Debt, debt go away (and don't come back another day)

System

Christmas games - love it and then when I have to sort it all out, it's a bit of a phaff! love taboo - might try and dig that one out.
We always do some quizzes, with a picture quiz or two for the grown ups and then some really old fashioned games for all the family - my nan was a games addict so these were her thing.
One if called Left, right, centre, Keep - basically you give everyone a pile of coins (usually 1ps) and everyone gets 30ps worth. Then you have 3 dice which have L, R, C, K on them - if you have 3 coins you can throw 3 dice, but if you 2 coins, you can throw 2. Basically you start throwing the dice and moving the coins around and whoever ends up as the last player to put the last coin into the centre, wins all the coins.

Then the other favourite involves 2 packs of cards and a load of "prizes" which you lay out on the table. Then you deal out 1 pack of cards equally to everyone, who can turn them up and see what they have got. Then whoever is the dealer, uses the other pack of cards to pull out a card, and whoever has that card gets to pick up a prize and hide it about their person. When all the prizes are gone off the table you have to steal a prize off another player. Kids LOVE this games. Good to have some interesting prizes!

got some charades organised too. don't know why as there is never enough time!

picking up new car today. yay!. Did finances last night. DH has only earned £280 this month compared to a usual £1k. January will be tight, but manageable. food budget still really over spent in Dec. I'm going to sort that next year for definite.

Poor_Single_lady

Hope you had a good Christmas in the Ramble household.

Looking forward to reading your diary in 2017. xxx

System

Hey.
Quick update from me - £2050 payout from insurance company received. £1500 paid to CC for car purchase and £500 paid off DH tax bill so £126 to go by end of Jan. DH won't have a tax bill for next Jan, which means that next tax year we will finally be able to catch up and start saving for it each month!

Have signed up to all the YNAB training available - they have a load more new courses. Going to sort myself a new budget and make a fresh start of things. It's definitely helped us this year, but we are still the number 1 problem by overspending and not staying focussed.
Food shopping/eating is the major issue so this is going to be my main priority for next year. Feel like it's going to be difficult to begin with as we'll be moving at end of Jan, and currently between the 2 houses a lot which doesn't make cooking easy.
Still even if we don't manage to do well in Jan, when we are finally settled we can sort it!!

Even musing on starting a fresh diary so I can refocus on new goals. Not sure if I will yet, but I may!

System

Freezer inventory done and enough food to see us through the month - but need to buy fresh stuff obviously.

So much stock in there, so need to make a load of soup. Batch on the hob as we speak but used stock cubes duh as didn't realise how much was in freezer! Not very MSE!!!

Need to have everything eaten by 2nd Feb - as we will be moving on the 3rd and the freezer needs to be defrosted!

louby40

I have a stupidly small fridge/freezer - ordered in haste before I moved in June 2015, my own fault for not measuring up properly so I know exactly what's in there.

I think you need to 'roll with the punches' during January as it's going to be stressful.

You can do it Ramble

System

Thanks Louby.

Time is rattling on and I am feeling mostly positive about things. Did a fresh start in YNAB and attended loads of their training things again. Didn't learn a great deal i didn't know but it has made me realise I was not working the system the right way - and because our debt is going up at the moment rather than down, it was starting to really overwhelm me emotionally. So a fresh start it is, and I am just budgeting with what we have now. Feel lighter because of it! We've also both downloaded the app, so no more looking at the bank account, only looking at the YNAB budget. DH is taking on managing the food budget - we have £100 to see us through the month, but a full freezer so feels tight but do-able.

New house is probably 60% there in terms of painting and sorting. 2 potentially costly items on the horizon is sorting out the heating - there is a woodburner which supposedly heats radiators, and also an AGA which supposedly does the same too - both not in use and need sorting before we can use. Aga engineer I spoke to today says AGA's don't do radiators, so something strange going on there, and we suspect we may have to get a new oil tank. And we've heard rumours of chimney fire for the woodburner so they liner may be messed up. Both costly to sort no doubt - will need to come up with a plan when we know more.

We're selling the house - hoping to get it up for sale at the end of the month. In two minds about this, as we will be stepping off the housing ladder, and I now have a trashed credit file for at least the next 6 years. It will mean will have £££ in the bank - which I want to save for "next house" and if there's enough I will use some to clear down some of the debts - so that will be positive. Reduced rent at the new place, and less nursery fees for DD will also hugely help us get back on an even keel.
We're taking a huge risk for many reasons with this move - but even if it all goes horribly wrong, it still feels like a risk we need to take. When I am feeling brave and full of energy I'm up for it - but I'm not like this all the time.

New job starts mid Feb. Lots to do to finish things off in old job. DH MOT next week gulp. Last year bill was £700. Good news is we don't have to pay £123 of council tax, and £85 of water bills for next 2 months so that will help.

TTFN ramble x

System

I really should update my signature but don't want to acknowledge we are about back where we started at LBM. Will leave this until I am feeling braver!

System

:dance::dance:So a mostly good news day.

1) Chimney sweep came round to the new house and swept 3 chimneys and gave us a clean bill of health so finally DH could light the log burner which in turn switched radiators on everywhere. (I though we might have to reline chimney so this was a HUGE relief :T It did cost £150, which has had to come out of our emergency fund, but for the sake of knowing we can have heating there, I really don't mind!

2) Aga man came and looked at the aga and said all it needed was a service and a few new parts. There's also some work on the oil tank which DH will be able to do. We don't know exactly how mcuh it will cost - probably £200 ish as a guess- but once that's done, (and we've bought oil, the house will be cold no more (imagine a really old-school cottage, with stone walls, and flagstone floors...Freezing!)

Feeling relieved. We've nearly finished redecorating it - and I have a friend coming over to help us next weekend which will be ace, so I think it will all be done before we need to move in!

3) DH has already been approached about a few jobs - one might be regular work which is ace - he's already got 1 day a week up there, but this could make him full-time possibly if he wanted. If that happened we would rolling in it and could make some real head-way. Not going to get too excited yet!

4) Got a default notice on one of my debts - have mixed feelings about it - essentially it's a good thing as 6 years from default, it will disappear completely from my credit file - even if i haven't finished paying it off (I will have though!!) Still need defaults for other 2 debts, but hopefully they will happen soon. Credit file is trashed now for next 6 years :eek:, but hey ho. Don't want credit anyway.

Not bad.
Plans for weekend are to meet up with NCT crew and enjoy seeing a bunch of manic nearly 2 years olds go crazy and take down the asbestos garage so we can get the estate agents in to take pictures. Still loads of DIY to do on this house, so a few more pricey weeks ahead possibly.

Still don't want to update my sig and face the music. Just need to focus on the fact that once we have moved and sold, we will be paying little to no rent, and if DH does get more work, then we will be able to really hit the debt hard.:j

louby40

Ramble it sounds like it's all falling into place. The money situation will sort itself out, what do they say - speculate to accumluate!

Poor_Single_lady

Ramble I love all your progress. And the house sounds like its becoming really homely and cozy. I always imagine you have massive creative flair and your dh sounds very practical so you sound like a good team getting everything sorted. Plus you have an Aga!

I Agree with Louby it is all going to come together. I hope you enjoy the new job and your new home.

Once things are calmer and the waters more peaceful things will be much easier. It is overwhelming until you get there but you WILL get there and You're on the way now. xxx