Debt Free Wannabe on Maternity

TigerFlavoured

Hi,

I first joined MSE way back in 2007 but this is my first post. I was an avid reader of threads until 2011 when I buried my head in the sand and just let my mismanagement of money get the better of me. Now with my second child on the way, maternity leave impending and the dream of being able to return to work part-time I am hoping that now is as good a time as ever to finally get a grip of my debt and spending habits.

My DD is almost 5 and my DF is has been equally as bad as me in the past and is now paying his debts off in an IVA.

I'm hoping that this diary and the support I have seen on others threads will help me to become debt free once and for all.

I'm starting tonight with the budget planner, although I know my wages will be significantly less once DS arrives in August.

Wish me luck, T

The_fog_has_lifted

TigerFlavoured wrote: »

Hi,

I first joined MSE way back in 2007 but this is my first post. I was an avid reader of threads until 2011 when I buried my head in the sand and just let my mismanagement of money get the better of me. Now with my second child on the way, maternity leave impending and the dream of being able to return to work part-time I am hoping that now is as good a time as ever to finally get a grip of my debt and spending habits.

My DD is almost 5 and my DF is has been equally as bad as me in the past and is now paying his debts off in an IVA.

I'm hoping that this diary and the support I have seen on others threads will help me to become debt free once and for all.

I'm starting tonight with the budget planner, although I know my wages will be significantly less once DS arrives in August.

Wish me luck, T

I too started my DF journey on Maternity leave- it is just about do-able.
the best advice I can give is to post a SOA on the DFW page, it will be heavily scrutinised, so is not for the feint hearted but..... it certainly helped me get a full reality check on necessary and UN-necessary spending.
i wish you well and will be watching this thread with interest.
best
foggy. x

andyfromotley

Hi Tiger,

welcome, and well done for deciding that now is the time to get to grips with this.

Post an SOA and the work can start!!

TigerFlavoured

Argh! I chickened out and buried my head in the sand AGAIN!

I'm so cross with myself but I'm hoping to get to grips with myself again!

Now School has finished for the summer I'm officially on Maternity Leave and Maternity Pay, which sucks!

We have tried to buy most items for DS second hand and have been very lucky that we had kept most of the big things from DD 5 years ago! We have also been very lucky that between our parents and my surprise baby shower we've managed to kit him out without going any further into Debt.

I am so poor at managing money and almost always end up with bank/credit card charges for going over my limits.

So I decided to budget for food this month as I feel looking through my bank statements that is where we 'waste' the most money. I'm rubbish at sticking to a shopping list also.

Our local butchers does family packs of meat that they claim feed a family for a week so I have ordered one of those, they're huge and we don't really eat huge amounts of meat so I'm hoping to make it last us for 2 weeks. I have also ordered the rest of the food shopping online in the hope that this will stop me from 1. Going over budget and 2. Buying things we don't need. I found a discount code so I got a £12 discount (bonus!) so I have spent £100 on food that will hopefully last us for two weeks. We will have to do a top up shop next Friday for perishables but I have budgeted £75 per week for food so there will be money in the envelope for that.

Hopefully DS will arrive soon, he's due 27th August (just not at the same time as my online shop!)

Thank you for your comments. I will post a SOA over the weekend when I have more time.

Thanks for your support.
Tiger

TigerFlavoured

I feel better today after posting again last night, but feeling frustrated as shopping is not due until Wednesday which means another 'pop' to the shops for tonight's food!

I'm taking Tink (DD) to Our local Pontins for the day today; it's £3 each to get in and we can use all the facilities for that including the swimming baths with slides, indoor play area, mini golf, entertainment etc so I feel it's great value for money as she loves to swim. School holidays can be so expensive but we've packed a picnic so we should get our day out for less than £10.

Then tomorrow my fianc! is off with us so we will probably visit Martin Mere, we have annual passes for there and will again pack a picnic so we could even get away with a NSD.

I think I need to change my whole relationship to money to be able to survive Maternity Leave with out making my situation any worse. I always feel like I have failed Tink if we don't get out of the house during our days off and that inevitably involves spending money. Once our big shop arrives on Wednesday (that's the other halves pay day) I'm hoping to with draw myself a modest weekly amount of cash to live on and then plan our activities accordingly.

Thanks again
Tiger

TigerFlavoured

So today we've stayed at home all day which means we've had our first successful NSD and I actually feel quite good about it. At 39 weeks pregnant I'm feeling pretty tired so Tink and I have played outside on our bouncy castle, watched Snow White (classic!) and done some crafting. I always ask for craft style gifts for Tink's birthday (July) as it provides us with lots of rainy day/ stay at home things to do for over the summer. So we've made beaded bracelets and painted fridge magnets. We had out lunch picnic style in the garden and this afternoon we're going to chill in the garden and probably build a bug hotel.

It's been enjoyable and I've not missed spending money.

Thanks
Tiger

TigerFlavoured

Yeahy food shopping arrived today and I stayed in budget. Lovely to have a fridge full of food and know that if the Cub decides to arrive soon we won't need to worry about food shopping.

TigerFlavoured

I've listed something's on ebay today, so hopefully they'll sell and I'll put the money towards my credit card debt. I have an agreement for the catalogue and E.On debts where I'm paying a fixed amount monthly but they are no longer gaining interest.
So for me the credit cards and the overdraft are my priorities. I'm hoping to clear the credit card in time for Christmas by selling on ebay and at craft fairs. Then tackle the second before my over draft. I have lots of baby stuff that we kept from my daughter that can't be reused by the boy. Although as I've mentioned before much of the big stuff was gender numeral and is going to be reused.