Head out of sand time! £63k to zero!

enthusiasticsaver

You are doing well so far. 11% of your annual target for debt repayment reached in just one month. February is a good month especially as it is a short one. No council tax is good too.

Bigskies

But of a tricky week so far, money wise. Middle child has said he wants driving lessons for his birthday, which is fine (I’m not even considering the whole car and insurance thing if/when he passes as that’s terrifying from a financial perspective!) So I asked him if he’d applied for his provisional licence. No, he hadn’t so off he went to do it, and then returned as needed thirty four quid to pay for it! :cool: Eldest has no interest in driving, so hadn’t done this since I applied for mine *mumble* years ago.

Then he also needed thirty quid for music books, and forty quid for a music course his teacher needed him to do. So over £100 later that was that! I’ve managed to claw back some from pots I’d saved, but didn’t have the full amount, so it’s a bit tight now, and will need to pull back he grocery spend accordingly this month.

(He’s an exceptionally gifted musician and prepping for application/auditions for a top Uni, advanced music diplomas, *AND* A Levels, so not prepared to send him out to work, although he’s cost me a packet over the years! I’m hopefully one day it will reap rewards! :rotfl: )

So, all in all, a spendy week. This weekend should be less so, hopefully. Off to Lidl for food shop later, and sticking some more bits on eBay.

try_harder

Wow great ebax sales. I usually aim for £10 a day overall but not done so good lately so im aiming for £150 this month i will be very happy with that.

Busy_Mee1

Hi Big Skies just thought I would pop in and say hello.
I have 2 children (now in their 20s) and always maintain that there are two very expensive times in a child!!!8217;s life. The first is the 0- 5 age group until they go to full time school, as you either have to pay eye watering child care costs or lose a second income. The second period is the university years. Both of mine went so we had 7 years of supporting them. The eldest was very bright and he had all sorts of additional costs and couldn!!!8217;t work during his course. The youngest did work but still needed some support. They both have very good jobs now though... so it is worth it in the end and now they are both the off the pay roll we are focussed on paying off our mortgage.

You are doing a fab job of paying down your debt btw, you just need to keep focussed.

Busy_Mee1

PS Try to persuade them towards the Northern universities as accommodation costs are much cheaper than those in the South.

Bigskies

Busy_Mee1 wrote: »

Hi Big Skies just thought I would pop in and say hello.
I have 2 children (now in their 20s) and always maintain that there are two very expensive times in a child!!!8217;s life. The first is the 0- 5 age group until they go to full time school, as you either have to pay eye watering child care costs or lose a second income. The second period is the university years. Both of mine went so we had 7 years of supporting them. The eldest was very bright and he had all sorts of additional costs and couldn!!!8217;t work during his course. The youngest did work but still needed some support. They both have very good jobs now though... so it is worth it in the end and now they are both the off the pay roll we are focussed on paying off our mortgage.

You are doing a fab job of paying down your debt btw, you just need to keep focussed.

Thank you. Yes, having done the sums it’s likely we will be paying £1000 a month for the kids when they are at uni. :eek:
And then as soon as eldest two graduate, the youngest will be off!

Bigskies

Relatively quiet week so far. No eBay sales at all this week, things are slowing down....everyone is clearly skint! :rotfl: Did make a large sale on FB, which will go towards my sales total this month, but is already accounted for so won’t come off debt, but will cover a large expense at the end of the year, which had it occurred last year would have gone on a credit card, so I count that as a win!
Cheap weekend planned, we’ve all got horrid colds, so won’t be doing anything other than the normal food shop.

Bigskies

End of month update: this month have cleared a further £1278.58 off our total, which is great. It’s been a tough month, with lots of extra spends, so different pots have taken a hammering, but one loan ends next month and then the emergency fund will get started. eBay sales have been slow this month, but nearly everything is gone so will need to sort out some more bits to list! Need to update sig with new totals!

Bigskies

Sigs all updated. Total now 65.8k which still gives me palpitations but it has gone down two months in a row now, which is amazing. I do find keeping motivation up week after week really hard when you are at work and unable to spend a lot of time viewing threads on here, and posting. And updating totals on a monthly basis does not help, but it is the only way I can do it, as only update once the bills are all in. Still, as the numbers go down it will become more motivating!
This week is a quiet one really, not much planned as were both at work all week. I am hoping to hit my target at Slimming World either this week or next week, which will save a fiver a week! Was considering a gym membership, but have given myself a talking to as I literally do not have the time to go so know it will be a complete waste of cash, and I can just go out for a walk or bike ride if I feel the need!

System

Hey BS at least it's gone down and not up , which is brilliant. It's a journey , with bends in the road. Keep going , you just need to be focussed and readjust if necessary.

Everyone is different , but we all have the same goal (I think).