Learning to budget to make future adventures happen

crunch_time

Evening all

I'm so sorry I've been away for a while. Life has been sooooo busy and I'm afraid I have taken my eye off the ball a little and as a result the debt has crept up a bit. Ok maybe not just a bit it looks like its around the £5k mark. I feel so awful about it. I can tell you exactly what we have bought to make it go up to that level so its not like I dropped the ball THAT badly.

I am still determined that it will all be gone by the end of the summer. It will be a challenge but its challenge I'm up for.

As of today I have started a twelve week challenge. 12 weeks today we will be back at school (I know its depressing) and I want to be debt free by the then and I'm determined to do anything I can to get there.

Not quite sure what the plan is but I'm pretty sure I can develop one I like planning!

First step today was a NSD. Right, off to talk to the husband and get him on board and brainstorm ideas.

much love and hope you can all forgive me!
Crunch xx

crunch_time

Good evening diary!

I really wanted today to be a no spend day but we had hardly any food in the house as the husband had been working from home and had literally eaten the food I planned for my lunch. So I had to grab food on my way to work - £4.

Also the husband then had to get some food for lunch at home so another circa £5.

Total spend today = £9 ish.

Just been googling 'how to be a saver when you are a spender' and hoping for some tips.!!!

I've been toying with the idea of saving up to pay off my debts for two reasons. 1 - I'm worried about an emergency happening and 2) to ultimately change our behaviour into that of savers.

We are so used to paying down debt and insure there is a saying about how if you have always do what you've always done you will always get what you've always got.

Crunch xx

crunch_time

Hello all,

I missed a day of reporting yesterday. I was so tired after a horrible day at work I bough a few beers and bits to make an easier dinner totalling about £10.

Today I have been to the chiropractors (£33) and need to do a food shop later at mr a l d I .

Pay day is Monday and I need to pay for our cottage holiday then. The rest of my money is then going into the 'pot' to save up to pay off-the credit cards.

We got a letter through from husbands credit card company today allowing him to transfer a balance to be at 0% for 12 months so we are going to do that tonight. Then everything is at 0%. Woohoo!!

It's also my 3 year anniversary in here today!! Originally we were £23k in debt whixh we have paid off and now we are £5k of new debt which I'm determined will be paid off by 1st sept and we will have new systems in place to ensure that we don't get into anymore debt in the future.

Must update my signature with my new plans

Have a lovely day everyone
Crunch xx

JoJoC

Hi Crunch, nice to see you back and raring to go to clear the remainder of your debt!

It's interesting what you said about trying to find ways of changing your mindset to that of a saver rather than a spender. If you come across any tips, do let me know! I have elements of both, but my impulsiveness often wins so trying to suppress that is hard.

Three months to pay off £5k is ambitious but if you think you can do it, it's an amazing goal to have! Good luck!

crunch_time

JoJoC wrote: »

Hi Crunch, nice to see you back and raring to go to clear the remainder of your debt!

It's interesting what you said about trying to find ways of changing your mindset to that of a saver rather than a spender. If you come across any tips, do let me know! I have elements of both, but my impulsiveness often wins so trying to suppress that is hard.

Three months to pay off £5k is ambitious but if you think you can do it, it's an amazing goal to have! Good luck!

Hi jojoC.

I thought I would try something different to see if it makes a difference at all.

It does sound ambitious I agree however I worked out that between today and 1st September the husband and I will earn £12,864 between us!! Which is so much - 3 pay packets each. Our actual bills will come to about £3500 for July and August - that is direct debits only and. It including food or fuel or spending money or any necessary purchases. So I can easily pay it off with just over £3k to spare if I take into account food and fuel. It's looking at it like this which makes me feel so awful that we can't just control ourselves a bit more as we would have so much more money to do things we want and save for the things we want to.

I will of course record our progress so you can see for yourself if it makes a difference!!!

Crunchy xx

JoJoC

Yes, i'll look forward to watching the next three months of your journey

Wow - when you say that you'll earn 12k over three months I almost collapsed, then I realised that our joint income is the same. Our outgoings are WAY higher, though. Over £3k per month (for now!) hence the lack of available income to drive ours down quite so quickly.

Just think about what you can do with that available cash come 2nd September! Surely that must be a nice motivator?

crunch_time

JojoC - I think looking at it like that (£12k in 12 weeks) will really make me think about money differently. At the moment I have pots of money as lines on my spreadsheet but I rob peter to pay Paul with them and they have never really worked for me.

We really must get rid of credit cards and replace them with a different set up.

Yes I do look forward to having more money at the end of this 12 week plan. We have got 2 holidays to go on in this time so it will be a challenge. I also have to buy things for our holiday such as luggage and beach towels. This is going to test me no doubt.!!!

crunch_time

Morning diaryland,

I'm feeling more motivated than I was yesterday - about getting things done on my to do list.

A l d I shop came to £73 including a bottle of very nice wine. I really don't need to drink as much as I do. Saturday night bottle of wine will be fine. It appears I have no resolve and that needs addressing. It's a habit I need to change.

Today I need to go to the butchers and try and get some of my school reports done while dd naps which she hopefully will. She fell over on the school run so is feeling cuddly and sleep in my lap right now.

In other money news the husband has been approached by a recruitment agency for a contracting role in London (1.5 hours on train for us). I have gone backwards and forwards about sharing this on here as it feels a lot like bragging but it's not but the money is absolutely ridiculous I can't even comprehend it. £700 a day - there I have said it out loud. Of course that's before tax and train travel and he would set up a company and withdraw a salary from it et etc. He is going to explore it of course. The downside of course is commuting to London everyday and not seeing so much of the kids but he said he would do it while they were young for a few years and we can bank all the extra money/pay down our mortgage and then perhaps in between contracts we can take 3 months off and travel around the world and take the children out of school. That is our dream lifestyle. I'm sorry if I have mentioned this plan before in this diary. I think about it a lot.

Any way he hasn't got the job yet so back to the debt busting and frugal living.

JojoC - maybe the secret is only spending money you have actually earned - in term of a change in mindset I mean?

Crunchy xx

crunch_time

Good morning debt free wannabes!!

I'm typing this outside on my laptop and is glorious! I feel like I'm on holiday this morning.

We went to the beach yesterday with friends and had an amazing time. We spent more money than I hoped but you cant beat icecreams and floats for the children and beers and a light dinner in a beer garden for the grown ups.

I do think I underestimate spending money you know. I need to be more realistic.

Our Fathers Day today is going to consist of paddling pool in the garden and me finishing my school reports at some point as well as getting ready for the week ahead. Ill make sure the husband gets lots of love from his children today. He is a wonderful Dad.

Pay day tomorrow so this challenge will start. I should have £1045. I will need about £350 to pay off or cottage holiday and £50 for the Grenfell tower fund. And £100 in long term savings.
The rest will go into the pot. The pot will be withdrawn from of course but the idea is that it gradually builds up so that on 1st Sept we have enough money to pay off the currently 3 but soon to be 2 credit cards.

I'm feeling very excited about this and hoping we will learn a lot about our spending habits on the way so we can start debt free life on the right track.

Anyway - have lovely Sundays everyone.

Crunchy xx

crunch_time

Morning diary,

I'm off work today as one of my children has the chicken pox. He won't take any piriton so I'm watching him squirm on the sofa trying to get to sleep bless him.

So pay day was Monday, our cottage holiday has been paid off!! Woohoo! I have the following money...

£100 in long term savings - not be touched and I can do this now everything is at 0%.
£400 in a pot towards the debt which will probably have to be dipped into but it is a start. £100 of this is money allocated for swimming lessons as I don't know when I will need to pay for these. I also have childcare bills to pay from this pot which will be minimal once they come in at the beginning of July.

I have worked out that we actually have £5446 of debt to pay off which is making me cross but I'm sure we can do it or at least get close.

I will update my signature accordingly. I'm hoping today will be a NSD and I'm going to make sure that it is!!

Crunch xx