The 300k debt-free diary!!!

mrsspendalot

Speaking as a mother of 3 .... 3 is VERY hard work. Wise to stick with 2

Natlou_2

I can imagine three would be harder if they were all closer together, but my two eldest are 9 and 7 (nearly 8) so they are not hard work at all, they can even make me cups of tea now

chocaholic110

mrsspendalot wrote: »

Speaking as a mother of 3 .... 3 is VERY hard work. Wise to stick with 2

Ooops! You could have mentioned that 7 months ago!!

But seriously mine will be 13 and 9 when No. 3 arrives - it's sort of like having a new family! It's also a bit more exciting because DD can be really involved (although DS couldn't give a monkeys!!)

pandapaws

Sorry Choca - it's too late for you, there's no going back now!!! I've got a friend with 3 kids, who were all born within 3 years, and for a little while were all in various stages of nappy at the same time. That was more than enough to put me off having a third!

Can't wait until DS is able to do anything useful instead of just making a mess wherever he goes! Ah well, only another 3 years until we get ourselves as far as this stage again...

chocaholic110

My friend is like that - she has three little ones and it always just seems like chaos in her house, but she's very happy!

OH has 4 brothers and sisters and there's only 5 years between OH (the eldest) and his youngest brother - imagine 5 kids 5 and under! Also my Grandma had 12 and while she sensibly spaced the first few out, the last 7 were born roughly one a year - in fact one was born the day before his older brother's first birthday. I can't even imagine what that must be like! Then, after 12 kids my Grandad left her and married someone else - they only had the one child though, funnily enough!

I am starting to panic after looking through DD and DS's old baby / toddler photos. My house is always a tip in the background. Wondering whether that is because you can't help it with a baby or whether I just had lower standards then!! (Or possibly because I had a lot more junk as hadn't discovered ebay by then!!)

pandapaws

It's probably a bit of everything. My house is a tip in our baby photos, and that's only going back 2 or 3 yrs. But that's before I got a storage unit the size of a small African nation!!! And I'm sure you hadn't discovered FlyLady back then either - get rid of everything now, and then you won't have anything left to be messy when the baby comes along!

pandapaws

Right, just updated about 90% of the spreadsheet (can't remember all hubby's CC usernames, so a few bits missing!) and the sig.

We're at just under £81k at the moment. It would be fantastic to get that down to below 80k by Christmas/New Year, so going to set myself a little challenge. It should be quite possible, as there's another load of min payment DDs due after we're paid 16 December, but I know me, and the temptation to spend in the run-up to Xmas will be strong! So it's just a small challenge that doesn't involve doing much, but the main purpose is to avoid naughtly spending and keep on track!

So that when I look back in months to come (assuming the posts don't disappear!), I'm going to copy my sig here as it is at the moment to remember where I was:

Total Debt at LBM 26/7/07:£83,551 NOW £80,936~ DFD: Nov 2012 Apr 2012
HSBCx3 £24,953 £23,369(7.9%), £10,900 £10,635 (4.9%), £5,000 £5,000 (0%), Citi £18,700 £17,458 (9.3%), Car £4,995 £4,828 (0%), Sofas £1,000 £792 (0%), Egg x2 £3,425 £3,105, £2,446 £2,166 (0%), Virgin x2 £450 £377, £5,871 £5,861 (0%), Halifax £7,629 £7,345 (5.9%)
Argos £110 £0, NW £644 £0, FD £425 £0 Citi £465 £0.
Mortgage: £231,748 £230,084.
Quidco/TCB: £1237 M.Bets: £280
Baby BOY due: 16wks 4days! CHALLENGE: TO BE <80k BY XMAS!

mrsspendalot

Yes my 3 are all pretty close together - 7, 4 and 20mths. It has just got a little easier as the 4 year old has now started school full time, but I got quite a shock with how difficult it was. Chaos is definitely the word. My DD (age 7) is getting to the age now where she can make herself a drink and can get herself bathed etc. which helps. There are toys and clothes everywhere and the washing pile is never ending. I wouldn't be without them though

hypno06

My two are just 15 months apart - looking back I think I must have been slightly insane, but at the time it seemed "normal"!!

My mum always said "as the mother of two, one is enough"......I was the first born, so not sure how to take that!!

lunar

Im sure you will meet your mini challenge, your totals are looking good, just think since you started you have had a new car and your debt is still less than it was. is it working out cheaper than your old one as you hoped?

I also get tempted to over spend in the run up to christmas, even though i have everything i need, i still buy extra bits. Will have to resist this year. I have set myself a challenge for the next year, thanks to pania, not sure how doable it is, but if i manade to do some balance transferes i should be able to come clost to it at least.