from hell to heaven

l3xi

Argh, I'm already struggling with the £120 weekly budget!

The first £120 was supposed to last from Fri 23 Oct to this Fri the 30th. I only have £15-20 left to spend until Friday, and that includes weekly groceries. I do weekly shopping on Thu, and it's usually around £40-50 on Tesco online.

Took both of us to the dentist today, half day off work, this was booked 6 months ago, we usually go 2x / year for checkups and cleaning. Total was £123, but I only need to pay £43.50 (£17 for DD plus £26.50 for me), as 75% of my costs are covered by dental insurance I get as a benefit from work.

Also bought a winter coat for my DD, another £32.

The rest of £35-ish, I don't know what I spent it on.... or perhaps I should say I don't want to know? some grocery top up at the weekend, swimming, some other bits and bobs... Obviously the light in my LBM is flickering... I need to go back to YNAB, even though it didn't work last time around.

So there's £412 left in my account and £5 in cash, this is until the 24th of Nov, which means £100 per week, not £120. I have a Hallo kids party this Sat, need to pay approx £15 for food and drinks for my child, then a grown-ups b-day party next week, about £20 on present. Other than that nothing that needs buying this month, and no other events. No haircuts and no mani/pedi, so I should be able to do it!

I feel like a failure today... but at least we both have clean teeth and my DD had her first filling done, she's proud (luckily it's on a baby tooth, not on a permanent one).

l3xi

Dear diary, I've decided to start selling some stuff we don't use on eBay.

I listed an art book at approx £30, a digital piano (£200+), and sold one of my old phones on igadgetsrecycled for £13.50. Fingers crossed for the piano.

I might actually be able to sell a TV and a DVD player, but for those I only get 50% of profits IF they ever sell, these were left to me by a friend who moved back to her home country and she didn't have time to sell before she left.

rockm87

Hi
have you thought about putting together and posting a statement of affairs? http://www.stoozing.com/calculator/soa.php

Is your budget realistic? if it is too strict you wont stick to it and will end up using credit.

If I were you, I'd get rid of all your unused credit cards. You dont need them, and if you have them you may be tempted to use them, and you will stress yourself out.

If you close your active credit cards, you can just pay them off and be done with it!

well done for making an awesome start.

l3xi

@rockm87: I'm afraid I've done a couple of SOAs and budgets (using YNAB) and it didn't really work for me. I was able to list all my bills and regular outgoings and make savings where possible (dropped TV subscription, etc). The problem is with budgeting for non-regular stuff. No matter how I tried, I couldn't do stick to it. But you are right, I'm probably trying to pay too much for CCs... £500 monthly. I will give YNAB a try again..

l3xi

This is from my spreadsheet, amounts are rounded up a bit:

Essentials: £2,450

• mortgage, insurances, service charge, council tax £1,235
• gas, electricity, water £90
• phone, Internet, TV license, film sub, mobile, hosting £80
• monthly travel card + top ups £125
• holiday savings (aka emergency fund) £100
• childcare, kids clubs, school lunches, child uni savings £350
• groceries & work lunches (£80/week) £350 ***
• minimum CC debt payments £120

Total Monthly Expenses: £2,980
subtotal essentials £2,450
optional CC payments £380
entertainment, clothing, presents, haircuts, mani/pedi etc £150 ***

***This is where I overspend. Also on holidays...

Total income is about £3000 net monthly, excluding annual bonus (historically, the bonus went straight to paying debt), but including some child maintenance and child benefit. And I get tax relief via childcare vouchers (salary substitution).

Obviously, I'm pretty bad at managing finances, as on paper it does look sufficient... but it's not. And also, my savings account are in a dire position, if something happens I'm screwed.

rockm87

Have you thought about using cash only? so you can't physically overspend?

Things like personal grooming arent essential and you need to be ruthless when getting rid of debt. If you dont change anything, nothing will change. Manicures and haircuts can be done either for free at home, or look around for good deals.

I would say you need to feel inspired, you havent yet had your lightbulb moment otherwise you would feel more inclined to sacrifice a little to get ahead.

You need to separate your holiday savings and emergency fund and cut off your credit supply. You can survive without adding to your credit.

Have you thought about taking lunches to work?

best of luck, you can do this!!

l3xi

Thanks, I could probably try to use cash for some type of expenses - fun, clothes, holidays, etc. but for everything else like bills, childcare, groceries etc I don't think I can / need to. For instance, on groceries, I couldn't, as I don't drive and on-line shopping saves me a lot of time and effort.

I think you're right re the LBM, I'm not quite there yet, which is why I'm struggling. I can't cut all my credit supply, as in I won't cancel all the cards, too scared to do that. I've stopped carrying the cards with me though. The only credit I used last pay period was the Barclays overdraft (fee free £300 limit) but I am trying to stop using that as well - hope I will be able not to touch it from this month on. And splitting income in two accounts - bills HSBC and spending in Barclays - has actually helped a lot, it's very clear how much money is left after all bills, it's whatever I have in Barclays.

Re holiday savings: I'm not purchasing any holiday in 2016 until I get rid of the debt completely, so those savings double as a an emergency fund - for now. We are going to my home country next summer to see my mother and I will also drop my child for the summer there, so there will be no childcare costs over the summer. That's pretty much all holidaying covered for next year. That's a big change for me, we've always done 2-3 holidays per year as a couple, and for a while after breaking up, I kept at it, but it's no longer doable...

l3xi

PS. Yes I'm taking some lunches to work, will try to do it all days (I work 3 days in the office, 2 at home).

rockm87

one thing that helped me..I have a separate bank account for groceries.

So use that card/cash, and to visibly SEE how much i have left for the month really helps me.

I also meal plan, I've got quite a fussy DH so I cant use the freezer a whole lot, or reheat leftovers. But switching to Lidl cut my bills by over half! I get things like cat food and coffee pods on amazon too.


I would always say get inspired, i listen to Dave Ramsey (free podcast/youtube/website) or read blogs (funcheaporfree, Mr Money Mustache, Skint Dad) or go on youtube (funcheaporfree, coupon queen) and just immerse yourself in tips, encouragement and just to see that by changing your mindset you can shed the debt quicker...and feel FREE!!!

honestly it helped me ALOT.

l3xi

I'm back! It's been really busy at work and at home, didn't have time to write in my diary. On the plus side, not much money spent this month, still going [STRIKE]strong[/STRIKE] ok-ish, there's £198 left to spend until the 25th, not including bills which were already paid for this month. Did have some unexpected expenses... lost swim goggles, lost school cardigan, school shoes repair (! not enough that they're bloody expensive to begin with!)...

@rockm87: I do have two accounts and that's more than I can handle without going crazy. I've made it very easy for myself, all bills & regular stuff in hsbc, and all spending in barclays. I'm afraid I don't have time to read or watch anything lately, my life's madness! Head above water.

On another note, I might have to start the proceedings to get child support from overseas... Ex is now threatening to stop paying, and I'm fed up with this. When he lived in the UK I never contacted CSA, I let him get away with it and he paid whatever he wanted, but he moved overseas fairly recently and decided it was time to vanish from his child's life and avoid his responsibilities... Luckily the country he went to is on the REMO list (there's an agreement between governments, they'll make him pay... it'll be a difficult and lengthy process though. I don't have his home address but I have his employers' and his national insurance number so in theory it will happen sooner or later.

What doesn't kill us makes us stronger, right? Right?