Learning to budget to make future adventures happen

crunch_time

Afternoon diary!

We ended up in a and e yesterday afternoon as one of the children had a minor accident but needed to be checked out. They are fine but we had to get some dinner on the way home as we were late back and hadn’t cooked the planned dinner of course. I was interested at how we dealt with the choices on offer. I initially suggested to go to the pub on the way home which a) we couldn’t afford and b) would have meant a much later night than we actually had. Then husband suggested fish and chips which I dismissed as I had waffles and fish fingers in the freezer and had just done a big food shop. So we ended up going to the m&s garage and bought dessert, and then a ready meal each for the husband and I as well as some beers to calm our nerves after the stress. Children had fish fingers and waffles as planned.

We really didn’t need any of it and it made me realise how much when we have mini disasters we spend money on solving it rather than gripping on tight and riding it out and thinking creatively. I realised too that I often get very stressed with the children when things aren’t going smoothly and can be quite harsh on them. Husband said recently that this is normal and this is our life. So I’m realised today that I just need to deal with it and stop hoping that it will ‘get better’ etc.

I felt anxious about the debt again and worried that I’m not earning to pay it off. So I read through my money Pinterest board for some inspiration and found some Dave Ramsey quotes that have helped me get everything into perspective.... and they have.

I’ve decided it’s pointless to save for a foreign holiday when we have other stuff to deal with right now. The £50 has paid off some bits left on the husbands old hsbc card and the £7 from no wine last weekend has paid off £7 from the food overspends from last year. That’s what I will do going forward. But not having things this year that I did last year and put on credit I will manage to pay off this debt. And then not get into anymore debt going forward.

I’m going to make a list of everything we want to do this year and then whittle it down to what we need to do and then cost it all up.

Sorry for the rambling post but I feel I needed to get my thoughts down

I haven’t been able to do much today because of poorly ish child but I did get my massive ironing pile done and ironed the e bay stuff ready to put on tonight. Planning an evening of organising.

Crunchy x

Willowtree222

Sorry you ended up in a and e. It can be quite scary when that happens.

I like your idea of writing it all down and deciding what is needed and necessary. It's a good way of cutting costs.

We have been giving in to takeaway a little too much recently. I'm sure the kids enjoyed fish finger and waffles. x

Seasidegal58

Hope your little one is feeling back to normal crunchy.

Dave Ramsey is very good on quotes that tell it like it is! Just the thing when the financial wobbles happen!

crunch_time

Morning diary,

I’ve upgraded my phone as I need one with more storage due to my new work. It’s an extra £10 a month which is fine. Husband said I wouldn’t get much in music magpie for my old phone so I very much enjoyed telling him I would get £94!!!!

I’m still working on my essential spends for 2018 list but I know that we need to do the garden this spring which will cost about £1500 according to husbands initial estimates so this will go a long way towards that. I know I should really put it towards the holiday and I still might we just need to get through the rest of January..

Just under 2 weeks until pay day!!

Crunchy xx

theroamingnomad

Hi Crunchy!

I've just read through your diary and wanted to commend you on having a plan and modifying it when things change. I wish you well on your adventure and will be following with interest

Seasidegal58

Well done on the phone!:T

Willowtree222

Fab about the phone. I guess if you put it over the months you will be paying it adds up to less than £10 a month.

How's the new business going? x

JoJoC

Great work on the phone - both my husband and I are trading in our old phones (just waiting on the cash to clear) and we are getting £85 each returned to us. That's paying for the accommodation for a trip that we have in the summer

How are things going with your new business venture?

crunch_time

theroamingnomad wrote: »

Hi Crunchy!

I've just read through your diary and wanted to commend you on having a plan and modifying it when things change. I wish you well on your adventure and will be following with interest

Thank you! I did actually read back my diary from April last year when things started to go a bit fuzzy and it appears I do modify my plans in a positive way. I was feeling really down that we couldn’t attack this debt at the rate we could this time last year so thank you for your comment - it’s made me look at things more positively.

The course is going well thanks. I’m currently on the 3rd week. It’s taking up lots of my time which means I haven’t posted a lot recently.

I’m really enjoying it and it will hopefully lead to some paid work very soon.

Still waiting for my 0% credit card to come through. It should be about a week there was a delay due to a signature issue.

I also slushed £7 off the food debt as we had our third booze free weekend. I haven’t weighed myself so don’t know for sure but I husband says I have lost weight for sure.

Need to post my old phone today to get the money.

Husband gets paid on Friday and will be sent his payslip in the next day or so so will see where we are for February!

Crunchy x

crunch_time

Morning diary

One more day until pay day! January is always such a looooooong month.

I’m still waiting husbands pay slip to see what our monthly money situation will be like going forward. He had a bonus in December and we are not paying for childcare vouchers anymore. I’m hoping it’s not too far off my estimate! Once I know I will be doing a new SOA to see what is what and keep us accountable.

We are starting to get ready to decorate the new house. Well as much as we can with restricted income. We are doing one room at a time and the first one up is the kitchen! I have ordered paint samples and will aim to have it painted by the end of February. We need blinds and shelves too but they can wait until it’s painted.

We haven’t done very well on the food front this month. Lots of extra shops and not much planning. I have had to dip into my bills account. Husbands car also needed some work doing to it which cost £100 ish so that has had to be paid from that pot too. It’s gone way down but we can get it up again.

Right I had better get ready for the school run!!

Crunchy xx