Learning to budget to make future adventures happen

MistyMountainTop

You're doing so well, it must feel great to have paid off that credit card! I just found three old cards, I am going to enjoy shredding them later today.

I know companies aren't supposed to discriminate against mothers, but about 10 years ago when I was looking for a job, I lost count of how many interviews I had that were going really well until they found out I had young children and my hub worked full time, then they couldn't get me out the door soon enough. Is this the first time you've had to take time off because of your child? If it's frowned upon, what exactly do they expect you to do when your child is sick?

Seasidegal58

crunch_time wrote: »

Weird day at work yesterday. Nothing was said as such but I gather from conversations with people that taking a day off because your child is ill is frowned upon. I signed a form to say I was happy for my pay to be deducted and I am but the whole thing made me feel uncomfortable. It may have been because I didn't follow the exact protocol but my line manager hadn't given me the number to call. Very strange. I'm very used to a family friendly place. We shall see how it goes. I'm going to make notes to keep in case it happens again just with regards to how I was treated and what was said. The Important thing is I remained professional and I actually don't care as I did my best. I used to really worry about what people think but not anymore

Sounds very archaic! What are you supposed to do if your child isn't well? Not everyone can afford a live in nanny! I used to take my holiday days when DD was ill but that was 35 years ago. Good idea to keep the notes.

crunch_time

MistyMountainTop wrote: »

You're doing so well, it must feel great to have paid off that credit card! I just found three old cards, I am going to enjoy shredding them later today.

I know companies aren't supposed to discriminate against mothers, but about 10 years ago when I was looking for a job, I lost count of how many interviews I had that were going really well until they found out I had young children and my hub worked full time, then they couldn't get me out the door soon enough. Is this the first time you've had to take time off because of your child? If it's frowned upon, what exactly do they expect you to do when your child is sick?

That's awful mistymountaintop. I think mothers are so employable. We get s**t done despite all that is thrown at us!! Not saying that fathers don't do that but I know I have definitely become more efficient since becoming a mother, so is my husband.

I'm a teacher so its not like I can do my job from home at 50% whilst looking after a sick kid like my husband can - except when he is working away.

Nothing was said directly to me but when I mentioned to other staff that my child was ill and I had to take the day off unpaid they were like 'oooh I bet that went down well. They don't like that.'

Its weird because in my interview I got the impression it was a very family friendly place. Hey ho. Ill just keep plodding on doing my best but making notes just in case anything comes up in the future.

crunch_time

Seasidegal58 wrote: »

Sounds very archaic! What are you supposed to do if your child isn't well? Not everyone can afford a live in nanny! I used to take my holiday days when DD was ill but that was 35 years ago. Good idea to keep the notes.

Its a bit weird. See my response above to mistymountaintop. Id love to take holiday days but I'm a teacher so not allowed.

I'm just going to plod on and re-read the book 'the rules of work.' All about having a game plan and surviving the workplace.

Eventually I want to work for an education charity or something via Special needs teaching so I'm looking ahead to that and this is just a means to an end.

crunch_time

Morning diary

A chilly and frosty but bright one here today! I'm barefoot though due to my glorious underfloor heating!! DD is napping and husband has taken DS out to sainsbobs and to get car lights fixed. I'm supposed to be tidying the house for our dinner guests tonight but instead I'm catching up on here. He he!!

Checked bank balance this am and it was nice to see the credit card at 0. Woohoo!

I did some moving of money around. Husband and I have been saving money in our ISAs for the kiddies for the last 4 years. £20 a month for the first 3 years and then £40 a month and so on. SO they have a nice amount for a house deposit (probably) when they are 21. We are not telling them about it just doing it quietly on the side while teaching them the value of money etc etc etc. I was going to pay it into their own ISAs which currently just holds their christening money but I'm reluctant to because I want to control where is goes (I think) and don't want it frittered away on booze when they get access to it at 21.

So at the moment it is sitting in one of my online savings accounts at around £557. We pay roughly £71 a month into it and I'm not compromising on this. We had to raid the account earlier this year to pay off some debt so it is not happening again.

For the moment this is my absolute emergency fund. A real life or death, no other options pot. Completely out of bounds.

Meanwhile I have started another pot in another savings account called slush money. Currently £160. This is the real emergency fund start up which I will aim to get to £500 and then keep paying into it another £900 for a new mattress. This means I will only be paying £300 a month towards the loan at the moment, an overpayment of just £25 because I like round figures.

I did consider buying a new mattress on credit card and then transferring the balance onto the 0% card but this is just robbing Peter to pay Paul and not helping our 'changing our attitude towards money' plan.

I have also got £350 sitting in another savings pot for December childcare bills. There may be some change because Ds hasn't been to before school club a couple of times so that has saved me £8 here or there. But that change will go into the emergency/mattress pot.

This is my plan and I'm not going back on it. No extra payments towards the loan for the time being, however tempting it is to get to sub £10k before Christmas.

If I'm good with our budget and stick to it in December then there should be £400 on the 19th December to sling into this pot and nearly £800 on January 19th.

Must remember that this journey is not about paying it off quickly but paying it off quickly in a sustainable way by making better choices.

Happy Saturday everyone! Off to start the cleaning.

Crunchy xx

Seasidegal58

It's lovely that you are saving for the children.

Enjoy your dinner party!

crunch_time

Seasidegal58 wrote: »

It's lovely that you are saving for the children.

Enjoy your dinner party!

Thank you! It was lovely thanks. Husband is such a good cook. I had 3 glasses of wine and just felt nicely merry which was lovely.

We spoke a lot about money with our friends last night. Mutual acquaintances who are a couple seem to be very flashy with the clash at the moment and looking to upgrade there house even though they don't need to, there current house is fine for their needs and the wife has admitted she just wants to move because she is bored after her super detailed wedding this summer. OMG! The feeling of ridiculousness was felt by all and a mutual agreement about not wanting a massive mortgage but it lead to a discussion about future goals. It was nice to talk about ours openly. About our travel plans and how we are saving our money and not going abroad now because we want the children to be old enough to appreciate it etc etc. I said the husband after they had gone that it sounds like we are literally saving now for all these abroad trips we keep dreaming about but the reality is we have whopping debt and no savings at all!! How I wish that was a reality. Its made me even more determined.

I was reading a blog called nomorehavarddebt (google it if you are interested) and it was really interesting reading about someone's honest attempt at paying off $90k of student loans in 10 months just through sheer hard work. I found it very inspirational.

Id so like to be there now just so I can get on with my life! Do I really need to chuck everything at the loan and get it paid off in a year? If we took the scenic route and said 2 years then £450 a month and would be paid off just in time for our current mortgage offer to expire. We would then have £50k equity in the house and be ready to move the following Spring 2019 at the earliest.

Meanwhile the extra money could go towards a £1k emergency fund and the towards saving for 3 months of expenses and then we could save up for fees towards the next house move so it doesn't come out of equity.

I love the all or nothing approach but it makes me feel anxious sometimes that we don't have any savings and we are in our late 30's.

Its giving me lots of food for thought. I'm not ready to change the strategy yet though so minimum payments to the loan it is.

Crunchy xx

Siebrie

My advice would be to pay it all off asap, while the kids are still young, you are both employed and have good health. You never know what is around the corner, you may want to ve flexible without debt limiting your options, and the children can be easily pleased at this age.
Good luck!

MistyMountainTop

If taking two years to pay it off will mean you have an emergency fund and 3 mos living expenses saved, I would be tempted to go down that route, only because the unexpected often happens and if you are prepared, it won't devastate your financial situation.

MistyMountainTop

Is there some way to read the Nomoreharvarddebt blog from the beginning to the end? Sorry if it seems a daft question, I'd like to start at the start and at the moment can't even find it.