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

crunch_time

Morning diary!!

Well counselling went well last night. I feel loads better already. I have booked to go again in a months time. It's £40 then so must put that in my budget.

My plans for the day consist of changing the bed sheets, and cleaning our bedrooms this morning and then going for a walk with a friend this afternoon. Ds is staying at in laws tonight so will only have baby to feed tonight which will be weird. Nice quiet evening in with the hubs tonight with a bottle of wine.

I do need to go to the butchers and get eggs and meat for the week so will do that when I go out after lunch.

Happy Friday everyone!
Crunch x

t2rry

Happy Friday Crunchy!


Glad the counselling went well. Quiet evening in with wine sounds like heaven!

crunch_time

Thanks T2rry!

Just quickly checking in to say made £18 on first lot of ebay!!!! Used it to pay off some of the children's clothes I bought a few months ago.

More items finishing tomorrow!!

Signature updated!! Every little helps! Crunchy's getting her groove back!
xx

crunch_time

Morning all!

Its very quiet around here with DS gone and baby sleeping. We are having a relaxed morning before he back later. I do really miss him.

Going to walk to the butchers later as I didn't manage to do it earlier in the week and got a friend coming round after lunch for a cuppa. So its a NSD as butchers is budgeted for.

My e bay stuff will end in a couple hours. As it stands at the moment I will make £12.50!! Woohoo!! This will go towards the credit card. Every little helps!!

Happy Saturday everyone!

Crunch xx

crunch_time

Hi MSE friends....

We went to a local attraction (free with a voucher) yesterday which I thought would be lots of fun but it wasn't as good as I thought. Hubby was tired and wouldn't have minded if we hadn't had gone. We only went a few years ago and there wasn't anything new to do or see. I bought lunch and snacks as well as we didn't have anything to make a quick lunch so that was £23 unbudgeted for so I have had to use more money out of the shed pot. It was good to get out of the house on a really nice day but staying at home would have been just as good too.

Trying not to kick myself but realising I am my own worst enemy sometimes. 'Getting out of the house' is part of my 'getting over PND' plan but this morning I felt incredibly down about our money situation. It has taken me all this time to dig myself out of the hole. I just don't feel like we are getting anywhere and I have lost sight of the reasons behind this.

So much is up in the air! The shed isn't paid for! I don't know how much is on the hubs credit card. Expenses keep coming out of nowhere. I buy myself little treats to make myself feel better such as a bottle of wine or a magazine but then cant afford to buy us food for the next week without dipping into the shed fund.

I really don't know how to make myself happy at the moment. Every time I sit down to make a master plan I change tack as to how we are tackling the debt mountain but then I start thinking about it again and tell myself we can afford this that and the other...

Such a mess. I really need make a proper plan again and stick to it.

Feeling very down today..

I know a lot of this is the PND but how can I sort this out!!

crunch_time

Right guys! Sorry for that blip. I'm feeling miles better now. I've decided to go back to basics and look at our budget again in terms of our values rather than spending ages staring at spreadsheets and ynab.

The new budget

Income:
Husband - £2765
Me - £800
Total = £3565

Outgoings - (essentials)
Household (including food, mortgage and all household bills) - £1600 (I'm always looking at ways to bring this down especially our £400 a month food bill)
Husbands Loan - £275
ISA - £150 (this is very important to us)
Petrol - £250 (hopefully this wont be as much but I'm making it realistic at the moment.)
Holiday fund - £200 (I'm making it an essential)
Car maintenance - £200

Subtotal = £2675

Allocation for debt = £500 (including minimum payments - currently £115 a month)

Subtotal = £3175

Leftover for spending money = £390 (this includes trips out, wine and beer, stuff for the house, clothes, film rentals etc.

The debts

Loan £15,642 (I'm parking this for the moment until we have paid off the rest of the debt)

My credit card £2000 (17% at £60 a month)
Husbands credit card £1000 - estimate - I think its more than the £300 currently included in my total. Awaiting him to do his expenses. (17% at £30 a month)
My overdraft £1800 (17% at £25 a month)
Parents £500 (0% but want to pay it back ASAP)
Total: £5300

We want to pay this off in a year


Here is my plan to do it....

crunch_time

The plan

I shall snowball it starting with my credit card as it costs the most a month and I cant apply for any new credit cards to get it to 0% as I recently got refused credit.

Then my parents as I want to pay them off before Christmas.

Then my overdraft.

Then the hubs credit card.

This new plan will start from 1st October. Hubs starts his new job at the beginning of September and I will know exactly how much my pay check is at the end of September on my new contract (£800 is an estimate - salary calculator says it should be £887). Husband also will get a pay rise of about £5k so that should bring him a take home of £3k a month but we wont know that until his October pay day as he will be starting mid month in September.

The extra money from both our salaries will mainly go towards the debt but could also go towards things we need for the house/Christmas etc.

Once we get paid at the end of each month we will devise a budget between us depending on our needs that month AND STICK TO IT!!

I will also continue to sell the children's clothes etc to put towards the debt.

When husband claims mileage he will put the money towards the debt too.

From now until 1st October is a transitional time where we get the shed sorted and organise our finances appropriately. I am thinking about opening another joint bank account for our spending money for example and need to organise our food money so that it starts at the beginning of the month rather than once I get paid around the 19th.

Phew - I feel better already. I pledge that I will no longer stare at my spreadsheets adjusting the figures trying to do make everything 'work out' and spend my energy knuckling down and sticking to our food and spending money budgets.

Thanks for listening
crunchy xx

crunch_time

Oh and I'm planning to have a very lovely handmade and frugal Christmas at home.....Ive already started to think about it!!
xx

kirtsypoos

Hi Crunchy,

I've been lurking and reading your DFD for a while and just wanted to pop in and says it sounds like you are very positive and your plan looks very manageable.

Sorry to hear about your PND, it's not easy to deal with but you seem to be coping so well.

Kirtsypoos

t2rry

Crunchy!


I'm so sorry to read you've been struggling, but what better place to let some of it out!.


I think you're a lot like me in dealing with things like this. Working things out afresh is very helpful sometimes. When I'm in a right slump I do the same and like to clear my spreadsheet and start again, even if lots of it comes out exactly the same again!


Concentrate on the little things you can control. No point worrying about the bigger stuff that is way down the line