£67,031.92 is a frightening number indeed....

Treadingonplaymobil

Silver_Queen wrote: »

Frankly, I think you're doing brilliantly

You've redecorated the whole of the front of your house without adding to the debt!

Which just shows how much we were mindlessly spending before, as we never would have thought we could afford to do such a thing!!

Suffolk_lass

I just wanted to say -


1. Your total debt repayment, based on the name of your diary is now 8.33% gone. Paid. No more. Well done - 10% should be your target by end of September!

2. I agree your MBNA card is a good target to pay off first - have you tried economising in your food shopping by eating out of your cupboards and freezer for a week? It works for me (but then I have enough for the next Suffolk siege) - you could pay that week's savings off your MBNA

3. All the nice things you buy - do you also sell the previous nice things you replace, or do you keep them in case they come back into your taste? - I sold a load of handbags to girls I worked with - good quality Radley work bags that I had used and moved from (some wrong colour, some wrong shape, some I grew bored with...) - just a thought

reality_check

I never really undertsand these SOA's but can you not remortgage and take a bit of your equity out? I really considered this to wipe my debt and have some savings, but won't teach me anything and I do want to start paying my mortgage down, so not taking my own 'advice' xx

Silver_Queen

I don't want to step on any toes but please please don't turn unsecured debt into secured debt :eek:

enthusiasticsaver

Turning unsecured debt into secured is not good. As I understand it all your credit card is on 0% isnt it?

The debt is going down so that is really good when your soa is so tight. When you overspend where does the overspend come from?

I am a bit :eek: about your water bill too and we live in the South West where water bills are expensive. Saying that though we pay £55 per month for two of us so for a family of five I guess it is not so far off. You are doing well to keep more or less to budget. Weekly pots are the way to go I think.

EssexHebridean

reality_check wrote: »

I never really undertsand these SOA's but can you not remortgage and take a bit of your equity out? I really considered this to wipe my debt and have some savings, but won't teach me anything and I do want to start paying my mortgage down, so not taking my own 'advice' xx

Don't take this the wrong way but please PLEASE don't advise people to do this. The worst that can happen generally speaking with unsecured debt is that you trash your credit history and have trouble getting further borrowing until it's cleared up. The worst that can happen with secured debt is that you lose your family's home. We just don't advocate people going down that route other than in very specific circumstances! Borrowing against your home to "have some savings" is even worse - and frankly, if you need to do that, then your budget needs revision.

Silver_Queen wrote: »

I don't want to step on any toes but please please don't turn unsecured debt into secured debt :eek:

Correct and well said.

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

Turning unsecured debt into secured is not good. As I understand it all your credit card is on 0% isnt it?

The debt is going down so that is really good when your soa is so tight. When you overspend where does the overspend come from?

I am a bit :eek: about your water bill too and we live in the South West where water bills are expensive. Saying that though we pay £55 per month for two of us so for a family of five I guess it is not so far off. You are doing well to keep more or less to budget. Weekly pots are the way to go I think.

South West is reknowned for high water bills which is why so many people in that area are on meters voluntarily as it's always going to work out cheaper than non-metered as I understand it!

Ways of saving water (generally not just aimed at TOPM):
Brick in the cistern - some water boards supply specific devices for this free of charge
Shower timers - or an agreement that for a "standard" shower a specific song is played and the shower has to be off by the time it ends.
If washing longer hair in the shower - wet it and yourself, turn off shower. Apply shampoo to hair and shower gel to body - turn shower back on and rinse.
If kids go swimming make sure they take shower gel and have a proper shower and definitely a hairwash at the pool.
In cooller weather a "stand up wash" is adequate every second day.
Small children can share a bath one at each end.
Taps are ALWAYS turned off while tooth-brushing happens, and a toothmug saves on water being run for rinsing.
For washing up - always run the hot in first and let down to temperature with the cold and always use...yes, you guessed it, A WASHING UP BOWL! :rotfl:
"If it's brown, flush it down, if it's yellow, let it mellow" is revoltingly American but can work - usually better in a smaller household though and can be tricky with kids as you don;t want them going to someone elses house and assuming it's OK to do the same thing...

Anyone got any more tips?

Cherryfudge

EssexHebridean wrote: »

"If it's brown, flush it down, if it's yellow, let it mellow" is revoltingly American but can work - usually better in a smaller household though and can be tricky with kids as you don;t want them going to someone elses house and assuming it's OK to do the same thing...

At the risk of lowering the tone considerably (sorry!) I think this dates back to the drought of 1976, and is British. :eek:

:rotfl:

Treadingonplaymobil

don't panic people, I'm not about to secure our unsecured debt. Lofty ideals of never securing unsecured debt are part of it, but to be honest for us a significant factor is that at some stage we will need to remortgage to extend the house, so we need to keep plugging away at both debt and mortgage repayments to make that happen asap.

Yesterday's lists (it's 4:30am, so practically yesterday, right?)...

to do today
1. Get on top of all budgeting, SOA, June roundup etc. Already done!
2. Menu plan and shopping list for the week. Done, and went food shopping too.
3. Get a couple of laundry loads out on the line. Done.
4. Plan week's work out. Done.
5. Plan July and August work time. Done.
6. Write camping shopping list. Not done.
7. feed the sourdough. Done.
8. Text various people about playdates and lift swaps to clubs for children - I have a long list of logistics to sort! Mostly done, a few more to sort.
9. Unpack and tidy away from weekend. Not done.
10. ironing. Not done. Funny how this one always gets neglected
11. Clean and declutter the children's room. Not done, DC3 napped in it for too long!

to do this week
1. Buy a washing up bowl!!! (bets on whether it happens?!).
2. Order camping gear needed.
3. Clean the house thoroughly one room at a time.
4. scribble out some plans for the architect to look at (don't panic, I'm not commissioning him for any work for the near future!).

Aims for July:
1. Pay some extra off the MBNA card - I'd like this card gone asap.
2. Pay for camping holiday commitments out of self employed income rather than adding to debt (it will mean not growing the cushion much more, but that can take precedence in September).
3. Stick to the budget even more closely than in June!

Treadingonplaymobil

Week 21: Day 3

Huge amounts to get through today - I think this is going to be a theme for the week! I have a contract for a piece of work that needs to be turned around quickly, so even though it isn't acres of money it's a lot of work because I need to find a spare 10hrs or so over the coming week, which is tricky with a schedule as tight as mine.

Spent more or less £100 on food shopping yesterday, which is not ideal with a monthly budget of £350. Difficult when you run out of everything simultaneously - I still feel like I'm missing a trick with food budgeting; we buy no booze and eat largely vegetarian (I bought a ham yesterday to make various ham pies/pasties, and it was the first meat I'd bought in 3 weeks), but buy tons of fruit and veg, a fair bit of milk/cheese/butter (no processed food at all), and things like laundry powder, tinfoil and baking paper, toilet roll etc made up about £15 of the shop. Hopefully all the stocking up will mean cheaper weeks ahead, but that doesn't always seem to pan out as planned.

to do today
1. More laundry!
2. Actually do the accompanying ironing.
3. Write camping shopping list.
4. Feed sourdough.
5. Text last few people to plan play dates/lift swaps etc.
6. Unpack and tidy away from weekend
7. Clean and declutter the children's room.
8. Cook ham.
9. Make ham and leek pasties for dinner (dinner on the run tonight thanks to various clubs).
10. 1hr of contract work.
11. Take nail varnish off (it's gel, so a pain to get off, but it's starting to chip).

to do this week
1. Buy a washing up bowl!!! (bets on whether it happens?!).
2. Order camping gear needed.
3. Clean the house thoroughly one room at a time.
4. scribble out some plans for the architect to look at (don't panic, I'm not commissioning him for any work for the near future!).

Aims for July:
1. Pay some extra off the MBNA card - I'd like this card gone asap.
2. Pay for camping holiday commitments out of self employed income rather than adding to debt (it will mean not growing the cushion much more, but that can take precedence in September).
3. Stick to the budget even more closely than in June!

[Deleted User]

Morning ToP,

Looks like a very busy day yesterday and an equally busier one today.

I like your goal to get rid of the MBNA, that's our burden too.

Have a great day xx