Aligning the Stars

DrSpendLittle

One of the things I did when I had my LBM was get absolute clarity over the household bills and revise the monthly amount I was, at the time, giving DF which hadn't been revisited for over 5 years when the mortgage was still in his name. All immediate obligations except car insurance came out of his account. You'll see from my early diary posts that this was something, on reflection, that had caused me to avoid the responsibility of paying off debt and being good with money management. I digress.

So, I made a spreadsheet of all our joint household expenses, apportioned a % cost per bill and calculated a total monthly cost per person. Well, it turned out I'd been overpaying DF by at least £100 per month!!

I then took the opportunity to switch a lot of our utilities and service providers to cheaper tariffs, something we hadn't done for a good few years, which ended up saving us about £150 per month too.

DF was fine with all that and encouraging too, especially given the savings he was also benefitting from.

I'd recommend it. It'll give you more peace and certainty.

Starmummy

Hi All,

I'm back from my trip. It was so wonderful to have some quality time away with my friend and I did well on my budget.

I also received some maintenance from Star child's father yesterday which came as a it of a surprise.
I've done some budget tweaking for the month and I should be able to recover from the overspends of the last few months.

This means by the end of the month I could be in the £11k's! How incredible! My goal of being under 10k by the end of the year is in sight...and I still have £400 in emergency savings. I must stay focused the next 4 months.

I will update my signiture in the middle of the month when my big loan payment goes out.

Take care
SM

ftbwannabe

Starmummy wrote: »

Hi All,

This means by the end of the month I could be in the £11k's! How incredible! My goal of being under 10k by the end of the year is in sight...and I still have £400 in emergency savings. I must stay focused the next 4 months.

That is fantastic, well done! You can do it! :T

Rachel24

Fantastic starmummy! Before you know it you'll be down to single figures! So sad you can't rely on star child's dad to pay maintenance eh.

Starmummy

Thanks Rachel and FTB. Rachel, it is a shame but his lack of involvement makes things easier, starchild is a lot more settled when he leaves her alone if I'm honest. The lack of maintenance is a small price to pay for her happiness.

I'm definietly rolling with the punches a bit better than I thought I would.
Mr Star had a work thing in London this weekend so we stayed with friends and had a really lovely time. It really helps when you have friends to stay with when you're on a budget. We only spent about £60 (topping up oyster cards, beers and takeaway) and we had a really good laugh.

Star child is with relatives for a fortnight which gave us a chance to have a nice chat about life goals and plans. The general plan is to move away in 18-24 months but for the next 9-12 months at least we are just going to concentrate on me paying the debts and finishing exams and him milking his current salary as much as possible. A year of getting our ducks in a row before the next chapter.

No money news really. It's just a waiting game for the loan DD and for some expenses at work to overpay the CC.

Take care
SM

Starmummy

I had some expenses come in today so another couple of payments have gone to the credit cards.
I just have the DD to go out for the big loan and I'll be under £12k.

Must keep chipping away.
I seem to have got my mojo back now me and Mr Star are working on a joint goal.
I can't believe how different my life will be this time next year compared to this time last year.

Take care
SM

Starmummy

Just a little daily update.
August is such an expensive month. Not only is it the school holidays but there are five weeks between pay days.

Our joint/household account is getting a right thrashing.
The £280 for the second hotel for our Italy trip has been paid, Extra fuel to drop star child at a relative for a week has meant "free childcare" costing almost as much as summer clubs.
I still have 3 weeks worth of childcare to juggle before we go away, work is super busy and Mr Star has a foreign work trip for 2 of those three weeks too.
The balance in the joint account is £320...
this has to cover:
*£13 on paint for the back door (Mr star stripped it at the weekend so obviously its decided to rain for the first time in 11 weeks- must finish it before he goes on his work trip)
*potentially 3 weeks of summer camp £247.50
*new lunch bag and school cardigan for Star Child (we bought shoes in May)

This leaves us about £42 for 3 weeks of groceries.
fiddlesticks!
I may have to beg anyone that will listen to have Star Child for a couple of days- and try and reduce my work load so I can work from home a couple of days.

How many meals of beans on toast can we get away with do you think?

Take Care
SM

Starmummy

Hi All

Well the paint for the back door cost £17! and then Mr Star spent £7 on new baking trays. I know the old ones are manky but they could have lasted another few weeks. ho hum.

I've booked next week at Summer camp for StarChild to the tune of £82.50 - I know I'm lucky that it is so cheap but still the cost of holidays is crazy, it is one of the factors putting us off having another child. I still need to arrange the following 2 weeks. but I'm putting it off until my Grandparents get back from holiday at the weekend. I shall provided baked goods and bribe them :rotfl:

I started seeing a counseller recently to deal with some of my past personal issues. I had the bill for this month and it's 20% cheaper than I thought. It's still a lot of money but Mr Star is supporting this. It is crutial for us to be able to move on to the next chapter of our lives. It's such a releif to be able to get everything out and allow yourself to get upset and purge emotions without the guilt or responsibility of someones reaction. I thoroughly recommend it.

I'm getting my head back into text books too, I'm determined to pass these final exams in the next 7 months. I can't imagine how releived I'll be to not have to be an adult student anymore-although I have got another qualification in mind to take when this one is over. I have guarenteed payrises for every exam I pass with work so that's another (not so) little incentive.

I do keep getting distracted at the excitement of relocating. I have to keep reminding myself that it is one step at a time and I should enjoy where I am at the moment. Life is good, our home is lovely, I need to practice appreciation.

In debt slaying news I'm still waiting for the DD to go out for the loan. It's so annoying when a DD date is on a weekend. I want that debt figure to go down by £367 and take me into the 11k's !!! and the outstanding amount on the loan to drop below £5k

I'm off to pick Star Child up from my relatives after work tonight and then it's a busy weekend so I will wish you all a good weekend now.

Take care
SM

Starmummy

Just thought I'd make a quick note of the things I need to do and the things I need to buy before the end of summer to keep me focused.

TO DO
*get photos printed for the photo wall in the snug.
*sort through SC's craft box.
*buy back to school bits.
*look through wardrobes for anything we need to get before Italy.
*arrange rest of holiday childcare.
*meal plan to reduce grocery spends/use stuff up before holiday.
*start thinking about SC's birthday
*discuss carpet fitting with MrS before winter creeps in.
*choose kitchen tiles for upgrade (repainting cabinets, replacing tiles and worktops)
*finish hanging picture wall in the snug
*order contact lenses
*wash jumpers and jackets so they are ready for the colder weather.
*clean out linen cupboard- throw away all manky towels and missmatch sheets (bar a couple for poorly child incidents)
*re-position rug in the sitting room (it's taped down-check the carpets haven't been sundamaged)
*get guest bedroom ready to decorate (we have had the paint for weeks)
*check balance on John Lewis giftcard and Tesco clubcard points

TO BUY
*school cardigan for SC
*pencil case for SC (they get to bring their own in yr4)
*new lunch bag for SC
*new backpack for SC (she has a habit of leaving fruit in the bottom until it's squishy and makes everything stink-kids are gross)
*more picture frames for photo wall
* storage baskets to house craft stuff and homework in the snug.
*sun cream for Italy


The 'to buy' list is relatively short and cheap- thank goodness given the state of the joint account (£220 remaining and still 3 weeks of food and 2 weeks of childcare to sort- must not panic)

Starmummy

Happy Monday folks.

Looks like summer has disappeared. Wet and a bit chilly where I am.

I've managed to tick a few things off the to do list this weekend, and a few more bits part done.

I checked my gift cards and vouchers. £30 on the John Lewis giftcard and £22 worth of clubcard vouchers.
Most of back to school bits purchased (school bag, pencil case, lunch bag, stationery) I still have to get a new cardigan from the shop in town.
Still not 100% sorted childcare yet...this week is fine. next week will probably be a mix of sports camp and trying to work from home. The following week I may have to beg grandparents. fingers crossed.


We had a fun packed weekend.
I traveled the 3 hours to my sisters on Friday after work to collect Star Child, it was lovely to spend the day with her and the family and go out for lunch. We were back by mid afternoon on Saturday.
Sunday I spent £8 of the clubcard vouchers to get tickets for me and SC to see Mumma Mia: here we go again at the cinema. SC loved it, so I treated her to the soundtrack (from the first film as it was £2.99 compared to the £10.99 for film 2). Sunday afternoon we went for a family swim which was hilarious. SC had us trying to leapfrog over each other in the pool. she cried laughing at one point when I lost my bikini bottoms. The shame! :rotfl:

Mr Star isn't himself at the moment, work is making him a bit miserable. He is desperate to stick it out for another year at least though until we relocate. I'm going to take us out for dinner to our favorite local pub on Wednesday for pie and pint night. Hopefully that will cheer him up before his 10 day work trip. I hate to see him so lost.

In money news the DD to the big loan has gone out. This means another 2 milestones have been reached. I'm officailly in the £11k's people :beer: and the loan balance is under £5k.
Unless something goes completely Pete Tong I WILL be in the £9ks by Christmas...setting myself a target to have 50% of the debt paid by the end of the year.

Take care
SM