Learning to budget to make future adventures happen

Seasidegal58

All sounding very organised crunchy. Well done!:j

Willowtree222

That's amazing organisation. It definitely helps when you know where it is coming from and going to.

Under 7k is amazing too. Progress, is amazing and it is going the right way. I am hoping for more warm weather too. I think I need to give readings for the gas and electricity, but think we will end up owing them as we have probably used up more than originally thought this year.
x

crunch_time

Morning debt free diary land!

Well it!!!8217;s not going at all well here. Husband actually wants to chat about money which must mean it!!!8217;s serious as he has always been reluctant.

Basically we have had another tax bill of £946 from claiming child tax benefit when we are over the threshold. Husband tried to sort it out last year but got told he could still claim it but not the whole amount (I really don!!!8217;t know the details) but he was misadvised and now we have to pay it back. He is going to ring up to see what payment plan he can get and worse case scenario is he has to take out an overdraft to cover it then we pay off the overdraft.

Also had a big bill for the car as it failed it!!!8217;s MOT £460 ish!!! The garage doesn!!!8217;t accept credit cards so I have had to rob the holiday find and the Christmas fund AND the grocery fund to pay for it!!

So, because of all this I have connected two supply teaching agencies to register and earn the money to pay it off!

I!!!8217;ve been wiped out be a virus these last few days so couldn!!!8217;t make my appointments so will have to rearrange them.

Being ill though has given me some perspective and I feel calm and collected and !!!8216;right let!!!8217;s take care of this.!!!8217; We have been here before with less money so I know we can do this.

I feel in a good place with my course now to allow space to do some supply and I can fit it around my weekly commitments.

I!!!8217;m also working on my confidence and knowledge so I can start looking for work with my new business sooner than when I finish the course.

Sigh.

Crunchy x

JoJoC

It never rains but it pours Crunchy! I'm glad that you're taking a positive attitude to fixing the situation though, it's so easy to be dragged down by this stuff.

On a smaller scale, last night within about 2 hours of each other, my suitcase burst at the airport (not fixable), my microwave stopped heating things up and my kettle still boils but it will not open so we have to trickle water into the spout to get water in. So annoying!

enthusiasticsaver

He should be able to repay it over the year. They should just change his tax code.

Why dont you use the long term savings for the car bill or is it locked away?

crunch_time

I could access it but I don!!!8217;t want to really - That!!!8217;s for a REAL emergency you know?

crunch_time

Afternoon all,

It's really sunny here so I am currently typing this outside! Been sooooo busy with my course and juggling everything else my diary is taking a back seat.

So the HMRC bill ended up being £1100. I dont know why - Husband deals with it but we now have an overdraft for that amount. The car also failed its MOT and to get it through we needed £460 worth of work too. So that is now sitting on the credit card. Along with a second-hand tent and £300 worth of stuff to get the garden straight this summer.

Its not awful - we knew this would happen. Even though husband earns a really good salary, moving to a bigger house has seen our bills go up by £150 a month with extra heating and council tax and our mortgage has gone up £450 a month. So now I dont earn we no longer have the cushion or spare budget for car repairs etc.

I need to relook at our budget to see what we can do other than accept that this is the status quo for the time being, roll with it and keep the damage minimal.

The good news....

- I still have £150 for the holiday so that is all going in the right direction for now.
- The original credit cards are edging closer to the £6k mark.
- Im starting to get inquiries for my business even though I havent finished the course yet.
- since the HMRC fiasco, husband is very on board with saving money.

I've decided not to do supply for now as I cant get appropriate childcare.

Ive made my bed - I have to roll with it for now.

At least it is all under control and for things that we need.

Do you think I should use some of the savings to pay for the car service? Im thinking so. I dont feel comfortable paying off the overdraft with it but it would go towards something at least.

Crunchy - trying not to feel overwhelmed.

xx

Seasidegal58

Sorry to hear about the tax bill. But it sounds like hubby is having a bit of a light bulb moment so that's a positive.

I'd pay off the car bill with the long term savings. Do you think perhaps you should get an emergency fund going? If you had at least £500 as a start then things like the MOT wouldn't throw all your plans out. Perhaps allocate funds from the long term savings?

On the positive front it's great that you've received enquiries on your business already. Must have bucked you up no end!

crunch_time

So I am facing the music - here is our current SOA.

Any advice/comments welcome!

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 2
Number of cars owned.................... 2

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 3434
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 3434

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 1136
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 350
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 172
Electricity............................. 80
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 80
Water rates............................. 14 (We have a septic tank so need to pay a company to maintain it but havent got this sorted yet)
Telephone (land line)................... 62 (includes internet as well)
Mobile phone............................ 34
TV Licence.............................. 12.12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 415 (includes dog food)
Clothing................................ 100
Petrol/diesel........................... 150
Road tax................................ 10.06
Car Insurance........................... 55
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 48 (it won't be this every month - worst case scenario)
Other child related expenses............ 84 - Swimming
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 29.5
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 23 (inlcudes £15 for vets annual jab, flea and wormers, nail clip
Buildings insurance..................... 0 (I have paid for this upfront but no plans as to how to pay next year)
Contents insurance...................... 0 - as above
Life assurance ......................... 77
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0 We were budgeting £50 a month but have eaten into this with living costs
Haircuts................................ 50
Entertainment........................... 100
Holiday................................. 0 (just saving what we can for this)
Emergency fund.......................... 0 (eek)
Total monthly expenses.................. 3081.68


Assets[/b]
Cash.................................... 3340
House value (Gross)..................... 355000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 0 We own 1 outright (10 years old) and one PCP but dont consider them as assets.
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 358340


Secured & HP Debts[/b]
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 300122...(1136).....2.13 might be less - not important
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 15030....(350)......Dnt know apr
Total secured & HP debts...... 315152....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Overdraft......................1100......10........17.5 (HMRC bill)
Credit card - HSBC 0%..........2024......100.......0
Credit card - Sains 1..........4257......100.......0
Credit card - Sains 2..........1562......20........17.5 - this is huge at moment - includes car bill and a few other bits I had to pay up front for future events)
HSBC - Husband.................795.......20........17.5 (some of this is expenses, the rest is bits we HAD to buy for the new house e.g. wood for loft and bits for garden so we can have grass to play on this summer - to go on 0% ASAP)
Total unsecured debts..........9738......250.......- [/b]


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 3,434
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,997.68
Available for debt repayments........... 436.32
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 250
Amount left after debt repayments....... 102.32

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 358,340
Total HP & Secured debt................. -315,152
Total Unsecured debt.................... -9,738
Net Assets.............................. 33,450

crunch_time

Seasidegal58 wrote: »

Sorry to hear about the tax bill. But it sounds like hubby is having a bit of a light bulb moment so that's a positive.

I'd pay off the car bill with the long term savings. Do you think perhaps you should get an emergency fund going? If you had at least £500 as a start then things like the MOT wouldn't throw all your plans out. Perhaps allocate funds from the long term savings?

On the positive front it's great that you've received enquiries on your business already. Must have bucked you up no end!

Thanks seasidegal - regarding the HMRC bill it is for child benefit that we don't qualify for since husband earns above the threshold. He was told last year when he tried to cancel it that we would qualify for some so we carried on knowing that we would have to make a payment at somepoint. TBH as its to do with his salary I left him to it and buried my head in the sand. Husband has a different attitude to money than me - more fly by the seat of his pants. He thinks £3000 in savings is a lot and wants to spend it. I very much differ in opinion there.

He STILL hasn't changed the address on his ISA and needs to go into the city with documents to do it so I am going to get him to withdraw all the money £340, close the ISA for now and use it to go towards the car bill.

I've got to get a handle on this now before it gets out of control again.

Crunchy xx