Adventure wanted, but first we must rid ourselves of debt

AdventureWanted

Morning,

Only a couple of days until payday, so I'm sorting out budget categories in ynab. I always zero the balances at the end of the month and use any extra to pay off the Cc, but do wonder if in the future I should keep an excess in the account.

Have paid £38 to CC3 today. Also shifted £1 from debt savings to round the EF up to £1,335.

Off to a friends house today, so hoping for a NSD.

Have been reading The Frugal Cottage blog recently (am starting at the beginning!) and the monthly goals they set are quite interesting, as are working out the percentage of wages spent on each expense category. I'm definitely not as strict with my budget as I should be and often find myself borrowing money from an account to bail out an overspend in another. DH and I know our main culprits for overspending are the grocery and days out categories - think I would be horrified to see the percentage these make up. We've decided to both try and reduce the number of coffee shop trips / cake purchases in June. With DC1s birthday, as well as a day out for a friends birthday we had added expenses, but the amount spent on days out is ridiculous this month. Likewise the grocery bill is far too high. Part of it was buying cake ingredients, but still... I need to try much harder at being more frugal.

If any one has any good finance blogs to read please let me know. Most of the ones I've glanced at are more about savings and investing, rather than debt busting / living frugally, but it all brings inspiration for the future.

jwil

Groceries are my downfall too.

I don't read blogs but there is a frugal living thread on here https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5942421/2019-frugal-living-challenge&utm_source=MSE_FS&utm_medium=Email&utm_term=28-May-19

AdventureWanted

jwil wrote: »

Groceries are my downfall too.

I don't read blogs but there is a frugal living thread on here https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5942421/2019-frugal-living-challenge&utm_source=MSE_FS&utm_medium=Email&utm_term=28-May-19

Thanks for the link Jwil. Will have a read of it. Need all the help I can get . Hope you have a good day.

AdventureWanted

Morning,

Busy day today. Have friends over this afternoon, which means I have to tidy the house before we head out to DC1&2s group this morning. Cannot wait for the day when tidying just means a very quick hoover and quick clean of the bathroom, rather than trying hard to hide all the clutter! One day....

Money wise I've paid the last money from May to CC3 today. Pay day tomorrow, which will mean the larger payment going across and final scores on the doors for the month.

Right must get on (but first a cup of coffee ). Have a great day.

jwil

AdventureWanted wrote: »

Cannot wait for the day when tidying just means a very quick hoover and quick clean of the bathroom, rather than trying hard to hide all the clutter! One day....

I dream of this too. Have a good day

Homegrown0

AdventureWanted wrote: »

I think there are so many things that I want to do that I often get confused what to do first and don't really have enough cash to do it all! Once DF it'll be lovely to see the savings grow, just wish we had more of a safety net now.

This really rings true with me - I flit around from thing to thing, reworking finances to accommodate one plan then worrying that something else is more important so reworking that. When I looked at how much disposable income we'll have when we're debt free, it's quite exciting really. We'll be able to save easily and quickly to do the things that we want to do.

Also, i've seen your progress on the debt free by Christmas 2019 thread - you're doing so well!
We'll get there

AdventureWanted

Pay day has arrived! :j. Have transferred £325 to CC3, which is the final payment for the month. So will work out the month end results in a minute.

Thanks homegrown. I've been reading a few diaries recently which say they would rather have some savings than pay all off the debt. It's at that point I always rethink my plans! Savings would be nice, but then so would being debt free!! So many decisions!

We've got a quiet day at home today. Need to pop out to the pharmacy at some point, but other than that we don't need to be anywhere. Nipped to the doctors yesterday for a check up and had that horrifying moment where the nurse said it's now time to be weighed :eek: Not sure why it's such a huge deal for me, but being weighed late in the day with clothes on (I made sure I took my shoes off!) is not nice!! Need to prioritise exercise in June and less cake!

jwil

I weigh in the evening. It took me a long time to get used to it! I weigh in the morning at home so I have my 'home' weigh in and my 'SW' weigh in. There's a few lb difference! Though overall the losses are the same.

AdventureWanted

Total debt at 31/05/19
CC1 - £0
CC2 - £0
CC3- £469
CC4 - £10,530

Total debt - £10,999. Snuck in to the next bracket :j
(Total debt at 30/4/19 - £11,998).

DH Course CCs
CC1 - £1,568.75
CC2 - £5,166.90
CC3 - £3,065.36

Total debt - £9,801.01
Total at 30/4/19 - £10,189.60.

The total CC debt is now £20,800.01. I'm so pleased this figure is reducing nicely, although I do need to remove that penny pretty swiftly!! Looking at my CC spreadsheet from last year is really horrifying. March 2018 our total debts (including DHs business CCs) was an eye watering £43k.

Next month will see the order the debt is paid off change. Once CC3 has gone, the next debt to be tackled will be DHs CC1 as the 0% ends in March 2020. I'm really having to be sensible about the debt payments, as I cannot wait for CC4 to be under £10k and would happily throw extra at it next month to get it below £10k. For some reason it won't seem so bad when it's under that figure, but I know sticking to the order the 0%s run out is more sensible, especially as CC4 doesn't expire until October 2020. At least having now included DHs course CCs in my list I'll be able to see a true picture of progress being made.

June goals
• Pay off final bit of CC3
• 10 NSDs (would love more but not sure how doable it is!).
• Try harder to keep within grocery budget.
• 2 bits of exercise a week.
• Do tax returns.

If I can stick to these goals I'll be really happy.

AdventureWanted

Morning,

Have transferred my savings across today. I think I'll have to increase the amount in my car account at some point, but I won't be able to do that this month. The EF is now at £1,500, which is heading in the right direction. I really should have at least one months salary in an EF just in case DH is between contracts. I'm hoping it never happens, but there is a real risk being self employed. DH and I were discussing the finances yesterday and he thinks we should prioritise the EF for a few months and use the larger £325 figure I pay to debt on payday to pay in to the EF. It's weird as I know I want to build the EF, but it makes me nervous not paying the debt down lots. I'm not really sure why. Maybe it's that I won't meet the debt repayment target I've set myself, which is making me reluctant to change the plan. Perhaps I'll try and split it half and half at payday or just use any additional money for the EF. Our mortgage is due for renewal in October, so i need our finances to look good and they will look better if we have less CC debt.

The weather looks lovely today, so I'm looking forward to a day in the garden. Have got the living room doors in to the garden open at the moment - I can hear the birds chirping and the smell of my roses keeps wafting in - it is pure heaven. Hope you all have a great weekend.