Single, six kids and going to be debt free!

wishingthemortgaheaway

Sometimes, if you go onto The apps or websites associated with the bills you can change the direct debit date. I did this with our gas/electric. It was set to the 28th month and I like all my bills to go out at the beginning of the month.
it took me a couple of months as I had to switch it to the middle of the month initially, then the beginning of the month the next month.

Might be worth a look.

Mumoffourkids

Thanks wishing. I had set up most of my bills to come out after my monthly wages but actually now they come out of my tax credit money, so I could organise it better really and spread them throughout the month or actually have them coming out after my new wages date and then use tax credits etc to pay for the big bills at the end of the month.

I need to go and adjust my spreadsheet!

Mumoffourkids

So today am at work again but it shouldn't be busy so I am doing some admin. One of the things I am doing is applying for watersure for my water and sewerage. Apparently if you are on certain benefits and have at least 3 children at home under 19 in education, you can apply for a capped water tariff. You also have to have a meter which I have. They will then apply a maximum which your water bill will never be more than. So today I have filled out the forms for both Essex and Suffolk water and Anglian water and will post these off. The amount I pay per month to each of these is higher than the capped amount so I should be slightly better off each month.

I also updated my spreadsheet last night for revised pay dates and revised pay and I think I should be alright. I was going to put the two youngest into nursery on Fridays from May as my son's hours are increased to 30 hours a week from April, but I have a feeling that this will make things slightly too tight, so I will do it from June instead. This will only be for term time only and will give me a bit of time to myself on Fridays to get the house work done!

I also have a dilemma and not sure what to do. I have two current accounts, one is for my bills and one if just for spending so food, petrol, general spending. My bills account is my original account and my wages and all my other income goes into here. It is also where my overdraft is but that should be cleared this month so I will fully stay in the black from March onwards. However, projecting my spreadsheet going forward for the rest of the year, I am going to have a surplus in my bills account at the end of every month. I am wondering what to do with this. How much if anything do people generally leave in their current accounts as a buffer? I am thinking around £100 to £200 as a buffer but I do have my overdraft if anything does go wrong. This is also in addition to my various savings accounts that have almost £1000 in at the moment. Any thoughts to any one who might be reading!!

Sayschezza

I leave mine in as savings for Christmas.

Mumoffourkids

Thanks for your reply Sayschezza.

I already have savings for Christmas and Birthdays along with the following other pots,
Emergency fund
Car maintenance, car tax, breakdown
House maintenance (mainly if any appliances die on me!)
Childcare costs for holidays for school age kids
Clothes savings (although this pot has been used each so far apart from this week!)
Holiday savings
Rugby tour savings

So I think if I do have spare above say a £100 buffer I will move to another savings account for debt savings and then I can always transfer back as I check my account daily.

JoJoC

You could always give yourself a month's grace and leave it in there as a buffer for a month, then the next month if you haven't used it and your next £100-200 extra is left, you can transfer it to savings and keep a month's 'float; in there. Just a suggestion! And would require you to be fairly disciplined in terms of not feeling like you have that money there to spend.

You could also start a new pot - put 50% towards debt over-payments and 50% towards 'treats' to do something either just for you (on your Fridays off when the kids go to nursery) or something new that you and the kids can do that you normally wouldn't be able to.

Lots of options, just a few suggestions from me

Mumoffourkids

Ok so I need to do a list of things to do today and tomorrow as otherwise I will forget something!!

- Ring local council re larger bins for home
- Ring child benefit re letter for watersure applications
- Send off watersure application to Anglian water
- Write and send off letter about payment offer to only debt that doesn't have repayment plan so far (they have given me two months from beginning of January to reply but I want to do it in March)
- Go to DD1's parent evening (thursday)
- Pick up small ones from nursery (thursday)
- Do drop off and pick up at acro class thursday evening
- Tip run (Friday)
- Sort out baby clothes in bottom of wardrobe
- Cash for clothes run (Friday)
- Pick up my glasses (Friday)


I have been playing with my spreadsheets as my car insurance is due next month. I was just looking at quotes and I think I might be able to pay it all in one go but I might have to use a bit of my emergency fund to help pay for it as well as my car savings fund. But if I do that would be a big help with my monthly figures and I'll be able to top up the emergency fund in the month after.

enthusiasticsaver

I would aim for a months buffer eventually.

Mumoffourkids

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

I would aim for a months buffer eventually.

Would that be a month's buffer for all expenses? Or just things like rent?

Seasidegal58

YNAB always suggested a month's wages as a buffer. If you don't mind me saying your emergency fund looks a little low for a family of seven - perhaps top this up a bit more?

The watersure offer appears very good - especially with the amount of water you must use for laundry!:)