Debt free by 40 -- 19 Months and counting

debtfreewannabe321

OOoooh they look fab! :T I reckon you could start a new trend with those!

mizmir

They look great! Way too good for gardening! Great job.

If you're not sure what to do with the fun money can you roll it over and then perhaps have enough for a big treat? If you can make sure you do get at least some for you - kids' shoes are necessary of course but are not exactly "fun" and you don't want to end up feeling you never get anything for yourself. That said - our "fun" money seems to go on OH's lunch and coffees at work when she forgets to take some!

StressedSteph

Thanks for the kind comments about my "The Good Life" jeans hehe. Doubt very much I would EVER stray off the farm with them on, but has hopefully given a comfy pair of jeans a few more years life. :T

Wow the weather here today is just horrendous. Wind and rain in bucket loads. The poor Somerset Levels. I can't help but wonder how they feel seeing yet MORE rain coming down .

Well.....I have spent virtually all day filing away paperwork. I have a three tired filing tray on the desk which has been bulging with paperwork for months now. Every time I look at it, I feel anxious for fear of missed bills and forms that might need filling in.

So.....Whilst enjoying the Twilight - Breaking Dawn movie (yes sorry) on the PC, I sat down and grouped all the bills together in their company name and filed them in plastic pockets to put in my annual metal filing tin.

Now just have hubbys building firm receipts to collate and write up in his accounts book ready for the 1st April.

Will crack on with that so that it isn't a panic to get it completed in April.

Hope you are all warm and dry xx

bess1234_2

After a while lurking in secret feels strange, so I thought I'd say hello.

When you first posted you did seem to be making yourself dizzy robbing peter to pay paul and saying you d never keep it up. But since you ve found ynab so seem to have genuinely had a lightbulb moment, calmed down, and started solving it long term. I'm rooting for you!

And your lifestyle I am so envious of. I wanna small holding . It's sounds heavenly.

I couldn't understand ynab, so am impressed how clearly you explain it on here, I kind of get it now. And it sounds similar to my budget. It took me about a year to learn to trust I had got it right, and change my spending habits so that I knew I was underspending without checking , but it is lovely not having to think about money because I know my budgeting system works.

I'm not getting the jeans thing though.
1, you have the funkiest gardening jeans in the village.
2. You have forty whole pounds to go buy a pair of jeans if you want to.
3. Dd's shoes should come from children's clothing budget. If it's too soon then how about you cut something (food?)by £10 this week or earn 10 extra. How about a cheap pair of play shoes that she will remember forever ( preferably with lots of sequins on) which will fall apart in three months, or outgrow, by which time you should be in calmer waters. You ll hate them, but you said she has her school sensible shoes. And out of all the clarks shoes I have bought my daughter it's the sparkly pumps I'll always remember.
4. The weirdest thing to get used to with budgets, is there is no drama. The money is there. It is very freaky at first. You are doing brill. Good luck. Back to lurking

StressedSteph

bess1234 wrote: »

After a while lurking in secret feels strange, so I thought I'd say hello.

When you first posted you did seem to be making yourself dizzy robbing peter to pay paul and saying you d never keep it up. But since you ve found ynab so seem to have genuinely had a lightbulb moment, calmed down, and started solving it long term. I'm rooting for you!

And your lifestyle I am so envious of. I wanna small holding . It's sounds heavenly.

I couldn't understand ynab, so am impressed how clearly you explain it on here, I kind of get it now. And it sounds similar to my budget. It took me about a year to learn to trust I had got it right, and change my spending habits so that I knew I was underspending without checking , but it is lovely not having to think about money because I know my budgeting system works.

I'm not getting the jeans thing though.
1, you have the funkiest gardening jeans in the village.
2. You have forty whole pounds to go buy a pair of jeans if you want to.
3. Dd's shoes should come from children's clothing budget. If it's too soon then how about you cut something (food?)by £10 this week or earn 10 extra. How about a cheap pair of play shoes that she will remember forever ( preferably with lots of sequins on) which will fall apart in three months, or outgrow, by which time you should be in calmer waters. You ll hate them, but you said she has her school sensible shoes. And out of all the clarks shoes I have bought my daughter it's the sparkly pumps I'll always remember.
4. The weirdest thing to get used to with budgets, is there is no drama. The money is there. It is very freaky at first. You are doing brill. Good luck. Back to lurking

Hi Bess


I am sooo glad you came out of lurkdom to see me, thank you.

Loved your post, it does make pouring out all my head mess worthwhile when you get nice posts like yours. Thank you. x

I have made a clothing pot in YNAB, but not put anything in it yet. Maybe I should find a way just to put £5 per week in it, then that would easily cover childrens shoes etc. Dd loves the trashy shoes, so maybe she will get lucky next week .

I must admit that the immediate survival mode panic has calmed down now and it is just into the looooong period of being careful. This is the most dangerous time for me. I seem to thrive in panic situations even though it makes me feel ill. now all of that has gone, I need to be really careful, because it doesn't take much to blow all my three months hard work and get straight back into the mess again.

I have made so many changes since my last LBM. Switched banks to get away from crippling Overdraft, Confided in hubby about the mess I got us into and found YNAB. I truly believe that these three things are what has made this LBM the one that will see it through to the end.


Thanks again so much for posting, please drop in again soon xxxxx

Puzzcat

Hi ss,


Hope its not too wet and windy in the countryside...! Its howling a gale here and i'm on a delayed school run followed by the opticians.. its all fun, fun, fun..


The jeans are fab and 'make do and mend it' is the mantra to follow... As to the fun money, maybe save what you don't spend each month and put it in a different pot... Steph's Summer Treat Pot.. and when we get out of this horrible weather you can treat yourself to a manicure/haircut/flip flops/summer clothes... or a day out with the children...


Take care
Puzz. x

StressedSteph

Puzzcat wrote: »

Hi ss,


Hope its not too wet and windy in the countryside...! Its howling a gale here and i'm on a delayed school run followed by the opticians.. its all fun, fun, fun..


The jeans are fab and 'make do and mend it' is the mantra to follow... As to the fun money, maybe save what you don't spend each month and put it in a different pot... Steph's Summer Treat Pot.. and when we get out of this horrible weather you can treat yourself to a manicure/haircut/flip flops/summer clothes... or a day out with the children...


Take care
Puzz. x

You might have something there Puzzcat. Last year I bought us a tent and all the equipment, It was an intended MSE solution for cheap holidays, but not really MSE in the end as it added up to quite a lot of money , after I had bought the portable fridge, gas hob, inflatable mattress's, sleeping bags etc etc etc :eek:.

Anyway....We have it all now and the best way to justify the cost is to USE it. . Trouble is it still costs a decent amount of money per night to camp and then there's is the ice creams and odd bag of chippies etc. BUT I absolutely love the quality time with the children. Hubby stays at home as unfortunately he doesn't seem able to wear his "Its an Adventure" hat and roll with the punches. We have the farm to look after so that is often his excuse.


So I could move my excess FUN money in a Holidays fund. We spent some time at Combe Martin in Devon last summer and the children loved it. Fantastic crabbing ponds and the best ice creams we have ever had. Would be great to have enough money for us to have a weekend away in the Easter Holidays. I class that as FUN even though it is mainly something for the children.


Will price up how much three nights are and I will move that slowly over into the camping/holidays fund.


Yay can't wait. xxx

maddiemay

Lots of great things going on today well done you.

Loving the jeans, great for gardening and around the small holding. Fantastic getting all the paperwork done and a few days in Combe Martin sounds lovely, a few years since I last went there, it is one of the longest villages in the country isn't it?

Loving the idea of DD getting sparkly shoes, every girl whatever her age! should have a pair:cool:
MM
xx

StressedSteph

Thanks for all your help and support yesterday everyone, it really helped.


Still feeling pretty rubbish, cold is all in my head and I feel abit spaced out. A friend kindly treated me to a coffee and a cake this morning so it was a nice start to the day.


Really need to fire up some more inspiration for my sewing so might have a look through Pinterest. That always gets the creative juices flowing.


I put some jeans on today and they are uncomfortably tight . Think I might have to start being abit more conscious about what I am eating.

Looking forward to getting this week finished and having a nice restful half term with no school run :T

I stumbled upon a really good blog last night written by someone on this forum. It's called "A disease called Debt". Really interesting reading. I went back to the start of her blog in January 2013 and read through it. Pretty inspiring. If you have time check it out. x

Not much to report on the money front. All ticking along, Had to put an extra £10 in the car fuel pot today as have to drive to pick my Ds up from a school outing today which takes me over my frugal fuel amount. I can usually manage on £30 per week but if any extra journeys crop up then I always have to add a little more. Unavoidable.

Hope you are all doing ok after the high winds yesterday, got more to come tomorrow I think

FinanciallyUnsavvy

Good morning Steph

Sorry to hear you're feeling under the weather - I'm just getting over a bad cold myself - it really does bring you down! Keep warm and take it easy, and I hope you feel better soon!

The weather has been truly horrible hasn't it? We haven't been *too* bad here up north, although it was crazy windy yesterday. There was me secretly hoping it may get worse overnight that for some reason I wouldn't be able to come into work today.. alas, all is calm(er) today!

I've still been reading even though I haven't posted for a few days. I LOVE your upcycled jeans- they do look fab! Like other people have said, I certainly wouldn't be afraid to wear those out of the farm, they look great!

Your camping holidays sound wonderful! Shop around, and I'm sure you'll be able to find camping pitches much cheaper, perhaps a little off the beaten path. You could also have "staycations" overnight camping somewhere on your land? I'd imagine you have a fair bit of land around the farm? Bit cheesy but still a good way to spend time as a family and more exciting than a usual night inside the house - all for free! Plus it gets use out of your tent!

Ooh, I love Pinterest - it really is the best source of inspiration for everything crafty.

Also I'm very glad to know you're still loving YNAB - me too. I find it hard now to imagine how I coped without it! When I think back to a couple months ago and I had NO idea how much money I was spending on anything and where it was all going. HOW DID I COPE?! haha. Do you have the phone app too? It links directly to your main computer program and updates automatically - very good to record purchases when you're out and about (or in my case, to be able to update stuff at work... )

Take care of yourself and have a great day
x x