Aligning the Stars

Starmummy

I thought I'd better update, to keep myself on track if nothing else.

I don't think i'll make my target for the £9k's debt. We've had a few things crop up and I've still had no child support to cover March or April from StarChild's Dad.

We were getting Mr Star's rental property(up North) ready for sale the estate agents were all ready to go and then this week it got vandalised. Going to have to pay a contractor to tidy up the damage as Mr Star is working away (as always). He just wants to get rid of it, even if he takes a hit. The property market hasn't really recovered since the crash in the region it is in.

Mr Star was home this weekend and we had a good chat. This 'break' has hit him really hard, it was so difficult to see how much it's effected him. I just wanted to look after him and take the suffering and stress away. i know we will be ok. Baby steps.

PawsForThought

Hi Starmummy,

I've been away from the forums for a while but just wanted to pop in and say a MASSIVE congratulations on your debt crunching year! You are doing an absolutely incredible job to manage all of that debt but still save and make sure you enjoy life too! I think you're spot on that we need to prioritise money for memorable experiences rather than 'stuff'. Consider me inspired.

I can also see that you're having a bit of a tough time; it's horrible when lots of things seem to hit at the same time. I'm sorry to hear that, but if you can hang in there, well you just always sound so strong to me, and I have every belief you'll smash through!

All the best

Starmummy

Passports and Monzo card are at the ready for our little Scandinavian Easter break. The car is booked to take us to the airport. I have yet to pack anything else but life is just a little crazy and we are so good at packing light and last minute.
I've booked transfers and have a rough plan of activities (lots of free ones) and cheap places to eat. The fact that it's just me and StarChild should help as it's adult prices and adult sized stomachs that ramp up costs :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

Now Star Child is 9 she is so much fun to travel with. I know how lucky she is to have experienced everything she has at a young age, but to us Travel is living. I really appreciate that I have never had any negative feedback on this forum with regards to our travel plans too. By the end of this year she will have traveled to 11 countries in 3 continents. I attribute her thirst for knowledge and her lack of materialism to these experiences. You are far likely to find her strapping on a pair of hiking boots or digging out a book about bugs or ancient Egypt than you will see her playing on a computer, or talking about make-up, or wanting to go shopping.
It is because of her that we take a trash bag to collect litter when we go walking. It is because of her that we never buy bottled water and always refuse straws. She decided to stop eating meat for the environmental impact too. All because she has such respect for the planet we call home (before any keyboard nutrition experts attack I have been vegetarian for over a decade she isn't short of any nutrients, She eats loads of greens and gets her B12)



Woweee that was a bit ranty and not at all money related

Bills are all paid for the month, Holiday savings have been transferred to the Monzo account and a daily budget has been set.
I discussed with Mr Star about needing to spend a bit of the house budget on getting a new chest of drawers and desk for StarChilds room, he agrees. Her drawers are falling apart from 3 house moves and she starts getting more homework after summer so it would be beneficial to have somewhere nice to do it. We shall do some measuring and probably take a trip to the blue and yellow Scandi furniture warehouse in the next couple of months. I need budget about £250 I think.

Starmummy

Oh and in other exciting news.... I don't mean to brag but I managed to find the bottom of the laundry basket this morning :rotfl:

Pink_Butterfly

She’s a credit to you Hun. You must be so proud!

redofromstart

Starmummy wrote: »

Oh and in other exciting news.... I don't mean to brag but I managed to find the bottom of the laundry basket this morning :rotfl:

Show off

My excuse is that MrL havent had the only one that the boy doesn't react too in stock for weeks. Star child would need to don hiking boots to get to the top of my mountain.

Starmummy

Sweden was beautiful and it was so lovely to see my friend really settled and loving life.

Star child was a super travel companion and really enjoyed herself too.

I am fairly happy with how I stuck to the budget considering we didn't really think about how much we were spending whilst there.
The total cost of the trip was £720.29. Now I won't for a second argue £700 for a weekend away is cheap but Stockholm is one of the most expensive places in the world. The cost was for 3 nights/4 days for 2 people all in.
It breaks down as follows:

Flights: £137.67 (bargain for 2 people in the school holidays)
Transfers: £42.84
Travelcard: £21.50 (children travel free at weekedns so I only needed 1 adult 72 hour travel card and we used it a lot on buses, trains and trams)
Hotel: £270.38 (I am waiting on 10% cashback)
Food: £123.71 (we had breakfast at the hotel- this included all snacks, lunches, dinners and drinks)
Activities: £50.02 (we went to 4 museums)
Star child: £74.17 (this included a souvenir t-shirt and some summer clothing that I had intended to buy in the UK anyway)

As you can see I could have made it slightly cheaper with less eating out and souvenirs. I could have done the trip for £550ish- but I wouldn't have enjoyed it so much if i was penny-pinching. Accommodation was a bargain for central Stockholm though.
Plus I paid for the whole trip from holiday savings so not a penny went on credit.

Next year the debt will be gone and I can take these trips with no guilt at all.

Actually scrap that. I don't feel guilty now. I haven't cheated myself. I am overpaying my debt, I have emergency savings, house deposit savings, I sacrifice other things so that I can travel (such as getting rid of our second car and walking to work come rain or shine...or snow). I feel very fortunate to have turned my life around so dramatically in the past 2 years. Being able to spend as I wanted while on holiday, treating myself and my friend as well as StarChild was truly liberating.
The Monzo card worked perfectly again. Honestly as long as I have that, my passport and my phone I really need nothing else when going away...and I haven't had the stress of buying currency, paying carpy exchange rates and coming home with pockets of useless change...or spending said loose change on carp for the sake of using it up.

Starmummy

redofromstart wrote: »

Show off

My excuse is that MrL havent had the only one that the boy doesn't react too in stock for weeks. Star child would need to don hiking boots to get to the top of my mountain.

you made me giigle...the empty washing basket didn't last long now we are back from our trip...Mr Star is home tomorrow too so it's only going to grow :rotfl:

efes_shareholder

Starmummy wrote: »

Sweden was beautiful and it was so lovely to see my friend really settled and loving life.

Star child was a super travel companion and really enjoyed herself too.

I am fairly happy with how I stuck to the budget considering we didn't really think about how much we were spending whilst there.
The total cost of the trip was £720.29. Now I won't for a second argue £700 for a weekend away is cheap but Stockholm is one of the most expensive places in the world. The cost was for 3 nights/4 days for 2 people all in.
It breaks down as follows:

Flights: £137.67 (bargain for 2 people in the school holidays)
Transfers: £42.84
Travelcard: £21.50 (children travel free at weekedns so I only needed 1 adult 72 hour travel card and we used it a lot on buses, trains and trams)
Hotel: £270.38 (I am waiting on 10% cashback)
Food: £123.71 (we had breakfast at the hotel- this included all snacks, lunches, dinners and drinks)
Activities: £50.02 (we went to 4 museums)
Star child: £74.17 (this included a souvenir t-shirt and some summer clothing that I had intended to buy in the UK anyway)

As you can see I could have made it slightly cheaper with less eating out and souvenirs. I could have done the trip for £550ish- but I wouldn't have enjoyed it so much if i was penny-pinching. Accommodation was a bargain for central Stockholm though.
Plus I paid for the whole trip from holiday savings so not a penny went on credit.

Next year the debt will be gone and I can take these trips with no guilt at all.

Actually scrap that. I don't feel guilty now. I haven't cheated myself. I am overpaying my debt, I have emergency savings, house deposit savings, I sacrifice other things so that I can travel (such as getting rid of our second car and walking to work come rain or shine...or snow). I feel very fortunate to have turned my life around so dramatically in the past 2 years. Being able to spend as I wanted while on holiday, treating myself and my friend as well as StarChild was truly liberating.
The Monzo card worked perfectly again. Honestly as long as I have that, my passport and my phone I really need nothing else when going away...and I haven't had the stress of buying currency, paying carpy exchange rates and coming home with pockets of useless change...or spending said loose change on carp for the sake of using it up.

You don't need to justify yourself , I regularly have "guilt" trips but as much as we want to be debt free , we also need to live too.
Before you know it , your child be grown and building their own life and you will sit together and reminisce about your travels over the years as I do with my kids now

I guess at the end of the day , when we leave this earth we only take memories with us so never ever stop making them

The debt is being serviced and isn't increasing so enjoy these precious moments

PawsForThought

It sounds like you had an absolutely amazing time, and so well deserved too. You've worked your socks off for this, and I find it incredible that you didn't put a penny on credit! Absolutely agree with Efes that making memories is one of the most important things you can do, and souvenirs are prompts that will always remind you both of your time away.

Good luck tackling Mount Washmore - coming home is always the tough bit!