Are we nearly there yet?

Pauper1

Goodness, it's been ages since I posted! Like usual, we've had a few setbacks *sigh* - we had to buy DH a new car (we knew it was going to happen in the early part of the year but had hoped it would be covered by his Feb bonus, which it wasn't, so had to dip into the emergency fund) and actually sitting down to think about the new baby made us realise we needed a few things for it/DS/the house, so also ate into our 'yearly spends'. I did then manage to arrange a new savings plan to cover these throughout the year though.

In terms of the settlements, we had offers accepted on 5 of our debts (effectively writing off £3245 worth off debts which is incredible), and then we accepted the counter offers on 2 of the other debts, which at the end of the process means we've gone from £27,351.29 in debt to £16,195.03. We now get passed back to the normal SC team and get refunded the remaining £8k ish of our money. I've just sat down to work out what this means for us.

I came across another old overdraft of £150 and an old debt of £50 that weren't included in the settlement debts, so I'd like to pay those off, as well as the smallest debt that wasn't agreeable in the settlement, which totals £254. I also want to bring the 3-month-EF and the 'yearly spends' back up to where they were when we sorted out all the house money in the summer.

If the £8k would pay off all the debts then I'd possibly be thinking differently, and would also throw all our savings at it. But even if I did that we'd still be left with debts of £4k, still paying £50 a month to SC and leaving us with only £100 a month after bills/food/petrol. My gut feeling is that isn't very sensible, especially as the debt isn't accruing any interest at the moment.

The way I plan on doing it leaves us £10k in debt, with total savings (not including my son's account) of about £6k.

SC say it'll take us 17 years to pay off the remaining debt, but they don't take into account my DH's bonuses are they are random and unreliable. Usually, however, they are about £2.5k a year, so add that to the monthly payments (£600 a year), and I make it 3.5 years to pay off. Plus, I plan to go "full time" at uni next October when the baby is about 18 months, which will mean we'll be entitled to maintenance loan/grants/etc (if things stay the same!)

[little pause...]

I just did the calculator and it says I'd get £8576 maintenance loan a year, and £1669 parent grant. Which is incredible! I also came across something on the main site saying that part time students will be eligible for maintenance loans at some point this year, so even if I decide to stay part time I should get something.

Pauper1

ARGH! We got the remaining money back this morning, which, although annoying in terms of things didn't go to plan, feels good to be able to sort out our money again. OR SO I THOUGHT... B Bank Savings Pots are doing my head in! I transferred £1k across to the main B account to bring the balance on the savings account up to where it was, and I needed to then split this between the pots. Sounds simple... but it's NOT. It doesn't always update things immediately (in the pots, not the balances), so I merrily put money across then it has a fit because I've overallocated as it hasn't show up straight away in a few of them. Try to sort it out and then carry on, fine for a while, then it stresses because I've put things in one pot twice due to it not updating properly after the previous overallocation, so again, have overallocated! I've now gone in twice on the computer and once on my phone to reduce the pots to where they should be (ie. match up what I've actually got in there with the balances on the pots) and every time it tells me I've overallocated and need to do it again. I'm giving up. I'll give it an hour while I sort out some other bits and see if it's over its tantrum.

Pauper1

As expected, when I went back in it said I had funds to allocate... *sigh* my eyes rolled so far back into my head that I saw my brain. Anyway, that's sorted. Ish. Tried to change the standing orders from the phone app and it gave me an error. Obviously. So I need to log back in on the computer at some point to do that but I've got a month, so will do it another time in case of injury to the computer.

I also paid off small amounts from our credit cards (£40ish each, which is from our usual spending but I thought I might as well use this money), paid off the £150 overdraft that I discovered in an old account and managed to negotiate a 20% settlement offer on another small debt. So we only have the two Wescot debts that refused settlement now (£16,104.25 in total). This is amazing as it's down from £39k looking at my signature! Goodness.

We've got a £4.5k emergency fund again (about 3 months expenses, but based on old figures) and £1.9k 'yearly spends', which is about £1k less than actual budgeted spends but once the standing orders are sorted out we'll be putting £114.43 a month into this account. The only problem with that is it should be about £100 a month more than that, in order to cover £2.9k spends a year. From April our income should improve slightly so hopefully I will be able to adjust that.

I don't know how much is in my son's saving account but it won't be loads, maybe £100 or so, we put £10 a month away at the moment while he's still young (but keep dipping in to it!). Again, this will have to increase at some point I expect but for now I'm happy. Plus I know my dad is also saving for him to go to uni which takes the pressure off slightly.

I mentioned on someone else's diary that my DH was encouraging me to buy a new laptop as mine was struggling to cope with the demands of my computing degree. I was sure it would be fine... but turns out that my "new" laptop (about 18 months old) literally wouldn't have enough space on it to download the software that I need, even if I took off every single thing and booted it back to basics (only a 32gb model, and doesn't have space to do the windows update either). So I got out my old MacBook, which has 250gb storage, thought "ah-ha! Genius!", but it's only 2gb ram so can't cope with running a virtual machine (which is what I need to do for my module). Everything is chugging along so slowly that it would probably take me a whole week to do a day's worth of work so, anyway, I've accepted that he might be right and have been looking at laptops. If I trade in my "new" one at PC World I could get a new MacBook for £649 which is an incredible deal, but also an incredible amount of money. I've spent hours this morning and yesterday researching laptops and I can't find one with the specs I need for less than £500. My old MacBook is 9 years old and still works fine (just not while running 2 operating systems) so I know for £150 more that I'd get longevity. I think I'm going to do it...

After all this, and making sure I've left us enough money for petrol and food this month, it leaves us with £4,767.39 to give back to Stepchange to pay off of the remaining debts, taking it down to £11,336.86. Oh my!

That's 71% of our debts paid off in just under 4 years I think. Plus, it's now at a much more manageable level.

Pauper1

Oh gawd, I just did a giant post and then got kicked out. Gah.

BASICALLY,

1. Our remaining debts are now £11,554.25 after all the settlement stuff, and Stepchange predict it'll take us 19 years to pay off at £50 a month. From April our income will increase and this will be upped to £150 a month, so taking 6 years to pay off.

2. We are saving £107 a month for 'yearly spends' (car insurance for 2 cars, birthdays, xmas etc) but it should be £241.67. From April, I should be able to change it to this amount.

3. We are saving £10 a month in DS's account and £31 a month for an unexpected bills buffer (I want to get this account up to £700). Our Emergency Fund is back up to where I want it to be (3 months of expenses, based on old figures, but fine for now)

4. Our 1% spreadsheet is based on original debt and is £393.49 which is still a lot of money to me, whereas if I readjust for after settlement figures it's £115.54 which would be easier for me to work towards, but I'm not sure if I should change it

5. I need to try and decrease our groceries and petrol budget (£400 a month) to try and save a little each month towards the remaining debts. I plan to add these little amounts to my DH's bonuses and do an overpayment a couple of times a year. Obviously his bonuses are never guaranteed but based on previous usual figures, I hope to have our debts down to £9254 by the end of the year. (Currently it would be £11054) This would bring our DFD forward to 4.5 years time.

ALSO There is the possibility of me going to uni full time, which would give me £10,245 in loans/grants over the year, which would completely turn things on their heads and would pay everything off as soon as it came through. I have a horrible compulsion to do that from this October, but I will have a nearly 3yo and a 6mo, so I think that would be a little crazy. If it happens it should probably be October 2019.

enthusiasticsaver

Just quickly read your diary. My DD has a 2 year old DD and is expecting DD2 early May. Entertaining toddlers is hard work so hope you manage to get some rest. My DD works part time and goes off on maternity leave at the end of this week as she had DD1 3 weeks early due to pre eclampsia and is hoping the same doesn't happen this time. She will be able to rest when her DD1 is at nursery or with us or other grandparents as we live local to them. I hope you have some respite so you can rest and prepare for your baby.

Firstly I always found ynab confusing. Have you tried clear checkbook? It uses an envelope system for budgeting.

I think doing a full time Uni course from October would be incredibly hard with 2 very small children but I am surprised the loan/grant is so high. Is there an amount built in for childcare?

Is there a reason you have chosen retraining rather than working part time until the children are older?

Pauper1

Aww thank you. Yes, my DS spends two mornings a week with my mum, which I usually use to study but sometimes I rest instead! Good luck to your DD and fingers crossed she avoids Pre E this time.

I haven't used clear check book, but I will have a look into it.

I also think it would be hard and that I would be a bit silly to go for it, it's just very tempting! Haha. The maintenance loan is a standard amount I believe although it is partly based on household income and ours is not very high. Some of it is a £1669 'Parent Learning Grant', also based on income. My DS isn't in nursery so I wouldn't get the childcare part.

This is my first degree so I don't have a 'career' already, and this way I get to study around the kids rather than put them in childcare in order to work. When I left work for maternity leave with DS I was on £9k so I wouldn't earn enough to justify not furthering my career in this way.

Pauper1

Pay day tomorrow so I'm doing a little planning this afternoon.

Budget
Bills - £1191.53
'Yearly Spends' - £107.21
DS Savings - £10
Buffer - £31
So, total in the Direct Debits account = £1339.74

Leaves us with £478.51: I'd usually budget £250 for groceries and £150 for petrol, but I'd like to challenge myself *slightly* and do groceries for £200. I've also been batch cooking for the freezer, for post-baby meals, which I would like to continue doing so I have a full freezer by the time it arrives! I have no clue if petrol is correct so will leave that for this month. I need to get a 2 cube storage thing from Argos, which is £14.99, and a few things for the baby, which I need to price up, so the cheaper I can get the groceries and petrol the better really!

Post-Baby Food Prep
Already batched - pasta bake, lasagne, cottage pie, enchiladas, pizza
Aim to batch - chilli, curry, bolognese, stew
Easy Teas - I'd like to peel, par boil and freeze some potatoes for some easy mash, and keep some sausages/patties/pies in the freezer to go with it. I'll also stock up on pasta, jars of sauce and micro rice (not something I tend to use but can't argue with the ease of them!).
Snacks - I'm also thinking of making some muffins, pancakes, lactation cookies and smoothie bags for the freezer. Will stock up on raisins, cereal bars and rice cakes.
I will need to revisit this list as I don't think it'll last us very long!

I've got a midwife visit on Wednesday and she'll hopefully tell me if baby is finally head down. I've been holding off on buying anything else for my home birth in case it doesn't look like it'll happen. I think the only 'expensive' thing I'll have to buy would be a pool liner, which is about £35 I think.

I need to do a final To Do list for the baby as it's all over the place and I feel like there's loads left to do. I'm nearly 35 weeks so not long left to sort everything!

Meal Plan
Tuesday - Spring veg risotto and garlic bread
Wednesday - variation of Mumma Jack's chilli with rice (batch)
Thursday - Chuck It All In stew with mash (batch)
Friday - Spinach and chickpea curry with rice (batch)
Saturday - Spaghetti bolognese (batch)

Lunches - jacket potato, cheese toasties, pitta and hummus, cheesy pasta
Breakfasts - cereal, toast, porridge

Pauper1

Just did my online shop to be delivered tomorrow, for £40.83, and that includes 4 extra teas for batching, pies for the freezer for an easy tea, our spread, milk and gravy was on offer so got some even though we aren't out, and hopefully lots for DH's lunches (although he always manages to ruin my weekly food budget even when I think I've bought a huge amount!).

Next week I will hopefully get the extras for the snack batching I want to do.

Pauper1

I already use PA & TCB, but I need to find more ways to boost income/decrease spending. I want to keep a record of what I'm doing as well, as I feel like that will be motivating.

I don't know if there will be anything particularly MSE happening today - my mum is taking DS swimming instead of me to prepare him for the switch once baby arrives, so I will have 1/2 an hour "free" which I could use to do surveys etc. Then we'll be at my mum's for a few hours, where I will need to do uni work. Our food shop will be delivered this afternoon.

• Lunch at mum's DONE
• Saved £1.85 on our 'usuals' from the food shop DONE
• Moved the 'Direct Debit' money over to the right account so no charges or fees for us DONE
• Will put a rinse of nappies on (I always forget that we save money every time I change DS's nappy)
• Need to add sofa blankets to the wash that's ready to go - wanted to hang outside as it's not supposed to rain here today although it already is... so will probably just use the airer instead of risking it! DONE - and risked outside!
• Not MSE but need to do a bit of a deeper clean in the kitchen, so will do that before we leave this morning, then the fridge will be clean ready for food shop delivery DONE
• Will pick up my cube storage from Argos later; I'm counting this as it was a pre-planned spend that I've put off for a few weeks until payday, to make sure I really wanted it
• Downloaded TCB toolbar notifier DONE
• Relisted 2 things on eBay DONE

Hoping to make some bread with DS at some point this week as he has been asking to for a little while.
Edit - just remembered I also need to wash all the newborn and baby clothes this week, and hopefully will get out into the garden with DS to plant some onion sets and potentially carrot seeds, depending on if this cold snap is *actually* going away...

15.23pm - £2.10 on PA today

Pauper1

This morning I've checked PA (nothing) and earned 67 SBs (which took me AGES cos I kept getting timed out of surveys, I've remembered why I gave up with it before!)

Again, nothing particularly MSE today, need to:

• The nappy rinse has just finished so will put that on a full wash in a second. Won't be done before we go out so will assess weather situation later! DONE
• Didn't get a chance to pick up my cubes so heading out to do that first thing DONE
• Need to get a bathmat/doormat to cover a ruined bit of carpet in the 'cats room' - will look in the cheapy shops first DONE
• Quick tidy up, dust and hoover before our landlord inspection later (hence the carpet hiding. We'll sort it before we move obviously but I don't want a time pressure right now!) DONE
• After midwife appointment need to phone to change doctor surgeries
• More uni work hopefully!
• Check PA and SB again later
• Check banks