Spend Nowt, Buy Nowt, Owe Nowt

XSpender

Horrible day at work ending with me in tears (in my home office so nobody there to embarrass myself in front of ). I would be drowning my sorrows in a big glass of wine if it wasn't for Go Sober for October!

I have been umming and ahhing about looking for a new job as I like the client company I am working for but not the project I am working on as it as been badly run by the client and by the account manager at my company with me and my team stuck in the middle. It's also not my usual type of work and I don't really enjoy it but there are reasons I ended up on this contract. I applied for a job this afternoon that I have had my eye on for a while although I am not an ideal match for it I thought I might as well have a go.

DH and I had a nice afternoon shopping yesterday although we did buy more than planned. DH got an extra 2 jumpers (both in the sale) and I got 4 items; 3 in the sale and 1 with £35 off as I had department store loyalty points for this much. I really wanted 1 dress to do all my events but I couldn't find anything that was suitable for them all as they are quite different events so have 2 dresses and a skirt and jumper. We also bought DS a pair of cords and some boots which he loves.

The carpets have been ordered and we went for the buy now start 0% payments in 6 months. We have decided to just give the bedroom a lick of paint over the textured wallpaper and eventually get new plain bedding and a pair of curtains. The wardrobes will just have to stay as they are for the next year or two but we may replace the dark bedside drawers with the white bed side drawers from the guest room to lighten it up.

Pay day for me tomorrow, fingers crossed I get a bonus It is going to take me a while to get my head around how to budget with DH now getting paid several days before me instead of the same day.

I have been looking at our debt pay down spreadsheet and am wondering whether we just focus on paying the minimum payments to everything, building up our emergency fund and finishing the work in the rooms we have started before we start overpaying my interest bearing CC. We have 7 months until we can remortgage and I am not sure we can make that much impact on the level of debt in this time and may not be able to remortgage.

I lost a lb at SW tonight, the one I gained last week :cool: I stayed to class tonight and will try and do so up until Christmas as I do better when I do.

I am really worried about our boiler. We had terrible problems with it last year even thought the previous owners had it serviced on a regular basis. It is making the most alarming whining noise as though someone is drilling next door. I have booked an engineer for Friday to look at it and carry out it's annual service.

apple_muncher

Hope today is a better day. Sending you hugs x

XSpender

apple_muncher wrote: »

Hope today is a better day. Sending you hugs x

Thanks apple x

I didn't get my bonus this month. However, that is down to me getting my months mixed up It is due end of November not end of October. What a muppet! All bills are covered and Christmas presents can be paid for out of this months salary. The BNPL will be paid out of end of November salary.

I have found another job to apply for, again I may not be the ideal candidate but will give it a go. I am prepared to lose a little in salary/my co. car for a job that is based locally and requires no travel. I believe this will give me a better work life balance and be better for DS who has to stay at grandparents a night or 2 most weeks.

The noise from the boiler was so bad in the night it woke DH and I up!

The floor fitter is coming this morning as he was running late yesterday, I have an appointment to get my eyebrows done at lunch time and we are going trick or treating with some friends this evening so I have to pick up DS early. All on top of completing a piece of boring work to a deadline when my motivation is through the floor

XSpender

Goodness I haven't posted in ages! I had a crazy week at work last week and then I was out on Saturday and again on Sunday.

DH and I finally had a long talk about what we want to achieve financially over the next 12 months and we have agreed to focus on paying the debt down. DH lightbulb is finally flickering on.:A He wants to see some benefit from the extra money he is now earning and while he wants to build up the security of savings, as do I, this would be pointless when we have such a lot of debt.

We do need to spend money on some major maintenance to the house but this is going to wait until we have either saved up from bonuses or until we have a lot less debt. We need about £11,000 to replace the boiler and complete some roof maintenance and replacements. The remainder of the cosmetic work inside, which is more want than need, will have to come later.

Our first goal is to clear the loan to the parentals. We should be able to clear 2/3 of the balance and BT the final bit when we have been paid at the end of the month. This will free up £265 a month. We will also pay off the BNPL which is due in December.
We will then concentrate on paying off my V1rg1n card which is part 0% and part interest bearing.

We have agreed the budget including a small pot for Christmas next year and for 2 short camping trips. DH and I both have a short break next summer (not together) which we will fund from our personal spends. We would also like a short Lapland trip next winter before DS is too old if we can save the money from bonuses.

Our budget allows for an additional £500 to be sent to the debt each month once the parental loan has been cleared. This does not include the bonuses we will receive throughout the year which will used partly, if not fully, towards the debt.

We are also considering using our remortgage to clear £20,000 of the debt. I know this is not ideal as we will pay more in the long run. We haven’t decided on this yet as our remortgage is due next summer. It will depend on how much progress we can make with clearing the debt and if we can get a remortgage with the amount of debt we will still have in June.

We have no savings and I am not going to build an emergency fund until I have made some progress with clearing the debt. I know this goes against the usual advice but I would rather have that £1000 working for me than sitting there and if I have to use a card to cover an emergency so be it. Once I have made some progress I will probably use part of a bonus to create the emergency fund.

November

This month I am focussing on the debt balance being lower at the end of the month than the start of the month.

Our food spends are too high for this point in the month and I need to keep my eye on this as we did well in October and I want to keep to an average of £90/week if I can. Too many shops with DH in tow in Sains and Tesco rather than Aldi and Asda.

Christmas budget is going very well. I have used vouchers and TCB where possible. Today we have found the exact telescope we wanted for DS & DH (they are sharing it) for £60 which is £25 less than the next cheapest price. The only problem is there are none local to us so DH is picking one up from another store on the way back from a meeting 3 hours away tomorrow. I just need to check they have it, I can reserve it and it is not broken as the one in the town DH works was missing bits.

So far Christmas has cost us £132 in cash. I have another £100 budgeted for DS including the telescope and that most of that will be cash. I still have £27 of amazon vouchers, £10 clubcard vouchers and about £30 in nectar points. I cannot honestly believe how little I have spent. We even have our turkey!

apple_muncher

Go team XS! Cheering you all the way to a £0 debt amount x

XSpender

apple_muncher wrote: »

Go team XS! Cheering you all the way to a £0 debt amount x

Thanks apple, I am feeling much more confident about getting somewhere with the debt now DH is on board.

All my main Christmas gift shopping is now complete and I have spent under £225 in cash :eek::j:j This includes a surprise pair of heelys for DS that were in the sale and with an extra £5 off. It's a pity he saw the pic of them on my phone that I had sent to DH last night or they would have been a great surprise.

I still have a teacher gift, a selection box, a chocolate santa, a pair of PJs for DS and a small gift for a ten year old to buy but these will be covered by vouchers and meal allowance. I will probably need gift wrap and cheap cards for DS to send too but the vouchers will cover this.

This is officially the cheapest Christmas on record :money: We used to spend £1200 I could have done much better with vouchers and saving up my TCB earnings this year so will do this next year and hopefully spend even less

DH had had a new tax code which will bring his salary a little lower but more in line with what I thought it would be.

I have written a list to make the most of my meal allowance which I will buy at sains before I drive down south tonight. I have one piece of work to complete, my bag to pack and the car to fill and I will be on my way. I got there at 10pm last week and as I have a presentation to prep for tomorrow if I don't get there at a reasonable time it wont get done!

apple_muncher

Safe travels.

That is one awesomely organised on-a-budget Christmas. And you do sound like you have enjoyed prepping it!

XSpender

XSpender wrote: »

I still have a teacher gift, [STRIKE]a selection box[/STRIKE],[STRIKE] a chocolate santa[/STRIKE], a pair of PJs for DS [STRIKE]and a small gift for a ten year old[/STRIKE] to buy but these will be covered by vouchers and meal allowance. I will probably need gift wrap and cheap cards for DS to send too but the vouchers will cover this.

We received another £3 in Mr T vouchers yesterday so I now have £13 and will buy the teacher gift with those and put the rest towards the 3 for 2 on gift wrap and 2 gift bags. I will check in the loft at the weekend what cards and paper I have as I will need to put the Halloween stuff up there.

DH finally went to the doctors about his breathing and he has lost control of his asthma. He has put on weight and stopped exercising as much over the last couple of months which can't have helped either. At least we have resolved what it is.

My prescription/medical pot has been blown as DH has had to have an additional 3 prescription charges yesterday and I have a £95.60 bill for the dentist this morning. I have paid £20.60 but the cost of the filling will have to go on a card

DS presents have begun turning up and are all in big boxes so I haven't a clue where to hide them. His skateboard came in such a big box I thought they had sent skis by mistake!

We have a lovely quiet weekend planned as the hairdressers have made a mistake and booked me in for this morning (I'm at work) and tomorrow is now fully booked. DH will continue with the painting on the landing and I intend to clean the house from top to bottom. DH is going to take DS to his match on Sunday and I am going to prepare our meals for the next week so we can get back on SW/healthy eating.

Next weekend DH and I now both have hair appointments (same hairdresser) 4 hours apart. DMIL has offered to have DS that day and DH and I will complete any Christmas shopping and see if we can scrape any money together for a lunch out or, if we can't find much, a cup of coffee. They are taking DS to a party on Sunday too.

I have a credit on the CC I BT so I am going to request a refund and I have an inkling that DS old breakfast club still have his £50 deposit so I will call them to check. This will help towards the medical/dentist costs this month.

XSpender

I rang the CC company and £26.39 is being refunded to me. The breakfast club hadn't taken a deposit but I was £66.50 in credit so that is going to be paid back to me next week too.

I have emptied one of the piggy banks and have £38 in there with another smaller one to look in. I found 4 £1 coins in there which is odd as I only put 20ps or less in it. Unfortunately 2 are the old ones so I hope you can still pay them into the bank.

This extra money couldn't have come at a better time as I have made a right c0ck up with the budget. I noticed that we seem to have spent a lot of DH fuel budget for the 10th of the month and it was then that I realised that I have budgeted for a 4 week not a 5 week month as we started November when DH got paid which was nearly a week earlier than his old job/when I get paid. :doh: This should add £90 for food and at least £70 for fuel to the budget although I will try and come under the £90 for food. DH has had 2 long journeys with work, which he can claim back, which also mean he has gone through his fuel quicker.

£51 spent in Asda tonight and it would have been a lot less stressful and £8 less if I had gone on my own. DH and DS are like 2 kids and just wind each other (and me) up :mad:

I picked up some lovely PJs for DS but they are far too small for him so they, and the Christmas ones he chose, will have to go back. Lets hope the Christmas jumper fits!

I have budgeted £60 this week for food so there is enough left for some more beer for DH tomorrow and another 4 pinter of milk as Asda had run out :eek: but apart from that I will be keeping my purse firmly shut until next Friday.

Cherryfudge

That's a lot to have to shell out, especially the medical things. If you need to get prescriptions regularly, it may be worth getting a prepayment certificate: they cover a year so although they are costly at first, it can save in the long term.

Well done on the refunds and piggy bank finds - and I think banks will still accept the old coins, won't they?