DFNLW... soon to be MFW

Vicky496

A new diary for a new era.

Finally cleared my debts last July (2014). At the peak I probably owed around £15,000 - I'm embarrassed that I don't really know how bad it got, I fell off the wagon a few times in trying to clear it, but I know after the final (successful) attempt I had cleared £8100 in the last 2 years before my debt free date.

Last time I posted here I was pregnant and desperate to be debt free before the baby came and to set a good example.
Now I have a daughter and am about to go back to work after maternity leave. I managed to still put money in my ISA most months and only withdrew a bit in the run up to last Christmas - so I am still debt free .
I live with my husband who works flexible hours from home and will be babysitting during the day. We have been used to keeping our finances separate (I didn't want to ruin his credit rating!) although that will change if we buy a house.

Becoming debt free was a really uplifting moment - I have rarely felt lighter and more free. I think that having been in debt I have been left with scars though - I understand the difference between good and bad debt as Martin puts it, but deep down I am reluctant to ever feel the weight of it again.

Being in debt and getting out of it has taught me to manage my money more carefully though. How to live old style and how to save. My favourite challenges are still: make £10 a day, a payment a day, virtual sealed pot, and grocery challenge.

So...
Having enjoyed being debt free for nearly a year I am very nervous about committing myself and hubby to the largest debt we'll ever have - a MORTGAGE eek! I even looked into whether we could just keep saving and buy a house outright (sadly house prices rise faster than we can save, so we'd never own if we did that!)

I think we are doing the right thing though and we're being slow to commit to a sale... making sure it's a good deal first and doing all the research we can. We've saved enough for a deposit plus money for all the extra fees.

So this diary will be about cutting down and saving.
1) Firstly to make sure we've got some extra cash on top of the deposit/fees we've saved for in case of any surprises.
2) After that it will be about saving to do any essential house improvements.
3) Then it will be about saving to overpay the mortgage or maybe saving to go on maternity leave again!

So I will probably soon have a mortgage... and I will soon become a Mortgage Free Wannabe!

Vicky496

Challenges for June 2015:
Make £10 a day: 0/£300
Don't buy lunch at work: 0 (I'm aiming to take lunch in every single day).
Grocery challenge: 0/£100 (Just my half of the groceries, not hubby's).
Going out challenge: 0/£40 (Let's see if I can keep it to £10 a week!).
NSD: 0/16.

Vicky496

Small money-saving things I have done today:
- Switched lights off and anything not in use switched off at the wall.
- Menu planning to avoid food wastage (leftovers for dinner tonight!).
- Some marking (I mark for an exam board each summer) that I'll be paid for at the end of July.

Other stuff I've got done
- 1 load of laundry.
- lunch out with friends.
- loads of washing up.

To do tonight:
- more marking. DONE! (I wish there was a 'tick' smilie on this forum!)
- more washing up. DONE!
- dusting the sitting room and windowsills. NOT DONE!
- make dinner, feed the baby, bathe the baby. DONE! (Just had to happen really!)
- order tesco delivery. DONE!
- check tesco vouchers balance see if we can get a new car seat on boost or maybe mum/sisters' birthday presents. NOT DONE!

Sunday's to-do list:
- make packed lunch for Monday.
- check everything in the fridge will be eaten or frozen by correct dates.
- marking.

rockabillygirl

Congratulations on being debt free!

Vicky496

Small money saving things I have done/will do today:
- marking (only another load tomorrow and I should be finished with this batch).
- make packed lunches (The bread is about to go out of date so I will make a load of sandwiches and freeze them, then when I take them out in the morning they'll defrost by lunch time).
- check cc vouchers (boost is on!)
- re-do menu plan for the week to reduce food wastage from the fridge.
- don't go to pub... instead make hubby lovely dinner and go for a walk perhaps.

Other stuff:
- 1 load of laundry - DONE! (only 1 load from the bottom of the basket!!!)
- dust the sitting room and window sills (will I ever do this?!) DONE! (woop!)

Lunch tomorrow:
- Jam sandwiches (freeze nicely so I'll make a load for the week ahead)
- scone (I have some in the freezer already)
- apple
- chopped pepper.
LO can have a variation of this... plain toast instead of having jam, and a couple of mini rice crackers instead of a scone.

Vicky496

Well, I've done nothing about making £10 a day yet, but I have avoided buying lunch both yesterday and today. I also had a no spend day today. I knew yesterday I'd have to spend some money - seeing a friend for coffee I haven't seen in ages and postage (that I can claim back from work). I am feeling quite pleased with myself too as I've finally caught up with all the laundry - feels like that never happens any more now I've got a baby!

Tomorrow
- I will do some more marking to work towards the £10 a day target.
- I still have sandwiches in the freezer for my packed lunch.
- My chores target will be to wash the outside of the front door and vacuum the downstairs of the house.
- I will aim for another no spend day.
- I will check what's in the order that's coming from tescos for Thursday and make sure there's everything we need and nothing we don't!

And now I'm off to look through the challenges board!

Vicky496

Well...
Failed at not buying lunch at work today and yesterday... it was worth it though :P (or was it - see below!)

I will try and get back on track though now...
£2.70 towards my make £10 a day total (used boots points to buy baby porridge).
Did some marking too - need to look up how much what I've done is worth.
Groceries: £20.69 spent so far (target is £25 a week... good start!)
Spent £6.40 and £5 going out for lunch with people //£11.40... so my going out total is £13.10 and that's without the weekend spending - so I'm definitely over my £10 a week target.

Need to make a renewed effort next week to not buy lunch in the week.

Vicky496

Here's my thoughts for the day and some small things I am trying to save money...

Managed not to buy lunch on Friday (a small victory!) - even though I forgot my packed lunch I had time to go home during my break. Made up enough sandwiches in the freezer to do all my lunches next week

Have used some vouchers and got some cashback towards my make £10 a day challenge:
£52.50 CC boost (Baby's 1st birthday present and fathers day gift done!)
£0.60 price promise vouchers
22p from quidco.
Planning on doing quite a lot of marking this weekend - still need to look up how much I get paid for each one and keep track for the sake of the challenge.

Yesterday I had a NSD and that was despite going to the pub! (I was owed a round and didn't stay long). I'm hoping tomorrow will be a NSD, though we're planning a trip out tomorrow so we'll have to see - it'll take some advanced planning!

Chores... got to stay on top of things - especially as it's our annual inspection (we rent) next friday:
Done this morning: two loads of laundry, all the washing up, cleaned the high chair and changing mat, did a bit of dusting and tidying.
To do (as much as possible before Friday, but I'm not going to kill myself):
- wash the windows and doors (me/OH)
- tidy and organise the baby equipment upstairs (me)
- clean the oven (me)
- clean the bathroom (me)
- wipe the kitchen surfaces and cupboard doors (me/OH)
- vacuum upstairs and downstairs and on the stairs (OH)
- mop the kitchen and bathroom floors (me)
- dust the skirting and bookcases (me)
- check for mould/mildew and clean it (me)
- clean the kitchen bin and surface behind it (me)
- put all the laundry away (me)
- clean the laundry hamper (me)
- sort through some of the junk in the cupboard under the stairs (me)

Looks like it's mostly me... but OH has agreed to do the jobs I really hate doing and I'm happy with the rest - will feel productive

Vicky496

I have actually lost track of what we spent over the weekend. It wasn't bucket loads, just that there were so many little bits and I didn't get receipts... I almost always do, but as OH was paying for a lot of things (lunch, parking, ice-creams etc) I actually don't know what we spent.

Maybe I should start doing this for our collective finances instead of just mine... trouble is I don't want OH feeling like I'm watching him to make sure he's not spending too much - he's always been good with money his whole life and I think it'll just make him worry unnecessarily!

So I'll just fill in my going out challenge as best as I can I think.

No more NSDs to report, but I didn't/won't buy lunch today. Found the letter telling me how much I get paid per script for marking, so I'll update my £10 a day challenge on my signature shortly.

Done a fair whack of chores today already so I'm just going to set myself a couple of targets for today:
- Mark 15 scripts.
- Tidy the master bedroom.
- Don't let the downstairs get messier than it already is!