I Wanna See the Light

Working_and_Scheming

Mysteek wrote: »

Apparently its ok to make a mistake (phew what a relief!), provided you learn from it and don’t make the same mistake again (oh!).

On that note, I want to make some pledges to myself to not repeat things that I consider were mistakes (for us anyway).

Things I will NOT be repeating:

Consolidation Loans: seemed like a good idea at the time, but all they do is increase the interest and length of the debt. If we had struggled on just a bit longer the original loans would have been paid off one by one.

Remortgage: again seemed like a good idea at the time and got us out of a hole in the short term, but in effect its costing us more and has added 5 years onto the length of the mortgage. Would have been paid next year L. Maybe if this forum had been in existence/known about then, I would have found the inspiration to deal with it differently. BTW this remortgage was to consolidate the consolidated loans!! And credit cards.

Credit Cards: evil things! When I’ve paid the 3 off I have, they’re going to get closed and I will not have another. We should have closed them when they were paid off after remortgaging, but we didn’t learn and racked them up again (bad!!!). We took them out in the days when banks were literally throwing them at you. I received one before I had signed and returned the credit agreement! Another I never even applied for, I got a message from the bank where I have my current account to say my credit card was waiting at the branch for me to pick up! And then the constant balance increases……….tooooooo tempting! Get thee behind me satan!

Overdraft: don’t think in itself was a mistake as its helped us through some difficult patches with DH being SE and not knowing what money he’s bringing in. The mistake was to keep accepting the bank’s balance increases and treating this as money they’ve given us to spend as we liked. The bank have just increased their charges from 1.5% pa to 11.5% pa so this cannot continue. By the end of the year this will have either been cleared completely or balance under £500 as its 0% free up to £500.

Things I will TRY not to repeat:

Impulsive Buying: this always feels good at the time but won’t be as fulfilling or last as long as the feeling of being debt free will. At the moment we don’t ‘need’ anything and anything we ‘want’ will have to sit on the back burner till we can afford it. Any ‘needed’ items that will no doubt crop up will have to be thought about, and thought about again, and thought about again. Best price sought and only purchased when we’ve thought about it yet again. The feeling of instant gratification will have to be controlled.

Helping Children: this is a difficult one as I love my kids to bits and hate to see them upset or in trouble. And I love to treat them and also my gorgeous DGD. My DD1 is now 31 and married and her and her OH earn probably about double what me and my DH earn so I can’t foresee any problems there. My DD2 is 24 with a fiance and baby. I’ve helped her a lot financially in the past, long story to do with relationships, but hopefully now she’s settled. She still owes me around £3,000 which she will not be able to start paying back until next year when she returns from maternity leave and completes her nursing training and gets a job. I think I need to step back and let them sort out their own problems from now on, they’re old enough and either are or will be earning enough to live on comfortably. I have explained to DD2 something of what we’re doing and told her I can’t keep helping her out. She did say that she regarded me as a safety net and really should stop doing this and start to manage her own money better. Maybe I should have said this earlier !!!

I have to think about me and DH now, 7 years to retirement and need to get our finances in order and then hopefully we can enjoy life much better.

Brilliant post and I can so agree with the impulse buying and the helping the kids. Then the Granchildren come along and it all starts again. :mad:

Mysteek

Hi Working and Scheming, thanks for popping in. Isn't it so true with the kids and grandkids. You want them to have the best but funds aren't always there.


I find it easier to make list of things on here as I would forget them and I can read them back at anytime to help keep me on track.

Mysteek

I feel sooo tired today, so might just have a chill out on the sofa tonight. I don't particularly like the weather to be too hot anyway but when you've been sat in a hot and stuffy office all day because they switched the aircon off as someone complained it was too cold, it sort of saps your energy.


A NSD today and didn't fancy too much for tea so had beans on toast and some yoghurt.


Hopefully I'll feel a bit more lively tomorrow.

Seasidegal58

You're doing really well Mysteek. Have a good rest and onwards and upwards for tomorrow!:T

Mysteek

Thanks for your support Seasidegal58. I've not been able to write in my diary last few days as I have a problem with my laptop. After the England match last thursday night, I thought I would update my spreadsheets and post on my diary, but the laptop say no. Couldn't load my profile. After researching this problem I have a couple of things I can try but one is to do with the registry which I'm a bit scared of touching and I will need to be fully compus mentus when I attempt this. As I've been busy over the weekend my compus hasn't been very mentus so haven't got it sorted yet. Methinks I may be putting it off . Having to do a quick update from work.

Budget of £25 a week was probably a little bit ambitious, bearing in mind it was to cover all food, washing stuff and toiletries, dog food and any gluten free food that I might need. A small GF loaf is £2.99, 500gm porridge oats £2.69 etc. I've decided to adjust this as follows: £25 per week for 3 weeks, £50 for 1 week. Hopefully this extra £25 a month will help with the other bits we need and to buy meat for stews etc.

I would rather start on a low budget and adjust up as necessary, rather than start on a higher budget as I think there is the temptation that you work to that higher figure. I don't think we would see it coming down. I feel more in control doing it this way.

I am really pleased at the way the overdraft is coming down, DH work is not too bad at the moment so able to put extra pennies towards the debt. His work is quite seasonal and starts to drift off September/October time for the winter so have to make the most of it now.

I plan to enter my progress into my signature on 1st of each month so I can see how I'm doing, and I think its always good to be able to look back at your achievements to keep your motivation up. Can't wait for 1st July! DH doesn't know how we're doing yet, he'll have to wait for the big reveal on the 1st! Think (I hope) he will be pleasantly surprised and this will help to keep him motivated to carry on as we have started this journey.

On the job front, still no news yet as to what's happening. Driving everyone mad! I would rather be told one way or the other so I could make plans if necessay but its all very quiet and secretive.

Pay day tomorrow, so CC payments will be going out and I can transfer anything left from my salary into the overdraft.

At the start of my diary I felt like I was stood at the bottom of a high and steep sided mountain, running with treacle, and as I tried to put my foot on the bottom it just slid off. Now I feel I have got spikes on my shoes and have started to slowly make my way up the mountain. Not too far up but at least my feet aren't slipping down to the bottom, they're firmly rooted. Onwards and upwards Seasidegal58!

Mysteek

Pay day today! All credit card payments gone out. After leaving enough in account to cover all other direct debits, was able to transfer £100 into overdraft.

After a short briefing yesterday afternoon, we are still no wiser regarding our jobs as no details have been released just very vague outlines on the new company as a whole. I'm just carrying on with the debt busting as normal until if and when things change.

Woo hoo! I managed to sort my laptop out last night. Feel so chuffed with myself.

Wish I hadn't applied for so many surveys as my email inbox is inundated with requestes

Mysteek

We've decided we could have a treat so we're having strawberries and cream for after tea tonight. Well it is Wimbledon after all


Last night DH said that if we reach the goal we've set this month could we have a treat. What's this I thought, a romantic dinner for two, cinema, theatre?? Wait for it.................some decent pillows!!


Bless!

Mysteek

I've decided to give the "buy weekly food one day later each week" idea a try as you get a 'free' week after 8 weeks, I think it works like this (the £50 pw is just for example purposes):



So shopping last week done on sunday, next week it will be monday and so on. Just have to make sure we have plenty of baked beans in the cupboard.

Mysteek

Well that didn't work! Wouldn't let me post my image :mad: Will try again when I'm at home.

Mysteek

My birthday today but wasn't really looking forward to getting another year older. Got some lovely cards though, the one from my mum and dad made me cry as its my first birthday without my mum. I suppose there will be a lot of 'firsts' like that this year to cope with.


Took today off as holiday as DH is off today too so we thought we'd spend it together as he has a busy weekend in front of him so won't see him a lot. We thought we might go out for the day but then that would mean spending. Hm with my newfound mental attitude I don't like doing that any more. So we thought if its nice weather, picnic in the park, but then its raining . So we're just gonna spend a nice day together pottering about and maybe having a snuggle on the settee while watching a film later. May bake some nice scones. Doesn't sound very exciting does it but its what we like to do. We don't drink so not bothered about the pub scene and cos I have to eat gluten free its always a faff trying to find somewhere that caters for me if we go out for a meal. Don't fancy any faff today so looking forward to some chillaxing and peace. We can celebrate birthdays when we're debt free and can enjoy spending our own money instead of someone else's.


I must admit to having been in a strange mood this week, one minute getting angry at something, the next wanting to burst into tears at something I've been over sensitive about. Maybe a relaxing day today may balance me out a bit.


On the financial front, all going well. One of DH's contract customers hadn't sent notification of their payment this month so was worried it wouldn't come in time for us to reach our goal. But lo and behold by the magic of email, a notification popped into his inbox this morning!! Invoice to be paid into his bank account next 2/3 working days so hopefully will make it by 1st of next month.


Just going to go and enjoy a nice frothy coffee made by my lovely DH.


Hope all you lovely people out there have a good friday.