Starting married life, it's time to focus on waving goodbye to debt!

Idiophreak

dd1981 wrote: »

Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 10

This is the only thing I spotted that HeadAboveWater didn't cover - is this really realistic? Surely MOT alone is 40-50 per car each year, so you've allowed nothing for servicing, tyres, repairs etc...and it's "one offs" like those that really slow your debt-clearing progress down

Congratulations, by the way, on both your marriage and your determination to get debt free!

HeadAboveWater

Idiophreak wrote: »

This is the only thing I spotted that HeadAboveWater didn't cover - is this really realistic? Surely MOT alone is 40-50 per car each year, so you've allowed nothing for servicing, tyres, repairs etc...and it's "one offs" like those that really slow your debt-clearing progress down

Sorry!

True! Didn't think on that one! MOTs here are £30ish. £10 a month budget leaves £90. But then there are 2 cars...

dd1981

HeadAboveWater wrote: »

Would we ever be anything but?!?!? :rotfl:


Just a couple of things from where I'm looking...

Mobile phone............................ 74
Ouch! I'll assume this is for both of you? But still very high. Esp when you have phone in your other package. Near end of contract? Can you reduce? I'm nearly at the end of my contract so shall reduce. DH got ages till end of his!

Satellite/Cable TV...................... 85 (phone, tv and internet package)
As before - can you reduce this a bit? Was thinking of phoning and saying I'm leaving and see what they offer me

Groceries etc. ......................... 250
For 2? We'd spend on average £150-£200 a month for 2 adults and 3 teenagers. Try to shop about, go with packed lunches, own brand stuff, reduced sections... Shall try to reduce this some more.... thats really good what you spend! Do you have any other tips for bringing this figure down?

Petrol/diesel........................... 300
High but very likely with 2 cars unfortunately This month we are trying to spend less so doing less essential journeys and we haven't spent very much so far so this figure may come down a little

Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 50
Is this saving throughout year for Christmas and stuff? Seems high per month. Can you reduce the amount you spend on each person? It is high, very always overspend on birthdays and Christmas. Shall start getting creative and bring this figure down!

Entertainment........................... 400
:eek: Seriously!?!?!?!? Would need more info on what exactly this is going towards but shockingly high!!! Again, alternatives for nights out, eating out etc. I put this in because this is the money we have given ourselves for everything that isn't food or petrol. £50 per week each. It is the first time we have ever had any sort of budget and it is working really well so far. We both have managed to save a little from this but I have a hen night coming up which will cost a bit and DH is saving some money for jeans and a gig ticket. Will review at end of month and see if we can reduce

And your debts - put the most £ towards the one with the highest APR.

That's my 2 pennies worth!! lol Hopefully something in this post will help, but I know there'll be plenty of others to add to what I've said and probably talk about more house-y stuff!!

Thank you SOOOO much for your input! Much appreciated Hope your debt busting mission is going well too!
dd
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Good luck!!

EJG1982 wrote: »

Hiya DD :wave::wave:

I just loved reading your journey so far, and a massive congrats on wedding, you have a 'husband'... you are his 'wife' .... you and your 'husband' are doing very well on project debt attack together as 'husband' and 'wife' :rotfl::kisses2::kisses3: :rotfl:

Made me smile when i saw you locked yourself out online, im always doing this! Everything i have is online, no paper statements here, so so so much easier to keep track of (except when locked out :mad:)

A big smile to your budget aswell, exactly the same as me and the fella (not yet husband ) We have £240 fuel (3 tanks) usually only use 2, £200 food, averages £150 and £100 weekly for just 'stuff' if needed.

We've done 2 months so far and coming up for 3rd next week on pay day, first went ok but this month was a little wobbley but kept on track.. Be interesting to see how you go as your a good comparison being so closely matched on budget figures :T:T

Im subscribed and cant wait for your posts, best of luck and with determination like you show on here im sure you'll do it..

Here's to the future :beer:

Hello, thank you for joining me and for the congratulations! Do you have a diary too?

Sounds like you have a similar budget to me. Ours is working really well so far :j Going to make a few adjustments though and see what I can throw at the debt! Do you have any tips?

I'm looking forward to this future :beer:

dd
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Idiophreak wrote: »

This is the only thing I spotted that HeadAboveWater didn't cover - is this really realistic? Surely MOT alone is 40-50 per car each year, so you've allowed nothing for servicing, tyres, repairs etc...and it's "one offs" like those that really slow your debt-clearing progress down

Congratulations, by the way, on both your marriage and your determination to get debt free!

Thank you! My car doesn't get MOT yet and DH dad does his services on his cars as well as repairs. You have such a valid point- we just paid his dad £85 for parts to fix his car which we hadn't budgeted for! Also we pay for parking permits as we live in middle of city, shall need to budget for these as well as my services and repairs. Thank you for noticing this!

dd
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dd1981

Good morning everybody!

Hope you are all well. Have had a very spendy day yesterday. Bought everything I needed to make DSS birthday cake plus didn't have any food in house so ended up buying from shop downstairs from us :mad: Hate doing this- its so expensive!!! Must plan better in future although we didn't buy as much as we normally would so thats a start! DSS cake look good, am really pleased with it I'm not trained in cake decorating but I used to work for a cake company so learnt a couple of things and just went for it! Sure there is easier ways of doing things as cake took me 5 hrs and it shouldn't take that long but am pleased with it and sure DSS will be too :j Have got a couple of things to take back to shop for cake decorating as bought thinking I didn't have them but actually I do. I am really bad for doing this, we have so much stuff I don't even know what we have! Ebay, I will be coming to get you.....

Today's plan....

*Pick up DSS from school
*Do a little bit of tidying and cleaning (although it is actually a big bit that is required but not seen DSS for ages with being on honeymoon and he has been on holiday with his grandad so wanting to spend some fun time with him)
*Go to bank to pay in some money and sort out why they sent me a letter charging me saying I went over the authorised overdraft. I paid in all the cash we got from our wedding as gifts and then went home and transferred it into my online savings account so we don't touch it. My statement says the cash didn't clear till the next day? But it showed in my account on internet banking and let me transfer the cash but now is saying it didn't clear till the next day? Am confused!!!!
*Amend wedding listing on wedding forum- not had much interest in stuff so going to knock a little bit off and see if I can get rid!

Looking forward to today. A lovely day off with my DSS :j He will probably want to go to McDonalds but shall not be allowing this- too many pennies and just a load of rubbish! We will pop into supermarket on way home and get some nice salady stuff and cold meats and bread for lunch. Got a few things already so don't need much Here's to a fabulous day! Hope you all have awesome days too :beer:

dd
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HeadAboveWater

Thanks for commenting on all my comments!!

It is really your first month of budgeting so you're doing well so far! Once you've a month or two behind you, it's easier to set a realistic target for some things, as you'll find you'll over or under budget to start with.
I would suggest keeping a spending diary too to help with that

Thankfully I'm out of debt since a few months ago, but I like to stay on here to help others, give advice, and pick up as many tips as I can!!!

dd1981

HeadAboveWater wrote: »

Thanks for commenting on all my comments!!

It is really your first month of budgeting so you're doing well so far! Once you've a month or two behind you, it's easier to set a realistic target for some things, as you'll find you'll over or under budget to start with.
I would suggest keeping a spending diary too to help with that

Thankfully I'm out of debt since a few months ago, but I like to stay on here to help others, give advice, and pick up as many tips as I can!!!

Thank you Am going to keep a spending diary, tried using an app on my phone but think I prefer things written down! Must be old fashioned that way :rotfl: If you have any debt busting tips, I am all ears!

Been not too bad with debt busting, have paid off quite a bit this month but know it will slow down next month. Really need to get stuff onto ebay but it is so daunting the actual amount of stuff I have and the task of selling it, packaging it and taking to the post office! Going to list 10 things tomorrow evening and let run for 10 days till Sunday evening and will hopefully get some pennies towards the evil credit cards!

Todays plans....

*Do some tidying at home
*Put a washing on
*Sort through and file financial stuff

Not doing too much today as am going to see my best friend who texted me the other night to say her and her husband are separating Really sad because they have just had a baby. Don't know the full story but he has done something and she can't forgive him. She has apparently been unhappy for about a year but didn't want to say as would "take the shine" off my wedding. Feel so bad for her, so sad. I knew she wasn't 100% happy but never thought it was anything as bad. Shall go and see her and hopefully be able to give her some support.

Gonna try and get into SS room and some point (maybe this evening) and gut it! Its an absolute tip, thinking I may find some ebayable stuff in there too! I did the kitchen on Monday- OMG! Chucked out so much rubbish and scrubbed it clean. Looks amazing now Tidy house, tidy mind Always makes me feel better when things are tidy, clean and organised!

Have a happy :money: day!

dd
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malamay

I didn't want to read and run!

My husband and I are coming up to our 2nd anniversary. We should have tried to cut our debt sooner, but we've had an extended honeymoon in a lot of ways!

If you are looking for ways to cut your food spending, pop on over to the Old Style board. There are loads of ideas in there. We are a household of 2 and a cat, and spend maybe £150 a month, which includes a lot of treats!

Good luck to you on your journey!

dd1981

Morning everybody!

Not been doing much on the debt busting front although DH has hopefully sold his old phone so getting some pennies soon towards that. Other than that, can't do much till pay day on Friday! Shouldn't need to spend much till then either

Weighed myself this morning and was shocked how much I weigh Back onto healthy eating from today! Is the 1st October so hoping to lose a bit of weight before Christmas. Have got a wedding in November and have a dress I'd really love to fit into so that's another goal!

Decided I am going to try and have 5 goals a day. 1 financial, 1 cleaning, 1 health related/food/exercise, 1 social, 1 make me feel good. I work well to targets so think this will help motivate me into getting things done!

Today's goals are

*Cancel credit expert account
*Tidy bedroom, put on dishwasher and washing machine
*Stick to healthy foods and take in packed lunch to work
*Write thank you cards from wedding
*Put on body lotion after shower

Fairly simple but want to keep them that way so I can achieve small goals and feel good

Have an awesome day everyone

dd
xx

HeadAboveWater

dd1981 wrote: »

Decided I am going to try and have 5 goals a day. 1 financial, 1 cleaning, 1 health related/food/exercise, 1 social, 1 make me feel good. I work well to targets so think this will help motivate me into getting things done!

Fairly simple but want to keep them that way so I can achieve small goals and feel good

Aw I absolutely LOVE this idea!!! Very clever!! And also achievable rather than overwhelming, scary and un-doable! And you'll feel absolutely fantastic at the end of every day. May have to take a leaf outta your book and do something similar...!!

dd1981

Quick hello to my diary and people! Been mega busy at work and not busy enough debt busting:( Am starting November with new vigour and planning on getting this debt down, down, down! Joined £5 a day challenge and aiming for 10 NSD's.

Am back for good

Dd
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