Single, six kids and going to be debt free!

Mumoffourkids

Disneyland was amazing. I booked it all separately so I could pay it off in bits. We actually stayed in a hotel outside the parks and I drove but I got free parking at the Disney parks. The hotel was amazing and had so much to do, we would definitely stay there again and go for longer so we could do other stuff as well. I used to live in France so can speak french and am happy driving around in France.

Mumoffourkids

So I decided what to do with the money I had saved on food. With today’s tax credit payment as well, I am now fully funded for July for bills and food, petrol etc and including rent. The remaining amount I put £59.22 to my new phone category as my phone is slowly dying and I use it a lot for my sewing business. Then £60 went to wish list items, £40 to a blender to make our own smoothies and soups and £20 to my buy to let house deposit fund. 

I have since found a blender for £30.94 so I have bought that and put the remaining amount to a new microwave fund. I also bought an extension lead for my plug socket in the garage and a breaker plug for the caravan electric lead to go into. The caravan came with a long enough lead for me to be able to plug into the socket in the garage, but it is a useful socket so an extension lead is needed. These came to a goal of £15.67 and came out of my electrics budget for the caravan.

Also in caravan news, I have chosen the fabric I am going to upholster the cushions in and have also order some new foam inserts, I just need to get some zips and then I can make new cushions once the fabric arrives. 

Also I got a slow puncture and had to go to the garage to get it fixed this morning, only £18 and all fixed. I also booked in for my mot mid month so I don’t leave it until the last minute like last year. Fingers crossed the car will pass through easily. But if not, I have money saved for the repairs.

beanielou

You have been a busy bee!

badmemory

Isn't it amazing how differnt it feels to be putting a car in for it's MOT when you can fund any problems compared to that dread when you are worried about what you will do if it needs works.  From my experience if you can finance any problem then no problem arises, if you can't then something is bound to be wrong.  Otherwise known as S O D ' S law!

Poppy1984

Mumoffourkids said:

Honeysucklelou2 said:

Very impressed by your grocery savings.  Still struggling to get the weekly food budget under £100 a week.

I think it’s a case of the kids being out of the home during the day, so I haven’t had to do top up shops. And the youngest being at nursery means she gets fed there four days a week, although she does tend to have dinner with us in the evenings in addition to tea at nursery. She eats so much but is tiny still. She is four in two months and still wears age 18-24 month clothes. Age 2-3 clothes are far too big for her unless I have washed them loads and they have shrunk a bit in the tumble drier. 

Bluegreen143 said:

I’ve subscribed to your diary 🙂 tried to read it from the start but realised I would never catch up as there’s lots to read so thought it was better just to read the last couple of pages then pop on and say hi! Impressed by all your sewing. I can knit but I really can’t sew at all, shame as it’s such a great skill to have! You do so well on your grocery budget as well, which I definitely need to take note of given there are only four of us and we spend more than you!

Thanks for subscribing. In a nutshell, I started the diary when I had debt. In total it was around £23000 but I got lucky and £5000 on one credit card seemed to disappear, not showing on any credit report and I did write to the company but got no reply. Then £7000 from one bank, they decided not to chase me. So I paid off £11000 in 9 months by putting every spare bit of money towards my debts. I sold things, did PPI claims, did surveys, any money saved on my strict budgets went towards my debts. I got used to not having money when my tax credits got stopped for 7 weeks when I went from a joint claim to a single claim. I got used to spending very little and just carried it on. We did go on holiday in that year but only to Cornwall in the May half term. Then I went awol from the forum for a bit and I got a bit lax in spending money. I had spreadsheets mapped out for the year but I wasn’t saving as much as I could as I didn’t really have a goal in mind. When I paid off all my old debt, the first thing I did was to save for a trip to Disneyland Paris for me and the kids at new year. It was amazing, busy but good. And we are definitely going to go again.

So now I am back, using YNAB and have goals for my money. I was spending too much before on general rubbish and although I wasn’t getting into debt, I wasn’t saving as much as I could. 

Hi 👋 
I just wanted to post to say I think you are amazing! Absolute super woman, I have dipped in and out of your diary but never posted. You have done so well to become debt free and you seem to get so much done and fit so much into your day. Very inspiring! 

Poppy

Mumoffourkids

Thanks Poppy. I don’t feel very inspiring. There is one person on here who inspires me and that’s honeysucklelou. Whenever I read her diary, I always get so motivated to get stuff done. Today I have done a bit but feel like I should have got more done!

Poppy1984

I will check her diary out thank you, I also just really enjoy your writing style. Do you blog for anything like that? 

Poppy

Mumoffourkids

Thank you Poppy. No I don’t blog. But now you have got me thinking! Although not sure I would have time. I have thought about it before but I was never convinced that people would read my ramblings lol.

Mumoffourkids

So I only ordered the fabric yesterday for the caravan cushions and it has arrived today! That is amazing service. 

This morning wasn’t good, the ten year old was having a moment and I struggled to get her to school today. But she is in school now and I need to make the most of the few hours I have at home without children, well apart from the 14 year old. But she sorts herself out and spends most of the day in her room, doing her school work. This morning I have done some messaging for the sewing business, two cushions are being collected today. I need to make a start on the next one. I have also paid for some adverts for the business so I need to sort out what I need to send to them. I need to set up a YNAB budget for the business as I want to get to the stage where I am keeping a cash float in the business and pay myself weekly or fortnightly, instead of just paying myself whenever I get paid. That is one of my things to do in July.

I have planned July’s goals this morning. I will do a round up of June’s goals at the end of today along with reconciling all my accounts. I have been thinking about how I keep my money. I currently have a couple of regular savers and then an easy access savings account. Then I have two current accounts where I tend to keep the money fo per next month’s bills and spending money. However this adds up and I am not earning interest on the money in my current account. I think I am in the position where the majority of the income I receive in July is for August’s expenses, so I am thinking about transferring this to my easy access savings account to earn interest and then transfer it back out on the last day of the month. My interest is calculated daily and credited monthly to my savings account. So I could earn a bit more interest this way. 

For July, I have downloaded a declutter challenge which has a different thing to declutter each day so I am going to try and do that to clear my house a bit. I also need to start sorting out and selling some bits that I no longer need. Right best get on with some housework and then some sewing!

welshspendthrift

Hi hi Mumoffourkids
Your diary is inspiring! Is the declutter challenge on MSE this is something I really need to do and sell what I can to help pay off debts. I want to sew again ( not done any for many years)  but time is the issue! Not for selling though I’m not that good ! 

Thank you for your diary which im
following with interest