£16,000 debt, turning regret into positive action.

GlendaSugarbean

Congratulations on making that last payment - that will feel great

LadyP01

Starting to feel a bit better. Didn't get round to the payment last night as I worked late but I'll do it tonight.

We asked for a deal from his loan company for an early resettlement and it's going to save us £950 overall. So we have smashed out first £1000 in the first month.
This is the times it's easy to reduce overall debt so I'm trying to hammer everything down.

GlendaSugarbean

Great progress! :j

Thistlewhistle

Boom! Well done on taking a bit bite of the cherry!

LadyP01

October already... how has that passed so quickly.

Finances done for the month.

I paid the card off last month so no debt from me this month....winningggggggggggg.

First month to be free what a nice feeling although it actually doesn't feel very different as I'm still trying to save up and pay bills. I did think it would feel completely different but not had that moment yet.

Financial breakdown....

Payrise came in this month... whoop
All bills paid leaving me with £475 to put into the wedding budget.

OH spends will be done tonight together... we know his pay was mucked up again... his basic is there but no extras but we can wait till next month for them to add it all in. The tax won't change on them.

Hopefully he will be able to match my wedding Input and we're be nearly a grand extra in for the month.

Let's hope I'm not posting in tears tonight. Everyone cross your fingers for me.

GlendaSugarbean

All the best for your budget chat! Great news on the zero debt, pay rise and wedding savings

Cherryfudge

Wow. I'm away for a month and come back to find a rollercoaster... lovely news that you're getting married and your OH is willing to make an effort towards sorting out the finances, but harrowing for you to have these conversations with him.

You really are doing an amazing job with your own finances, by the way. Would he perhaps trust you to be the main manager of both of your finances, in the hope that he will gradually come to be less fearful of tackling them as he sees what can be done? My DH lives within his means but hates anything to do with actually looking at finances. The only bit he can handle is getting better deals on insurance and utilities, so I make sure money goes into savings and mortgage overpayments and occasionally tell him not to worry as we have enough. It seems to work for us but we're at a different stage of life and don't have a wedding to plan.
Well done again for paying off your debts . Maybe the reality of that will hit home once the savings start to mount up.

LadyP01

Hey cherry fudge thank you it feels so amazing Iv been gone for a while and that's purely because the weight has been lifted off my shoulders and it feels amazing.
I have taken over the joint finances together and it comes with tantrums and everything it's so hard to watch because he knows that I'm right and then I let him have what he wants but with the consequence that he has to go without elsewhere and he goes and thinks about it and always comes back with what I suggested as I know that's what he prefers. As the weeks have gone on he has improved and a lot of the time he's now coming up with the solutions himself and he's seeing his mistakes and owning up a lot quicker.

Noones perfect heck we are all here because we are just as bad as him but he struggles with taking ownership and changing his ways as he can't see the bigger picture but he trusts that I can.

What I have learnt through this though is how quickly everyone is to tell him that it's ok to have debt and that if he wants to do something do it and worry about paying later. They are trying to make him believe that debt free is a myth and no adult lives debt free these days. I find that shocking and I can't believe that society is happy to just all live in debt while we have brexit so uncertain and our financial futures are a mystery.

Saving for the wedding is going really well. We have been putting all our spare money into is and the oh only has a little bit of debt left to pay after I paid some of it off with the wedding money.
We will be ok as long as we don't go crazy. God weddings cost the earth.

We also need to start saving for a house after the wedding so we need to remain frugal as possible.

This month was the turning point for him he's had two weeks off and spent all
His money before hand leaving him £3! He stuck to his budget so well!!! Searching deals for free drinks with friends and eating at home. We had our joint fund that was a big pot this month so we did lots of things together but honestly it couldn't have been easy and he still have £1.60 left the other day so I'm pleased with that.

Listen to me ranting after Iv been away for so long.

I have next months budget to do this week! DECEMBER ALREADY and o still have money left this month with one day to go so I'll type it all up when I do it.
Also need to keep reminding myself that's it's a budget Christmas! And not a splurge god it's difficult.

LadyP01

End of month finance check
~~~~~~~~~~~

I have £104.76 left out of my little pot of spending. This month has been a really good month for me. Actually the best in a long time, being debt free and having a bigger social pot to spend from I feel like Iv been living in luxury and I still have money left!

Handy with December around the corner. Mainly why I'm back here as I want to keep on the straight and narrow.

Iv saved £460 over the year for Christmas presents and I have set budgets for everyone. We also need to buy some food shopping aswell.
December pay is left for socialising with people. We just discussed what we would like to do and what budget we have set. (We are keeping to normal budgets seperatly and have increased our joint by £100 to include meals with friends and New Year's Eve.

Pretty positive month ahead really. Just need to get those presents on a budget sorted!

Cherryfudge

That's fantastic! It really sounds as though he's putting heart and soul into it. Have a lovely December .