Can't sort it out!

nearlyrich

First of all well done on becoming debt free, it is a big achievement and you do deserve a break from scrimping however you now have a golden opportunity to start to save so you have a cushion against life's little (and big) knocks. My savings are taken by DD and are budgeted for, I don't see them in my account as they go straight after payday. There is an amazing sense of satisfaction knowing you could pack your job in if you hated it or you can fulfil some dreams because you have some savings to make it all possible. Good luck x

beth3735

Thank you all, my lifelong dream is to take my kids to Florida, would be looking at around £7k even on a last min booking price for this. Husband believes I wont manage to save this. Maybe that should be enough to give me the kick I need.

As much as I would love to do this, I keep thinking of bits I would like to do or need to do like

LEGOLAND, New carpet for my girls, electric shower fitted ( this is a need!), Tenerife in Christmas 2014 for Christmas day. Thing is this mentality is what got me into trouble in the 1st place.

We genuinely can't afford it all, so I have to be realistic and chose 1 over the rest.

I have just opened an e-isa with my bank so can see the amount each time I log into my normal daily banking, I may set up a standing order to premium bonds so I can't see the cash, and its not instantly available.

Thanks for all the advice

killerpeaty

Hey Beth, massive congrats on getting debt free!

Savings might be something that you need to build yourself up to, for example you could start putting away 100-200 instead of your 400. Next month, add £20 to this amount and make sure that you are at least hitting this.

Do you truly need a new carpet for your girls? My carpet is over 25 years old (it's actually older than I am) and I've only just bought a rug to cover a some of it.

Anyway, best of luck for your savings!

krustylouise

beth3735 wrote: »

Thank you all, my lifelong dream is to take my kids to Florida, would be looking at around £7k even on a last min booking price for this. Husband believes I wont manage to save this. Maybe that should be enough to give me the kick I need.

As much as I would love to do this, I keep thinking of bits I would like to do or need to do like

LEGOLAND, New carpet for my girls, electric shower fitted ( this is a need!), Tenerife in Christmas 2014 for Christmas day. Thing is this mentality is what got me into trouble in the 1st place.

We genuinely can't afford it all, so I have to be realistic and chose 1 over the rest.

I have just opened an e-isa with my bank so can see the amount each time I log into my normal daily banking, I may set up a standing order to premium bonds so I can't see the cash, and its not instantly available.

Thanks for all the advice

Hi Beth,

I phoned my bank and asked them to "hide" my saving accounts so I can't see them or the amounts in them. This has helped my greatly as I don't feel "rich" after saving £200 and go on a spending spree! Haha.

Well done on becoming debt free x

beth3735

Killerpeaty the carpet isn't a huge hurry to change, but does definatly need swapping at some point soon. Due to 2 girls who have both potty trained with a potty in their room and sickness bugs as clean as the carpet is its the underlay which could do with swapping more than anything. But I will hold off doing this till maybe next year Get the savings going 1st I think.

Louise thanks for that, that's a fab idea as yes im like that, I see even £50 sometimes and then transfer £30 of it over to take my little family of 5 out for food! Silly things like that. I need to forget about it.

Bobarella

Hi Beth

One thing I thought was, did you use a spending diary whilst clearing your debts? If it is as you say that money appears to be frittering away, could it be time to bring that back into use just for a short period? Maybe you have started having a daily latte again, or whatever your 'treat' used to be. Thats an easy £20 a week, or £100 a month to blow without really thinking about it. Only a thought and apologies if you have already discussed this in the thread.

My other thought was, in my small business, money comes in and goes out every single day. It took me a very long time to understand the flow of my finances. To begin with I found it very useful to visually map out each week of the month, and then mark where money was coming in (big stuff) and going out (other big stuff, like rent, rates, key accounts to be settled, staff wages) this really worked for me, as i could see where I actually had any cash left, its a fairly similar thing re profit stacking up throughout the month and yet at times I can have barely anything in the account, to look at it you'd not see how much is actually going through it a month.

Just a few thoughts. Really well done clearing your debts, and with all your future saving goals.

Bobarella