A Thread for After Debt?

Little_bit_dizzy

That's fantastic JG!!!

Must run as I'm now late and must jump in the shower... still time on here = time not internet shopping. I've saved a fortune this morning!

Have a good day everyone, and I'll echo what AlyBaly said: Hurry up Roo xx

JulieGeorgiana

little_bit_dizzy wrote: »

still time on here = time not internet shopping. I've saved a fortune this morning!

:j :j :j :j :j :j :j :j :j :j :j :j :j

QueenB.

:)Morning everyone.

I see everyone is busy rearranging budgets and pots:D I am not being as on top of this as i should be:o but i think thats because we are having so many issues at the moment with my OH tax codes etc so Im not actually sure what his final after tax income is exactly at the moment:eek: I know the rough figure but not the final pounds and pence if that makes sense so we are waiting for them to get back to us, hopefully its soon as the uncertainity is driving me insane:(. I really need to spend some time in the next few days to look at my energy providers as im hoping we can save some extra money there.

I did however find out when our car insurance and tax is due and work out how much i need to put away to cover a one off payment.........one of my goals this year. Normally OH deals with all the car details but i decided this year i was going to get more involved. I will be putting a bit extra away each money for the car insurance as it is more than likely we may have to pay more than we are at the moment. The downside is that it the tax is due in march and the insurance in June so i will have to cut back in a few other areas to be able to be able to put enough away each month to reach my goals:cool:.

JG you really are an inspiration with how organised you are and you are being such a great mum teaching your son how to handle his money at such a young age. I really hope Roo arrives soon, its so difficult waiting, both my boys where two weeks overdue and finally one had to be induced(which still took 4 days:eek:) and the other ended up a C-section. My daughter came on her due date but its the only time she has ever has turned up on time:rotfl:

JulieGeorgiana

QueenB

It looks like you are getting organised. I think paying the car insurance yearly is a great thing! I know what you mean about it all being due at once (I have two cars, trying to sell one... and I have 2 x insurance, Road Tax, Service, MoT and Breakdown all due August and September each year!!!! Crippling if you are not organised!) Especially since the savings for Christmas start taking a hit... my 'pots' all empty and Aug - Nov there is no flexability to rob peter to pay paul!

I like you hate the uncertaintly of not knowing £££££ and pppppp's! Drives me bonkers not knowing things! I am only so organised because as DH says I have OCPD, it does make me 'freak' out at the slightest unexpected thing though! I am not very flexable!

I figure educating our children through our own mistakes is a good idea. i have watched martin on youtube and I talk to DS about good and bed debts, because having a mortgage is a debt, but not a bad one! I think we should always be open with them. My parents are still in debt, I never had pocket money and I never learned about money because they never spoke about it. I just feel that 'if I had known how bad it could be...' so I figured a child is never too young to learn!

Waiting is driving me crazy (boy am I not patient) I want a date so I know when I need to re-stock baby nappies and things... I'll know how long I need to buy certain foods for (which I won't be eating once Roo is here) I am just sitting here in my bubble... waiting!

Good thing I am seeing the midwife today! Going to book my sweep

JulieGeorgiana

OCPD is characterized by at least three of the following:

1. feelings of excessive doubt and caution;
2. preoccupation with details, rules, lists, order, organization or schedule;
3. perfectionism that interferes with task completion;
4. excessive conscientiousness, scrupulousness, and undue preoccupation with productivity to the exclusion of pleasure and interpersonal relationships;
5. excessive pedantry and adherence to social conventions;
6. rigidity and stubbornness;
7. unreasonable insistence by the individual that others submit exactly to his or her way of doing things, or unreasonable reluctance to allow others to do things;
8. intrusion of insistent and unwelcome thoughts or impulses.

In 1908, Sigmund Freud named what is now known as obsessive–compulsive or anankastic personality disorder "anal retentive character".

Is it bad that I have all 8???? Inspiration for organisation... maybe! But it has it's downsides too!!!!

QueenB.

JulieGeorgiana wrote: »

Is it bad that I have all 8???? Inspiration for organisation... maybe! But it has it's downsides too!!!!

I live with OCD, not as bad as it could be but still makes life pretty frustrating at times, add to that a daughter with bi-polar and a son who is autistic and our home can be a very unusual place to live :rotfl:I remember once refusing to hand in a piece of coursework because i just wasn't happy with it, it could have meant i would have failed the course but i just couldn't do it, luckily i still passed but that is just one of many moments that my OCD has completely made me act without any common sense at all:o Sometimes i really put things off because i know once i start to do them the OCD will kick in and i will spend double the time doing it that another person would.

I tried to teach my daughter about money, she had always known we didn't have a lot of money but when she was 12 we sat her down and explained the debt situation. From then on we keep her as involved as her age required (didn't want her worrying about house or anything) and at the age of 13 she started earning her own money as i couldn't afford pocket money anymore. She has worked since and at a point last year had 2 jobs (she will be 20 in september) but she is more like her father and just can't resist spending when she has money. I set up a savings account for her and used to make her put half her weekly wage in it but once she reached 18 she just wasn't as good at keeping up with that as she should have been. Plus her bi-polar affects her spending so we are coming up with ways for her to recognise that and cope better. However she has her own cat so pays for all his vets bills and puts money towards the food for him etc, plus she pays a small amount of rent every week. Round her birthday and christmas she thought she wouldn't have to pay but i soon corrected that mistake :rotfl:So whilst she may not be great with money she has a strong work ethic and really tries. The boys are much younger (10 & 12) but are aware of money and have pocket money that they have to organise, if they spend it then they have none left. Not so easy with my autistic son as he lives mainly in the here and now and has difficulty understanding possible future events etc but we are working on that life skill at the moment. I really worry about any of them getting in bad debt as adults but i stay hopeful.

My father passed away 4 years ago and he died with debts and whilst i had been working on clearing mine already that really kicked me up the butt to clear everything as quickly as possible as i didn't want to be in that position:(

Mint1955

Dont know if my explanation will help those starting out on a pots and final total scheme.
Yes you are going to have things in the short term that you havnt been able to get together before its due but you will have money in others that you dont need yet so I just keep an eye on the whole total whilst the single totals go into minus until I put in a few more monthly payments.
BUT the main thing is doing the budget for the pots for the whole year which means that you have covered everything you need for the next 12 months so you can borrow some months. It would be even nicer if you had a little extra money to go into the short term needs pots to get ahead.

I have this on my spreadsheet for one e saver account
Going out/drinks etc
Insurance Car
Insurance Bike
Chatham Maritime Tax
Bike Tax
Car Tax
Car MOT
Bike MOT
Car repairs
Gifts/cards
Bike repairs
Clothes P&S
Haircuts Phil x 6 a year
Glasses P&S every 2 years
Project bits for home
Haircuts Sheila x 6 a year
Dentist P&S yearly

As I use microsoft money I was able to see from reports what I spent last year on each category then set an amount for monthly saving for this year.

Car tax and mot became due the 2nd month I started but that was ok the amounts put in the other pots covered it and I am catching up with those 2 pots and putting a little more this first year to get more ahead so it doesnt happen in future years.

JulieGeorgiana

It's all we can do to keep our children safe, you give them the education but at the end of the day they need to spread their wings and fy.

My DH says that DS is only so good because he is like me and shows tendancies of OCPD too (More then I did at his age)... My mum says I'm in for a shock if Roo comes out and is nothing like me and DS and just spends every penny

For me finding out that my parents (who are just in their 50's) are now paying back debt instead of enjoying life without children at home made me so sad! This is the time where they are supposed to be enjoying their hard work and going on lots of holidays, or planning retirement... instead they are counting pennies!

I plan to live in the country and have a small farmstead and grow my own food once retired!

Mint 1955 I used to do the same... steal from one pot to pay for another! Once I become debt free (Aug 2010) I made a resolution to not owe myself money by Christmas! I am pretty good, although I will swap funds between 'Holiday' and 'Presents' but that's it

Little_bit_dizzy

I'm tapping away like a loony with these spreadsheets and I'm loving it!

Thanks to QueenB's for your post; I've remebered all the car stuff which we usually just find the money for somehow when they come in. I also paid for my car insurance annually last year, which is nice to do, but would be even nicer if we had all the money saved in advance and earning a bit of interest

We have too many cars. :o:o DH has a van for work (he is s/e so that all goes through the books and out of the business account), he has a car, I have a car, I have a company car, DH also has a couple of motorbikes and a 'summer car' which is old and a real beauty - he restored it all himself, but due to an accident he had he's not used any of those for a couple of years. They're sorned & insured where necessary so aren't costing us much really but we really need to get rid of a couple don't we.

Can I ask you guys a question? What is a 'reasonable' budget for 2 adults, 2 dogs & 1 ancient cat for weekly groceries? I know this might be better suited to other boards but you are all a minefield of information and we are a bit of an oddity on this front!!! We buy most of our meat direct from the farms (1/2 pig / lamb / cow at a time - way cheaper than buying in supermarkets) so always have loads of meat in the freezer, so it should just be veg, salad, store cupboard stuff & cleaning materials but I always seem to spend masses. I really want to rein in my grocery spend this year so any advice would be great.

JulieGeorgiana: No prob with having all 8, I'm not upto eight but maybe 6 or 7

JulieGeorgiana

Little_bit_dizzy wrote: »

Can I ask you guys a question? What is a 'reasonable' budget for 2 adults, 2 dogs & 1 ancient cat for weekly groceries? I know this might be better suited to other boards but you are all a minefield of information and we are a bit of an oddity on this front!!! We buy most of our meat direct from the farms (1/2 pig / lamb / cow at a time - way cheaper than buying in supermarkets) so always have loads of meat in the freezer, so it should just be veg, salad, store cupboard stuff & cleaning materials but I always seem to spend masses. I really want to rein in my grocery spend this year so any advice would be great.

That's a lot of cars!!!

Well I have a VERY TIGHT grocery budget of £50 a week for 2 Adults, 1 Child, 2 Cats and 2 Rabbits (Rabbits cost double the cats!) that's food and toilettries and cleaning stuff. I bulk buy meat at the Farm Shops.

This is with a lot of bulking foods, and bulk buying my non-food items on offer.

I would say it depends on how tight you want to be... what are you spending currently? Maybe just cut it down until it's comfortable?