Our Journey from Debtdom to Freedom

hazeldreams

We had the curry and the wine and thoroughly enjoyed it :rotfl:

No news from work yet so we're plodding on as usual!

- another NSD yesterday and today
- YNAB up to date
- another 6 items listed on eBay for sale this weekend
- mobile charged at work
- walked to work instead of getting bus
- slow cooker doing a grand job of using up leftover veggies

natsplatnat

Hi! I find I can sway OH with a supermarket curry and bottle of wine when needed! All in for about £12-14 (although we would use a naan that is already in the freezer). Not as good as eating out - but not a bad compromise! x

hazeldreams

natsplatnat wrote: »

Hi! I find I can sway OH with a supermarket curry and bottle of wine when needed! All in for about £12-14 (although we would use a naan that is already in the freezer). Not as good as eating out - but not a bad compromise! x

Good tip thanks nat! Will try and remember it the next time we have a mini crises and I need comforting!

hazeldreams

Evening!

457 days to go to reach our goal and we're still plodding along taking each day as it comes!

Here's the highlights (and lowlights!)

- we're still under grocery budget goal with just one shop left to do FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER!!!!!
- more sales and declutter activity; £37 in eBay sales and 2 more bags to charity shop
- we're still trying to keep heating usage low and use HWBs instead
- all fresh veg that's may get wasted I've chopped up, bagged and frozen
- NSD yesterday 7/10 now!
- YNAB fully up to date
-:( bought an expensive coffee at work today as I got so wet on the way in I felt really sorry for myself
- forgot my train pass and ended up paying an un-necessary £5.40 for a ticket (made more painful by the fact I've only just paid out £700 for the annual pass grrr):mad:

Over and out!

hazeldreams

Busy weekend and a spendy one too, much of it unplanned which isn't good!

Feel like we've lost our way a little over the last few weeks - not so bad that it isn't salvageable but nonetheless we've lost some of the good ground we'd made. I can link it all back to the day we got the news about big changes at my workplace and the possibility of redundancy! You'd think that would have a positive impact on the spending not a negative one wouldn't you?!

We enjoyed a wonderful meal out as a family yesterday but it was totally unplanned so now I need to reshuffle the budget. I've analysed what we could do better on the way in this morning as I lost sleep over this last night and I think rather than holding money back in reserve to offset the mortgage we'd be best to whack it straight off the cc even though it's at 0%. Knowing the money is available is facilitating our unplanned spends. If it's not there I won't feel we have a comfort blanket to rely on.

Will try and shift that to CC1 today at some point.

Is it really only Monday?! I'm exhausted already! :rotfl:

brizzledfw

Know how you feel HD..think uncertainty makes me spend more too..weird! As you say, logic would suggest it should have a different effect!

I have also shuffled some money around today - no point in having savings pots if the OD keeps on being used! I am going to go back to looking at YNAB for December..

x

hazeldreams

brizzledfw wrote: »

Know how you feel HD..think uncertainty makes me spend more too..weird! As you say, logic would suggest it should have a different effect!

I have also shuffled some money around today - no point in having savings pots if the OD keeps on being used! I am going to go back to looking at YNAB for December..

x

Hi brizzle! Glad it's not just me that has this adverse reaction! :rotfl:
It was a gamble keeping the overpayments back to offset against interest on mortgage rather than down paying straightaway- one that hasn't been helping our spending activities!

All rectified now though - I've switched all of the overpayments to CC1 today from our savings and I feel better already! Will do exactly the same with the overpayments planned for December too.

Good shout re YNAB brizzle. We are religious about updating it and balancing books everyday; it's the best habit we've formed since our journey began in September 2014 and it's definitely the reason our balances are going down and not up but I could do with spending some time analysing the new report functions that have recently been re- introduced to really understand where we could save more to stick to our £2033 monthly debt repayment goal.

Glad Monday is over! Hurry up crimbo I need a rest! :rotfl:

hazeldreams

The sun is shining (even though it's absolutely freezing here:rotfl:), the kids are happy and healthy, we have a roof over our head, cupboards full of food and we have the luxury of central heating. I think today needs to be a reflective and thankful one given the fact we have all the basics and necessities to be grateful for!

Today's plan of action;
- NSD no 9 (will hit this months goal if we survive today and tomorrow with zero spends)
- charge mobile at work
- have already braved the cold and walked to train station saving £2:30 bus fare
- have last nights leftover sc beef stew for lunch

All crimbo shopping is now complete with the exception of kids stockings (Pound stores will be visited soon for these so shouldn't be too spendy)

Need to finalise Dec YNAB budget paying really careful attention to the categories and ensuring there is sufficient to see us through the various crimbo activities now we won't have the repayment pit to rely on as a call back.

hazeldreams

Pay day for me today. Love seeing the balances on the last day of the month before all the DDs hit on the 1st; if only they didn't :rotfl:!!

Haven't sat down and looked properly at December budget yet but it's the number 1 job for tonight, particularly as we've a number of family trips out planned and our wedding anniversary too (we've booked a meal out) to budget for. Pretty sure we won't reach our £2033 debt repayment monthly goal but any repayment in December has got to be better than nothing right?! :T

Yesterday's updates:
- walked and saved bus fare
- brought leftovers in for lunch
- NSD no 9
- resisted email bombardments from my fave cabin holiday and spa break hotel offering final significant discounts (so very, very proud of myself as it would be so awesome to have something to look forward to right now!). I've now unsubscribed to said companies so I can't be tempted any longer :A

hazeldreams

Really great budgeting meeting with OH last night while DDs were out at their club. He usually goes along with the monthly meetings nodding where appropriate but has never felt really engaged in the process (bless him he just did it as he knows it's important to me!). Last night was very different though. I think seeing how upset I was and how little sleep I had Sunday after overspending and knowing that we no longer have our overpayment pot to dip into, has opened his eyes a little. We went through each category carefully whilst continually cross checking our calendars to make sure we didn't miss any outings/gatherings/kids parties etc. we needed to budget for. He also added a little balance to the process. My goal is always to make sure we have a large amount to pay off the debt. Whilst admirable this is sometimes unrealistic and the deprivation in one category can triggger me to feel low, overspend and you know the rest.... So OH insisted we leave a little extra in categories where we know this month we will definitely need more funds (groceries, alcohol, socialising). These particular categories are now however full and final and we agreed cannot be reshuffled under any circumstances - when it's gone it's gone. End result is just over £1700 overpaid this month rather than £2033. Under target but realistic and achievable for this month.

Overpayments sent off to the CCs today, sig updated, just under 38% cleared and gone feels good. Halfway mark is in sight and providing the restructure goes in my favour should be achievable by April using my annual bonus. Feb 2018 still a massive stretch target - something radical needs to change in 2017 to have a hope in hell of achieving it!