Crunchy pays it down....£20k...the final chapter

crunch_time

Hello everyone!!

Husband is cooking a roast, DS is watching the Lion King and DD is asleep so spending some time organising our finances for the rest of the year.

I've had a cheque for a tax rebate of about £12 and found some more stuff on ebay to sell so must get cracking with that.

I've done a budget for Christmas - £500 for presents, decorations and including £50 for food on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Husband scoffed at it but I'm determined to prove him wrong. I'm going to make some of our decorations and start planning food now, buying ingredients as part of our weekly shopping so its not so overwhelming financially. Its just going to take a bit of effort. I will not get sucked in to buying stuff to make our Christmas special as it doesn't work. Christmas will be special because of us not because of stuff.

The £500 will come out of my November pay.

I get paid on Monday but all of my money is either going to go towards minimum credit card or overdraft payments or the stuff for the house. So no overpayments this month unless husband gets paid more than I'm expecting.

The car cost £250 to fix and I didn't have any money in our car maintenance pot as it has milked it over the summer so had to put it on my card for now.

Husband is away most of next week so I have done a frugal shop and planning to eat out of the cupboards until he is home on Friday.

He has also done his expenses so I can work out how much we owe on his credit card as it has been sitting at £1000 for the last few months but I know it will be more than this as he has had to have some chiro and I forgot to budget for it. I have told him no more on his credit card except for expenses now. He has had to buy some signal boosters for the broadband so he can work and they cost £80!!! And we cant claim it back. I really wish I had an emergency fund. The one on my signature is our ISA savings so not really accessible. I need £500 to be like an overdraft.

Husband gets paid on the 28th and it will be his first full months pay from his new job. He got paid £2500 for 3 weeks work in September. I have budgeted for £3000 for end of October but hoping for about £3300 after working out his weekly pay as being about £833.

Once we know what this is we can make proper plans for our finances going forward as I will know what we are being paid every month from now onwards.

I'm already thinking about the new year and our goals and how I'm going to change things!!

Happy Saturday every body!!

Crunch x

crunch_time

Evening everyone!

Pay day today but as I said all money already accounted for so no overpayments from my pay today.

I did, however, check my paypal balance and there was £17 there so that has been whisked away to the credit card. I then managed to pay the cheque in for £12 but then rounded up this and the paypal to £30 bringing the credit card down to £1595!!!!

I have a busy week this week. I've got to go to into work 4 days instead of my usual 2. Ah well at least it will keep me out of mischief.

I'm doing some organising tonight and then going to bed to read as feeling really tired today. Must be time for half term!!

Crunch xx

crunch_time

Morning all debt free wannabe friends!

I've had a rough night with the children - a mixture of teething for DD and a fever for DS. We played musical beds and I lost collapsing on the sofa with DD at 3am snoozing while she slept with DS in my bed. I got up to get ready for work at 5am as normal but by 6am I had collapsed on the bed sobbing with both children tired and crying and clinging to me, half dressed and on the phone to my husband questioning why I am trying to work and be a mum at the same time.

He told me to stop being so silly and I cant help this happening and its more important that I am there for our children so its ok to ring in sick. So I have done that (but I probably wont get paid for it) and now DS is watching cbeebies in a grump and DD is napping - finally.

I like my job and don't want to give it up but I also need to work to pay off this debt so I have spent the last half an hour working on a new SOA for the new year which I would like to share with you all.....

Income
Me - £889 a month
Husband - £3000 at least (waiting for next week when we will know for certain.)

Total £3889 a month.

Outgoings
Fixed
Household bills - £590 a month (includes all insurances, regular savings for children and about £20 charity donations and I am always working on reducing it).
Mortgage £800 (we would like to increase it to £825 in the new year)
Husbands loan - £275
Husbands credit card for expenses £50 - this needs to go down.
Overdraft interest £22.50
Min payment my cc - £60
Food - £400
Petrol - £200 (we are working at being more local.)
Hair £50 a month (£25 for boys once a month and then my cuts and colours every 3 months)
Health £50 a month - £33 chiro a month for me and the rest saved for dentist, emergency chiro etc?
Car maintenance - £200 a month
Christmas and Birthdays £50

Variable - in terms of amounts not quite set in stone yet
Clothes - £100 - £50 each a month.
Entertainment £150
House - £100 - this will be needed for furniture, paint etc next year and then to replace mattress and other appliances, general house maintenance.
Holiday -£200 - will be used to pay off £300 of our holiday from this year first then save for camping next summer (we will have to buy all new equipment)

Predicted
childcare £325 - this is what we would be paying for childcare for DD if we weren't lucky enough to have family look after them. I'm keeping it in the budget as it will happen eventually but in the meantime I shall use it to pay back debt.
New car loan £255 - this is what I have budgeted for a loan for a new car next year with the money currently being used to pay down debt. The longer we can put it off the better.

Total out goings £3880

I will adjust this once we know what husband will be paid monthly when he gets paid next Wednesday.

I'm planning this new budget to kick in for January so it will start when we get paid in December. This leaves November as a final 'chuck everything we can at debt' month as well as the month for Christmas budget.

If in November I can get the overdraft down to £1k, I can pay the rest of it off by the end of January and the shed deposit which is sitting on my credit card by the end of February. We can then buy a new car and still use the 'childcare money' to chuck at both credit cards and then save it for future child care bills and emergencies until we need to actually pay for it (hopefully in Sept 2016).

Meanwhile the minimum payments to debt will go down so we can use that money to build up and emergency fund and then start paying into our ISA and gradually up our mortgage payments.

Once the loan and credit cards are paid off I can then form a plan to tackle our outstanding loan currently at about £15k with 4.5 years left to run.

Any thoughts or ideas are welcome!

Crunch xx

crunch_time

Dear diary

So the husband can now see his payslips online and had a gander ahead of next weeks paypay and it looks like he has been double taxed so we are about £700 down. Not good.

I've done some playing about on my spreadsheets. The joint account will be ok so all our bills are covered as is our food. The things that will take a hit are our spending money (£400), petrol (£200) and car maintenance (£200). We will have to use our credit cards to pay for petrol and then use husbands expenses to pay it off. Just stay local and try not to go anywhere or buy anything.

As for spending money there are a few things booked in already that will cost money but we cant get out of it. Also DD is 1 next week and husband is 35 in a few weeks so I'm going to have to but presents on credit card. But then nothing else. We just cant afford it.

Slightly off topic in turns out I'm quite good with my credit card. My annual statement came through and in the last year I have spent over £10k on it but only been charged £150 interest. I do use my card for budgeted spends and then take money out of various pots to pay it off. Perhaps I can make some money out of this aren't there cash back credit cards or something?

Anyhow, back to reality, Husband has emailed HR but they can look into it today. Maybe it will be rectified in time for pay day next week. I'm trying to find his first pay slip to see if he paid tax on it. I think he did get taxed 40% I remember writing something about it on here.

So we have a plan of action and hopefully it will get rectified soon. Good excuse to tighten the belts anyhow. I'm worried that I sometimes get too complacent and also wish for the millionth time that I had a slush fund that could take some of the slack.

I'm definitely going to organise my finances back into pots again and not be tempted to use them to pay down debt!!

Crunch xx

crunch_time

Evening diary

We've had a lovely day at home today. The new chest of drawers arrived yesterday so husband spent a good 2 hours putting it up. I'm really pleased with it. Its very solid and good quality and I'm pleased I have invested in it rather than a placeholder. It should last us for life!!

I enjoyed putting clothes in it and feel so much more 'together' now. For over a year now we have had our clothes in boxes under the bed, piles around the floor or on a bookcase so this will make so much difference. I cant wait to get the matching wardrobe. Its £575 though so it will be a long wait. We shall have to put up with the rail for a while longer.

In other new I put a few bits on ebay which finished today and made about £50!! Hopefully they will pay before Monday so I can post and I will put the money into my new 'slush fund account' AKA the joint account and use it for some petrol if the pay predicament isn't sorted out until November pay.

I've been pinning 'frugal Christmas ideas' for decorations and stocking fillers for the last few days. I'm determined to come under my £500 budget and not given into pressure from adverts to buy stuff in order to have the 'perfect' Christmas whatever that is!

The perfect Christmas to us is a meaningful one with no debt at the end of it and no plastic tat!!

Happy Saturday!

Crunch

crunch_time

Morning dfws!!!

I managed to get a lie in this morning thanks to the husband taking DS downstairs for a bit at what seemed to be the crack of dawn! Thanks lovely!!

I have spent some leisurely time on here finding some new diaries to follow for inspiration. Its half term this week and I'm looking forward to a break and some time for reflection. Its been a difficult half term since we went back to school. Lots of challenges and then a close colleague dying was just truly awful. As a result, I think I got a bit of a f**k it attitude for money and just bought stuff when I would usually have saved up for it and agonised departing with the money. Its all stuff that we needed and its done now and its is paid for but I'm happy that I have recognised this. Lesson learned.

NSD for us today. We are going for a walk and then sorting out the office and the small shed. I've got another big ticket item to sell on bay of e so will try and get that on later. I will also pack up the other parcels today.

Happy Sunday everyone!

Crunchy

crunch_time

Morning all

Ill start with the negatives this morning...

Still no news about husbands double tax situation. The lady to deal with it was off yesterday as well as Friday so hopefully can look into it today.

Positives

- ebay items posted - £37 after fees! Slushed into my nearly resurrected slush fund aka the joint account where all our direct debits come out.
- We have been paid child benefit. I had budgeted for us not getting it anymore since husbands pay rise but it has appeared. Will look into why.
- 2 big ticket items put on bay of e last yesterday and one already has a bid of £10. Husband wants the money from it to buy new clothes which is fine but pleased with the response so far.
- All direct debits have gone out of the account for October and the balance stands at £136!! What a great start!
- so the baby is nearly one! That means I don't have to buy expensive baby milk anymore! Hurrah!! She isn't a fan of drinking milk yet and she will get enough calcium in her diet so I bought a 'follow on' type for a whopping £9.49!!!!!!! She will have that once a day before she goes to bed and I will gradually try and replace it with watered down milk. That will make a small difference to our grocery bill.

In other news I feel like I am having another light bulb moment. Part of my keeping a diary on here is so I can identify my feelings around money as well as tracking my debt payoffs with support from you lovely folk. I'm sorry but this post may be a little long.....

I have an old school friend who I think very highly of and considered for a while to be my 'best friend' and we have had a lot of fun over the years. This last year or so several situations have happened where I have felt this feeling isn't reciprocated. This is of course fine but I have found it interesting to note how I have changed as a result of this realisation. I used to try and see her at least once a month and figured it was usually me that initiated the contact and while she happily obliged it was never reciprocated. We have had our babies close together and have different approaches and thoughts about parenting which I don't think has helped. We also appear to have different approaches to money. She is very spendy compared to my frugality. When we were in our twenties she would persuade me to do things by saying 'come on it will be really cheap' whereas I would just not be able to afford them. She has a very busy social life and I tried to see her over the summer but I wasn't 'squeezed in' despite trying and she has recently gone back to work full time so I know she is very busy. And I get the impression that she is envious of my 2 day a week job in something meaningful. She has said they cant afford for her to work part time (yet earn about the same as us and went abroad 3 times this year - while she was on maternity leave - and spend £700 a month on childcare????) I know they have lots of debt too.

Anyway I haven't seen her for a few months purely because I have backed away (and been busy myself) and do you know what????

I feel soooooo much better. I feel a bit more free to be me!!

I think every time I saw her I tried to dumb down myself or my achievements. I would complain about things that wouldn't really matter just to have something to talk about. I was also naïve enough to copy some of her lifestyle habits so we would have more in common. We have very different interests (now we are not going out anymore) which I have never felt able to pursue in fear of being rejected by my friend.

All this says far more about me than her and that is the point of this post. How stupid have I been to put a lot of my happiness on approval from a friend??? I'm 33 for goodness sake not 13!! A lot of my friends have moved away and she is the only one that is local so I think I have desperately clung onto her to remain part of the past. But its time to look to the future!

I'm not going to cut her out of my life because she is still a great friend - has been and I'm sure will be in the future. I'm just going to learn to enjoy the frugal, exercise loving, simple living loving, home baker, money saving, debt slaying, avoiding eating out if I can help it, making my own clothes me!!! I'm not going to be afraid to be myself anymore...but also play my cards a little closer to my chest in future.

Phew....glad I got that one off my chest!!

Another quiet day today. Not planning to go out of the village! I'm going to post the last bay e parcel and take the kids to the park. I'm also going to make a list of things I need to do for work as its Wednesday tomorrow and I haven't even started anything yet!!

Onwards and upwards

Crunch x

itcouldbeworse

Hi Crunchy.


Just wanted to say that I can relate to your 'friend' post, I've backed away from a person I thought was a good friend as I just felt dreadful every time I saw her, everything seemed to be a competition, I couldn't talk about anything without her doing it bigger and better, the most ridiculous thing was when we were out one day I bought DS some footie boots (he is in a team) cost roughly £20, she bought a really expensive pair for her son and had his name printed on them and the really sad thing is he doesn't play football!! My thought at he time was that's really stupid you can't even sell them on ebay now:rotfl: .
I now live my life for me, buy things I like because I LIKE THEM not because someone else approves and I feel so much happier and as you said free to be me.


Found you a linky on child ben.
https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/tax/how-to-pay-income-tax/child-benefit-and-tax-if-you-have-a-high-income/

12_month_challenge

Hi and sorry to butt in only your story of your friend struck a chord with myself. I too have a friend and have known her many years. (do not see much of her now though) She always talked in thousands and was always making me feel that she was doing better than me. Kids,house,cars,holidays etc. My OH used to say 'they live a champagne lifestyle on lemonade money'
She used to say things like 'Oh I would never drive a Fiesta' (which we had) 'My daughter is going to UNI and we will pay for it all' albeit none of this ever happened.

I used to think I was doing something wrong that's why I couldn't have the lifestyle that she had. I've never been a jealous person but she made me feel like that.

However on to today and it turns out that we were actually doing better than them as now she has had to sell her caravan sell her car and is really struggling with money. She can barely keep her head above water and its all came back to bite her on the back side.
She finally admitted it to me a few weeks back. I never ever felt like saying well its your own fault I actually felt for her as why she felt she needed to be like that I don't know.

So now I please myself and feel better also.

barnsleylass83

I too can relateto your friend issue, I used to get soupset when I couldn't see her, I would keep half terms free in case she was free andwould get upset when she wasnt, when I needed her adn trked to contact her she didnt reply, it made me realise howmany other better frjends I have, thsi holiday has made me realjse how fortunate I am, I will be there for her but I amnot chasing, I need to enjoybeing me. Good luck on your journeyxxx