Wandering on

Legacy_user

Hi,

I've had just over a year off the forum and a huge amount has happened in that time, but it feels like the right time to dip back in. 2018 is going to be the year that turns thing around for us.


2016 headlines: Financial burnout to the tune of £22k which accumulated over time due to house renovations, Unsteady income and growing expenses for childcare. Resulted in a DMP...which I self manage and is slowly decreasing.

2017 headlines:
Moved house with the ultimate aim of helping out aged relative, changed jobs etc.
Currently paying for 2 houses and 40 hrs childcare a week.
Finishing off old house and moving has racked up more debts to tune of [STRIKE]£15k.[/STRIKE] £17.3K:eek:
Tried to sell house but first sale fell through at the last minute as buyers for cold feet.
House sold again for £5k more (crossing fingers and hoping)
Got much better job in December £10k payrise, DH now also on regular income

Things to look forward to in 2018:
Selling house - we'll clear the new [STRIKE]£15k[/STRIKE] £17.3K:eek:, and be able to bank a huge pot of cash for future house plans.
DD will become eligible for 30 hrs free childcare.
No mortgage and reduced childcare will mean we are £1500 a month better off. This should all kick in by April.
Will be able to pay more off DMP as a result.

So, 2017 has been a turn around year in many respects. A lot of hard work to come but it's all to play for in 2018.

Some other facts...
We have YNAB, and it definitely helps but I'm not living by the rules and it shows....I'm going to use YNAB better.
Sticking to a budget is our biggest trial....
This year as finances will be oh so better I want to get our budget balanced right so we can live comfortably as well as save and pay off more on DMP.
Hubby never knows what there is to spend so falls back on CC so this is something I definitely want to sort...thinking a prepaid credit card with phone app instead so he can see before he spends....I'm guilty of this too though (must use YNAB better.)
I should get a pay rise in 2018 too, but want to increase my pension to 10% as company will match it (currently it's only 5%).


And that's it for now! Will set myself some goals later...

Poor_Single_lady

Welcome back Ramblehan.

How nice that you have come back! We are richer for your presence.

This is going to be the year for you. xxx

Chandelier.

Welcome back and happy shiney new diary!

It sounds like you've had an extremely busy year, here's hoping 2018 will be better:D

System

A steadier calmer year would be appreciated!

Thanks for checking in both of you.

redofromstart

Happy new diary, and best wishes for calm and steady.

louby40

Ahhh Ramblehan we’ve missed you! I wondered how your house move had gone but figured you must have been having one of those mad years.

So glad to see you back here! It all sounds very exciting, new job etc

Happy New Year!!

System

Hey Louby - nice to be back - thanks for the lovely welcome. New job is very exciting but also slightly daunting - it's a very grown up job!
Well done to you for paying back your folks - what a huge achievement.

System

Okay dokey. Time to get focussed. Here are my January goals.

• Check Ynab weekly at least
• Stay in budget for food for month (this may be tricky):huh:
• Review electricity / broadband suppliers etc as a year has passed since we moved in, so might be able to get a better deal
• Call Water company as despite several calls still haven't had a bill from them since we moved in. Need to get it sorted before we owe too much (but really this is their fault!!!)
• Organise a prepaid card for DH (I already have one)
• Start a better form of savings tracker so I can see some positives.
• Post a budget planned and then an 'actually what happened' budget - Shame myself into better behaviours!!
• Carry on setting goals regularly....
• .....that's it for now....!

System

Some good news already - Some of the current CC debt was earning us terrible interest - but I have managed to get a 0% interest offer for next six months with a very low fee - so that will save us some extra cash in the short term.

Debts: Focus on the existing CC debt
BC1 DH: £7,731.70 (Interest free until Oct, payment of £175.00 to come off this month)
BC2 me: £9,615.79 (Extra payment of £750 to come off this month)
Total: £17,347.49 (£16422.49 after this months payments)

Emergency Fund: £120 + £1250* = £1370
*This is from a insurance payment from our garage being broken into in December and lots of DH's tools being stolen. Ideally at some stage when our finances are more stable, DH will get this money back to replace the rest, but for now it will be our emergency fund until house is sold.

Budget for remaining spends for January (until 25th) :
Food: £106.11
Fuel: £56.40

Food wise we have a fully stocked freezer and I have planned all the meals for this week so no more food shops this week. We have plenty in the freezer to get us through the month I think so other than some fruit, veggies and milk we should be OK.
Fuel - I have a full tank as filled up yesterday - but this will possibly be short. I am waiting for a £160 expense claim for work so this will hopefully come in and top this pot up.

pennywisepoundstupid

Hi, just wanted to say good luck with everything and that I've subscribed to your diary.

Sympathies with the cost of oil etc, we are also a family of four living out in the sticks in an old cold stone built house, 12 mile round trip to nearest co-op, we also have various animal, dogs, pony, chickens that think it's a holiday park and have stopped laying because they are old and I havn't the heart to do anything about that so they just live the life of riley, think I have the oldest chickens in the world.

Take care xx

System

Hi Pennywise,

Good to hear I am not alone! we've spent about £800 on oil already this winter and I'm not sure how much more we'll have to put in. We have an oil fired aga and wood fired central heating. This year's been extra tricky as we don't have any wood supplies of our own because we moved so are having to buy it all in - £300 spent so far. Find it very depressing (our last home we had solar panels and wood-fired central heating and with the solar credits we were actually £400 in credit after all expenses had gone out) sigh! I think reality most people have to pay what we are paying now so it's just adjusting to a less efficient house!

We have chickens too - 8 of them 2nd hand from a free range egg farm - we get 2 eggs a day - LOL! They are the friendliest bunch of hens we have ever had so I'm not too fussed!

We've just been given 2 pedigree cockrels so the plan now is to hatch some pedigree eggs and then start a little plan of rearing POL to sell on. We'll also get some hybrids out of them for our eggs with my current lovely hens so hopefully I can make a cake once in a while! Whether they make enough money to pay their own way remains to be seen.

Do you have a diary - I will look you up and subscribe. Thanks for checking in. It is really difficult to save money when you live rurally isn't it - we have to use car to get anywhere and then you don't have the cheapest shops close by either!