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

Treadingonplaymobil

JoJoC wrote: »

Excellent! £285 would be amazing! Will you split that according to your normal percentages for each pot?

Yes, although I am giving DH a whopping £20 to go for a beer on the weekend too and there won't be the usual business account deductions as I didn't earn it, so it will be another £30 off the debt and about another £70 in the extension pot, alongside various other things.

That £70 in the extension pot has brought the shortfall for the £5k we want to save for extension costs down to under £1,500 extra (on top of the regular £290 we save each month) to save over the course of this year. I'm really happy with that.

Also the extra debt payment takes this month's payments over the £400 mark for May, which is satisfying - I always feel like I've made major overpayments if I get over £400 (minimum payments are around £280 now, so it's at least £120 extra).

JoJoC

That's fantastic, and a lovely way to begin your weekend. A high note!

And I do think your husband deserves that £20 for a beer - it's nice to have a treat now and again

Treadingonplaymobil

JoJoC wrote: »

That's fantastic, and a lovely way to begin your weekend. A high note!

And I do think your husband deserves that £20 for a beer - it's nice to have a treat now and again

He got to see absolutely zip from his bonus, poor chap probably deserves £20!

Treadingonplaymobil

Week 66: Day 6

The student loan payment is showing in the bank, so I have paid the extra off the barclaycard. No exciting milestones reached, although I have brought the total paid this year to £2,444.01. The Virgin card will come out in a few days (£28), which means if I can find another £28 on top of that I'll be over £2,500 repaid so far this year before the end of May. Hoping for a non-spendy weekend, which will make that more possible.

I've also put some towards the £5k extension savings target for the year, so my daily earnings target has dropped almost £2 to £26.31. Amazing to think it was £45.80 when I first worked it out in April - I earned a couple of good chunks of money and DH's bonus brought it down significantly. It's still not down to my average daily earnings for the first part of this year, which were £21.80. I don't think I'll feel we've got a real chance of achieving it until I get down to that level. After half term I have very few clients booked in so hopefully can do some ebaying of bits and bobs, as well as my usual contract work, to keep the daily earnings up.

Summer is always such a challenge for me in terms of work (anyone who has followed along long term will know how much everything fell to pieces last summer when I more or less stopped earning for four months), but I'm fractionally more prepared this year - I have expenses and minimum salary saved in my business account to take me through until the end of August already, and my invoicing at the end of this month will sort September out as well. I also have a fairly paltry £22 saved in the 'summer kitty' pot (I am dropping a portion of any unspent family entertainment kitty in there each week), which I'm hoping will grow a little more and give me some extra money to spend during the summer holidays - I have never budgeted extra for doing things with the DCs during the hols, which has always been unrealistic and has further trashed our budgets.

To do yesterday
1. Bake biscuits for playdate this morning.
2. Bake something to take this weekend.
3. Packing list/pack for weekend. Have only done a packing list, will pack in a mad rush this morning!
4. Finish contract work for 28/5
5. Tidy house a bit!

To do today
1. Pack for weekend away.
2. Clear emails.
3. Wrap present for the party we're going to later.

Mini goals:
- £30.95/30 May rounding down pot.
- £2,444.01/£5,000 2018 debt repayment goal.
- £26.31 daily earning goal.

Suffolk_lass

Of course your £20 book could be your £20 treat out of your DH's bonus loan OP re-payment. I wonder if you could record some of your savings pot totals to make you feel better about the reducing debt? I do this, with an off-setting spreadsheet that records the "savings" pot totals and balances them against the debt. I am almost break-even now, but the debt is still running. It just means I have peace of mind that I do have the means to clear it if I had to.
I'm also at the point where my mortgage costs me £2 a day in interest.

I know it is just another thing to keep records of, on one level, but when you feel frustrated at how slowly the debt is reducing, it really does help me.

earthgirl

Great news on the extra income!

Due to a change in family circumstances I'm having a thrifty summer with my kids. On the look out for free events, there are normally some at the country parks and sports centres. I've also made a big list of things to do, with all the resources ready. Think you did a big bucket list last year which was a great idea!

If they ask to do a football camp etc the money can come as a present from a relative as they have summer birthdays but don't need more "things".

Treadingonplaymobil

Week 67: Day 1

Good morning! Another Monday morning. I am sat looking at the utter pigsty that is my sitting room and realising I probably need to unpack from the weekend before doing anything else today.

Had a good sit down with a friend yesterday and decided we are going to have a go at a bit of mutual 'life coaching' as we both feel we need someone to hold us accountable to work/personal/financial goals. I am self employed and she wants to be (on maternity leave and doesn't want to go back), so neither of us have the motivation of colleagues or the routine of going to an office each day. We are giving it a bit of a test run for June, but the idea is that we set three clear, measurable goals for the month, check in weekly to see how we're going, then have a proper meet up once a month to asses, review and set new goals. I've been thinking for a while that I'd like to do some life/business coaching (but don't have the budget available), but I'm hoping this will be a good substitute. Although that time together once a month will take some time out of my working week, I think it will be beneficial in the long run as the process will enable me to start to work 'smarter' (as we have often discussed on here). This friend is the only one who know about the debt too, so it's helpful that she is seeing everything in the right context too, when I set earnings/working hour goals etc.

It's meant to be 20 degrees today, and I'm going for a work meeting to a seaside town today - hoping for a picnic lunch on the beach afterwards.

No major financial updates to report. I'm in 'limp to the end of the month' mode. There's enough money left in every pot there needs to be, I think, although we're certainly not looking at an enormous surplus (there's a surprise).

To do today
1. Clear the laundry from the weekend.
2. Unpack!
3. Do some of the ironing mountain.
4. Email friend re life coaching to plan dates for next meeting.
5. Social media post for work.
6. Menu plan for week.
7. Either go food shopping during the day or send DH a list to go on the way home (this is an interim week in our fortnightly food shops, so not too much needed).

Mini goals:
- £31.61/30 May rounding down pot.
- £2,444.01/£5,000 2018 debt repayment goal.
- £26.40 daily earning goal.

enthusiasticsaver

Being held accountable by someone in RL is I think a good idea. Never done life or business coaching but my cousin runs his own company and seems to do very well out of it. As you say though I think it is about looking at long term aims and deciding on short term goals to motivate you to get to that point.

crunch_time

I!!!8217;ve been listening to a freea podcast by an American lady called Brooke Castillo who runs The Life Coach School. It has literally changed my life. The way she talks to you through the podcast feels like you are actually getting free life coaching. I!!!8217;m currently setting up a business and it has helped me with my mindset for everything including goals and financials. It really is amazing. Each one is 20 - 45 mins and I listen in dog walks, in the bath, on the school run. There are over 200 of them and I am steadily working through them.

I can!!!8217;t rate them highly enough! Even my husband likes them. Honestly if more people knew about her the world would change.

Check it out!!

Treadingonplaymobil

Crunch_time thanks for the tip, I do like a good podcast! I'll be sure to have a listen.

Got a client booking (with attendant payment) today, so have paid about £8 off the debt, as per my division percentages, and added another £15 to the extension pot. I've now paid an extra £140 off the debt this month, on top of the minimums, thanks to my division percentages and rounding down pots, which feels rather pleasing.

To do today
1. Clear the laundry from the weekend.
2. Unpack!
3. Do some of the ironing mountain.
4. Email friend re life coaching to plan dates for next meeting. Will have to do this tomorrow.
5. Social media post for work. Fail.
6. Menu plan for week.
7. Either go food shopping during the day or send DH a list to go on the way home (this is an interim week in our fortnightly food shops, so not too much needed).

Mini goals:
- £32.73/30 May rounding down pot.
- £2,452.34/£5,000 2018 debt repayment goal.
- £26.40 daily earning goal.