Pay off debts before Baby number 2!!

t2rry

Fab news about the mortgage Crunchy, well done you!!

crunch_time wrote: »

Husbands attitude


Husband utteres the words 'I don't want to buy any beer this weekend because I want to spend my money on other things!!'


.....this is progress.

Also fab, I wish I could get my OH to think the same way. His attitude is 'I don't have to worry about money because you do that for me'. So I constantly worry that, despite giving him a monthly allowance in cash, he will probably spend all of that and then delve into his overdraft without telling me...because he doesn't want me to worry any more than I already do...and that worries me!!!

crunch_time wrote: »

Savings accounts


I have decided to take a leaf out of T2rry's book and set up some spend savings accounts going forward. They are:


- Christmas & birthday presents (for husband, toddler, baby and myself) - £400 for the rest of the year. Haven't started yet so will have to catch up so £67 a month from now till December.


- Clothes - We have talked about saving up money a year to spend on clothes and think about investing in things. £50 a month will give us £600 a year. Initially I will use mine to pay off the £80 sitting on my credit card I used to buy maternity clothes and then save the rest for when my body resembles something of being normal again!! We also going to start wish lists so we don't just fritter it away on stuff we don't need.


- Clothes for children - I worked out we spend about £100 a year on toddler clothes and shoes so for both children I'm going to save £15 a month and try and get as much as possible secondhand.


- Car maintenance fund - for car tax, MOT and service throughout the year. Start with saving £100 a month


Our focus now is to get through to the end of July without going over budget for anything, sorting out the mortgage and anything we don't spend goes into the slush fund for the challenge. Wish me luck!!


Crunchy
xx

ooh...shout out!! This is possibly the best thing that I have done as I have no doubt it will make such a difference to cash flow in the long term. Most everything else is in order to clear debt, this is to change the way I deal with money each month forever...you'd think I was selling the bloomin' savings accounts!!!

You're doing so well, looking forward to seeing it continue to improve

crunch_time

Thanks T2rry for your kind comments!!


I have set up the 4 standing orders now for end of July pay days now so excited for that. At the moment they will go into the same online bank account but I will keep an organised spreadsheet so I know how much is in each pot.






Positives

• I just need to get my latest payslip from work and then we can move things further forward with the mortgage. It looks like it should be set up for September so I will save the £200 capital repayment for August and chuck that at the debt.
• Husband has finally put his bike on ebay and in a day it has gone from £100 starting to £200!! He is very chuffed. He is going to spend it on clothes that he desperately needs but I discussed with him perhaps looking at ebay for some of the things he wants to make it go further. I am happy with this as in the past he has got so desperate and then used his credit card so at least this way he is planning his spends rather than doing it.
• I sold the top and jeans on ebay and managed to get £10 in total so that has gone towards the credit card.
• we finally went window shopping for a new wedding ring for husband yesterday (he lost the original/only £60 quid so not worth claiming off insurance). we found one he liked for £330 but we made the decision to save up for it. At £20 a month we could have it for next Christmas. He has done without one for over a year now and it hasn't been a priority to replace with young children but saving up for one would be good and fun and definitely representative of the new way of thinking.
• I cant really explain it but I feel so much at peace now with all our decisions and not rushing to pay things back to get on with life - life is now not once I have paid off this debt!
• I have set the dreaded overdraft onto a reducer of £200 a month and we can chuck more money at it if we need to. Should have done this ages ago so now it is crunch time!! It should be paid off within a year but hopefully sooner. This is a lot more realistic.

Challenges

• We have both pretty much spent all our spending money this month with just under 2 weeks until my pay day and husbands then follows a week later. Husband cant account for lots of his. The good thing is that we have both recognised where we have gone wrong so that is a learning for next month.
• I have spent £60 of what we were saving for roof/mortgage admin fee/valuation fee on a second seat for the pram to make it into a double - it was half price on ebay and I didn't want to lose it so I guess it is money saving expert!!

Desperately want to see some more green on my signature now that is hard work and less flukey!!!


Roll on pay day!!!
Keep it up everyone!


CrunchyXX

fed_up_of_debt

Subscribed Like your positivity:D We owe a similar amount, I am hoping we can enjoy the journey to becoming debt free:beer:

Seasidegal58

The budget savings accounts are such a help. You don't actually feel like you are spending when you come to draw from them as the money is already there waiting!

I think it's lovely that you are saving for hubby's wedding ring. It will be doubly precious when the time comes to buy it.

crunch_time

Thanks Fed up of debt! I shall come and look at your threads at some point today. And thanks seasidegal for your comment. It will be like the old days - actually saving up for something rather than just whacking it on credit card. It was soooo tempting just to whack it on credit when we saw it so we did well then!


Husband and I realised last night that we are massively under budgeting for our food. We have £380 a month put aside each month to try and spend £80 a week but as I like higher welfare meat and non-toxic cleaners and this includes nappies and cat food I think we need to up it to £100 a week from next month. It will be good practice for when the baby comes and I will have 2 in nappies and possible £40 a month on formula at some point!!


I realised I will have some extra money in this months pay packet from an extra day I did way back in Feb ( I may have mentioned this before). I get paid about £90 a day after tax but I think it will be less than this. Hoping for £50 then that can pay off most of the maternity clothes (£70 left) I am then planning to spend £30 of my £50 clothes budget on new maternity clothes from Asos and use the £20 left to clear the maternity clothes line on that spreadsheet - woohoo! Hopefully it will work out!!


I am planning to do similar things with petrol (currently £63 of emergency petrol siting on the credit card) I budget £100 a month of petrol a month. It costs me about £10 to get to work and back and I work 3 days a week as a teacher. There should be enough petrol in my tank for next week till payday then ill just fill the tank up again - about £60 and hope that this will last all of August and I can slush the remaining £40 towards the petrol debt.


I think this is the way forward with things - careful attention to detail.


I have made a list of things we need for the new baby and aside from the seat for the pram my budget is £200. I shall start planning this after we come back from our hols at the beginning of August (hopefully with some money in our pockets if I have managed to rein husband in from his past 'spend everything we have we are on holiday' mentality.)


Got lots of stuff to do these next few days organising for our holiday. 2 weeks this Saturday!! Cant wait to get away!!


Will check in on my subscribed diaries now!
Keep it up everyone!
Crunchyxx

Seasidegal58

Way to go Crunchy! I love a gal with a plan (or several)!

mum2one

sounds like some good plans coming forward, glad hubby being supportive xx

crunch_time

Dear diary


Just had an excellent MSE moment! Mobile phone company rang me up wanting to 'reward' me with my length of service by offering me a free tablet!! Exciting! It then transpires I will need to pay £16 a month extra on my mobile bill for this 'reward.' I said no. I DONT NEED ONE!! Silly mobile phone companies... Thinking about changing when my contract comes up for renewal in January now.


In other news I went food shopping yesterday for the final week of the month until pay day next Friday. I spent £95 so we were about £50 under budget. This is money that has had to come out of the slush fund. Now we are on the way to identifying what our challenges are here I think next month will be an easier month. I have upped the budget to £400 a month (or £100 a week anyway). I am determined to make this weeks food last.


Hoping for a low spend weekend. Got haircuts tomorrow but these are accounted for in budget. We only have about £10 left in our spending budget for the week so it will have to be cheap.


Husbands bike finishes this weekend so looking forward to that! Will have to chat to husband about what he is spending it on to make the most out of his money. It has also inspired me to sell me bike too so will do that this weekend!


I'm pretty certain we are going to be able to make it to the end of next week without any massive hiccups in the budget so hopefully will come in under budget woohoo!!


Feeling positive, motivated and determined!!


Keep it up everyone and have a great MSE weekend!!


Crunchyxx

OrangeFairy

Hi Crunchy,

Well done one avoiding the 'free' tablet! :rotfl:Honestly they really do try and get you don't they!

I need to up our food budget as we are spending about £60 a week against our budget of £50. This is helped by hubbys fasting nights as he doesn't eat 3 nights a week and then we eat dinner at his mums on Sundays!

I hope you are having a lovely MSE weekend! x

crunch_time

Dear diary


Husbands bike finished today - £300!! I have paid it onto his credit card and he has strict instructions to keep what he spends under £300. He does need what he is planning to spend it on so ill let him off this once and he does work very hard for us so deserves a few necessary treats.


We have had a cheap weekend. Went to a country fair today and spent the last of our spending money for the month. That's it until I get paid on Friday so horns in till then.


I sent Husband to the shop for nappies and milk and he came back with nappies, milk, chocolate, chocolate cakes and beer. Not happy. This has had to come out of next weeks food money (my child benefit arrived early so he has chipped into that). I have told him we need to get a grip on this as these are things that we do not need and this behaviour is holding us back. We have agreed that this last month has been a great month to see where all our bad habits are.


The week after this one will be an 'eat up week' for food anyway as we are on holiday the following week so will try and eat out of the cupboards and freezer and only buy what we need. This should keep the costs down.


I am determined to keep husband under our £500 holiday spend budget - to include diesel, cattery fee and food. It would be nice to come away with some money.


Does anyone else feel they have to rein their partners in all the time? He says he wants to get out of debt yet........


Have a lovely week everyone!


Crunchyxx