Flutteringby's baby steps towards MF

Flutteringby

Hi and welcome to my shiny new diary! :j

I've started diaries before but we have been in such turmoil over the last few years that I've not been able to make a plan and stick to it. That is what I'm hoping to change this time!!

So a quick background before I bore you with numbers! Mr Flutteringby and I live in the East Mids with our 2 children. DD is 5, and DS has just turned 1. We are very happy with 2 children and so we don't plan for our family to grow any more! While I was expecting DS we moved from the South West, following MrF's job. It was a bumpy ride when we got here, not knowing anyone and building a new life for ourselves here. We got through it though, and 18 months on feel more settled here than we ever did in our old town, although we lived there for a number of years!

MrF has a good job, and I am a self employed work at home mum. I work PT running a local magazine business. I've only been doing that for around 6 month so its definitely in the 'baby business' stage and is not yet providing any significant income for us. That will change next year though (thats another post....). I also do MyShowcase makeup and skincare which contributes a little to the pot and sell a bit on eBay too. All of which gives us some extra pocket money (but could be more significant if I worked harder).

Since DS was born I had some rough times and was not able to manage the finances as I had wanted. So I want to go back to basics over the next few weeks and reassess all expenses and bills to check where savings can be made. We had recently decided to ditch our TV provider and move somewhere cheaper, but when we phoned to do that we were offered a good deal of discounts over the next 9 months so we are hanging onto it for now.

One of my major worries is the elec/gas bills as I think we are spending more than we need to (more from a wasting consumption perspective than the tariff - although I will check that too). I also think we need to clamp down on food wastage as we do throw a bit away.

Our opening figures are mortgage £69,723.64 on a house worth around £275k (much smaller mortgage than we had down south!). We have a One Account so all our finances are lumped in together. We have about £8k of long term savings in the account which we wouldn't touch (some for kids future and some for retirement). We need to get better at paying down the mortgage and not getting distracted by shiny things :shhh: Hopefully thats where this diary comes in....

PrincessLou

Shine new diary! :j

If you are looking at ways to cut back then I would recommend maybe doing an SOA. Everyone on here is so helpful at finding ways you can cut back or make more money. Good luck with your journey! :T

diamondsonly

Welcome to the MFW gang. you are in good company with plenty of people to support and cheer you on. Glad the move went well. It can't be easy settling in to a completely new part of the country.
With young children (DD almost 4 and DS nearly 2) myself i know its definitely not easy keeping track of finances xx

Flutteringby

Thanks for the welcome guys! Yes a SOA sounds like a good place to start. I'll pull it together when I can get 1/2 hour to sit at the main computer! I've been pondering aiming to be MF by 40. That would be Feb 2022 (well I'm Jan and he is March so that's in the middle!). That gives us 76 months which makes a monthly payment of £917.42! Sounds crazily high but will have a think about how we could try

Pearla*Merle

Welcome and best of luck on your journey

It sounds like you've done really well moving across the country, juggling children and self-employment - just one of those is enough to be getting on with at the best of times!

Don't fret that things have been a bit bumpy, it always takes a while to settle down after a big move - sounds like you're well on your way to nailing things down now.

lippy1923

Love a new diary

I will be lurking with interest. Well done on the successful move.

Flutteringby

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 2
Number of cars owned.................... 2

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 2319.27
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Child Benefit........................... 137.6
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2456.87

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 260
Council tax............................. 134
Electricity/Gas......................... 150
Water rates............................. 67
Mobile phone............................ 70
Sky TV Phone B/B......................... 70
Groceries etc. ......................... 240
Clothing................................ 60
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 100
Childcare/nursery....................... 165.75
Other child related expenses............ 40
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 40
Holiday................................. 50
Spending ............................... 320
Medical................................. 120
Savings (kids and us)................. 166
Gym..................................... 80
Charity Lottery......................... 10
Household misc.......................... 40
Home Improvements....................... 50
Annual Bills............................ 150
Christmas............................... 72
Total monthly expenses.................. 2454.75


Assets
Cash.................................... 10000
House value (Gross)..................... 275000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 0
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 285000


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 69723....(260)......0
Total secured & HP debts...... 69723.....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Total unsecured debts..........0.........0.........-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,456.87
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,454.75
Available for debt repayments........... 2.12
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 0
Amount left after debt repayments....... 2.12

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 285,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -69,723
Total Unsecured debt.................... -0
Net Assets.............................. 215,277

Created using the SOA calculator at https://www.stoozing.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using other browser.

Flutteringby

Ok, I took the plunge and have posted a SOA. It reflects the monthly budget that we work to. So we save £150 into an 'Annual Bills' pot which covers insurances, TV licence, RAC etc which we pay in full when they are due.

Any thoughts?

Hollyboll

Hello flutteringby
Just wanted to say congrats on starting new diary and all you've juggled over the last few years …
Good luck on the journey!

Flutteringby

Arghh I've not logged into the Internet Banking for a couple of weeks, and the news is not good I really need to log in regularly and keep the spreadsheets up to date as otherwise we lose track and overspend. I find this such a hard time of year to keep on top of finances as its a 'spendy' time! On the plus side I have OP £571.91 today from a bonus. So thats a nice chunk off the mortgage. No more OP expected this month, will try and keep a much tighter reign on December

Petal88

Have you considered getting your bank's app on your phone? I find that with it being within such easy reach I end up checking it every day!