A Diary of Reinventing Ourselves

crazy_cat_lady

As others have said, I think that once you have made the big changes as you're doing now then it takes less time and effort to maintain. I check my bank every day and keep a spend diary, then at the weekend I go through the budget and sort what I have planned for the week ahead and do meal planning and batch cooking (as I have very little spare time during the week).
As for cleaning, I feel as though I spend my entire life with the hoover in my hand. I don't do it as often as I should, and I hate that once it's done it needs doing again within hours. My kids and dh help a bit, and I make sure I stay on top of washing up, washing, hoovering, the kitchen and bathroom but then other stuff kind of gets left. As long as it's not dirty I can manage messy.
I think that you've done amazingly well in such a short space of time.

getmore4less

(this ended up a bit longer than is should be)

When you lose things often it takes a long time to find because we look in the wrong place. 9 out of 10 they are very close to where we left them. or close to last use.

Our last loss a set of car keys was less than 6" from where they normaly get put but 3' lower had fallen behind something, this was the last place we looked(aways is when you find things but it was after a lot of searching nearly everywhere else in the house, very jacket,bag, room we use etc.

You know you kids habbits if they are drop and move on to the next chances anything "lost" may have just been hidden so they don't get told to tidy it up.

On hubbys mystery money again it's an "about" he should know exactly if it is of any importance also it is business the only thing it should effect is whats left for personal/family.

The longer you leave stuff the bigger the average payment gets as you approach a deadline .

I think getting the credit report/noodle is probably next on the list if you want to tackle the CC interest, it might mean hubby needs to more open about the business finnaces if it has impacted your credit files.
There will probably be solutions but might need to selective.

Aldi and Lidl seems to come in two sorts, horrible and OK. sometimes it can be a timing thing, it may take a few trips to get yours at it's best.

Be selective some stuff is great some not so good, get on the emails for both they send previews of the deals they are doing on regular stuff and their specials often gadgets and tat but occationaly some really good things.

getmore4less

AS for time on budget busting there is a diminishing return on time so you have to be selective there will come a point you need to be working.

Hit most thing hard once and then forget you get that initial saving and it just means a lower DD, review periods vary, utilities etc I would look at around 6months to stay fresh on how to find a deal then seriously look for a better option if nothing at 6months after another 6. after that you can just monitor when you feel like it, you won't get the same return next time, if you get lucky you won't change anything.

THis part of you quest will soon drop down to low effort once you have the CC sorted.

Shopping is a constant battle,

The first step is a broader range of shops and some selective changes eg changing brands, and on-line comparisons.

Next is probably deal cycles as you get to know them, you buy more when cheap, I set targets like 1p for a teabag any main brand(not the cheapo floor sweeping bags) have about a years worth in the garage store and whenever I use up a box 240+ I keep an eye out and if I see them at 1p or less buys a box or two to restock.
another extreme example
The OH likes branston beans normal price 4 pack around £2.50 always on offer at £1.27 (32p) that was the old target, Tesco for a while had them at 64p (16p) so bought 2 years worth.

The trick is spot a bargain for something you use a lot of get loads.


The next option is the short date/reduced for quick sale this is a timing thing, know when your shops reduces stuff and go then, the best for price reductions are the most expensive M&S and Waitrose and with both the quality is so much better.(M&S has been great for flowers recently 20 roses 50p)

Again the big savings come early and then future ones are smaller and less often so you can back off on the time, just be diligent and maybe use the comparison sites or somewhere like HotUKdeals.

questionss

FT - in terms of the money your husband owes the business... I may be wrong but I'm guessing he's a contractor with a limited company & has taken a director's loan .in place of dividends, so he either has to pay back the loan or declare the income, correct his tax affairs & pay back tax +/- fines.
I'd minimise all payments elsewhere and do everything in my power to make sure that money got returned back to the business accounts.
We have done similar in the past for a short term issue and it meant a very tight year the following year!

Forward_thinking

:jMorning!!! Up and ready for a new day : ))

This is annoying - I want to address certain posters but with advanced search I can't see your usernames anymore. Never mind, I've got a few years to get to grips with this site:D

OH has an accountant and pays all his taxes. However, he took a company loan which needs to be paid back before the next couple of financial years are over. I am simply stating what he tells me - time for me to get into that account and go on yet another steep learning curve.

As regards the ironing, you were totally and utterly right. Just changed the quilts without ironing two of them and you can honestly not tell the difference. A day outside seems to have lost all creases whatsoever. So that's a great find although I did struggle to put it on before ironing. But that's just a mental state I can get over.

Have taken on board the comment to look at our finances on a weekly and monthly basis. Obviously, I will need to devote longer at the moment whilst I sort this whole mess out. Thinking I will allocate two hours a day and then move on. New SOA is on my mind at the moment to be done next. I think I have enough information now - just need to look a bit more through the bank accounts to check for direct debits.

Right, off for breakfast. It's an 'S' day so I'm allowed a couple of treats today. In moderation of course.

Forward_thinking

Questionss - I think you have it absolutely right. And OH keeps saying he will owe a sum of about £30k or £40k in the next two years. I'm going to insist he spends some time on that this weekend but this is all pretty awful stuff and if we can get our income up from 120k (OH may be getting a substantial rise in his daily rate soon and I am going to jump on board) there is a way out of this. There really is.

getmore4less

I think you and hubby need to decide is he going to sort out the directors loan and tell you how much you have to play with each month or it goes on the personal ballance sheet as another debt.

I think something you do need to so is get the monthly income from his company sorted so it is more or less the same every month so you can do some proper planning based on that, even if it means small debt payments for a while

If he is generating surplus then you can plan on using that for one off spends like a holiday or paying down the debts faster or increasing the takehome a bit.

Forward_thinking

Yes, totally agree Getmore. I have asked him to look at the company accounts this weekend - was met with a bit of grumpiness, told I was nagging....let's hope he does.

Dad met up with him last night and told him he had won a bit of money on the lottery and is going to buy us a car. OH is now worried about him and convinced he is having some kind of mental crisis and is convinced he is going to die and so busy spending his money. There is some justification behind him thinking this - dad has had a bad bout with health lately but is now fine. However, OH is now worried about his mental state and so is reluctant to let him. He said it's either that or I have been talking to them which he would be really unhappy about - says he doesn't believe the lottery story and is a bit smarter than that. Big sigh.

However, I have managed to get him to come on this computer to look at cars NOW - bye for now!

Forward_thinking

:wall::wall::wall:

Got a feeling I am going to be using this icon quite lot!!!

OH has just dismissed the three cars I saw as not suitable. I found three which fitted all his requirements, 1.9 engine, relatively low mileage, galaxy, within 20 miles, FSH, sensors. He claims they are traders and not suitable. So he's spent half an hour looking around at sharans and another model even though he has always said galaxy. And I now notice that he has moved away from auto trader and is looking at ebay. He's also increased the price up from £3500 (what I suggested and the figure he was quoting when he said we couldn't afford to get rid of the hire car) to £5000.

Sigh. At least he's looking I suppose but I suspect he's going to be still looking in a month's time if left to his own devices. Everything has to be perfect - that's why he has always refused to buy a house in the past. The two bed wasn't good enough when we could rent a lovely large house. Spot the similarity.

Off to eat an S treat for Saturday. Thankful it's not Monday!!!

Forward_thinking

Just remembered what was wrong with my selection of cars - they're all 05 and ten years old!! As I said, mine is a 51 and doesn't even lock.