Time to get my act together And make plans for the future

marcsshell

Been reading a few of these diaries and I have taken some advice on board whoop.
First a little about me.
I'm married with 2 daughters,11 and 8. We both work, DH brings home around £1400 and me £1200 and we get family allowance of £137 p/m.

Around 8 years ago we were badly in debt and ended up in an IVA. That was the hardest and longest 6 years ever. We made the last payment for that August 2014 but didn't get the completion paperwork until December 2015 as they had forgotten about us.
Since we made the last payment on the IVA I have taken credit out to try and build my credit rating back up,these were 2 catalogue accounts.
Then last year I got a new job which was community based so needed a car, as we hadn't built any savings I took the chance on getting car finance and surprisingly I was accepted. I chose a car with 0 deposit and the repayments around the £100 a month mark. Ended up with a gorgeous little Kia Picanto with 3 years manufacturers warranty remaining,£20 p/y road tax and good miles per gallon. It cost £5250 so with the interest it takes it to just over £6k. The repayments are more than manageable as the job I have is secure, before that it was just bank work so taking a chance that I got shifts.
DH needed his car for commuting to and from work. He has since got a new job and has started using the train which saves us around £70 p/m.

After reading some of the diaries on here and other posts I sat and done an income and expenditure review. This resulted in contacting mortgage company and changing deal saving £50 p/m.
Downgrading cable,we are still paying £54 p/m but was paying over £100 so another saving of £50.
I'm waiting for my new gas and electric bill to appear online (meter was read last week). When I checked today it's still not on but at the minute we are £193 in credit. I'm hoping that this is correct as I will ask them to send me a cheque which will go in savings account. Once this bill comes up online then I will look to see if I can get it cheaper elsewhere.
The catalogues I have I owe £200 on one account and around £300 on the other. I am making more than the minimum payment. the one that I owe £200 to charges interest so and the other is buy now pay later (think it's October). I will get the first one paid off within the next 2 months and the. Concentrate on the other one.
As soon as they are paid off I will close the accounts down.
I'm also building up some savings,I know that I could use the money to pay off the debts but then I wouldn't have money for emergencies and I would fall back on some sort of credit which I want and need to get away from.
I owe my dad money and have asked him exactly how much so I can sort that out better, and paid off as soon as. He's not asked for the money back and a SO is set up to pay him £45 p/m.
Sadly I also owe DDs money which they will both get back before they turn 18 with interest. I felt so bad every time I took money from their accounts but it was always for things they needed or to pay a bill.

I forgot to say at the start that I get expenses for my job and as soon as that gets paid I transfer it into savings account. It's always around £100 p/m, family allowance also goes into the account.
I have also started checking account and rounding down to the nearest £10 and transferring the extra to savings.
All bills come out of another account which has the correct money to cover them all with a small buffer of around £100 just in case a bill comes out just before wages go in.
What is the best amount to have in an emergency fund?

These are all plans that have only been in place for a couple of weeks so may change along the way.
Any other helpful advice and tips I will gladly take on board as I am very new to all of this.

The ideal thing would be for us to afford a holiday in the next year or so as we have never been abroad,have only been on holiday as a family twice and the last time would have been about 6 years ago which was camping. Sadly the tent broke so can't use it again.

juliejim

Hi marcshell

A starting point for an emergency fund would be £1000 and then 3 - 6 months salary but it depends how much of a buffer you want before tackling your debts. There are a couple of challenges on here which you might be interested in
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5344441
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5076051

Good luck

Jue

marcsshell

Thanks jue,
Will take a look at those threads when I get back from dds swimming lessons. Something I wish we would have been able to do whilst they were very young but they are both getting there now. Just want them to be able to hold their own if they ever fell into water.
Will have to call on to shops as nothing in. Hoping to get a decent shop for around £70. This will include pack lunch stuff for DH and the girls. The girls take bottles of water in to school but it's reminding them to bring the bottles home. Have brought them proper water bottles in the past but they don't seem to last that long.
I think I have managed to get £1000 already saved into the emergency fund.
At the minute we just have basic current accounts with the co-op but have opened Santander 123 account which becomes active 4th April.
Then I think I will set a SO up to pay money into the 2 co-op accounts we have. One for the shopping,fuel,bus fares for dd1 and train fares for DH, so poss around £500-£600 for the month and the other for clothes,treats etc of £50 a month.
I will ask my dad to keep hold of the Santander cards so we won't be tempted to use them and get money built up in there to get the interest.
I know this will all take time but we are both quite excited knowing that we have finally grown up and taking control of our money. X

marcsshell

Well just checked my energy supplier and I am currently paying £148 p/m for gas and electricity. I can get it down to £88 :j Need to try and speak to someone tomorrow though as I am in credit and would like them to send me that money rather than deduct it from my bill.
Will update tomorrow once I have managed to speak to someone.

marcsshell

Well tried for a NSD today after sorting DHs train fare out for rest of this week and DD1s bus fares out last night but she decided to text me today to aske me to go to her schools celebration at the cathedral. Cost me £4.80 to park the car for 2 hours :eek: And I had to leave before she sang
Oh well going to contact EDF to see how much in credit I am and change to a cheaper tariff. I have compared and they are on par with other companies.

marcsshell

Well turns out after they had adjusted bill I was in debit
On the plus side I have changed tariff and have gone from paying £148 p/m to £88 whoop. Will be able to pay more into emergency fund now.

marcsshell

Well a NSD for me today
Tomorrow will be paying out £27 for DD2 to go to holiday club at the school for 3days whilst I'm working.
Sorted out how much I owe to Very and Littlewoods. Very is £200 although they will throw interest on that Littlewoods is £223 providing I pay before October. Hoping to pay Very off in full next month (fingers crossed)
Asked my dad how much I owe him and he hasn't gotten back to me. I have been paying £45 p/m back and I know I originally borrowed £2,000 and money to pay car insurance in full each year but I have lost track of how much and how long I have been paying him for. He also needs to put our share of the holiday cottage he has booked in Kent as we are going to my brothers wedding in August. After looking at hotels,travelodges etc this seems to be the cheaper option for us all.
Can't wait to be able to say that I am officially debt free although with the car finance it is looking likely to be a few more years yet.

marcsshell

Just walked to the bank to cash in the change that was in my jar. £19 paid in :j Bank book all updated as well so £1581 in our emergency fund. Happy me.
Also started a shopping list and called into a discount store on way past and got shower gel and deodorant.
We are so determined to do this and get ourselves on the straight and narrow once and for all.

Huskyrunner

Sounds like your doing well i wish my emergency was upto that

marcsshell

Huskyrunner wrote: »

Sounds like your doing well i wish my emergency was upto that

This did have a little boost as I had a spare couple of £ left over so treated myself to a scratch card that won £500. I know they aren't very MSE but they are my treat once a month.

A quick question re savings accounts. Trying to read up on them as the interest on the one I have is 0.1% pmsl. We have just switched current accounts to a Santander 123 account. Would I be better off moving the savings into the 123 account or is there a better option?
Plan is to open another basic current account and have a SO going in for the shopping,fuel,DDs activities etc and giving my dad the bank cards for the 123 account so we aren't tempted to spend. DDs for all bills are coming out of 123 account and hoping to leave a surplus of at least £500 pm in there. This would be emergency fund as well as savings for our first holiday in 6-7 years.

Huskyrunner

have a look at the post office for savings account i have one that pays 1.4 percent.

Nothing wrong with the occasional scratch card purchase i have won the odd hundred quid on them