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

t2rry

Crunchy you sound on top of things and organised. How do you find the time!?

crunch_time

Ha! Thanks T2rry! I so hard to be but definitely think I can improve. I spend far too much time worrying/thinking and not enough time doing.

I'm constantly changing my strategy at the moment so I have amended my signature to keep me focussed on this year's goals.

I'm going to pretend I don't earn anything and we live off husbands income. £900 on Tuesday will tick goal 1 off and go someway to achieving the first part of part 2.

Tonight's job is going through all the bills I have made a pile of since we moved here nearly a year ago and file them. Its a big job. It looks like 2 reams of printer paper!! I feel a bottle of wine coming on to take the edge off it. It will be a no spend as have a few bottles stashed from Christmas. Dry January is just not sustainable for me!!

Will also give me a chance to go through all of them and do some comparisons - hopefully reduce our overall outgoings. I know we can sort out our TV for sure and the home insurance renewal has now come through.

Still haven't made it to playgroup as DD ill today with a cold. I had about 2 hours sleep with her ending up in our bed and husband on the sofa. Lots of coffee today, with a 10 minute doze on the sofa to get me through.

Happy Friday everyone!

Crunchy xx

crunch_time

Morning diary!

Went to bed at 9pm last night and DD slept through so feel like a million dollars today!

Bills sorted and filed and back in the office so I can tick that off the list. We have some friends visiting this morning and then we are going to pick up our new car this afternoon!!!!!!!!

I have some errands and cleaning to do before they arrive and if I have time I shall start putting my massive pile on ebay. (big sigh)

Tomorrow we may go out in the new car but just for a walk somewhere if it is not too cold.

Hope everyone has lovely weekends!

Crunch xx

kirtsypoos

I'm stopping lurking to say Happy new car day Crunch!

crunch_time

Hey kirstypoos! Thank you!! It is a lovely car!! Very space age and lots of space for camping equipment and a dog in the not too distant future!! I haven't driven it yet! I'm having a 'lesson' from husband later - eek!!

I managed to squeeze in my workout after we got back. Then we had a lovely dinner, after the kids went to bed, and then watched Everest. It reminded me of my after uni dreams I had years ago when I wanted to trek to base camp for charity. I put off those dreams as I wasn't sure how to go about making them a reality when everyone else around me was going out and getting drunk and spending stupid money on clothes and gadgets.

Now I have found myself again after all these years there is no reason why I can't follow those dreams.

I still have t heard from my friend I decided not to keep trying to stay in touch with last summer. We haven't seen each other since August now!!!! And all because I stopped contacting her. In the past she was one of the people I felt I had to live a certain standard of life for. After we got this car I couldn't help think about her reaction to it (jealously and assuming we are rich) and trying to justify the decision to her. I also not been posting my fitness stuff on Instagram all because I am worried about what she will think!!!!!!! This is crazy!!! I don't live my life for her I live it for myself!

Sorry for the ramblings - a lot of my debt free journey is going to be about confronting demons of the past and this is one in particular that I am dealing with at the moment.

So, working this morning whilst husband takes the kids to saints to get a few bits. He has a list. But I'm still nervous.......

2 days until pay day!!!!

Crunchy xx

lilmissmup

Enjoy your new car Crunchy, I got my car 2nd hand 3 years ago and love it to pieces but with a 1 year old and OH's 13 and nearly 11 year olds I feel I might be forced to get a bigger car one day

You do sound very organised well done!

crunch_time

Evening diary!

Working week done for me! Pay day today so £500 off the car deposit and £300 into the emergency fund/YNAB buffer. I am hoping to add to it over the month. Next job is drawing up the YNAB budget for February and getting the big pile of stuff on ebay (still haven't done it!!)

That's all for now!

Crunchy

crunch_time

Afternoon all

Not doing too great today. DS looks like he might have an ear infection and was up last night being sick. I am exhausted and all I have done is taken the kids to sains and the vets!! Luckily husband will be home around 5pm and the vets cost £15 less than I budgeted for!!

I also had to stock up on food so we are over food budget again by about £75. Husband has done a lot of top up shops recently. I'm going to make a real effort just to stick to £100 a week from February.

Can you believe we are nearly at the end of January already!!! Husband gets paid a week today. Yippee!!

Crunchy xx

crunch_time

Morning diary

Musical beds last night and ds has only just got up so I think he will be staying off preschool today. This means third week in a row that I haven't taken dd to the playgroup but never mind, it can't be helped. Next week it will happen. She is soooo ready for it now and I can't wait to do something just me and her.

So today's plan is to walk to the butchers and get eggs and sausages. I also need to get some stuff on eBay today. I will wait till dd has her first nap and ds can help if he is not busy playing. Husband is out tonight so I could do it then but take pictures today in the food light.

Got a few phone calls to make and my house insurance is up for renewal so I will look for a cheaper quote.

I got a bit organised for February food yesterday. I got my weekly envelopes ready along with my monthly food plan from January. I'm going to get the cost of a lot of our usual a, especially meat from the butchers. This will help with the food budgeting which is a lot of our problems.

The good news is husband has worked away from home everyday this week and has worked his mileage out to be about £500!!! Obviously will need to take a lot off for tanks of fuel but that will help make his credit card go down.

Just need to get him to submit them now!!!!!

Gosh January is a miserable month! Looking for the 'sunshine' everyday though.

Better go as dd is emptying the washing all over the floor

Crunch xx

crunch_time

Evening diary!

So the husband is out and I am at home working my way through our last Christmas bottle of vino.

I've been working out our annul budget. All I'm doing is multiplying our monthly bills by 12 to see how much we spend of our annual salaries (as they are right now) on the things we have budgeted for and my lord it is an eye opener.....

I wont post all of it but these are the things that have horrified me...

1) Husbands monthly disposable contact lenses £30 a month or £354 a year!!! (I'm sure we can get them cheaper elsewhere!!)
2) TV licence@ £12.12 /iTunes sub@ £10 a month/now tv sub @ £10 a month/TV broadband and phone package at £69 a month is a whopping £1213 a year!!!!!!!!! OMG I class myself as a none Tv watching person!! We don't watch any special channels - just the freview ones. We watch a lot of films and documentaries hence the now tv sub and husband is a rel music fan so for the sub get unlimited music through iTunes so that is worth it. I hardly use my land line. Really. Must. Sort. This. Out.

3) Mobile £56 a month for the two of us is £672 a year!!! Not sure I value this a lot!!!

4) Window cleaner is only £8 a month (and he is a lovely guy) but that's £96 a month!!! Hmmm this is more worth it than a mobile/TV pckage though.

I guess I have a lot of thinking/working out to do!!!

Seriously, if you haven't worked out your annual bills and their worth to you - do it - it is a real eye opener!!!

Crunch

xx