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

crunch_time

Morning diary,

I finished my reports last night - woohoo! The crashed out in front of the telly again watching a programme about what Britain spends its money on. It was interesting watching!

So the car has been in the garage overnight. Something about a valve?......... Anyway I'm going to ring mid morning and see how they are getting on. I then might take the kids to the library for something to do.

I did my online shop last night and it will be arriving this evening. I kept to budget - just need to pick up some mince and eggs from the butchers later.

I'm going to do my work out tonight then some sewing. I have a few projects id like to start. Husband should be home around 8pm ish. I guess I should get used to this. It will happen more in the new job as he wont be working from home as much.

After saying I wasn't going to post very often, look what I'm doing?

I guess it keeps me focused.

Crunchy xx

crunch_time

Morning diary!

Big news today....

HUSBANDS CREDIT CARD HAS BEEN PAID OFF!!!!!!

So very pleased. Signature updated. Just the loan left - £12,595.

Over to the milestone inn board to log this one as its a big one.

Much love

Crunchy xx

kirtsypoos

Congrats Crunchy, fantastic news!!

t2rry

WOOHOOO!!!! Go crunchy!!! Amazing news!

Also - what's the milestone in board!?

crunch_time

Hey T2rry - thanks! I'm so chuffed that that part of the debt pay off is over with. If you search on the forum search 'welcome to the milestone inn' - its a thread dedicated to achieving milestones in your debt pay off e.g. 'under £10k now!' '50% paid now,' its a nice place to go and post of you are a long way off posting on the debt free roll of honour. And it keeps you focussed.

crunch_time wrote: »

Apart from the minimum loan payment every month we have decided to save everything else for a year and see where we get to. No targets, no complicated pots listed on spreadsheets, just saving.....and only buying what we need to.

So this is still the next part of the plan.

After much deliberation, I'm definitely going to be a stay at home mum for the Autumn Term. DS is going to do mornings until half term and I can't even begin to think how I would sort childcare for that. I just need to let the nursery know that I booked DD into.

So the crude figures for September, October, November and December look like this.

After mortgage, bills, food, car payment, loan payment there is £820 a month left.

This is to cover - savings, fuel, clothes, spending money, chiropractor, car maintenance, holidays, dentists etc and everything else including Christmas.

As from husbands next pay day I am going to put this amount in an online savings account and then use only what we need and what is left over can go into savings.

I'm so determined not to get into any credit card debt just because we don't have the buffer of my salary (although massively reduced by 2/3rds if we were paying childcare)

I'm also very determined that we will get a dog and go on holiday next summer. I'm prepared to make sacrifices to ensure that happens although I do not know yet what they will be.

Meanwhile, the loan will keep ticking over and this time next year will be £9,295.

The theme for the next year is 'considered purchases to the greater good.' And it will teach us to be very mindful about our money and what we are buying rather than just spending because we have a certain amount in a 'pot.'

Keeping track of it on here will be good for me so I shall continue to post.

Hope you loyal readers of my thread will join me on the next part of my journey!

Crunchy xx

t2rry

I love that idea. We definitely have a bit of an attitude of, 'we have £x left in the pot for food, so we can treat ourselves to a cheap meal out' etc etc. Which is actually silly really.

crunch_time

t2rry wrote: »

I love that idea. We definitely have a bit of an attitude of, 'we have £x left in the pot for food, so we can treat ourselves to a cheap meal out' etc etc. Which is actually silly really.

We are the same. Its definitely a shift in mentality.

Last day of work was today!

Yippeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!! Very excited for fresh starts and feeling very 'end of an era', 'new life about to start tomorrow.' For various reasons I have a very love/hate relationship with that place of work and there is a lot of history there which was just dragging me down so I'm pleased I am finally out of it.

Its also pay day as well. I'm currently enjoying a nice bottle of white which was one of my leaving presents so I'm leaving the banking until tomorrow when DS has his last day at preschool and DD is (hopefully) napping.

Hope every one is having a lovely evening and not melting too much!! I'm going to enjoy basking in the delights of my bottle of wine an catch you up to speed tomorrow with all things financial.

Much love
Crunchy ( a rather merry one at that) Mwah! xx

OrangeFairy

Congratulations on your last day yesterday Crunchy!

I hope you enjoyed your wine :beer:

How very exciting to be in the throws of a fresh start.

I wish you all the best and hope the finances work out. Will look forward to updates

OF x

abba1772

Here's to the new chapter in your life :beer:

crunch_time

Hey diaryland

Thanks orange fairy and abba for your comments. I did enjoy my wine thanks! Bit ropey yesterday but a lovely day in the sun with the kids.

Feel like a massive weight has been lifted from my shoulders.

We have our financial advisor coming round tonight to discuss new mortgage applications for November. I'm trying to gather all the payslips etc together so we are prepared. I have written down all our balances. It feels nice to just have a few debts now although that loan still feels massive.

I'm also trying to convince husband to lower his ambitions for garden landscaping and getting him to justify why we need railways sleepers and look into alternatives. Its hard work - he can be quite particular!

I've had to invest in some more clothes for me after realising I just had one pair of shorts that fit me. I managed to get some pieces in sales but i still managed to spend nearly £200!!!! Nevermind - I feel I have enough clothes to get by until the end of the year now.

I've started a list of what I would like to achieve by the end of the school hols and then another one for what I would like to achieve by the end of the year so Sept to Dec to help keep me focussed.

Very excited about this new chapter in my life.

Crunch xx