Third-Life Crisis

enthusiasticsaver

I have been looking for phones myself and the google pixel has a good camera as does the iphone 7 But even I am balking at paying it and am tempted to go for something cheaper even though I can afford to pay it upfront. While you have such high debt and no savings I really think not waiting for these expensive gadgets is what got you in this mess.

enthusiasticsaver

I also think using your maternity pay or emergency fund for a luxury which a top end phone is is very silly. I think you are also in a certain amount of denial as to how much it will cost when you are on maternity leave and the baby arrives. Even silly things like hospital parking costs if you are in for a while.

Like Magpie I don't want to come down too hard on you when you are trying but every so often a glimpse of your thinking appears which got you into £60k of debt so I cannot keep quiet. Can you sell stuff to buy a new phone?

enthusiasticsaver

Ok I see you are looking at the iphone6 which is better than the 7 but £430 is a lot unless you have loads of savings.

Goingroundincircles

I had a look at Carphone Warehouse to get an idea of what else is out there. It looks as though even the 'cheapest' phone which meets our needs (memory/data) is still nearly £25pm. Am I missing something?
I think perhaps we'll get a rolling monthly sim only contract to start on 4 Apr when Vodafone ends and wait until something feels like the right decision. At the moment I feel like I am literally going round in circles!

Goingroundincircles

Just had to take myself for a walk as I was getting worked up about our situation again. Feel much better now. I have to remember that what's done is done and all I can do now is make the best decisions going forwards. Stressing about the past won't help.
Also just had an email confirming a £75 refund for a purchase last year which I complained about. A small win for the debt pot.

Magpie100

See - your walk to clear your head and put things on hold resulted in a money karma visitation with the arrival of the £75! You should go for a walk more often...:rotfl:

More seriously, I am glad you are taking the iphone advice in the spirit it is intended. We have all made mistakes - I didn't get the name 'Magpie' but not picking up shiny things once too often. It is hard. But alarm bells do ring at the thought of you using some of your maternity fund to pay for a new phone. It's the tip of the iceberg - next month it'll be something else you just have to have. Every ££ you spend now is going to shortern your time on maternity leave. and let's be honest - it's quite difficult these days to find a phone that DOESN'T take decent photos. You don't rely on a camera for your living - it's not a good justification for an upgrade in my view.

The situation with your OH and his spending is concerning me. I feel that you are doing all the work behind the scenes to keep the plates spinning, and I'm not sure he sees how precarious your position is. I am not sure what he expects to happen if he can't buy fuel to earn money and all because he has spent money on his hobbies. Saying that, your decision to tell him he has to fund the shortfall is the right one. Please try not to bail him out, no matter how tough it gets. If he learns this lesson now it is far better than when the baby arrives. I feel like all the solutions to your problems are left to you to find and he is just going through the motions. Only you can know the truth of it, of course.

We're all here, listening and supporting. M100

Goingroundincircles

I wish every time I went for a walk £75 would appear :T

You totally hit the nail on the head with the OH, M100! I do all the life admin around here so, although I can tell him we've overspent and there isn't enough money to pay the bills, he doesn't really understand all the work that I do tracking and moving and magic-ing up money. I try to explain it to him and show him the spreadsheets but it's not quite the same.

Interesting day yesterday! The bad news is that we had to take the pooch for an emergency trip to see the surgeon as his leg isn't healing. They did a minor op, which luckily cost us nothing as it was under the umbrella of the large sum of money we recently paid for his surgery, but said that might not be the answer and he may need some explorative surgery in 4 weeks time. I'm guessing that wouldn't be free
The good news is that the OH has been offered a contract with a company fitting kitchens for some big high street names I don't want to get too excited just yet, but his daily rate could be going up by £50 more than he's currently charging and there's enough work to keep him busy until September already. This could mean an extra £800pm for us which would make a MASSIVE difference to our debt balance and quality of life. He's starting on Monday so we'll see how the next few weeks pan out. In the meantime, it's MS business as usual...

wishingthemortgaheaway

That's great news about hubby's contract. Not so good about the dog though.

Is he likely to up his spends because he's earning more each day?

Goingroundincircles

Hi wishingthemortgageaway, I control what goes into his spending account so in theory the same rules will apply as they do now. if he spends it all in the first few days then that's it for the month! Although I'd imagine you're right, in his head he'll have more money! I plan to use it for better savings pots and more debt repayment though so we won't really see the extra money. If it does happen!

Goingroundincircles

Everything has well and truly gone out the window this week. :mad:
The biggest thing being that the pooch decided to be helpful and remove his own stitches, just a week too early. Meaning two trips to the vets and £250 less in the bank.
I will work out the full extent of the damage tomorrow and how to sort it. We've paid around £300 off of the credits cards this month and I wonder if I'm doing it in the right way. If we'd put it in a pot and then transferred at the end of the month we could have used it for the extra costs this month. But seeing money in a pot is very tempting and then doesn't always make it onto the credit cards. Any suggestions on how to do the overpayments?

Will check in again tomorrow.