Journey to £0 by 2020, with a few bumps along the way

chelseablue

Direct debit gone to the Virgin card so its now under 10k! Debt now into 4 figures

Balance £9,806

enthusiasticsaver

Brilliant. So many congrats.

chelseablue

Had the bathroom window repaired today at last, £130

New dishwasher arrived yesterday, £460 (husband paid for this from his bonus) includes them installing it and taking the old one way. Didn't realise integrated appliances were so expensive!

At least I've paid on my debit card and not added to the debt

chelseablue

Me and husband have started managing our money a new way.

The old way all our money used to get put into my account (Halifax) and all bills and spending would come from it. Husband didn't have a card for it so I had to transfer him money

Well, he started getting annoyed about this as apparently he shouldn't have to keep asking for money
In case you haven't noticed my husband is useless with money!

So he came up with a new idea;

We each get our wages paid into our own accounts, then we each transfer half of the bills (including credit card) and food into the Halifax.
Except our mobiles, we will pay these from our own accounts (works for me, his was £91 last month :eek: mine is £48)

Then what we have left in our accounts is ours to spend as we wish.

On one hand this is fantastic as I hate spending money :rotfl: and I feel a lot less anxious now that I don't have to keep sending him money

On the other hand I'm worrying what will happen when he runs out. I presume I'm entitled to say no to him when he asks for money?
As all he's transferred to me is half the bills and food

Moneywhizz

I think you might find that way working your money a bit difficult. it can work when there are no children involved and you both earn roughly the same but if there are children in the family it is more complicated. You also have to make sure that you have taken everything into account eg. holidays, presents, household items and improvements etc. A better way might be for both of you to take the same amount out of the joint account once a month and use that for all your personal expenses. Whatever way you decide I would say that its up to your husband to learn to budget with the money he has for spending and he can't expect you to give him more if he runs out.

enthusiasticsaver

chelseablue wrote: »

Me and husband have started managing our money a new way.

The old way all our money used to get put into my account (Halifax) and all bills and spending would come from it. Husband didn't have a card for it so I had to transfer him money

Well, he started getting annoyed about this as apparently he shouldn't have to keep asking for money
In case you haven't noticed my husband is useless with money!

So he came up with a new idea;

We each get our wages paid into our own accounts, then we each transfer half of the bills (including credit card) and food into the Halifax.
Except our mobiles, we will pay these from our own accounts (works for me, his was £91 last month :eek: mine is £48)

Then what we have left in our accounts is ours to spend as we wish.

On one hand this is fantastic as I hate spending money :rotfl: and I feel a lot less anxious now that I don't have to keep sending him money

On the other hand I'm worrying what will happen when he runs out. I presume I'm entitled to say no to him when he asks for money?
As all he's transferred to me is half the bills and food

It is difficult when your OH is not great with money, mine isn't either and the way we operate is joint current account with all income going in and all bills coming out. Savings accounts for holidays, car and house maintenance and gifts. Personal allowance for each of us which goes into a personal account. That makes my OH happy as he has access to money without feeling like I am controlling everything and our main account and credit card is still for food, entertainment and fuel although my DH does have cards for those as he is pretty good about not paying off budget for stuff now. If he runs out of personal money for hobbies etc he has to wait until his next monthly payment comes in or he ebays stuff he no longer wants to top up his money.

This could work for you as this overcomes any disparity in income and makes sure that savings are still being made and of course you still have debt so a plan needs to be made for that.

If he is not on board with that how does he think your debt will be repaid, holidays, car maintenance etc is paid for? If he only wants you to cover bills and not sort out car or house expenses or saving for holidays then he will need to understand those things won't happen. On the other hand giving him access to a percentage of his income may lead to less friction and he needs to learn financial discipline at some point. I would just worry you will be the only one budgeting whereas he will have lots more money to spend/fritter away so you need some rules. Absolutely you can say no if he runs out of money. You are not his reserve bank. Do you both earn roughly the same or does one of you earn more? Will he run up more debt and if he does are you comfortable with letting him sort it? Luckily my DH never did that but there are lots of examples on here of partners with different spending habits where one runs up debt behind their partners back.

enthusiasticsaver

A few things to bear in mind apart from the things mentioned above.

Who pays for clothes etc, activities etc for your son?
What are your personal financial objectives? Presumably you want the credit card paid off and hopefully he is on board with that but what about long term savings for your son, replacement cars, maybe a bigger house or early retirement or mortgage overpayments? I would be wary about you paying for all these things while he gets to spend his free money on whatever he wants unless of course you put plans in place for you to be financially secure by saving and investing and leave him to sort himself out. Doesn't sound much like teamwork though.

chelseablue

Well its not going well so far. He got paid 2 weeks ago and he has blown all his money already, obviously with 2 weeks still to go until payday.

He said to me last night "you'll have to transfer me more funds"

I said "I don't have any funds"

He smokes and drinks, why should I spend my personal money on his fags and booze?

So stressed out!

chelseablue

Not much to report, card balance now £9,708

Waiting on a quote from a decorator to redo all 3 bedrooms so that will put a dent in our savings but it does desperately need doing.

Easy access savings: £4,150
S&S ISA: £6,427

chelseablue

Just paid £800 off the credit card, balance now £8,908

Had the quote from the decorator, £2,500 for 3 bedrooms, he's booked up until July so got 3 months to build up the savings, hopefully will have about £5,000 by then

Got an expensive few months coming up;

Son's birthday in May
Weekend away end of May
My birthday in June
1st wedding anniversary in June
Car insurance for both cars in July (it'll be around £600 and I want to pay in full, not monthly)
Husbands birthday in July and its a special one (30)
Having the bedrooms decorated

That'll be us back to £0 savings then :rotfl: