Pay off debts before Baby number 2!!

crunch_time

Thanks mum2one, abba1772 and MrsS for your comments!!


No news yet on a date for the house but things seem to be progressing! Time certainly does fly!


I had a chance these last few days to finally look through some diaries and picked up lots of tips from other mums as to how to tackle the debts!


Im going to take a leaf out of MrsS's book and tackle one debt at a time. Now we have set the overdraft off on a monthly repayment of £100 I can feel secure knowing this is going down gradually while I tackle other things.


Im going to slush away at it from savings I have made from
- husbands spend budget
- My spend budget
- food spend budget
- anything we sell on ebay.
- petrol spend budget.
I have seen from the experience of others that little amounts count - even £5 here and there!!


The order of debts to tackle this way is as follows:


- My credit card - £298
- Husbands credit card - £498
- Overdraft - currently £1600 (have to do this in £50 increments)


We had a productive weekend of house move stuff and managed to sell all our bedroom furniture for £150 - this needs to go towards furniture for the new house though not debt unfortunately!!


I have also finally decided to set myself a lidl vs sainsburys challenge as this will be a way to keep our costs down and slush more money towards the debt!


We went round to see some friends this weekend and they were talking about going on holiday in the spring to Gran Canaria and wondered if we wanted to go with them. We declined obviously and I felt a stab of jealously that they were going away and not us (I love to travel nd we had planned to do another holiday next year before we decided to move). Husband and I talked about it afterwards and decided we would rather knuckle down and get the new house sorted and this immediate debt to pay off than spend money on a holiday. We would rather be saving up for Florida or seeing our friends and family in Australia in a few years time. It just put things into perspective for me and made me realise why we are doing this. I think it will make me knuckle down even more.!!!


Some of my immediate family members have been criticising our house move openly (and behind our backs) telling us we are making a mistake for various reasons that are all about them not us. I feel its because we will be at least 35 miles away from them rather than half of that now and that we are borrowing money off parents despite earning the most out of all of them (they obviously don't know about the debt!). I do feel somewhat persecuted but determined not to let it get me down. This is a great thing for us and we are so happy about it. Im trying so hard to rise above it all!!


I'm looking forward to meeting our little bundle of joy now! Hopefully not too much longer!


Hope everyone had great weekends!


Crunchyxx

MrsSmith2013

Hi Crunchy!

Glad to hear the other diaries have given you some ideas! Its always good to hear what other people are up to in terms of debt busting, even if the way they do things doesn't fit for you, it can give you ideas how to tweak it to work for your own circumstances.

I know exactly what you mean about the pang of jealousy about your friends going away, I feel like that too sometimes. In the end I'd rather go away when we are debt free and we can go without worrying about bills and debt at the end of it. Plus I always think, "are they going away and paying for the holiday etc cash, or is it all on plastic?" I think half the time its on plastic!

Thats a shame that your family are being a bit funny about you moving. Could just be a bit of jealousy mixed with the fact your moving further away and they won't be so close to the baby? You have to do whats right for you guys though, and they'll just have to deal with it! Definately hard to rise above these things though - easier said than done!!

Talk soon - and keep your motivation up, you're doing great.

Mrs S x

crunch_time

Morning diaryland!


Yes Mrs S - it is so easier said than done. I feel a little better this am about after a chat with husband last night. Thanks for your comments!


With regards to holiday - they are having to ask for money for Christmas from family to fund it and their family are always paying for their car repairs and extras stuff. We don't have this neither do we want it. We like being independent.


I seem to have miscalculated the total of my credit card. Some things appeared on their over the last few days which I had forgotten about. Most of them are from spend accounts or I can pay them down next month I have paid. - signature amended to reflect.


I am also going to add the energy provider debt we owe although this is interest only - we have to pay £20 a month and it is something we can slush away at.


The order of debt slushing priorities has therefore changed to.


My credit card - £404
Husbands credit card - £478
energy provider - £400.


This should keep me occupied throughout maternity leave - HA HA!


Good news!!


- I posted the ebay stuff today and payments subtract postage = £19.60. I'm going to round it up to £20 for fun - clearly I need to get out more!!!


This is the first slush for my credit card...


£404 - £20 = £384


£384

And the slushing has begun!


Next steps - music magpie - send off DVD's we sold on Sunday and get £15.89 cheque - woohoo!


Also there are a few more bits we found at the weekend to go on ebay so shall try and put those on over the next few days.


I hereby vow to take my credit card out of my purse and STOP.SPENDING.ON.IT! and stop ordering things off amazon. Life was so much easier before I had it..


Hope everyone is having good days!!


Crunchy xx

crunch_time

Just a quick update for today....


I taken my credit card out of my purse so I cant use it anymore!!


I have also rejigged our Christmas an birthday present fund for the rest of the year and released nearly £90 of cash an used it to slush away at my credit card so this now stands at.......


£282

Woohoo!


I have decided to go against husbands wishes and use the money we got for our furniture at the weekend for new furniture as what we have is fine and we can make do and save for what we need the old fashioned way. Therefore this £150 will go on debt too once the cheque clears on Thursday.


With this and being paid next week - hopefully be able to pay this credit card off by the end of next week - what progress!!


Now settling down to take a hard look at each area of our money and make sure we are making every £ work for us.


This might take a few days...


Crunchy xx

abba1772

Wow crunchy your steaming ahead well done xx

t2rry

Amazing stuff!! I need to get ebaying - you are an inspiration!!

crunch_time

Ah thanks for the support guys!! T2rry - I am now running out of stuff to ebay! Need to get moved and have this baby so I can sell old clothes, toys and maternity clothes!!


The depressing thing is, if I put the £3k loan onto my signature from parents for the move we will be more in debt than when I started this 'adventure' on Fathers Day!! I'm going to hold back until we start paying it off in the new year so its not so depressing.


I am feeling down about husbands attitude. He said at the weekend 'we might have to use credit to get new furniture for the house.' My response - 'er no - no way!' I know he is on board but I feel he gets a little carried away sometimes. Actually when I think about it, when I have made good financial decisions and stuck to them despite his thoughts he has let me get on with it and then commented on how great we are progressing towards our dreams. I think he just needs someone to rein him in and be the sensible one - he has never been the sensible one and his family re rubbish with money whereas mine are really frugal.


He is so bogged down with his job and then we have the impending new arrival and then house move to contend with so there is a lot on his shoulders at the moment. He said he is happy for me to manage it so long as I tell him what is going on - fair enough!!


Although it is tempting to get the new house sorted first before debt, im so sick of not making any real total progress.


I worked out last night that we are currently paying £592 a month towards debt (not mortgage) with minimum payments only. If we don't pay off some of the creditors we will be paying £692 a month from the new year when we start to pay my parents back!


If we paid off both credit cards, the energy provider and the overdraft that gives us £173 a month to either pay for house stuff or chuck towards the loans so we can finish them early.


It makes so much more sense. We don't really need any furniture or such immediately apart from a bed for toddler and curtains and blinds. Im going to stick to this. Here is my new plan of action:


- Im due a pay rise this month so once I know this I can calculate what I should be getting for the rest of my mat leave.
- Husband gets paid the week after next and is also due a pay rise. Im hoping HR have not forgotton! Once we know we know how much money is left over for the rest of the month and can decide what to do with it.
- We should also have more of an idea on a date for the house move by then as well.
- Keep any extra money in my savings account until the move goes through and then use the surplus for the furniture we do need and curtains - the rest goes on debt!! No arguments.


Phew - this involves being patient - Im not feeling such a notion at the moment. I feel in limbo and that things are out of my control!! So I have decided to keep a paper diary called 'My frugal mat leave' to keep a weekly list of all the things I am doing at home while I am off towards our cause. I shall share extracts weekly with you ll in case you are interested!


This week:


- mended maternity trousers so don't have to buy anymore
- put another 3-4 things on ebay.
- Find some recipes for lunches (he doesn't like too much bread and then forgets or doesn't have time to make anything) I think I will have to start making them for him if I want him to stop using his credit card or spending money - and then complaining he has no money.
- Lidl vs sainsburys shop - ill let you know how it goes....
- reinstate 30 day list.


Hope everyone is enjoying this autumnal weather. Don't turn the heating on yet though - not very MSE!


Crunchy xx

t2rry

Oh Crunchy I can completely sympathise.

You've seen my moans about my OH. I think it is always difficult because he lets me control the finances, which is great. But it also means (I think) that he doesn't feel accountable for them, so he doesn't worry about them, and spends what he considers we 'need' (his definition of a need is very different to mine!!!)

Sounds like you have a plan though. When we moved (in February) sadly I let go of the reins and we are still paying for it. It is such a stressful time anyway that you can so easily lose track and things mount up very quickly. It is probably my biggest regret as I was off MSE after paying off all credit card debt and saving for our deposit. I feel like I've taken a huge leap back just from that so I really would urge you to stick to your plan. It will be worth it in the long run!!!

MrsSmith2013

Wow crunchy - go you with the credit card payments!! That will be gone in no time, and I bet it will feel great when it is gone. :j

I know what you mean about OH too, my hubby is so unrealistic with his estimations for things, it must be a man thing. I'll say to him, I've done really well this month we've paid off £900 off the debt, and he'll say, "so how much do we owe now, £5k?".... eh stick a one on the front maybe!!

Have you been on Quidco to see if you can get any cashback from there? They have a "No Brainer" section where there is sometimes good deals.

Keep the motivation up, you're doing brilliantly!

Mrs S x

fed_up_of_debt

Yay! crunchy well done I really need to start selling again and I think you may have just given me the push/incentive to get on with it ;D