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

wishingthemortgaheaway

Just wondering if it's time to revisit the mobile phone contracts again? I know you use your phone for work and the camera is particularly important to you, but how long have you got until the contract ends?
At that point could you go sim only and keep your current phone?

mfmaybe

Are "house stuff" and "household supplies" 2 different categories? They are the same amount? You've also got house maintenance so I'm sure it's not an error, but just in case...

You have this down to a fine art! My only real comment is that I feel you have a pretty generous entertainment budget, given that it doesn't include your own personal kitties, pocket money, swimming, cubs, netflix, national trust, football, (and iirc you have a zoo membership?). I'm very much of the "spend your money however you want" camp, so I'm only highlighting it because any savings here could help the extension fund.

Beyond that, I think you are doing fantastically as always. I'm sorry you feel a bit down and unwell. Being a grown up is so not what I thought it would be. I feel like I must be doing it wrong somehow.

Luno

Hi TOPM,

Just wanted to say that you're doing really well. I too have never reconciled my love of the finer things with the need to budget and find it tedious at best. I don't get any joy in digging out a bargain and to be honest would rather buy things in the high end store (the only way I've found to combat this is not to go shopping!) It's the constant nature of it with the realisation its for life that makes it even more difficult. I love that you are showing its possible to those of us who aren't naturally frugal at heart!

Treadingonplaymobil

Week 91: Day 2

Thanks to all of you for posting yesterday, it really did help - lovely how many of you come out of the woodwork to post encouragement when I'm feeling down. :grouphug: Dodgy hug emoji all round.

Honeybug and positivebalance thanks for the support.

Verbatim huge water bill is due to living in the South West - most expensive water in Britain!

BalanceBy50 I don't take echinacea but will have a google today to see whether it might help - I'm prepared to consider anything! Was up half the night coughing last night.

wishingthemortgageaway there's aaaaaages left on current phone contracts, but it is in the back of my mind for when they expire.

mfmaybe we quite often don't spend the whole entertainment budget, but if we don't it just gets absorbed propping up other shortfalls (unexpected kids spends, minor breakages etc).

Luno I'm the same, and frequently just do without rather than buying the less pleasing cheap option (which I suppose is sort of a win in the end!). I have resigned myself to the fact that I get no joy from bargain hunting.

Not feeling particularly more upbeat today, but more resigned and just determined to get on with it. Stopping isn't an option if we want to do the extension, so it's a case of ploughing on and hoping for a minor miracle with my income.

To do this week
1. Contract work for next week.
2. Make something to build up the packed lunch supplies in the freezer.
3. Order the children some clothes (my amazing mum has said she will buy a new winter coat for the two who need them, and warm trousers for all three).
4. Finish first products for website.
5. Bake another batch of sourdough - the weekend cleared us out! Just about to go in the oven.
6. Make a couple of batches of flapjacks.
7. NO FOOD SHOPPING apart from fruit or things to complete a meal using the contents of the cupboards until the cupboards are significantly emptier.
8. Redo SOA.

November money goals:
- £1.74/31 November rounding down pot.
- £4,157.49/£5,000 2018 debt repayment goal.
- £0/775 income for December (still working towards my minimum monthly costs of £138. Almost there now).

Suffolk_lass

Just to add 2 things,

1. Don't forget that some of your pots are for next year's budgets - so I recall you being ever so slightly thrilled when you had what you needed for something like car insurance, for the first time this year. You now save for all those pots in advance, where in previous years you were paying back credit cards. No wonder you feel stretched.
2. The other biggie in there is that all your unsecured debt is now showing at 0% APR. It might mean you have £s allocated to its payment but at least £60-odd pounds of that is not just servicing it. It is actually reducing by the whole amount. :T:T

dangers

Hi TOPM, coming out of lurkdom to also query your water bill as I’m in the South West as well. There are four of us in the house - and one of us likes a very long shower every day!

We’re metered and our bill is around £50per month. This works well for us as our CT band is a G so I dread to think what it would go up to. The £50 is comparable to our old non-metered house which was an E.

Good luck with your continued debt busting.

Verbatim

And doesn't the SW get a refund because it's so expensive? Has that been factored in?

PositiveBalance

Suffolk lass is right. I've noticed there are three stages to this debt - busting lark:

1) Living beyond your means (AKA how to end up on MSE).

2) Living at your means (AKA realising all the things you should have been paying for out of your wages but were flinging on a CC/covering with a loan etc.) and payingvthem out of your wages.

3) Living beneath your means (AKA paying everything you should from stage 2 from your wages and having a bit left over to pay off the debts accrued in stage 1).


You are between stages 2 and 3 while doing stage 1 simultaneously for the extension.

No wonder you are feeling a bit harried! :rotfl:

enthusiasticsaver

On the plus side you are budgeting for everything and I know you use YNAB and use savings pots so that is good. I would have preferred a larger monthly contribution to the emergency fund but as you say your budget is so tight and you are having to save for an extension you obviously cannot afford but also having five people in a two bed cottage is unsustainable when your eldest is approaching his teens. Catch 22 situation.

Another plus is the unsecured debt is all on 0% but it is creeping up again and I know you intend using credit for Christmas so it will go up further which will give you further problems for when you need finance for the extension. The parental debt however will not be seen so that may not be so much of an issue but of course for you it still exists.

Your budget looks realistic for you given you don't like to compromise on quality of food, clothes for your children and shop as ethically as possible which is not cheap. Shopping at Aldi on budget food only and primark for clothes will fit better in your budget but that involves a level of compromise in the past you have not wanted to make.

Only you know how much income you can realistically budget for and as a self employed person over estimating it is dangerous so putting it down seems sensible if you are not confident of making £750 net each month. It does not sound a lot for the amount of effort you seem to make daily but it is your call as to whether you carry on in self employment or move towards paid work now your children are all at school but we have debated this at length in the past and I know you are convinced you would be no better off. One thing I would say is that maybe you should aim for quieter weekends as you always seem to be hosting friends or going off to friends which do work out expensive once you factor meals out, gifts etc in. Of course there is also the fuel involved in getting to all these places too and the wear and tear on a car which is approaching the end of its life.


Great that your mum has offered to buy some winter clothes for your kids at least. As you say ploughing on seems to be the only way forward and I am sorry I cannot offer any advice which has not already been offered in the past. I don't think your water bill is extraordinarily high given you live in the south west. Ours is £53 and there are just two of us and we live in Cornwall. The government rebate which is about £5 per month goes no where near enough towards reimbursing the high costs.


I hope things improve for you soon or that at least you feel less depressed about it or all this has been for nothing. Personally I would rather use the £350 extension savings for November and December to covering Christmas costs rather than put more on credit.

Treadingonplaymobil

Week 91: Day 3

Thanks again for your comments. I'm not exactly feeling better about it today - maybe just even more resigned! - but I'm not in as much of a grump.

We've had our water checked for leaks, and our bill is below average for a family of five, it just is that expensive round here.

Fingers crossed that my website will be making me some scraps of money within the next couple of months, which can be used to meet our needs and also to grow the business.

We seem to be making very little progress through the acres and acres of food in the house - I need to nip out for veg and yoghurt today, but other than that we still seem to have tons of everything, including a kilo of lamb in the freezer (our friends arrived late last Friday so we fed them one meal less than expected). Can't complain - we've spent a lot on food over the past few weeks, so it's good to have a cheaper week! We have very few social things on weekends for the next few weeks which is absolutely lovely, I'm really looking forward to some weekends at home.

To do this week
1. Contract work for next week.
2. Make something to build up the packed lunch supplies in the freezer.
3. Order the children some clothes (my amazing mum has said she will buy a new winter coat for the two who need them, and warm trousers for all three).
4. Finish first products for website. Going well.
5. Bake another batch of sourdough - the weekend cleared us out!
6. Make a couple of batches of flapjacks.
7. NO FOOD SHOPPING apart from fruit or things to complete a meal using the contents of the cupboards until the cupboards are significantly emptier.
8. Redo SOA.

November money goals:
- £2.05/31 November rounding down pot.
- £4,157.49/£5,000 2018 debt repayment goal.
- £0/775 income for December (still working towards my minimum monthly costs of £138. Almost there now).