Loan? What loan?

Regency1

Hi anyone reading,

I feel like a bit of a fraudster writing a diary on here as I don't have a huge amount of debt. On the other hand I have a new debt and I would like to get rid of it ASAP, especially as DH and I are thinking of trying to start a family very soon.

I have a good job, as does DH, and we don't want for anything. We have a mortgage, which neither of us really considers as an urgent debt, and comfortably cover our bills and other payments. DH has had a couple of inheritance payments which mean that he is very comfortable and I know that if anything went wrong for me he would help me out. But I don't really like the thought of being dependent and I know that on the wage I am on I should have way more savings and way less c**p in the house to show for it.

My new debt takes the place of a car that I bought a couple of months ago. I borrowed £5000 from DH and took out a £7000 loan at a pretty low interest rate over 3 years. I have a Sharesave account through work which matures in December and if the share price stays the same as it is now then that should cover the amount I owe DH. Leaving me with £7000 to pay off. I think because it was planned I don't really think of myself as being in debt. Which is really stupid because I am!

I have been a long-time lurker on the MSE pages and love reading other people's diaries. I love the sense of community that people have here. So I thought I would give this a shot, and use the diary as a way to be accountable for my spending and see if I can get this loan done and dusted way ahead of schedule.

Thanks for reading!

Regency1

Today I had a list of things to do in town and I think I managed to get most things done. I live in a wee village and only get into town at the weekend . Unfortunately that also means that I spent some money but it was mostly planned.
I'm going on holiday on Tuesday for a week and then I'm back for two weeks and then going away again! The flights and hotels are paid for for next week and so today I picked up some currency (pre-ordered) and got some toiletries to take. Then I have a credit card with no fees for spending abroad for most of our spending. The second trip is to New York to visit a friend. I bought the flights way back in January using Avios that I had saved and in the sale so the flights were pretty cheap. I'm staying with my friend so no accommodation to pay for but I will take her for a dinner to thank her. I have a regular saver account that finishes up this week so my plan is to use that for holiday spends and keep whatever is left to go into a new savings account.
Other than that account, I have hardly any savings, which is not good. I have calculated that if I was to go on maternity leave for 9 months I would need just over £5000 to make up my pay. This seems huge and I know that the company I work with has a pretty generous mat pay scheme so I wonder how other people do it. I'm going to set up a savings account somewhere outside of my normal banks so that I don't see it and am not tempted to spend and try and build up as much of a savings buffer as I can.
I did call into the T$B to close a couple of accounts as I seem to have little bits of money in a few different accounts, and also a couple of accounts with nothing in them including an ISA which I can't use as I use one with another bank. It's a bit confusing for my simple heed so I have closed the ISA and one other savings account. Then I can transfer my savings out to the mat fund account somewhere else and try and forget that I have that money.
I did owe a lot of money to my sister after finished uni as she gave me a loan so that I could live! She was really relaxed about my paying it back but I hated having it hanging over me so paid her back as soon as I could. Need to find that discipline again to pay back my loan and get saving as I have become really lax and just buy things and book things without really thinking too much about it. Reading through other people's diaries though makes me think I really need to get paying and get saving as you never know what can happen!
I have a whole load of stuff to photograph in preparation for putting it on eB*y after hols but I have sat down now and will have to find some energy to push myself to do it. I should think of the money!!! Maybe I'll read some more diaries for inspiration.
Have a good rest of the day everyone!

Scott_Weiland_2

One step at a time

Well done for having the bottle to post a hell of a lot dont have the bottle.

Post as much as you can

Regency1

I am back from holiday number one and we spent way more than I thought we would! But we had a great time and got to see a friend who has moved back to her home country so it was definitely worth it. I always knew that September and October were going to be expensive because of the holidays and things going on.

My regular saver finished at the end of September so that money has been allocated to paying my half of the credit card bill for the holiday and will also see to my spending money for my trip to NYC in a couple of weeks. So the holidays are covered which makes me feel a bit less extravagant!:o Anything left over will go into a new account that I have set up to act as a mat fund for the future. Scary stuff!:eek:

I have been thinking a lot about my money and where it goes. I know that I waste loads so I am really trying to think about what I spend and stop myself buying things just because they are in the sale. If I don't need them then they are NOT a bargain!

I have opened a new regular saver to replace the one that has just finished and that will go towards a mat leave fund. Then I also have a regular saver with another bank that I am saving less into which will go towards any holiday spending that might occur next year. And then once I have paid off my JL credit card I am going to keep it and spend on it but get into the habit of paying off the money straight away. I have to get a grip on how much I am spending so that I can budget properly. At the moment I just assume that I'll cover the spending some way but that doesn't really work with saving:cool:

I will probably be back soon to write out my plan (once I have it) as I don't really know where else to write it down so that I stick to it!

Regency1

So now I am back from all my gallivanting and back into work and more of a routine so I have also been trying to take stock of the money situation.

I spent more than I meant to in NYC but I have it covered by the money I saved last year and I saw it as an opportunity to visit a friend as well as seeing a great city and that kind of combination doesn't come up too often! So I'm getting over it and moving on. At least I didn't have to add any more debt to my name.

I sat and worked on my spreadsheet the other day and according to my calculations I am going to find December pretty tight and that's before Christmas presents. So I am going to have to think carefully about the money I spend. I have quite a few things planned for the next couple of months so I'm going to have to try and plan better than I usually do. I'm not really a party animal but when I'm out I do like to have a good time and I tend to get increasingly generous as the night and drinks wear on!

This weekend we're going down to London to meet some friends which was initially going to be dinner and drinks and then staying at theirs. But then they announced that they are getting ready to start IVF treatment so they are trying to be healthy so now it's going to be lunch and then back to theirs for some easy dinner and films. Suits me fine as it should be cheaper and I'm also thinking I should be chilling out a bit with the drinking (I may have overdone it in NYC!:o). Other than that we will just need to get some food in but that comes out of our joint bills account so has no bearing on my available money. I'm going to the dentist tomorrow and need to ask about a suspected cracked tooth. Hope it won't be too expensive but I have a work dental cover thing so hoping that will cover anything that might need doing. Other than that it should be a NSD.

I am going to try and update this diary more often and see if I can become a bit more accountable for my money. I think it will help me think about my spending habits and hopefully encourage me to spend less and really get on top of this loan.

Onwards and upwards!!!

Regency1

Hmmm, updating more often is not happening as often as I thought it would. I think the problem is that I log in and just spend my time reading other people's diaries and forget to update my own!

Also, I have suddenly realised that I have much less money than I thought I did and that Christmas is going to come at a terrible time!

Didn't spend too much over the weekend, I think all I bought was a round of drinks for the four of us for about £14. We stayed over at our friends' and then went for a lovely walk on the Sunday as the weather was good. Then just got the train home and flopped on the sofa to watch TV.

I think that yesterday was a NSD and today will be too. But tomorrow I'm off work in the afternoon to go into London to see a band with DH. We're going to eat in town and as he bought dinner on Sat I probably should tomo! I've offered to drive us back from the train station so will only have one drink. Then I should be able to NSD it up for the rest of the week until Saturday.

I have huge piles of clothes all over the spare room at the moment. One pile is for ironing - I never seem to get on top of that! One pile is for sending to the charity shop - I always forget to take it with me when I go into town! and One pile is for putting on Eb*y, which I cannot be bothered sorting out! However, this weekend I have nothing planned except a haircut on Sat afternoon so I will aim to take the charity shop clothes with me and then spend a couple of hours sorting and posting stuff up for sale. This will hopefully make me a bit of money and also clear the room so that I don't feel in such a mess when I go into that room! I can definitely see where lots of my money has gone. I'm not even particularly well-dressed as a result!:rotfl:

Oh well, I'm sure I'll sort myself out eventually. In the mean time I will continue to get lots of inspiration from lurking on here!

Regency1

So here we are in 2018 already!

I very much closed my eyes, stuck my fingers in my ears and sang lalalalala over the festive season, handing over my credit card with stupid abandon. And I'm paying for it - literally - now. And will be for a couple of months! Still, I had a good time and it's too late to do anything about it now. It strikes me that I'm too good at having a good time and that is why I have very little to show for the reasonably well paid job that I have had for some time.

So at the moment I have £600 on my credit card, after January's payment has come out and I paid a bit extra. I have a bit extra in the account that my bills come out of, which I am considering paying off the cc but I like to keep a bit of a buffer in there in case of anything unexpected. I'm going to struggle to pay the full amount off the cc without adding extra next month though. I also have a cheque for £100 from MiL who is always ridiculously generous at Christmas, but I would like to actually buy myself something with that so that I can tell her she has got me something. I did buy a top in the sales but it makes me look terrible so I will return that and pay that money back off the cc.

I just need to not spend in Jan. I have no real plans so I have no reason to spend except that when I am bored at work or go into town then that's what I do. I never thought I was that bad until I started reading through this site and realised that all I do is treat myself! So that has to stop. I have plenty of clothes, and would have even more if I could just get off my backside and do some exercise to lose some weight! Every year it's the same - so hard to break these habits! I have also made a resolution to myself to use up all the toiletries under the sink in the bathroom - all those tiny samples that I swipe from hotels or get as free gifts from MiL! Only then am I allowed to buy new things. That should save me a fortune.

On that happy note, I'm away to tidy my desk so that I will actually do some work tomorrow.

EscapingTheAlarm

Hi,
Just popping in to say good luck! You and I are in pretty similar situations and are both paying off so that we can afford maternity leave! I’ve not dared to work out how much I need to save yet but I reckon £5000 sounds about right! I’ll be cheering you on!
ETA x

Regency1

Hi escapingthealarm, thanks for dropping in! I will have a look at your diary and subscribe to cheer you on!

I feel like I am doing OK in January. I have joined the NSD Challenge and I really feel like that makes me think twice before I spend any money, which is definitely a good thing. I don't have any plans for Jan so I know that I shouldn't need to spend any money.

However, I have had a couple of big spends for things coming up. We are going to a wedding at the start of March and staying over. There was a note on the invitation that said rooms were at a special rate for guests so I phoned and booked one of those quickly before they sold out. The room was £110 and I think that is at least half the usual price as it looks like a really nice place. That includes breakfast too so we can stuff ourselves and shouldn't need too much lunch! I don't know if I'll need money for the bar or not so I'll budget for that closer to the time. I've got a couple of dresses that I can choose from, one of which I only just fit so I'm going to use that as motivation to lose a wee bit of weight so that it is a choice! So should be all set for that and OH should give me half of the cost of the room. I paid that with my credit card so when he gives me the money I will pay it straight off.

I also booked flights to go with a friend from work to visit another friend in Hamburg. We went a couple of years ago and it was great fun and so we're going to visit again. The friend we're visiting is very generous and will probably treat us to all sorts of things so I will try and think of something nice to take over and will try and make sure she doesn't pay for everything. The flights were £55 return each and again I have put them on my CC but my friend sent me the money for her half straight away so I paid the full amount off straight away. I'm hoping that this is a habit I can get into so that I know that the money I have in my spending account is actually for spending and doesn't have to be kept there to pay my CC. I don't understand how my CC works in terms of how much the bill is so I'm always having to keep extra in my account just in case! I would like to get to the point where I am a month ahead with the payments but that will involve better planning than I managed last year!

Other than that I had to put fuel in my car yesterday but that is budgeted for out of my bills account. Unfortunately a bag of sweets made its way into my hands so that was a couple of pounds of unplanned spending! I've managed 8 days of my chocolate-free month so far and sweets are my fall back - a proper sugar junkie! better behaved today though so should manage an NSD.

Best get on and do some work this afternoon,

Cheerio!

EscapingTheAlarm

Well done for getting in the habit of paying off the CC straight away! At least that way you know when you’ve got to stop! I think it’s good to get plans in for fun things across the year so that when you feel like you aren’t up to much because you’re saving money, you’ve got bits to look forward to!
Have you started baby saving yet?
ETA x

Regency1

I had a lapse in my good non-spending work this weekend. I was not well Sat and Sun and so marooned on my sofa watching TV. This lead to boredom which led very quickly to bidding on stuff on eB*y! Not good. I have spend £65 that I definitely didn't need to. I'm really annoyed with myself because I had been doing really well at not spending spuriously and not I have increased the amount of stuff in my house and decreased the amount of money in my bank for no reason! :mad:

So I have to really get into the selling. I have piles of stuff, mostly clothes, to go but I have become so lazy these days. I have previously managed to shift quite a lot of stuff on eB*y so I know it can be done but I think just because the darkness comes on so early and the days are so bleughh I just can't motivate myself.

My parent s are coming to stay over on Sat so I don't know if I'll get much done this weekend although they will probably leave reasonably early on Sunday so I should get going then.

In answer to your question ETA, I have started baby saving. I have £700 in an account that I try not to remember I have and I have a regular saver set up with £200 a month that will finish in October and go straight into the pot. I also have some shares that I am waiting until a certain price to sell and some of that will go in the savings pot and some to the loan. I'm kind of treating these savings as my emergency fund as well. I guess we don't know when or even if the baby thing will happen so I am just trying to build the pot steadily without going too mad.

Actually, I don't know whether it would be a better idea to pay the regular saver money off my loan. If I did then I could potentially pay it off by the end of 2018. Then I would have an extra 200 a month to save. I don't know what to do. I might just keep trying to pay off little bits to my loan and see where I am in October with savings and the amount of loan left and decide then. It would be very nice to get it paid off early!

Lots of things to think about but also work to do so cheerio!