Adventure wanted, but first we must rid ourselves of debt

AdventureWanted

Hi,
I'm back from a few days away. Peppa Pig world was brilliant. Well worth a trip to if you're near Southampton. The kids were so excited about going and DC3 absolutely loved meeting peppa and George. Was so sweet seeing her reaction. It was DC2's birthday one of the days at the park and she got given a birthday badge to wear. She got lots of happy birthday messages from both staff and other parents, which she loved. She even had a candle put in her dessert at dinner in the evening .

The furniture we sold on gumtree was collected the evening before we left, so I was able to take the £75 sale proceeds as spending money . Haven't totted up the damage yet. We had meals out 2 nights running, which was pretty pricey, but I know with the additional spending money and our remaining days out budget we should be ok. Was so brilliant getting away. As is always the way with holidays it makes me think about other places I'd like to visit. DH and I are going to add a few more things to our bucket list and hopefully make a plan to actually start ticking off some of the things. We both want to experience some of the travel opportunities with the kids whilst they are still young and actually want to spend time with us!!

I'll be back on tomorrow morning to make my pad to CC3. Hope you all have a good evening.

abba1772

Glad you all enjoyed peppa pig xx

AdventureWanted

Hi,

I've paid £75 to CC3 today. Balance on this card has just gone down in to the next hundred bracket, which is good news. I'm now 91% of the way towards my debt repayment target for the year. Really pleased about this. Once I've met it, I'm going to increase it.

Payday next week, so we're on the home stretch. Grocery budget has gone a bit over, but we've had to stock up on a few things like dishwasher tablets and Brita filters. Will try and work a new category in to my budget soon to account for these expenses, although it will most probably mean having to reduce the debt payment slightly to afford it.

Have had a good day today. Managed to make the birthday cake for DC2. It was amazingly a stress free experience, which is very unusual!! Usually the icing is tricky and I'm short on time, whereas today I was able to get on with it on my own and the icing went on like a dream . Had family over today, which was good fun. Kids loved playing with all of their cousins and was nice to chat with my siblings who I don't see that often.

Treadingonplaymobil

Fantastic news about being so close to your debt target for the year! That's really great.

I have a 'less frequent household supplies' category in YNAB - it took about four months for it to build enough to be useful as it kept getting raided, because the only spare cash I had to put in it was just divided out from the food shop, but over time it's become quite functional and is useful for thing like buying massive boxes of toilet roll or laundry powder at less frequent intervals.

jwil

Glad you had a good time at Peppa Pig World, I didn't realise where it was, thought it was up country! Might have a look, the kids would like it.

Well done on reaching 91% paid, that's amazing and you've still got 1/4 of the year left.

AdventureWanted

Morning,

Not sure where the last couple of days went. They absolutely flew by.

Pay day tomorrow, so I'm sorting out final bits of the budget for this month. I bought DC2 some new clothes the other day, which I'd forgotten to add to ynab, so had to reduce the amount in my debt payments budget to cover it. DC2 has suddenly outgrown all her clothes and the clothing pot is empty until next month. I seem to struggle to ever get this pot to a decent amount before they need new shoes/clothes/wellies. I'm guessing that I'm not putting in enough money in this pot, or alternatively I should visit the secondhand kids clothing shop more frequently than buy new. Although I'm not sure whether secondhand leggings would be very good, as DC2 seems to go through the knees in new leggings towards the end of a years wear anyway. Shame she doesn't like wearing jeans, which are stronger.

Anyway, I've just paid £65 to CC3. Will pay my larger monthly payment tomorrow. Have been thinking about my financial goals again and I'd like to get to the point where I've got more of a buffer in my accounts. Would be nice to be able to save the child benefit payment for the following month when it comes in, rather than needing it to balance the budget for that month. Same goes for wages really.

Looking forward to the monthly debt roundup at the end of the month. I really do find it very motivating seeing the numbers coming down. Still waiting to hit a number where I'm not still horrified by the level of debt we're in, although I have no idea what the number is!!

AdventureWanted

Treadingonplaymobil wrote: »

Fantastic news about being so close to your debt target for the year! That's really great.

I have a 'less frequent household supplies' category in YNAB - it took about four months for it to build enough to be useful as it kept getting raided, because the only spare cash I had to put in it was just divided out from the food shop, but over time it's become quite functional and is useful for thing like buying massive boxes of toilet roll or laundry powder at less frequent intervals.

Thank you .

I definitely need to start a category like this. I guess even if I only put £10 in it each month, then it'll eventually have enough in it to pay for household bits. Will have to try and keep all of my grocery receipts in future. Would be interesting to analyse what we actually bought and how much of it is household items. The grocery budget seems to be the main area of the budget that I struggle with, closely followed by kids clothing!

AdventureWanted

Payday today :j. Have paid my usual £325 to CC3. Will wait until Sunday to do my monthly debt roundup.

DC1&2s swimming lesson was cancelled yesterday. It's a shame they couldn't swim, but also quite pleased as it's money saved and DC1 is really emotional at the moment, so think extra rest is good for him.

Today we're out at DC1&2s tennis lessons. No idea what the weather will be doing, but hopefully it won't be too cold/rainy. Sold a top on eBay, so need to pop to the post office this morning. I need to sort through my wardrobe again and start listing my more formal dresses that I no longer wear ready for the Christmas parties. No idea when people tend to buy these, so not sure whether to wait until November to list or do it early.

Hope everyone has a good day .

jwil

If I'm not sure about the best time to sell something I put it up anyway, but at a slightly higher price. If it sells at that I'm happy, and if it doesn't I reduce it towards the 'popular' time so that it will sell then.

AdventureWanted

jwil wrote: »

If I'm not sure about the best time to sell something I put it up anyway, but at a slightly higher price. If it sells at that I'm happy, and if it doesn't I reduce it towards the 'popular' time so that it will sell then.

That's a really good idea Jwil. Will definitely have to get sorted with these bits sooner rather than later, as I know what I'm like and I'll forget until new year otherwise!!