Second time lucky... debt free diary.

WannabeFree

Well done on sorting through a new SOA and changing providers.

I still use Giffgaff, having looked around no one could beat what I get for my money now. Plus I'm not tied into anything and can choose a bigger bundle when I know I'll need it (holidays etc) and go straight back down to the £7.50pm one when I'm home.

x

charlies_tribe

Oops! That last month has flown by! I didn't even post a first of month update.
We are still doing ok. Min payments being paid. I have been giving YNAB another go and its not going too bad. I was actually very surprised at how much we had 'spare' in the bank over the 11 accounts (i have lots of saving accounts to divide up the budget). Lots of things in the unbudgeted category makes me realise how much was frittered away. But our money is already reaching 26 days old so we aren't doing to bad.
We have straightened up all the accounts so that they started the month with what should be budgeted and an extra tax credits payment and we have actually bought DD1 a car and paid for tax and insurance outright. It has drained the emergency fund at the minute but we are going to go on a huge clear out to see if we can try to put it back.
We do have the whole of august's budget covered and £850 towards September though so do have a fall back if needed. Once she passes it will make home life a lot easier for us all.

So our target is to make back the car spends (car/tax/insurance) just by selling our clutter £0/£2235

Month 15 update looked like this..

Loan: - £0!
mbna1: - £0!
lloyds: - £0!
mbna2: - £7232
barclay: - £8284
tesco: - £7057
sofa: - £3038

Total - £25611

£7943/£33554 (23.6%) paid

Cherryfudge

You sound tremendously organised! Especially well done for having August and part of September covered in advance.

Hopefully with some good sales you will soon be putting emergency money back in the pot, and the added convenience of another car and driver will make life easier in other ways. I expect your daughter is happy!

You've reminded me I have a few sales items that I need to bump if they haven't already timed out on FB marketplace.

Mumoffourkids

Wow you are doing so well and being super organised with your money.

I agree totally with you buying your daughter a car in how much easier it will make life for you. It’s something I have been thinking about for when my eldest turns 17 next year.

Keep going and I am sure you will make back the money for the car very soon!

charlies_tribe

Thank you both. She is so excited. It only arrived yesterday and DH has been on nights so she hasn't been able to go out in it yet. It has been a compromise as the one thing i always wanted to do was lessons and a car. There is no way i can do that every 2 years for the next 10 years. So we all decided that it was our car, DD1 gets it for 2 years to pass her test and save for her own car and then DS1 gets to use it to get him through his test etc.. As we are paying for her lessons too (£28 an hour!), she has been asked to help with gymnastics/swimming lesson runs and shopping trips as online orders have been terrible just lately and i would love to be able to just go shopping and i'm sure it would save money as we seem to throw way to much away.
I really wish i had done mine all those years ago.

charlies_tribe

We were running late last night and did think about ordering takeaway (for the 3rd time in 3 weeks!) but i sent DH shopping and we had 4 pizzas for £4.77. We only had the girls last night so 1 pizza still in freezer and DH had the leftovers this morning before he went to bed.

Today has been a busy day starting on the cleaning. I'm really struggling today. I received a phone call last night and thought the person had finally decided to see how we were after a year of no contact. It wasn't actually said person, it was someone using their phone to ask to borrow something for someone else that also hasn't spoken to me for a long long time. The months of councilling and anti d's weren't enough today so i've been trying to keep busy to stop the tears.

Still nothing to sell yet though but today has been a NSD. Not sure what is for dinner today though as i forgot to put the joint in the slow cooker and just noticed the pack of pork steaks is sliced open on the edge and seems to have one missing so don't really fancy them, not knowing who has had their hands in the pack and they've been in the fridge, open since Wednesday.

charlies_tribe

First week of the holidays done and it has been a quiet week. We only get Thursdays off together so it is our 'big day out' day. This week was the seaside. We took a picnic for lunch. I did take them all a £1 bag of 2p's for the arcade but as the weather was so fantastic we didn't leave the beach until 7.30. I did tell them they could have any ice cream form the van so 6 ice creams cost a whopping £16 and chippy tea cost almost £40! so not as cheap as i was hoping.

Yesterday was the girls gym presentation evening. They did great and DD2 got Star of the Class trophy too. I put £5 into the raffles/tombolas (and didn't win a thing) and then had to buy Christmas concert tickets at £36.50.

Today it is throwing it down so having a day at home so should be a NSD.

My YNAB has expired today too and i was just getting used to it. I'm still considering the £38 a year charge. It did help to see where we were spending on things that weren't budgeted.

WannabeFree

You're doing so well CT.

I hope you told the person NO! Don't let it get you down too long. Some people aren't worth making yourself unwell for

x

charlies_tribe

Thank you WF.
I told them i'd ask DH when he got in from work as it's his and ring them back. DH said they went in and saw him at work and i haven't even asked what he said to them (does that sound really mean?).

Yesterday was a NSD. DH fetched bread and milk this morning but we really need to do a big shop. The rest of the day should be spend free as DH in bed this morning and then its gymnastics, cheerleading and swimming this afternoon so not much time for spending.

Checked the bank this morning and a second payment for a CC has come out that i wasn't expecting. I went to update YNAB and realised it wasn't working. It had become routine to fill it in after checking bank.

Right, better go do some cleaning and washing before i'm back to work tomorrow.

Cherryfudge

Sorry to hear these people have caused you such upset. I hope today is better. x