LullaBelle's long road to being debt free!

2bak860

Hi Lullabelle!

I've just subscribed. While my debt is huge, I know that I can get rid of it - though I'm terribly impatient! Congratulations on the new baby coming - I have two of my own.

Did you use YNAB? My Statement of accounts shows that I have around £700 that just seems to disappear - I want to find out how!

I read that you use two accounts - one for monthly bills and the other for kindof unbudgetable - how is that working - and which account gets your salary?

thanks,

LullaBelle

Hi 2bak860,

I haven't tried YNAB so I will have to have a look at it. I would love to know where a lot of my money goes too!

I have 2 bank accounts. One I call my 'bill account' and the other is my 'expense account'. My salary goes into the bill account. Out of this comes all the household bills, loan payment, credit card payments etc. I transfer anything left over into the expense account. I use this account for food shopping, petrol etc. It is working out well for me so far. I leave enough money in the bill account to cover the bills for the month so I don't need to check that account every day and that way i know the bills are covered. If I don't have the money in the expense account then I can't spend!

sick_of_being_in_debt

Hi

Congratulations on the baby news and also for tackling the debt, its hard work tackling it but will be worth it in the end.:)

2bak860

Thanks LullaBelle - is there a good account for expense accounts you can recommend?

Just gave YNAB a try - requires upload of .QIF files, so going to look at MoneyDashboard now.

thanks!

LullaBelle

Thank you Sick of being in debt, it will definitley be worth it.

2bak860, I just have 2 accounts with Santander. My bill account is a 123 account so I get cashback on certain bills. The expense account is just a normal everyday account.

2bak860

I'm sure I congratulated you about the baby news - if I didn't - congratulations!

I've had two children (rather, my wife has!), and yes, there is money to be spent, but you can be frugal! Here's a few tips we've found:

1. You don't have to buy the best pram. Honestly, some people spend £1000s on a brand new one - we bought a new one and I honestly have no idea why now. We sold ours on Gumtree, so well worth going on there.
2. Car seats - again, everyone says buy new - not sure why.
3. Clothes - friends and family will want to gift you new clothes - the onesies that they grow out of quickly - see if there's a load going on Gumtree - wash them and they'll be like new!
4. Cots - gumtree again
5. Nappies - if you're going cloth - these can be bought second-hand - we eventually sold ours at a car boot sale after spending loads of money on them. Don't see the point now - more washing and we didn't use them for our second child.

Essentially, everything that can be bought new can be bought second-hand saving you a fortune (apart from nappies of course!).

Hope that helps!

LullaBelle

Hi 2bak860,

Thanks for all the tips. They are definitely needed. I can't believe the price of some things. Prams are like a mortgage payment. It's crazy. So I will definitley be shopping around!

LullaBelle

Managed to find some energy last night to clear out my wardrobe. I have filled a black bag full of clothes that I am going to put on ebay this weekend. Any money I make will go straight to the barclaycard. I am still aiming to get this paid off before I finish work in February. So that is only 7 more pays. I need to pay a minimum of £214 per month to have it cleared. That's definitely doable. I also need to save up a good bit of money for baby essentials too! I think we will have a busy few months ahead!

LullaBelle

Morning!

I need to do a bit of shopping today. Luckily I have a £50 voucher for Sainsburys so with some careful meal planning I won't need to use any money from the bank account. My bank account is also looking a bit healthier this month than previous months. I'm thinking I might be able to put another few pounds off the barclaycard.

I also found a few more things for ebay so I have them all ready to be added at the weekend. I'm wondering if it would be possible for me to have my barclaycard paid by Christmas. That would be 2 months before I am due to go on maternity leave. Then I could start paying more off the halifax card. Definitley something I am going to aim for! So I need to pay £300 a month off it. I usually pay £200 a month so I need to make up another £100.

LullaBelle

Happy August!!! :j

Only 11 more days until payday! :T

I did a food shop yesterday and stocked up the cupboards. I bought stuff to make home made vegetable soup. Yes, I know it is the summer but Irish summers are awful! A massive pot of soup lasts us a few days and doesn't cost much at all. So that is lunches sorted for the week!

I didn't manage to put anything on ebay at the weekend so I am going to try and do that tonight.

My bump seems to have popped overnight so I needed to buy some new trousers for work. Luckily I got a pair reduced from £22 to £7 ... that'll do me nicely!!!