Debt free by 40 -- 19 Months and counting

mummytogirls

Oohhhh Steph a day with no children sounds bliss!!! Hope you've enjoyed your day xx

dawnybabes

We are back tomorrow, packed the bags got everything ready, just need to wake him in the morning :-)

StressedSteph

mummytogirls wrote: »

Oohhhh Steph a day with no children sounds bliss!!! Hope you've enjoyed your day xx

It was, and I got sooo much done. I don't think I cope with interruptions that well, because I find it so hard to get anything constructive done with the children home.

dawnybabes wrote: »

We are back tomorrow, packed the bags got everything ready, just need to wake him in the morning :-)

Haha glad its not just me that had them ready and packed off early. xxx

StressedSteph

Morning Diary,

Just balanced bank account against YNAB, phew it is all very tight, not been this tight for a long time, but I guess two weeks without a wage does that to a bank account :eek:. It doesn't help that Ds's birthday is in two weeks time, I have forecasted that without many unexpected overspends we should be able to scrape £200 together.

Trouble is no matter how often I tell Ds that money is tight this year because of dads operation, he still has a list as long as my arm and doesn't seem to take me seriously when I say he will only get one thing off his list. One of them is a LAPTOP!!:eek:.

I am thinking of looking at my Tesco vouchers to see if I can afford for us to go for a cheap meal somewhere on the evening of his birthday to make it into more of an event as I am not going to be able to throw a lot of money at it.

My fault entirely for not managing to save up a birthday fund, I really hate having to tell him he can't have much of a birthday this year, but I suppose he needs to understand real life issues and he isn't a baby anymore.

We got the after-school clubs letter home yesterday, phew!!!. they have handed it over to a company called PH Sports Coaching and for every afterschool club they want £24.50 for the 7 weeks.
I know when it is divided up it is only £3.50 but both of mine would have liked to do two clubs so that works out at £98 :eek:.

Our school used to put on some free after school clubs but it doesn't look like its the case anymore. Yikes....Not sure if mine will be doing any this term.

Not much else to report really, have a bomb site of a house to tidy up again this morning so had better get started.

kelpie35

Oh my goodness Steph you do not have your sorrows to seek.

This is just an idea. As yous on has made a birthday list, is there anything that he wants that is slightly cheaper, and he could maybe have a laptop for Christmas.

I hope you don't mind me saying, but I really think that £200 for a birthday present is too much. I know that a lot of children get that spent on them. I really think you have to explain to both your children that they may have got everything they wanted in the past, and that is a mistake you and their dad made, by doing that, and things have now changed and that they will have a better future by making these sacrifices just now.

I know it is so difficult to try to keep financial problems for your children, but I can assure you that they will benefit from knowing that they can't have expensive things just now. It will help them in the future and they will thank you for it too.

I know it is so, so hard to say no to after school clubs etc but that is another lesson they will have to understand.

You don't have to go into details about your money situation, they are children, and they need to understand that you and their dad make the rules.

I do hope I have not said anything to upset you, I have been in your position, and do understand. Please accept my apologises if I have.

Take care

Moneywhizz

Not sure how old your son is, but £200 is a lot of money to spend on a birthday. Could you tell him how much he is allowed and get him to choose what he would like up to that amount. Personally I would make that figure much lower than £200 but only you can decide the amount you want to spend.

When I was teaching and asked children what they got for Christmas or birthday, they could hardly remember! Poor parents, spending a fortune on presents that children obviously didn't appreciate that much!

debtfreeoneday

I was just going to say you don't have to go out for food to have fun. Ask him what his favourite meal is and cook that as a birthday meal, have a birthday cake at home with candles and enjoy!

And maybe rethink the £200 - it is an awful lot and as you said money is tight so you could ease the pressure on yourself a bit.

abba1772

I was in the same boat last month with my two boys birthdays as they share a birthday and with all the weddings birthdays and holidays prior to this we were smuggling plus I'm a self employed childminder and I was working on their birthday, so I asked my eldest what he wanted for his dinner and he asked for his favourite toad in the hole plus we got a massive cake and he was happy with that, we then took them to the safari park using vouchers and we had a lovely time and the kids didn't mind at all xx

StressedSteph

Morning all,

Thanks for all your replies, It surprised me to be honest that £200 is seen as alot of money. I suppose I have been trying to stick to how much they have always had, which to be honest is probably more like £250-£300 :eek:. Guess that partly explains my financial mess .

Once out of debt and Birthday money has been saved up I suppose I can happily spend that but I should cut it down now whilst we are struggling.

Its also hard as Ds is turning 11 and its hard to slip a cheapy present under the nose of an 11 year old, its not like it was when he was 3 and would be happy with a football .

Will see how the finances go, feeling like a bad mother this morning . I popped down the field to feed the animals shortly before the school run, this is something I have to do every day, and whilst I was down there I could hear them both screaming at each other. When I got back to the house, apparently Ds had run out of toothpaste in his bathroom so had gone to get some from Dd's bathroom, which she apparently took offence to not realising that he didn't have any of his own left and I walked into world war 3. So I then proceeded to lose my temper and shout at them because It makes me angry that I can't leave the house for 5 minutes without all this screaming starting.

So lets just say it wasn't a very nice start to the day and I really hate them going into school in that frame of mind. I talked calmly to them in the car and we all hugged before they went in, but I really do hate it when the morning turns out like that, especially when its over something so silly.

My crazy inlaws that we recently helped move house, have now decided they are getting married.!!. Both are 73 years old and FIL's girlfriend has been nagging him for years to do it and it seems he has now relented.
I had her on the phone yesterday asking me if I had found a suitable dress for Dd as she wants her to be a flower girl. Bearing in mind their wedding is planned for the end of September!, I said that I was hoping that she would just wear a dress she already has as we do not have the money for buying new clothes atm, Especially Monsoon dress's like FIL's girlfriend is wanting. She said she would try to buy it for her, but it all seems very silly. I am afraid there is no way I am spending a fortune on what feels like quite a pointless wedding. Maybe I am being mean?.

Got my cleaning job this morning, at least its Friday. Ds has a birthday party to go to tonight, but otherwise should be quiet weekend.

Hope you all had a better start to the day than me.

Oh btw, only got £43 left in the bank :eek:, REALLY hope the chap hubby has worked for this week pays quickly

abba1772

I agree about the dress issue there's no point in spending a fortune when you have a dress already and monsoon is sooooooo dear even in their sales xx