Adventure wanted, but first we must rid ourselves of debt

AdventureWanted

Morning,
It's been a few days since I last posted. DH didn't manage to build the decking at the weekend, as I forgot he was out with friends on Saturday and on Sunday they had a village garage sale which we had a wander round. Managed to get a brand new pair of trainers for DC2 and secondhand Welles (in vgc) for a couple of quid. Both are a bigger size, so won't be used immediately, but luckily DC2 has lots of wardrobe space to store bits.

Yesterday I paid £14 to CC2 and 81p to debt savings.

This months food budget has gone horribly wrong. At the beginning of April I tried to follow a new food plan, but we stopped after the first shop, as the food bill was really expensive. It's pretty much this first weeks bill that has caused all the issues. Am going back to my regular meals, meal planning and avoiding small shops (especially sending DH!). Had to transfer the additional money I had spare from swimming lessons to cover it.

Next month is DC1s birthday, so I need to make sure we pop to Halfords soon to see which size bike to get next. (DC1 is tall and according to Halfords bike size list he could have a 20" or 24" bike, but not sure if 24" would be too huge). Once we've decided on a size I can keep an eye out for a secondhand bike. The bike will be his main present. So far DC1 hasn't got much of a birthday list, which is very strange. It's also not overly helpful, as I'm not really too sure what to buy! TBH I'm not even sure at the moment what is a realistic budget for presents. I had originally planned £100-£150 budget. I need to make sure I don't go too crazy with presents, as I have a large family who all buy for DC1, so he should get lots of presents.

Will check bank accounts shortly and hopefully pop back with today pad.

Storm89

Good luck bike hunting AW. I'm also lucky with lots of people in my family to buy for the kids which helps you not to go over budget doesn't it. It doesn't help when you have to buy for them all though on their birthdays haha.

AdventureWanted

Well I didn't manage to get back on here yesterday. Yesterday I paid £11 to CC2 and today I've transferred £37.50 to CC2.

Luckily tomorrow is payday, as all of my ynab accounts except for the fuel account are currently empty! Think next month I am going to have to use the £200 I usually put in the EF and split it between clothing and home maintenance. All 3 DC seem to have once again outgrown their clothes at the same time, which costs a fortune. I do save a bit of money each month, but I seem to be spending it immediately at the moment on bits they need. Hopefully the extra bit of money will help. Once I've stocked up on bits for DC1&2 that'll last them for the year. Luckily the majority of DC3s clothes are hand me downs from DC2, so it's only the odd few bits needed.

Debt summary day tomorrow. Looking forward to comparing the figures with the previous month.

AdventureWanted

Payday today - hooray!! I've paid £375 to CC2 today. It's £50 more than we usually pay on payday, but DH had some money left in his account, so he transferred some across.

Debts at 27/4/18
CC1 - £0
CC2 - £2,437.50
CC3 - £10,340.00
CC4 - £12,220.00

Total debt at 27/4/18 - £24,997.50
(Total debt at 29/3/18 - £26,305.00)

Woohoo it's below £25k!! Still horrendous, but it's definitely a win

Have paid £5,683.10 towards our debt this year. Can not wait to be debt free and have this money available for other things.

No additional payments to the EF this month. Balance still sits at £1,031.50.

Storm89

I really enjoy checking my favourite diaries at the end of the month - can see how it's going down!
I hear you with waiting to be debt free. Every month when you pay £100s towards the debt it stings like hell that it could be used elsewhere , I think it's that feeling that will help us not get into the debt mess again.

JoJoC

Well done on getting below £25k! Every bracket that you come down is a win

I feel the same at the moment with the kids constantly needing stuff - last month it was trainers x2 for the both of them, this month it'll be jeans and possibly school trousers for DS1 as he's growing like a weed at the moment.

Good idea to sacrifice this month's EF to get back on an even keel. You've got a decent amount in there, so I don't think one month will be too bad.

AdventureWanted

I seem to have lost my debt busting mojo at the moment . I'm not spending lots which is good, just seem to have lost any enthusiasm for checking bank accounts, making pads or thinking about debt balances.

In fact, life has seemed pretty meh the last couple of weeks. Think DH having less days off and us going out on the days he is at home has meant very little help for me. Thankfully we've got 3 days together this bank holiday weekend, so I'm hoping to get a bit of time to myself (which I presume is the main reason I feel a bit meh! I adore my kids and love Home educating them, but at times it's hard being on constant call).

Anyway, back to the small debt busting I actually did today. I updated ynab and rounded down the bank account sending £9.50 to CC2 and 85p to debt savings. I need to either transfer the debt savings to the variable rate part of our mortgage soon or pay off CC2.

We went to Halfords last weekend and DC1 tried out lots of bikes. Turns out it may not be as straightforward as I first thought. DC1 needs a 24 inch bike, but as kids bikes are based on wheel size, all of the frames are different sizes. Out of the 5 bikes we tried, only 2 were suitable (others were too small). Guy at Halfords concerned me by saying we need to make sure it's not too big a bike, as when using gears for the first time he's likely to come off it! Might try and get a bmx instead. Have looked at gumtree, but there aren't loads of bikes about. Don't really want to spend £120 on a new bike, especially as both DC1 and DC2 need new bike helmets.

DH has been talking about work tonight, which has been utterly depressing. The course he's currently doing will mean the opportunity to change his job slightly, which he's keen to do, but will either mean he has to work away or we have to move away. Whilst I'm keen to travel in the future, I had envisioned a 6 month stint in Australia, rather than moving to the other side of the country perhaps permanently. I'm quite content at the moment with my local support network and am not sure I fancy giving it all up.

Tomorrow I need to nip to sports direct to search for bits for DC1s birthday. Have decided to put together an adventurer type backpack for when we go out for walks. Going to get a couple of usborne spotters guides (birds and bugs), as well as compass, torch, sketch book and pens or watercolours or pastels. Have got a voucher for sports direct, so hoping to get the compass and torch tomorrow. Possibly a hiking type backpack too.

AdventureWanted

What a glorious day today. I love sunny days, they definely make me happier.

We've had a productive day today. This morning we managed to get some bits for DC1s adventurer backpack. Only spent £4.69, as we had a credit voucher to use. DH bought tennis rackets for me & DH, so we can have a quick practice whilst the kids are at tennis lessons. We get free tennis court hire as part of DC1&2s lessons, so we thought we should finally use it. Have booked a court for next Friday. Obviously how much we play depends on whether DC3 is napping in her pushchair at the time. Will be nice to do something for us for a change.

We've spent all afternoon in the garden, which has been lovely. DH put up our old hexagonal gazebo, so that the kids can have some shade. We've decided we're going to try and sell this gazebo, as it's massive and buy a rectangular pop up gazebo instead. After dinner I'm going to quickly tidy the garden and then take photos of it.

DH started building our new decking area today, which will be brilliant when it's finished. He's got to pop to b&q tomorrow for a new drill bit, so I'm hoping he can control himself and only buy what is on his list!

We're collecting DC1s birthday present tonight that we've bought from gumtree. Really looking forward to getting it, as know he'll love it. Fingers crossed it's complete and in good condition. The new playmobil castle set we've bought comes with dragons (which he loves) and is A LOT smaller than the playmobil castle set we currently have, so our current castle set will be making its way to gumtree of eBay very soon.

Need to have a review of birthday purchases soon, as I need to make sure I keep an eye on the amount we've spent. I do have a tendency to go a bit overboard on presents, so this year I'm really trying hard to stick to a budget.

Anyway best go now, as we're having a bbq soon and I need to finish making some potato salad.

AdventureWanted

I've just made a £28 payment to CC2, which takes the balance to a nice rounded £2,400. Also transferred 41p to debt savings. Still haven't managed to transfer the debt savings to the mortgage, as I can't find my hsbc pin thing, so can't set up a new payment.

When DH collected the present for DC1 this afternoon he had to take some cash out. He took it out using our credit card :eek: rather than our joint account. Have absolutely no idea why he did it. He was quite surprised by the look of horror on my face and when I told him we'll get charged £3 for it he didn't seem overly bothered :mad:. Hopefully he won't do it again.

DH has an email through earlier about car finance and was telling me how he could most probably afford £140 a month for a new car! :eek: I've told him we definitely cannot, that he obviously has too much spending money and that I'll have the £140 for the CCs. For the time being he's decided to make a monthly dd payment of £20 to our variable part of the mortgage, starting next month. This will mean each month we pay £30 towards the balance, with £10 covering the interest. Still will take an age to clear the £3k balance, but is a definite improvement. Going to try and persuade DH to either download ynab and set up his own budget under my account or download a free spending tracker, as he is terrible with money. He admits that he isn't great with money and has no idea where the majority of his money goes. He gets £180 a month spending money and he never has any leftover. He will pay for the odd coffee shop/meal out for us as a family (at an absolute max it's £50 every few months), but the whereabouts of the remaining money is a mystery to us both! Hoping that by tracking his spending he may have some leftover and can throw an extra £50 or more at the CCs or mortgage each month. That being said I am pleased he has offered to pay extra off the mortgage.

jwil

Sounds like you've had a really productive weekend It's nice that your DH listens to you (even if it's after the event :rotfl: ) and hopefully has a plan to make some overpayments.

Hope you are feeling better now, I think it's normal to feel 'meh' when it's all hectic, especially if you don't have any time to yourself!