashes

OK .... need a stern talking to please

Have just done the (sorry Mort ) monthly transfer to the pots - I'm down to 3 btw :j (I think I was up to 12 not too long ago!)

Positive

Having them combined has meant I had enough to cover the house insurance in one payment - the house insurance bit is in a negative (£28 after this month's "feed") but as the car is fully done until next Jan, there was spare money to cover it:j. (I do keep track of each individual pot in the big pot IYKWIM :rotfl:with a totals sheet & then individual worksheet for each thing)

Negatives

BUT obviously as they're now combined .... there's a fair bit of money in some of them :eek: ...... I know it's not "my" money as it needs to be put away to budget for things but .... struggling to keep it where it needs to be!:o

LianneH

I love the hot weather - even if im the size of Jabba-the-hut! I think it makes everyone smile and its made me get to know my neighbours!!

Back to miserable weather though, the rain even made a big appearance today, bang goes my washing plans!

2spicy - good luck with the DMP, hope you can finish it earlier and hope this thread helps in some way!

Rising - this is my motherly tone.... now you know its not your money, doesn't matter how many "" you put around "my"!! you will only create problems for yourself if you touch it!! why is it burning a hole in your pocket (or pot, sorry Mort!) anway?? have you got your eye on something? ok motherly tone over!

Its funny how we view things, the last time i was asking for advice on pots, even although I had a combined total of £2k, I still felt skint!! Maybe you need to put your negative figures on your spreadsheet in bold red?? this then kinda made me focus on not having enough instead of actually having £2k.

Not very MSE today as trying to get organised for baby 2, so was at Mcare today to buy a new mattress for the cot and I hate to say, couldn't resist some of the clothes.... aww! spent £160 :eek:

rising_from_the_ashes

LianneH wrote: »

Rising - this is my motherly tone.... now you know its not your money, doesn't matter how many "" you put around "my"!! you will only create problems for yourself if you touch it!! why is it burning a hole in your pocket (or pot, sorry Mort!) anway?? have you got your eye on something? ok motherly tone over!

Its funny how we view things, the last time i was asking for advice on pots, even although I had a combined total of £2k, I still felt skint!! Maybe you need to put your negative figures on your spreadsheet in bold red?? this then kinda made me focus on not having enough instead of actually having £2k.

Already tried that ...... (snapshot prior to transfers done today)



Have I got my eye on something ...... (apart from that beautiful car you mean:rotfl:) - nothing in particular - there's just a couple of things that I really do need but haven't got the money for.

Garden shed has been on the list for 5 years (so, yes, I know it will wait) but not having one limits the amount of veg etc I can grow as nowhere to store stuff in the winter) & it also means I can't get the car in the garage where is really should be (esp in the bad weather).

Dining room table (small folding one) had to get rid of my big one (Free&cycled) when I was given an old pine dresser (much needed for storage) - now have nowhere (honestly) that I can put the sewing machine on = not being able to make things to sell / fix things etc ..... really starting to miss it as have loads of material & loads of projects I'm set to do!:(

Was saving the coin jars for one / both of them but ended up having to get a new printer (essential) and went on the crochet course (non-essential but have wanted to learn since I was a kid)

Sorry .... long rant there - sometimes it would just be nice to be able to buy something when it's needed IYKWIM:o and probably just slightly depressed as I had managed to save nearly enough up to get the table but it's gone on Maisie being spayed (but she's def worth it:))

rising_from_the_ashes

Li gulp at the spends - just as long as you don't do that every time you go near a baby shop;)

Julie have you got a moving date yet?

LianneH

rising_from_the_ashes wrote: »

Sorry .... long rant there - sometimes it would just be nice to be able to buy something when it's needed IYKWIM:o and probably just slightly depressed as I had managed to save nearly enough up to get the table but it's gone on Maisie being spayed (but she's def worth it:))

oh Rising - hope I didn't upset you with my motherly tone!? you sound a little down and really thats not like you! first of all sending you a wee ((hug)) x

I'm trying to think of something practical to offer you .....:think:

firstly, consider if they are both needs or wants (you know this already) but I think you are talking yourself in to both of them being needs. Secondly and this might be a bit risky.... as you have a positive balance on your combined pot total, could you work out the cashflow side of it and then pay yourself back?

What I mean is... I had a positive balance on my pots of say £300. I needed an item for DD, I worked out that the next spend from the pots isn't until 3 months time, so I borrowed from myself to pay for DD's item (not the full positive balance about £50) and then have been repaying myself back a little at a time - does this make sense?

Also not to be nosey but when you finally paid off your debt, what did you do with your "freed up money" once you paid it all off? Maybe you could re-look at your budget to see if there is any small slack to put in a pot for "Stuff Rising wants"!

hope this helps ma dear x

LianneH

rising_from_the_ashes wrote: »

Li gulp at the spends - just as long as you don't do that every time you go near a baby shop;)

I have been saving like a mad woman since I pee'd on "that" stick! So I have a baby fund that should pay for stuff like this and also act as a buffer when I go on to the dreaded Maternity pay :eek::eek::eek:

My only worry is that I got a wee bit excited when spending and I'm sure I bought some "aww" stuff in stead of just stuff I needed! I'm staying away from the shops for a while in the hope it was a one of urge! :rotfl:

rising_from_the_ashes

LianneH wrote: »

oh Rising - hope I didn't upset you with my motherly tone!? you sound a little down and really thats not like you! first of all sending you a wee ((hug)) x

Awwww no you didn't upset me ..... just gets a bit frustrating sometimes!:o

LianneH wrote: »

Also not to be nosey but when you finally paid off your debt, what did you do with your "freed up money" once you paid it all off? Maybe you could re-look at your budget to see if there is any small slack to put in a pot for "Stuff Rising wants"!

Ahhhhhhh, you see that's one of the big problems ....... the vast majority of my debts were paid through working a 2nd job - thankfully now gone :j(and tbh I wouldn't be able to do it now as my health isn't fantastic). The last wee bit (OD) was really paid off by not budgeting - not where I want to go again!

Great they're gone but it means I'm back to the really tight budget = easy to slide back into debt again which is probably one of the reasons I'm so paranoid about keeping track of spending!:o

I think the final straw really is that (like many), I've not had a pay rise for over 3 years now and when everything's gone up so much, "spare" money is being squeezed all the time.

As DM said the other day, most people have an OH to help with mortgage / bills which I sadly don't - house costs take up a big proportion of my salary so ....... But hey-ho, that's life!

I do have an "anything else" fund which is a new addition to the "others" pot - hopefully it'll build up a bit over the next few months (not a lot to put into it each month!) - I'll see if I can stick a wee bit extra into this!

I guess I was a bit down as I did nearly have enough to get the table in the "last ditch emergency fund" (the more pressing need of the 2:rotfl:) - but that's going to have to be used to pay for Maisie's op ......

SOA was redone last week and does show a surplus:T - but it's ever decreasing as I've now added dog walker, dog insurance etc etc to it (but she's worth it:)).

Anyway, sorry long post again - hope everyone has a lovely Sunday & if you're having celebrations for the Jubilee, hope it stays dry!:)