Debt Busting, Budgeting...and Maternity!

Eyebright

Dear Diaryland,

I have been here before. On two, or is it three, previous occasions? Nevermind. My debt is still here. It's mostly gone down, though there has been a few blips where I added to the credit card needlessly.

But now that all has to change. At the end of next month my income is going to be reducing! I will be starting maternity leave, so have the fun task of having an extra person in the household and a reduced income. I'm very excited at the prospect of becoming a parent, but as the due date has got closer and closer my anxiety about how we will manage has gone up and up. Obviously it must be do-able, most couples have children!. But I haven't figured it out yet :rotfl:

This is just a quick introductory post for now. I need to go away and re-total my debts to see where I'm starting from, and update my signature.
I'm going to think of some goals, both long term and short tem. When HR finally let me know what I'll be being paid on maternity I will sort out a budget. I need to sort out what savings I need. I will be meal planning, and looking to reduce my grocery spends, and spending in general. I need to sort Christmas out. I want to join some DFW challenges. NSDs will be a must!
I will be going through our outgoings on bills to see where else I can make savings, though one good habit I've acquired over the years I've been flitting on MSE is shopping around and always switching to new deals with regards to home insurance, power, credit cards etc.

I find the diaries on this board so helpful and inspiring, any and all tips will be gratefully received! I have 6 weeks (hopefully), between finishing work and baby being due, and I hope to really get stuck into this during this time, and see what changes I can start making. I want my baby to grow up happy and healthy and well provided for, whilst learning good values around money, so she doesn't end up making the mistakes we have over the years.

If you've read this far through my waffle then have a pat on the back! I hope you stick with me as I embark upon this new phase in my life. I can't wait :T:T

[Deleted User]

Happy new diary Eyebright.

I have subscribed

Pmo2
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Eyebright

Thanks PMO2 glad of the company, hopefully will help to keep me motivated!

I've just signed up for the MSE free Credit Club. Very excited that my Experian Credit Score came out at 999. Top marks :D:D
And for affordability I came out as Good. Very Good being top category. Happy with this as combined I have a 99% chance of being accepted when applying for products. If you are reading Martin Lewis, then thanks for continuing to work so hard, helping us hard working DFW'bees :money:

Just made a payment to the CC for £202.60. More than we usually pay as OH sold my old mountain bike on eBay for £150. Hoping I can have the CC cleared by Christmas. That will be one of my short term goals. Once the payment has cleared we will owe £360 on that. I then owe £74.62 to the Joint Account on unnecessary frivolous spends, and then the BIG DEBT is £6800 to my FIL, as he paid the £15k deposit on our home when we bought it in Dec 2011. We currently pay him £100 a month, and that has been ticking over.
Once the other stuff is cleared, and I have a clearer idea of our new income, I would like to save up to make additional lump sums to him to pay this off quicker.

Then I will focus more than I have been on really building up our savings, before focusing on the Mortgage :eek:

I want saving pots to cover different things. Will dedicate a separate post for these when I have decided on them

Will also write a separate post clearly laying out all of my goals, once I have decided on them...

Eyebright

To make it clearer where my debts currently stand at:

Debts

Tesco CC 0%: £360

JA Owing 0%: [strike]£74.62[/strike] now £19.63

Debt to FIL 0%: £6800

[strike]Total Debt:£6974.62 [/strike] now £6970.66

Ready, steady, go!!!!

Eyebright

So today I have done some things to save us some money!

OH had his Car Insurance renewal come through £45 a month :eek::eek::eek: I was straight on the comparison websites and the best quote we got was from the AA £17.25 a month for all the same things :money::money: Then went onto Quidco and found a cashback offer with AA Car Insurance. So fingers crossed will get £26 cashback and have saved money on the car insurance.

Also whilst on Quidco realised I had £51 waiting to be cashed out so have requested a BACs payment for that. Once it hits my account I will use it to pay down what I owe the Joint Account. I would like to clear that by the end of the month really.

The next job was our TV and Internet, now that we are out of contract now with Virgin. OH's friend had a Sky Friend's & Family code. We will be getting the full package for £35 a month. OH loves his tele, so he is well chuffed. I couldn't care less tbh, but I want him to be happy. Then to be able to get BT sports channel (for the MotoGP for OH again), we switched to BT for phone and broadband. They have a sale on, so BT Infinity unlimited broadband and line rental, free evening and weekend calls for £29.98 a month. £18.99 of that is blinking line rental :eek::eek: Checked on Quidco again, and fingers crossed we will get £90 cashback :D

ETA: Also forgot to mention the BT site also offers a £100 pre-paid MasterCard when you take out the package. Even after the one-off start up fees of £49.99 Infinity activation and I think it was £10 delivery of the HomeHub, we will still be approx. £40 up. I'll take that!

Not bad for a couple of hours work. OH is coming round to the idea that we will have to scale back on the spending with Little Miss on the way, and he was so impressed with the reduction in the insurance and the cashback we could get from Quidco, for taking their links to products we were going to buy anyway.

My next job will be my mobile phone contract. I keep thinking about going Sim Only, as can get a great deal £9-10 a month. The only downside is my current mobile is 2.5 years old and has basically had it, so would have to outlay money for a phone at the same time. Will get my thinking cap on and see what other deals are about. My current contract is £36 a month, which is ridiculous. It's basically just a loan to pay for the phone...

Bedtime now me thinks. I've had a productive day, and even though I've barely left the sofa all day, I'm still super tired!!

Night all, sweet dreams xx

[Deleted User]

You have been a busy bee today. Sleep tight Hun x

Aamberle

Wow you have been busy..lol. Good luck on your journey will be following with interest

Eyebright

Thanks PMO2 and Aamberle. It's very satisfying managing to make some small savings. All will needed for when I work out what our new budget will be when I start my Maternity leave at the end of October!

Aamberle, do you have a diary? Please point me in the right direction if you do, so I can keep up with your progress!

Just waiting for the Cheap Energy Club deal from MSE to be released next week now. Ovo emailed me last week that we are out of our fixed term deal with them next month, so I'm going to switch to a new deal and hopefully save some money again!

I'm keeping all my grocery shopping receipts this month, with a view to joining the Grocery Challenge for October on the OS boards. I need to be aware of what our grocery and petrol spends are each month as the plan for my new budget is that my pay will be responsible for these areas, as well as baby stuff, nursery fees eventually etc, and OH wages will take care of the monthly bills. I'm sure our Grocery spends can be reduced! Just need a starting point to jump from now.

Right off to quickly catch up with everyone's diaries, then need to do some housework, as I neglected doing anything but putting on some washing yesterday and cooking dinner!

Have a lovely day all xx

Eyebright

Just a quick update....

Was checking my online banking and decided to round down all my little saving accounts and found £3.96 that I have rolled into the JA to put towards the £74.62 I had left owing to it- so new total for that debt is now:

JA Owing- [STRIKE]£74.62[/STRIKE] £70.66

A modest reduction, but here's hoping all the little steps add up to big reductions! Can't wait for that money from Quidco to hit my account, as that will take a big chunk out of the debt! :D

Overall debt is now: £6970.66

[Deleted User]

Well done, it's going in the right direction x

MrsSave

I've found your new diary! You've got a good plan underway, and I'm sure you'll clear the ja by the end of the month. I've spent this morning crunching numbers just to make sure we can get through maternity without adding to our debt, and it looks doable. Just.

I'm subscribing!