Adventure wanted, but first we must rid ourselves of debt

AdventureWanted

June debt roundup.

Joint debt at 30/06/20
CC1 - £0.00
CC2 - £0.00
CC3- £0.00
CC4 - £6,660.00

Total debt - £6,660.00
(Total debt at 31/5/20 - £6,745.00).

DH Course CCs
CC1 - £0.00
CC2 - £0.00
CC3 - £0.00
DH Car - £9,830.00

Total debt - £9,830.00
(Total at 31/5/20 - £9,930.00)

Combined debt now sits at £16,490.00 (31/5/20 - £16,675.00).

AdventureWanted

The minimum payment for CC4 has come out today. Takes me to £5,010 paid towards debt this year 😁.

Today I've ordered some face masks for the kids, DH & I ready for leaving the house once baby does arrive and groups restart. Will be weird going out again, as other than midwife appointments and the occasional drive, me & the DC haven't ventured out. 

jwil

Look at all those zero balances!  You are doing so well and £5k in 7 months is amazing, especially considering the state of the world!

Good luck with the birth, I was wondering whether you'd had the baby yet, how exciting

AdventureWanted

Hi 👋🏻,

So since I last updated my diary DC4 has arrived. We had another DD almost 2 weeks ago. We're slowly getting used to the lack of sleep again! On the plus side all the night feeds have allowed me to catch up with the diaries I subscribe to - still a long way to go until I'm up to date, but I'm getting there.  The other DC absolutely adore their new sister and have all been really helpful, which has been really lovely. 

DH has started back at work, which is both brilliant and also frustrating at the same time! We had hoped he'd have at least 2 weeks at home with us when the baby arrived, but it didn't work out like that in the end. He started back 2 days after DC4 was born. It has been a real relief that he managed to get some work this month, as we thought it would be at least September before it started up again. We found out yesterday that the contract will be ongoing now until March next year, so that has taken the pressure off loads. 

Financially we are doing ok. We had to borrow some money from my parents which we will start repaying later this year/ next year. It's not ideal, but was nice not having loads of financial stress whilst pregnant. My parents are incredibly understanding and want us to get our EF back up and running before repaying the money.  I'll update my July figures shortly.

Hope everyone is ok 😊.

AdventureWanted

July debt roundup.

Joint debt at 31/07/20
CC1 - £0.00
CC2 - £0.00
CC3- £0.00
CC4 - £6,570.00

Total debt - £6,570.00
(Total debt at 30/6/20 - £6,660.00).

DH Course CCs
CC1 - £0.00
CC2 - £0.00
CC3 - £0.00
DH Car - £9,700.00

Total debt - £9,700.00
(Total at 30/6/20 - £9,830.00)

Combined debt now sits at £16,270.00 (30/6/20 - £16,490.00).

NB. I haven't included my parents 0% loan at present. Will most probably add it in at end of August when our finances are more on track and slightly less depressing!

jwil

Yay, huge congratulations! 👶👏

Great news about DH's work, even if the timing was a bit out.

Well done on the debt total, it's still heading downwards!

AdventureWanted

Thanks Jwil 😊.

AdventureWanted

Morning, 

DH and I have been discussing our budgets and looking at ways to cut some expenses. We need to build our EF back up ASAP, although we most probably won't be able to start doing this until September/October once the business is back up and running properly.  The food bill is always an area which we know we need to reduce, but always end up spending loads! July our food budget was horrendous, but we bought lots of food for the freezer and batch cooked lots ready for DC4s arrival.  I need to start using up bits in the freezer, which will hopefully reduce the food expenditure one month. Usually I budget about £300-£325 a month for food, but this doesn't take into account if it is 4 week or 5 week month. I think we should be able to spend on average £65-70 a week on food, especially as we are not spending out for pull ups anymore and DC4 is using cloth nappies & wipes, so no nappy/baby wipes expenses.  I am going to try harder to keep on top of the spending and DH seems keen to monitor it with me 😁.  I bought the batch lady cookbook a few days ago (it arrived today) so I'm hoping to get some inspiration on meals that can be made in bulk and are cheaper (without buying cheap processed food/meat). 

I think I mentioned previously that my parents have lent us some money on a 0% basis.  Part of the money borrowed was to make ends meet whilst DH wasn't working, as well as to replace some household equipment which died during the lockdown period. (Luckily we had an EF which lasted pretty well, but our oven broke and a few things needed fixing in the house which the EF couldn't cover). The other part of the money borrowed was to pay off our 0% credit cards. My parents were aware that we had 0% credit cards and that some of the 0% deal expired this October, so they offered to lend us the money so it is all on 0% with no balance transfer fees.  I do feel a bit awkward borrowing money from my parents and once our earnings are back to normal I will be paying it back as quickly as possible, but it is a real plus not to have the stress of needing to repay the debts by a set date.  One of the main reasons why my parents wanted to lend us the money was to remove any stress whilst I was pregnant and had a newborn 🥰 and luckily they had the resources available to help.  

So for the next few months DH and I are going to try extra hard to reduce costs that we can and are looking forward to money coming in to the business so I can start building up the EF again and start repaying my parents.  DH and I have discussed possibly paying a set amount per month for my parents in to savings as well as any extra money, then when the balance gets to a set amount pay half across to them. (Eg. When savings gets to £1000 pay £500 to parents). That way we have a bit of an EF, but are still paying them back (hopefully in larger chunks - £500 or £1000).  I keep on wondering whether I should make a document that DH and I sign to detail the loan agreement and repayment terms. I don't want my parents to think we aren't serious about repaying them or for the repayments to drag on for loads of years..

charlies_tribe

Congratulations on the arrival of DC4.

abba1772

Congratulations on the safe arrival of your little one xx