Pay off debts before Baby number 2!!

crunch_time

Dear diary


News on the house move front - Our new mortgage has been approved!!!


We have had to borrow £3000 off my parents towards our deposit which is not at all what we wanted to do but at least it is interest free and we can decide when we want to pay it back. We shall wait till after Christmas when the dust has settled before we decide how much etc.


We cleared the loft this weekend and there are a number of things we could sell to go towards costs so I shall get going on this later this week.


We will need to save up some money as part of the deal for this move is for husband to have a 'garden office.' Originally he wanted a purpose built one that cost £6k (raised eyebrows) and wanted to fund it with the mortgage but it turns out we cant do this so we need to think of other options. I reckon we could convert a decent normal shed very cheaply for £500-£1000k and my next task is to research this so if anyone has got any ideas or pointers they would be appreciated!!


Because we have been so busy with the house we haven't spent that much money this month but its the wedding this weekend so going to have some spends.


Its 10 days till my pay day. I'm still determined to slush away the credit card debt with what's left in our spend money. Husbands credit card might take a bit longer.


Will update more next week. Hope everyone is sticking to their debt plans!


Much love
Crunchy xx


PS - 7 weeks till due date - feeling pretty fed up now!!

mum2one

thats brilliant news about the mortgage. xx

crunch_time

Dear diary


Husbands payday today! And mine last week hurrah!
Signature amended! If all goes well with the move next month it should be close to or under £20k!!


Its been a difficult month in terms of credit card spending. To cut a long story short we ended up spending an extra £220 on the wedding we went to a few weeks ago - hotels and train tickets. This means most of the money on husbands credit card is now stag weekends and weddings. If we have any of these next year we really need to budget better for them - lesson learned!!


I go on maternity leave next week - Aahhh! Its getting closer! Baby is due 5 weeks today!


This means less petrol spends and more keeping on track of what we spend on food. Im making it a project - as if I don't have enough going on with moving house and a new baby soon - to eat more healthily and frugally!


The move seems to be going through ok at the moment. We have cleared the loft and the shed and made £35 from a few bits we have sold on gumtree and ebay. There are a few more bits to put on too so can do that when I start maternity leave. We are planning to put the money we save towards new furniture for the new house.


The clothes spending budget is working out well too. I have bought a new cardigan and still have money left over in my pot and husband has saved up for a new pair of jeans!! This would never have happened before- we would have spent on credit and worried about paying it off.


Once we have moved and had the baby we are going to do a further rejig of things but for now I have a lot of things to keep me away from spending and focussed on saving.


Hope everyone is doing well with their budgets!! Will now get updated for inspiration!


Crunchy xx

abba1772

How exciting only 5 weeks to go til you little baby is here xx

crunch_time

Well maternity leave officially starts on Wednesday! I get paid in about 3 weeks but then November pay will be roughly half what I am used to. :eek:

We didn’t and we won’t manage to pay off all the credit cards and overdraft as planned. I worked out that we would have paid off the overdraft had we not decided to move and the only things sitting on the credit cards are where we have been unlucky and had to overspend for the stag dos and wedding grrrr.
There have been lots of positives about this experience.

• Learned that we need to have spend accounts to budget for specific things that we absolutely need throughout the year.
• Paid off nearly £3k of debt – overpayments and minimum payments on loans. :beer:
• Paid off £800 of the overdraft – this was the rock for so long!! :beer:

Challenges

• Not monitoring our energy bill and being in arrears by £400 to our old supplier. We are currently paying this off at £20 minimum payment. :mad:
• Having credit cards with overspends on them when on maternity leave – this was not part of the plan. :mad:
• Now owing parents £3k for the house move. (this in a way is a good debt though)

I spent last night looking at the spreadsheet adding in the energy arrears and the loan to my parents in and looking where we can save even more money off our current outgoings during my year off. This will be a fun project for me and something to focus my brain on!! Ha ha!

The new plan will be to get through maternity leave without getting into anymore debt and devising a plan to eventually be debt free!!

Here goes…….

t2rry

Ooh exciting times!! And paying off £2766 in just 4 pay days is an incredible effort! Hope you will keep us updated though, I'm sure I will appreciate (and take notes) tips on money saving through maternity leave!!

crunch_time

Dear diary


Well first few days of maternity leave nearly over. first full week next week.


I wrote a really long entry a few days ago but something weird happened when I posted it and its now not on here - very frustrating!!!


Basically I have been thinking a lot over the last few days about what our priorities will be debt repayment/things we need to pay for wise after we have moved.


Here is my thinking


1) Save £550 for July maternity pay
2) Buy bed for toddler - £300 max
3) Start £100 a month repayment to the bank of mum and dad for the £3k we borrowed for the house move.
4) start saving for a garden office (shed conversion) for husband so he can work from home. (I'm aiming fo under £1k
5) Storage for our new bedroom and the living room. - Im thinking of ikea stuff and DIY.


The amount still on credit cards is a real sticking point for me. I think we shall have to tackle them through an adventure fund and slushing away at them with the food account and our spending account - although this hasn't worked so far!! Need to try harder at this!! Having spend accounts seems to work so will go with that.


This and being frugal will be the best way to get through till next summer and frugality starts today!


Recent frugal efforts
- not buying any more maternity clothes despite my only jeans having holes in the elastic band and only having about 5 tops I can wear! I have bought a new cardigan and some 3 sizes too big pants with my clothes allowance instead! Cant. wait. to. wear. normal. clothes. again.
- avoiding as much packaged food from sains as I could with the notion of cooking some lunch things and snacks from scratch this week - wish me luck!
- I have made £20 these last 2 weeks from ebay selling old junk we have found whilst clearing out the loft and shed. There are more things to go on. This is going in the house pot for the moment towards storage and the shed.
- decided not to buy a new nightdress for giving birth in but make do with what clothes I have instead. (I either wont wear it at all or never where it again or both so its not worth it!)


Things to do the next few days towards my cause:


- pay in cheque from expenses from work - £140!!!
- dry clean winter duvet so it is ready for the first major cold snap.
- finish packing hospital bag - eek!! Then I can relax and concentrate on other things knowing it is all ready.
- Put bedroom furniture on ebay - this is a big move on the house move front!!
-Get husband to sort out our broadband being paid for by work.
post ebay bits already sold.
- Get husband to do his expenses.
- get on his credit card online banking and figure out if he has given me anymore 'surprises' to add to my credit card spreadsheet.'
- try to spend as little money as possible!!!!


Also going to look for other people on here who are trying to be frugal during maternity leave or with young families.....


Crunchyxx

MrsSmith2013

Hi Crunchy - long time no speak!

Hope you are putting your feet up and enjoying your ML! Congratulations on the new house, thats great news. When do you move in?

Hopefully before baby arrives! We moved when DD was 5 weeks old, plus side was I didn't have to life a single thing - ha ha!

I'll have to keep up with your diary a bit better than I have been, I've been pretty rubbish recently, but need to get back on here and keep the motivation up!

Hopefully chat soon!
Mrs S x

abba1772

Your very focused xx

Yey to the eBay sales every bit helps I'm currently trying to sell baby k big toys like his walker activity centre play mats why must little babies need such big equipment lol xx it's nice seeing the space but I'm sure we will fill it with something else lol

Enjoy your maternity leave won't be long til bubba is here xx

mum2one

can't believe its maternity leave already, youve done brilliantly with the debt planning, as for maternity clothes, I was in same boat when I had DD, I went abroad when I was 27weeks, by then I was living in shorts... my suitcase was the lightest going out... bit heavy going back - been shopping!!

The last few weeks, I was down to 1 summer skirt, (how the elastic held I will never know), a knee length stretch skirt, 3 tops, 2 prs of shorts, my footwear was the best, a pair of mens sandals, come rain or shine that was it!!

my little bundle was 12 years old on Monday....

What I did with the big baby items that DD grew out of, was sell them via the free ads in the newspaper, the cot and travel cot an friend brought off me.

xxx