Debt free by 40 -- 19 Months and counting

StressedSteph

Morning all


Thanks for your replies regarding how you sort out your banking.

MissTara you may be able to just apply online for an esaver account with your bank. I was astounded how quick it was.
A two minute form and then "Ping" it was available in my online banking. So easy.

Only major downside to all of this is that my bank balance now looks rubbish. Now all my savings are in different accounts.

Good though as it was giving me a false impression of wealth that I just don't have.

It is making me feel a lot more cautious about what money I have available and it will obviously be horrible to have to move savings out to cover a mess up. Unlike before it would just automatically take it and I would just be grateful that my savings dealt with the overspend. No More :eek:.

I got approached by the head teacher this morning asking if I would be interested in coming along to help with my childrens school trip to a Tank Museum tomorrow. Both of mine are going, so I said yes. Free day out haha.

Not much else to report. Ds accumulated about £80 from Birthday monies from his birthday, and Dd had about £30, so they have pooled their money together and with my help they have bought a 2nd hand Xbox 360 from Fleabay.
Thankfully it is pretty local but can't collect it until after 6.30pm on a weekday. so got to find time to pop and get that.

Not sure if dad is going to be overly happy about him having an Xbox again, but it was with their money so I didn't think it was a bad thing to buy. Eeeeek

I have bought in my weekly shop budget some new Vanish carpet freshener. It is meant to be damp crystals that penetrate the carpet and make it fluffy and like new again. It was on a half price deal down to £3 so thought I would give it a try. Off to do that now and I will report back.

Have a good Monday xxx

lhead123

StressedSteph wrote: »

Thanks for your replies Puzzcat & DFW.


Well that was very easy. I went onto Santander online and opened 8!!! new savings accounts and they automatically popped up into my online banking


I have renamed them:-


Emergency £106.25
Christmas £260.85
Birthdays
Vehicles £101.79
clothing
Heating Oil £420.00
Pets £33.45
School Costs
Holidays / New Car £116.20


The last savings account is just being used for my spending money for the Portugal weekend coming up .


I have transferred all my different savings into the right accounts.


I have just left my Heating Oil money in my main account for a few days as a buffer until the next wages where I can make sure there is a little extra left in the account and then I will also move that over.


This is already making me think "Oooh I had better be careful not to spend any un-budgeted money as there is no buffer anymore"........Just the result I wanted :T.


Weird that I am pleased about making my life harder and more uncomfortable. But comfortable and easy doesn't get the debt repaid does it

I was just about to write a reply saying don't get too many extra accounts but you've already gone and done it!

I was only saying that as now when you go shopping you can't directly spend from savings accounts, so you have to enter the transaction into ynab, then enter a transfer from the appropriate savings account and then you have to go onto online banking and actually do the transfer... It can get very complicated, especially if you buy a birthday gift at the same time as food shopping and something for the house etc.... You just have to be very careful to make sure you transfer the money out of a savings account into the account you spent out of otherwise you'll start getting errors when you reconcile.

I have 2 savings accounts and a joint account and that gets complicated enough for me!

L xx

StressedSteph

Hi lhead

Yes I can see that potential problem. Thankfully I think it will be ok as i will not be using the accounts very often.

They are not for day to day living they are annual savings for kids birthdays and christmas etc and I almost feel that having to slow myself down by having to transfer out the money, might be enough of a pain to make me REALLY think about the transaction to be sure it is the right decision.

I also have a Santander mobile phone app that will transfer funds from one account to another really easily so not too much hassle.

xxx

StressedSteph

Phew I am exhausted.


Been on a school trip to a Tank Museum all day, followed by after school netball for Dd and then a swim assessment for them at 6pm....


Its been a long week already, with being so busy yesterday and today I am really struggling to keep the food budget under control as I am getting home too late to be able to get dinner prepared.


1st October tomorrow and all is changing. I am not spending a penny for the whole of October and I MEAN IT!!!!!..


I am tired of the drip drip little expenses that cripple my bank account. October onwards we will just have to manage without the little things that keep cropping up.


Not much else to report, children bought an Xbox with their own money over the weekend, but I now have to drive an hour to go and collect it. Annoying as the town that was listed as their home town was completely wrong. Nevermind.


Off to get dinner sorted, speak soon xx

lhead123

Oh that's a pain about the Xbox wish people would list the right details when they sell things! It would make a huge difference to people wanting to buy...

Tank museum sounds fun I haven't been there for ages! Might have to take OH as FIL next time they come to visit

With coming home late and not wanting to cook - have you got a slow cooker? It's so nice to put something on in the morning or at lunch time and have it ready for the evening we do all sorts in ours, stews, joints of meat, fudge, whole chickens you can also do bread, cakes, curry and loads more. I'm in a load of facebook groups where people share slow cooker recipes and ideas. Send me a message on here if you want to and I'll reply with the names of the groups I'm in. Epic Pork is a favourite of ours - slow cook a pork joint, make some BBQ sauce or buy some from a shop, shred the pork when cooked and add the sauce, cook for another hour and then serve....I love it in wraps with salad but others have had it with mash and veg or in a burger etc yum yum

L xx

dawnybabes

I love my slow cooker.
I make cakes, rice pudding, omelettes as well as all the usual stuff.

I'm going to make mulled wine/cider in it bonfire night :-)

NoOneAround

School trip sounds great - I used to volunteer for all of them


Have neglected my slow cooker of late other than to make stock -but nights are definitely drawing in now and its time for some hearty casseroles. Haven't used it for dry cooking yet - eg roasts, sounds like lots of people have a lot of success with that so will give that a go....
x

maddiemay

Another vote for slow cookers, pulled pork or beef or gammon joints are so yummy as well as the casseroles and curries, rice puds etc.

Steph, hope that you are recovering after your tiring day:)

MM
xx

StressedSteph

Hi all.


Boy is October going to be a tight month.


I have somehow overspent during September and really need to get the budget back under tight control again.


As it stands looking forward to October, there will NOT be any spare money to go into the FUN or Savings pots. It just isn't there.


My YNAB Budget somehow rolled over into Oct in a minus situation of about £250, which of course starts October in a bad way. I think I somehow missed it because my savings were in the bank account artificially plumping up the balance and making it seem like things were still ok.


Luckily I have caught it before I start to spiral back into the disaster zone I was in at January.


How it stands for October is I basically need 31 No Spend Days :eek:.


Trouble is I already know that I have two items that I need to pay out for that are un-budgeted already.


£20 Deposit on Ds's residential trip (Reading the paperwork there is a further £35 x 3 payments so will add those to YNAB)

I also have school photo's, of which the cheapest option is £18. I kind of HAVE to find this as I always buy them and its nice to keep a school photo of each year in school.

I REALLY need to keep control of the food budget this month as this is a weak area for me.

I have decided to do a weeks menu plan on a Sunday night, and then go to Lidl on Monday with my £60 and see if I can get my usual Tesco order for less at Lidl. I have to take into account my fuel cost of probably £5 but I think I can still hopefully get it cheaper. Will be a worthwhile experiment if nothing else.

Fuel - Is another big area I need to get a hold of. No un-necessary trips which might lead to me having to do a mid-week top up, like I had to this morning after driving to Poole yesterday :mad:.

I also have this Portugal trip, which I am now slightly wishing I didn't commit to. I am currently £79 short on the £200 agreed spend we all said we would take with us. I don't personally think I need £200, as I will not buy any gifts etc and I don't barely drink any alcohol, but for security, I would like to take £200 with me and hope to bring some back.

I am super annoyed with myself that I have somehow let go of the control of the budget in September and allowed misc expenses to muck up October.

I am hoping that if I can be super frugal during October that I will be back on track for November.

Apparently the Spa are going to be fully booked next week, so I am hoping that I will get lots of bookings come in, which will help buffer my muck up.

Its just frustrating how easy it still is to get in a mess. Take your eye off the ball for 5 minutes and it goes haywire.

I really want to go to see Gone Girl at the cinema this month, as I am half way through reading the book, but I just can't see it happening. Think that is the price I will pay for my muck up

mfmaybe

Ah Steph don't be so hard on yourself. Look at your signature. It's amazing. You are still doing really well and the odd slip up here and there is par for the course. Remember, you put extra money into the holiday fund.

You've caught it, you've realised you need to take action. That's a very long way from January!