Oh the shame! Champagne Lifestyle on a Lemonade budget

OnwardAndUpward81

Thanks so much for your support Bobarella and Erics Mum, really appreciate it.

After writing my earlier post I felt a bit tearful, had a headache and a bit sick. Currently unwell anyway and I think that combined with my LBM from yesterday, feeling dehydrated and feeling a bit delirious set me off this morning. I went back to sleep after that in a "poor me" state.

Last night, the last thing the OH and I were discussing and looking at was contents insurance, life insurance and income protection insurance. Everything was so overwhelming but we need to arrange it to cover ourselves asap. So that's more money, plus, we're suppose to be going to Scotland for a surprise birthday next weekend and then Brussels the weekend after for our W anniversary. All I keep thinking is, great, I'm going to go in overdraft again! Although I have lowered overdraft on purpose to 500, which is somewhat helpful. On one hand, I'm trying to say to myself that I had my LBM yesterday and I need to accept that I can do little things this month that will contribute towards getting rid off the loan (that's my main debt I want to get rid off). The little things will also get me back to living within my means a bit more. During our move we gave so much things to charity you wouldn't believe, it's great we've given so much but some of it could have gone towards my debt. We have three boxes of DVDs and CDs. I'm going to try this Money magpie thing. We also have a British Gas bill of £219 owing from our last property. As we left recently, the bill was at it's highest due to winter. Arggghhhh!!!! Today, I'm going to break large goals down to smaller goals as suggested. OH and I said we're going to meal plan on Sundays from now on ( try anyway, I think that we should probably incorporate financial discussions into as well. We need to plan a clear strategy together. He gets paid so much more than me, no loans, no credit card owing. It's funny because ages ago, he was a lot of debt and I advised him how to get out of it and er....I'm still in it. Hmmmm, that reminds me, he owes me money.

Question actually, any suggestions of where to buy good tuppleware. Please don't say poundland, been there and cleaned up many smelly leaks in my bag.

ERICS_MUM

For Tupperware style storage have a look at Lock and Lock - I know Amazon sell it. Not the cheapest but they claim it's completely air and liquid tight.

Meal planning is a great idea, as is keeping an accurate record of what you spend in a week. Stuff like a posh coffee, magazine, bar of choc etc add up to a good few quid a week and are soon forgotten. Have you got stuff you could sell on EBay or even a car boot sale ? OMG !

rockm87

Hi! just popping through.

my lord no wonder you have been scrapping, you have alot of spends each month. definatly need to streamline what you paying out til your debts are gone, figure out what is important and get rid.

You could do a complete SOA, which should help you point out if you have missed anything off.

http://www.stoozing.com/calculator/soa.php

t2rry

Hi :hello: just stumbled into your diary! I'm also on my third, don't feel too bad about that or too down on yourself about what you've not done before. This is where it starts. It might be another start but it is!


I must say, on first read I am a little envious you have so many outgoings that you could easily cut out and see instant results:


Outgoings
Joint A/C bills
Mortgage - 739.80
Rent - 1082.84
Council Tax - 172.00
Internet - 24.49 - this seems quite high for internet alone, is it worth looking for alternatives?
Netflix - 5.99 - a luxury but one I understand when you don't have another tv provider (we have sky, so I can't judge!)
Zipcar - 6.00 - what is this? Do you actually use it? Do you get your worth from it?
Water - 25.00 - is it just two of you at home? If so, I actually think this is a smidge high. Are you being as 'water sensible' as you can be? No running taps when brushing your teeth etc!!
Electric (we have no gas) - 100.00 - already discussed, hopefully you will get it down

Single A/C bills
Mobile - 15.99 (plan ends 27/03/16)
Wix - 11.96 - again, no idea what this is, is it necessary?
Google Apps - 2.75 - surely can't be necessary?
Loan - 144.44
Work union - 9.46 - presumably your union fee? Having never been in one I'm not sure I understand the point of paying for the privilege but I guess that many feel that is career dependent
Yoga - 89.00 - if it were me, this would be my first to go. That's a huge amount. I consider gym memberships above £50 extortionate and not worth it, surely this is something you could do from home or with friends? Imagine how far £89 a month would go! You've got a holiday at the end of the year with that!


So you see, I am envious of the fact that it seems you have easy changes that can be made to save literally £100's every month.

As for things you may have missed, do you not have home insurance? A car? TV licence? You may pay all these as they fall annually, but I found when budgeting it's best to lay out the equivalent monthly cost of each to get the true figure you are left with at the end.


It is also difficult to comment any further without seeing the fuller picture. Obviously you're not paying all those by yourself, but if you're keeping yours and OH's finances separate, you need to identify what proportion of payments come from your salary to really see what you should be aiming to have leftover to pay off debt and vice versa.



Hope to help, I have subscribed, you can do this!

OnwardAndUpward81

ERICS_MUM wrote: »

For Tupperware style storage have a look at Lock and Lock - I know Amazon sell it. Not the cheapest but they claim it's completely air and liquid tight.

Meal planning is a great idea, as is keeping an accurate record of what you spend in a week. Stuff like a posh coffee, magazine, bar of choc etc add up to a good few quid a week and are soon forgotten. Have you got stuff you could sell on EBay or even a car boot sale ? OMG !

When we moved we got rid of literally everything we didn't need. It all felt very cleansing at the time but now, l'm starting to look at my wedding dress to sell. I'm generally not sentimental when it comes to holding on to things but need to be careful l don't sell and regret. Going to discuss with OH and mates and see what they their ideas.

Going to look into the lock and lock to see the costs etc.

OnwardAndUpward81

rockm87 wrote: »

Hi! just popping through.

my lord no wonder you have been scrapping, you have alot of spends each month. definatly need to streamline what you paying out til your debts are gone, figure out what is important and get rid.

You could do a complete SOA, which should help you point out if you have missed anything off.

http://www.stoozing.com/calculator/soa.php

I'm going to do the SOA by myself and with OH. Main things are groceries, entertainment and holiday that l've left off. We just moved from rent which was 800 between us so the scrapping has just started which is why it's a massive financial change. Have been on one too many holidays which will definitely be stopping from the 22nd July when we return from a holiday.

OnwardAndUpward81

t2rry wrote: »

Hi :hello: just stumbled into your diary! I'm also on my third, don't feel too bad about that or too down on yourself about what you've not done before. This is where it starts. It might be another start but it is!


I must say, on first read I am a little envious you have so many outgoings that you could easily cut out and see instant results:


Outgoings
Joint A/C bills
Mortgage - 739.80
Rent - 1082.84
Council Tax - 172.00
Internet - 24.49 - this seems quite high for internet alone, is it worth looking for alternatives?
Netflix - 5.99 - a luxury but one I understand when you don't have another tv provider (we have sky, so I can't judge!)
Zipcar - 6.00 - what is this? Do you actually use it? Do you get your worth from it?
Water - 25.00 - is it just two of you at home? If so, I actually think this is a smidge high. Are you being as 'water sensible' as you can be? No running taps when brushing your teeth etc!!
Electric (we have no gas) - 100.00 - already discussed, hopefully you will get it down

Single A/C bills
Mobile - 15.99 (plan ends 27/03/16)
Wix - 11.96 - again, no idea what this is, is it necessary?
Google Apps - 2.75 - surely can't be necessary?
Loan - 144.44
Work union - 9.46 - presumably your union fee? Having never been in one I'm not sure I understand the point of paying for the privilege but I guess that many feel that is career dependent
Yoga - 89.00 - if it were me, this would be my first to go. That's a huge amount. I consider gym memberships above £50 extortionate and not worth it, surely this is something you could do from home or with friends? Imagine how far £89 a month would go! You've got a holiday at the end of the year with that!


So you see, I am envious of the fact that it seems you have easy changes that can be made to save literally £100's every month.

As for things you may have missed, do you not have home insurance? A car? TV licence? You may pay all these as they fall annually, but I found when budgeting it's best to lay out the equivalent monthly cost of each to get the true figure you are left with at the end.


It is also difficult to comment any further without seeing the fuller picture. Obviously you're not paying all those by yourself, but if you're keeping yours and OH's finances separate, you need to identify what proportion of payments come from your salary to really see what you should be aiming to have leftover to pay off debt and vice versa.



Hope to help, I have subscribed, you can do this!

Thanks so much for this. The yoga and zipcar are the ones l've been questioning alot yesterday and today. It's a car scheme, we got rid of our cars and transport is terrible around here so this was somewhat a compromise. Going to see if we use it over the next month. If not, if OH really wants it, l'm sure he'll happily pay for it.

The yoga- l have a curved spine,, knee issues and a heart problem and the type of yoga l do helps with my back and l'm able to sustain this excercise without blacking out or having heart palpations. This one is a bit more difficult than the zipcar one. Only because it's about health and longevity of life. Whereas the zipcar is more a luxury. I do hate the expense though and wish all my walking was enough.

The Internet- our build has fibre optic only, the postal code us new so we could only get it with one company. We haven't had a TV for years, hence no Sky or TV licence and the Netflix.

Wix and google apps. That's for my side business which l need for my side business in the beauty industry. The last two months income has been at it's min.due tohouse move and being on holiday.

Work union - my main job is for the government and they've helped me massively financially on two occasions.

Water- I've always paid via direct debit but when we moved and now have a water meter, Thames Water said that the DD can only come out twice yearly. So we just set up a SO and started paying money towards it so there's no surprises. Should we maybe just wait until the 6 monthly bill maybe?

If l sound like l'm making excuses for anything and there's alternatives please feel free to say.

The zipcar, yoga and water are the ones l'm really pondering on at the mo

Thanks

X

OnwardAndUpward81

If l haven't said thanks to anyone today. Huge thank you, l felt like absolute poo this morning as Bobarella suggested, likely linked to yesterday's LBM moment. Can't possibly explain how appreciative l am. Have sat down with a plan and worked out if l work two days a month on my second job in beauty and my OH pays the 770 straight to my loan. I could clear it by the end of 2016. I have to stay focused though. Better keep on my diary! On reflection jumping from me paying 400 on rent to nearly 1k on mortgage and rent, it's certainly hit me right on the stomach. Will try and enjoy the debt journey though, 3rd time lucky!

CrazyCatLady

Am I reading right? According to the first post you are paying a mortgage AND rent? That's 1 person's whole salary gone right there!

OnwardAndUpward81

CrazyCatLady wrote: »

Am I reading right? According to the first post you are paying a mortgage AND rent? That's 1 person's whole salary gone right there!

Yes, we moved to a shared ownership property and we pay half each.