Getting out of debt for GOOD

LauraB89

Hi everyone!

I am starting a new diary on here - I had one before, and it really helped to keep me on track for when we bought our house earlier this year. We also got married three months later, annd now our first little baby is fast on it's way to us - due 1st February 2018! So... it's been a pretty hectic year!

Somehow, we have also managed to greatly reduce our debts in the last year as well - this time last year mine stood at £2,873 in total. My husband's was at around £3,600!

Mine is now down to £1,887 and his is even less (I will get an update tonight on where he is with his, but I think it's around £1,000).

So as it stands, I am currently paying £200 a month off of my credit card, and looking to save up to buy a 2nd car in December. Depending on my bonus, we should have about £3k or so to spend on this.

Our budget is pretty sensible, and while we definitely have some luxuries, I don't feel at the moment like we are at a point that we need to get rid of these. If we stick to the plan, then we should have all of our debts paid off by the end of the year, and a nice little pot of savings ready to subsidize my maternity leave.

The way I work out budgets is to total our direct debit spending, and less that from our income. Then we have a weekly budget (mine includes food, his includes fuel) of £100 each - this gives us some money for spending - and incentivises us to keep our food and fuel bills down (as the less we spend on these, the more we have for other bits!). So our total income, less our direct debits, and our weekly spending, is our savings. Debt repayments are factored into direct debits.

So, all I need to do now, is to keep to my £100 a week budget,.. but that means getting the rest of the bits for the baby, and all the Christmas presents in that as well!!

Fingers crossed, we can do this!

XXX

Honeysucklelou2

Hi Laura,

I remember reading your previous diary. Hope you have settled into your new home and how exciting about the baby! I think you are being really sensible to get reduce debt and build up as much as possible in savings to help when on maternity pay. It will give you more choice about when to return to work if you choose to and mean that you can enjoy your maternity leave without the worry of money hanging over you. Well done on the debt reduction so far.

LauraB89

Morning HS - that is the plan exactly!!

This weekend wasn't too bad spend-wise. I did some shopping for baby clothes on Saturday, but my excited Dad insisted on paying (very excited Grandad-to-be!) so I only spent around £14 on some things in the sale in M&Co.

I have to say, on a side note, that I am finding it very surprising how little they have that is gender-neutral for little babies. We have left the sex as a surprise, and I am sure that other parents will too - but there isn't much out there! However, we did get some lovely bits and bobs and have quite a stash of clothes now (all of which we will be able to use again for any more babies!).

Saturday night we had a friend's birthday dinner, which was a set menu and came to £35 each (more than I would have wanted to spend, but was lovely and nice to see all of our friends). Then on Sunday, I picked up a "Sleepyhead" which several parents to new babies have RAVED about to me (thank God for Gumtree and Facebook marketplace BTW) and saw my friend for brunch. Did the weekly food shop (£38) and we are having this week;

- Chilli Con Carne
- Roast Chicken
- Shepherd's pie
- Gammon and pineapple
- Steak

This week, I am focussed on not spending ANYTHING at all. The only plans I have are to pick up a rocking chair to feed with (£16 on facebook - unreal!) and should be able to get to the weekend without food shopping.

Luckily for us, it's toasty warm in our house still, so no heating on yet. Plus, great news for my bonus in November - I think that I am going to get over the £2500 mark - woo hoo!!

Are there any other Debt-Free Wannabes that are trying to pay everything off before a new arrival??

LB-C xxx

monz

Congratulations on your baby news xx

LauraB89

Thanks Monz - it was always the plan/dream but I honestly would never have gotten there if I hadn't started posting on here and gotten our !!!!!! together!

Now I spend my days trying to get as much of the stuff we want/need for the little one off of facebook/gumtree!

xxx

LauraB89

Afternoon all!

This weekend has been pretty spendy, we bought a new car (2nd hand) - which I got a loan out for. We can definitely meet the repayments and I'm planning on paying a big chunk of it off next month when I get paid my bonus.

Although I know it's FOR something, and we have budgeted for it, and we are paying down our other debts, it still scares me a little.

But, if anything, it's made me even more focussed on sticking to my budgets, which can't be a bad thing.

Food shopping this week was only £30 - we are having;

- home made baked beans with sausages
- slow cooker pork
- leftover pulled pork hash
- shepherds pie (again lol)
- Bolognese

I've been busy this morning ordering a few bits that we need for the baby online with some John Lewis vouchers we had from our wedding. My list of things that we need is getting shorter - but I still need to get the majority of our Christmas presents, new tyres for our car and all the baby stuff - challenge accepted!

Laura X

beanielou

Lovely baby news

LauraB89

Goooooood morning everyone!

It's Frugal Friday and also PAYDAY for me and my OH

Things that we need to pay for this month;

- Fix chip in windscreen (£25)
- New tyres for car (£200)

This week has been pretty great - my team are going to hit our Q1 target, which means a JUICY £2500 bonus for me next month - huzzah!! Q2 has started REALLY well, so I am hoping to get a nice bonus in Feb, which will be great because that is when I go on mat leave!

This year has been such a whirlwind for us, and I am feeling so proud that we have bought our house and gotten married without spiraling into crazy debts. The OH only has his loan, which he pays every month and will be finished around June next year. I have my CC with (as of my payment today) £1,700 on. We also have the car loan, which I should be able to pay at least £250 off of this month as well!

I need to go food shopping this weekend, my food plan for next week is;

- Chicken risotto
- Ham, egg and chips
- Chicken and ham pie
- Fish pie
- Chicken curry

I've written out my list, and I really want to keep it under £25 this week. Fingers crossed I can then it will leave me with £50 spends - which I want to get at least 1 or 2 Christmas presents with!

I am working from home today, which gives me time to plan and catch up on some housework before the weekend - happy days!

Have a lovely Friday everyone

xxx

littlemissbudgetqueen

Hi Laura,


I have just read your previous diary and now caught up with this one. Well done on doing so well with paying for the wedding and getting your new house and now your exciting baby news!!! You have done so well with reducing your debt and setting a savings goal definitely makes sense. We are currently paying off our debts and I'm hoping to have a nice savings pot before we get pregnant just to help pay for things that will no doubt arise especially during maternity leave.


Everything that you cook looks amazing and its incredible how you manage to keep your grocery budget so low - I think you should start posting your recipes! I'm intrigued by the homemade beans.....

LauraB89

Hi LMBQ! I have been thinking for a while about starting a budget food blog - maybe it will be be a good maternity leave project it looks like you have made some amazing progress towards your goals too!!

This week has been pretty hectic, but some amazing stuff has gone down - Mr B89 got a new job, which means that once I go on maternity leave we no longer have a long commute! This will save us in fuel and give us back lots of time to spend snuggling our new baby (Mr B89 will free up an extra 17.5 hours PER WEEK!!!)

Being MSE has been hard this last couple of weeks - little things KEEP cropping up (something called "life"?) but keeping on track. Food shop yesterday was £34 and we have on the menu this week;

- Chilli Con Carne
- Fajitas
- Gammon and pineapple
- Chicken casserole
- Fish Pie

We have also got most of the baby stuff sorted now, and we did most of the nursery over the weekend - it looks so lovely, warm and clean. I have a beautiful view out of the window from my nursing chair (£16 facebook marketplace!) of the tree tops, hills and top of the church - and it's very quiet and south facing. I am so glad that we have such a perfect little space for our little one!!

Today is definitely a NSD, as I am working from home & lunch is leftover sausage casserole from last night (mmmm soooo goood). Got to do some washing and tidy up in the bedroom a bit, but nothing too onerous.

Countdown to payday is on, and I will be able to get rid of my credit card entirely, and be (for the first time in a very long time) without any kind of credit card or overdraft. Just a loan for the car - which we will pay off as we go.

Tomorrow is a work trip to London - uugghhh - but determined not to spend anything at all. If I can get to Friday without spending anything, then I should be back on track

How is everyone's Meagre Monday going??

LB89 xxxx

Honeysucklelou2

Congratulations on getting that bonus- amazing! That's wonderful progress to be able to pay off your credit card and be free of that. Well done!