Spend Nowt, Buy Nowt, Owe Nowt

enthusiasticsaver

You have been battling this debt for what feels like such a long time so my choice would be to forego the expensive holiday and just get it cleared but obviously your decision. I seem to recall you have a substantial mortgage as well so getting rid of the unsecured debt means you can focus on that after?  Did you consolidate debt on to the mortgage? 

XSpender

apple_muncher said:

That being the land of lap with reindeer, not the one with 'specialist dancers' wouldn't it?! I understand the price tag now.

   Yes the one where Santa lives although we were not planning to spend much time on Christmas and more on activities while we were there.

XSpender

enthusiasticsaver said:

You have been battling this debt for what feels like such a long time so my choice would be to forego the expensive holiday and just get it cleared but obviously your decision. I seem to recall you have a substantial mortgage as well so getting rid of the unsecured debt means you can focus on that after?  Did you consolidate debt on to the mortgage? 

We were almost debt free, down to £5k and OPing the mortgage by £1000/month, and then we bought a new house in 2016.

Yes we do have a big mortgage and had to consolidate some of our debt 2 years ago to secure a much lower fixed rate as DH had just gone back to work after losing his job.  He was in his probationary period so our options were limited.  We will not be consolidating anything at all in November when we remortgage to secure a new fixed deal.  I am looking at maybe a 5 year fix if I can get a good rate.

While number crunching yesterday I calculated that if we took until the end of 2022 to be debt free and then split the £1000 we are paying on debt between retirement and mortgage OPs we could be mortgage free by 2032 which is 5 years early.  Ideally I would like to debt free by the end of 2021 and mortgage free by 2030 but even I can’t squeeze a fiver out of a quid.

apple_muncher

Ooh, I dunno. With your gazelle laser eyes I'll bet you could turn a penny into a pound... Especially now both of you are on this. Go team XS!

XSpender

apple_muncher said:

Ooh, I dunno. With your gazelle laser eyes I'll bet you could turn a penny into a pound... Especially now both of you are on this. Go team XS!

Thank apple, we are going to give it a shot!

We discovered a lovely new walk from our house and across the fields yesterday.  It was about 3 miles long which is enough for the old doggo.  Goodness me, though, when we got near the woods close to our house, there were so many people.  I have never seen it so busy and with so many people ignoring social distancing rules. It isn’t that difficult to walk in single file past people on a track and to wait until people have passed each other before trying to whiz past between them on bikes with your 5 year old 😡. I live in the region with the highest number of infections!!!

Work set me some PPE yesterday.  My company’s European parent is heavily involved in the safety industry.  No cover note, just turned up in a Jiffy bag!  

Went to Morrisons last night for my short list and of course spent more than we should.  The super cheap GF pasta was back in stock so stocked up as well as 5L of oil on offer and coffee on offer.  DH can’t use the coffee machine at work whilst they are in this stage of opening so is having to take in his own.  

We have chatted this morning about what DH will take for lunches.  He loves the SW ready meals but I think £3 each for them is too expensive and if I make him sandwiches he eats them mid morning even after having eggs on toast for breakfast. He has decided on jacket potatoes (from the big sack we bought recently) with home made SW toppings (chilli, curry, bolognaise, tuna) and chicken and rice.  I will do some batch cooking when roasting the pork tonight.  I also want to make my baked oats and flapjack and lemon cupcakes for snacks.

We have also agreed on a £20/month stock up fund to take advantage of offers and that we need to seriously reduce our food spending or it will derail all our plans.  We all need to get more organised, agree the meal plan, make a list and stick to it!  we should be able to mainly live out of the freezers for the rest of the month.

I have had to pull back some money from the savings pot to cover DH fuel for the next 2 weeks (wasn’t in the original budget as we didn’t expect him to return yet) and food over spending.

We bought some plants with the last of the garden budget earlier in the week which DH will plant today and also trim and put the utility room blind back up.  I bought some grey furniture paint to paint the old wall unit I have put in the utility and a wooden sideboard in the dining room.  I am also going to have a go at painting the utility under sink cupboard door and plinth.  It’s knackered and the melamine (is that the right material?) is coming off at the edges but it can’t look any worse than it does once I’ve painted it.  We were planning on replacing it but if the paint looks OK it will save us a few quid.

Today we will be going on the new walk again, a few jobs around the house, play some of DS birthday board games, and have roast pork with all the trimmings followed by syrup sponge and custard   

Suffolk_lass

Melamine is certainly a laminate finish (most often on tops) on surfaces of cupboards, and for chopping boards - just to say if it has a shiny surface it is worth using sandpaper to key it back (take the shine off) then wipe all the residual dust off before your first coat of paint. Most modern units have some sort of laminated top layer stuck onto some form of particle board (MDF on modern ones) - look out for chip board or OSB (bigger bits of wood chip or strands) as you mention the surface layer has started to separate. If the resin used to stick the bits together has been compromised by water, painting is unlikely to stop it deteriorating.

If that is the case you might be better looking out for an old pine unit on freecycle or similar to replace the unit.

brizzlegirl

All sounding great XS. You can do this and I love how OH is so on board. That is the game changer

I am also grieving loss of holidays for a big birthday..but think its inevitable and being DF will be one hell of a present I'd focus on that and then decreasing your mortgage. Also agree re being seen to listen to OH, it will help sustain his motivation I am sure

Have a great day x

XSpender

I crunched more numbers yesterday and my debt free date could be just before my 53rd birthday rather than a big holiday for our 50ths if we can increase our snowball by a couple of hundred after 2021.  The big goal is to be mortgage free before 60!

I was up early with DH this morning and have showered,  done a load of washing and hung it on the line, vacuumed downstairs and unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher and made DH lunch. DS didn’t get up until 8.30am!

We went for a long walk last night after dinner which gave us all a good night’s sleep.  When I eventually dropped off.  I don’t have a problem sleeping usually but am finding it difficult to get off to sleep at the moment.  Once I am asleep though I stay asleep.

DH and I have decided that I will have tea ready for 6pm while he is at work with his earlier closing times.  It is helping us stick to the meal plan and gives us time for a good walk after we have eaten.  I am hoping this is one of those routines we start in lockdown that carries on when life returns to normal even if 6pm becomes 6.30pm.

DS got through a good amount of home work yesterday.  The promise of having Friday off is doing the trick.  He also did a good job of watering the front and back gardens.

DH mate popped round yesterday to look at a piece of work for us but has referred it to a more specialist colleague.  I did feel uncomfortable with the idea of spending money   It does need doing but we will find a cheaper soloution.

Our food spending is as ridiculous as ever although it will be lower than last month.  I want to cut our food spending by £200/month and am really going to focus on this budget as it is our main area of consistent overspending and messes up my budget every month resulting in me having to move money from other pots to cover it.  I don’t think £400/month for all food, toiletries, cleaning and laundry, dog food, alcohol and the odd takeaway (usually fish and chips at a tenner) is unrealistic.  This would include DS school meals when he returns to school.

DH has suggested I go food shopping on my own this weekend as he knows he will add stuff we don’t need as I am better at sticking to list.  It’s not all DH doing, I am the main over-spender in this area.  I don’t know why I spend so much on food, I have always done this since I lived on my on at 19. We had plenty to eat as a kid, my mums a good family cook and I can cook.  I could give anyone good advice on how to cut food spending (meal plan, shop from home first, stick to a list etc etc) but can’t seem to do it myself.  Even when we really skint going through the IVA we were always a bit over budget.  It is definitely a behaviour problem rather than a lack of head-knowledge problem and I’m not sure how to resolve it.

apple_muncher

"I was up early with DH this morning and have showered, " ooh err missus! A good way to start the day...!

XSpender

apple_muncher said:

"I was up early with DH this morning and have showered, " ooh err missus! A good way to start the day...!

Ha ha apple No time for fun and games in this house in the short window DH has between waking up and leaving for work!!