Aligning the Stars

Starmummy

Mr Star and I have been talking through life goals a lot recently. More importantly the next 3-5 years.
We are probably at the most expensive point in our lives ...which terrifies me. The immediate priorities are for me to pay off my debts and for us to get the extension/renovation work done on our house.
The mortgage/house is in Mr Stars name and therefore he has budgeted how he will pay for the work to be done. I know this makes sense as 1) it's his house and 2) he earns almost triple what I do. However, I don't like it...somehow in my head if i'm not helping pay for the renovations it makes it feel less like my home. However, this has been discussed too. Once I'm debt free and it comes to us getting a remortgage I will go on the mortgage, he will own the 100% of the equity to a specific date and then the rest will be split in equal parts between us (we are in this for the long haul but should the worst happen I'd feel a lot more safe if i didn't lose everything if our relationship ended, unromantic it may be but as a former single mum and someone that is paying half the mortgage already its practical)

So once the we have a new kitchen/bathroom/extra bedroom what next?

Well most importantly we would like to extend our family by one. We both think it would be the perfect thing to cement our relationship for both us and Starchild, She has asked for sibling ever since she could talk. We want to maintain a lifestyle and I really want to enjoy the first year with my second child, I really missed out given my experience with Starchild. I was so lonely and alone. So I would like to save £6000 to boost my SMP so that i can afford to treat the children, attend NCT classes and coffee mornings, baby massgae and yoga classes etc as well as day trips and adorable baby clothes.
Mr Star wants a child before he is an 'old dad' which somewhat limits our time frame.
This brings me to goal 2, marriage. both Mr Star and I would like to be wed before we hear the pitter patter of tiny feet. Neither of us are flashy showy people so it won't be a big white wedding, more a nice meal with our nearest and dearest and a trip to the registry office. Even so we are probably looking at £5000...so my share of this means saving £2500.
Goal 3) my car is old. The electrics have become damp making it a bit dodgy if I'm honest. I barely use it at the moment but if we achieve goal 1 I'd like to have something more practical and reliable that I can take 2 children around in and visit family if Mr Star has taken his car on a work trip. The type of car I am looking at will cost about £7000 for a 4 year old second hand.

So that's the next 3 years.
Kill off £15,500 debt
save £7000 car
£2500 wedding
£6000 maternity leave.
never mind the two holidays a year that we would quite like....although these do tend to be paid out of our healthy joint account budget.

That's a lot of money. £31000..or £860 a month. Doable if I'm disciplined as this is about the amount I am currently paying to debt slay/save and it will be totally worth it. Plus the job I am in does promise annual rises, boosted further with the qualification I am doing which can only boost the amount I can throw at this.

All debt is now at low/zero interest which should save me £1200 a year so all payments are reducing the debt figure.
I have started a £1k EF and an "annual expense" easy access savings account to cover car insurance and repairs as well as medical and an annual mini break. once these are up and running I hope to start saving into a long term savings account. If my current account switch goes ahead I plan to open the First Direct 5% savings account. all these savings goals are long term so I won't be dipping into it and should get the entire interest rate.

rawr_

Glad you've had a good talk and you feel like you have some short and long term goals! Your goals are similar to mine with the 6K supplement to SMP, and I think when you lay it all out in front of you like you have, you have made it seem achievable. Good luck, I am following along and cheering on your progress!

redofromstart

It sounds like a plan to me - I find it easier to stick to when it is mapped out like that.

I do understand your mindset about clearing the debt you brought with you by yourself but maybe look at going forward things being 'our' spends, not 'my' spends. Here our individual contribution varies but we are a team, and our finances are shared. We don't have a joint account but its our money, not my money and his, which means we do things we can afford and it gets paid for out of whatever account has the most in.

DrSpendLittle

Sounds like a good plan, Starmummy!

DF and I have a similar thing with split finances and we don't always get it right. We don't have a joint account but we do split our immediate obligations (mortgage, bills etc etc) and try to roughly split groceries and household costs. Whats leftover is ours to do with what we please. I'm loathed to share a joint spends account just now whilst I am still in debt as I suspect I'd be much worse off! DF is not MSE-minded at all and last week, on being instructed to buy toothpaste (something he never buys as that's part of my monthly bargain toiletries mission), came home with a tube costing £4!!!! I also don't want to pay for his discretionary spends on beers or toiletries that he pings into the shopping basket whenever we're in the supermarket. Well, at least not until I sort my debts (DF is debt free and rolling in ££s). But I agree with Redo, it's something I should look to combine in the near future when we are more equalised financially.

I was also in a similar living situation - we bought our house using just his salary (I wasn't working full time then) and it was therefore in his name only and he managed all the finances. I hated it as I'm super independent and also didn't want to be paying a mortgage on a property I didn't legally own, so once I got a full time job with a decent salary, we put me on the mortgage (for some reason, DF didn't clock onto my CC debt when we were doing the application) and it made me feel much more settled. We do have a declaration of trust that protects DF's deposit, but everything else is much more equal now. I can't wait to move and 'properly' share a house together now.

Starmummy

Good morning and hello spring :j

Payday is just a week away and my account stands at £0. This is actually a positive thing I have no more spending to be done or bills to pay out of my account this month. I money transferred £780 to the new CC of my overdraft...the rest (£220) I've managed to scrape together (out of what would have been emergency fund savings etc. so I no longer have an overdraft. This is such a massive relief. no more £25 a month charges and stress incase they took my limit away without notice.
I've had an email from First Direct asking for identification checks. I shall have to work out how to work the webcam on my laptop so I can get this sent. When I switch that will be £125 i can replace to the EF (or pay down the CC- but these are all 0%)
I've managed to reduce my debt by £2,849.05 this year so far. I'm really proud of myself. It's been hard at times but if I continue at this rate I'll have financial freedom in no time and I can afford the expensive yoga classes and massages/chiropractor and the odd nice new outfit or night out then.

My money saving ways are having a positive effect on out joint account too. in Jan we spent £369 on groceries :eek: last month it was £325 :eek: this month so far it is £206 :T I've meal planned for the rest of this week so only fruit, bread and butter needed, next week it will be a 'use up everything in the fridge' week as we go to Spain to stay with FIL on 31st. So plenty of money left over in the joint account for holiday spends and no using the credit card. This is a first for me.
We are planning another meal out this weekend as it is Mr Stars birthday but that's joint account spends and not personal spending. He doesn't want a present so I'm just going to put my baking skills to use and make a big chocolatey cake. I already have a card stashed away.
Mr Star was really pleased with Starchild this week as she asked for a watch for Easter instead of a chocolate egg...I was pleased too as I could get one with some of the Am4z0n vouchers we got at Christmas, so it cost me nothing. I've bought £1 eggs for my nieces that I shall post this weekend and I have cash to pay for my nephews birthday present. Only other spends is the £36 for Starchild to go to sports camp in the school holidays and the £20 cheque to pay for her Swim club annual insurance/membership fee....then next month it's £25 for the term for youth group and possibly £17.50 for the half term for dance classes at school.
I understand this seems like a lot of clubs for one child but as she is an only child it's nice for her to have other children to socialise with...and as far as children's clubs are concerned they are all fairly cheap (other than swimming which between lessons and her swim club costs £39 a month)

We had our bedroom carpet fitted this morning, goodbye dusty draughty floorboards. Not only will it look more cosy but I predict we will save a bit in heating over the winter. it made such a difference when we had our living room done.
Anyway I'm waffling again :rotfl:
happy hump day folks...it's almost payday we can make it!

Take care
SM

Debtnomoreplease

Hey, just read you message on my page-thank you :-)

Thought I'd check in with you. Well done on your debt busting mission so far. Positive is the only way forward. I've done the whole negative and feel sorry for myself...yep, even though it was myself who got myself until such a mess! Ha ha.

However, I now realise that no one is going to get rid of this debt chain around my neck, but me. And every pay day I now look forward to because it's more money paid off my debt. I used to dread it because I owed the most of my wage out and was never going to pay it off whilst in that frame of mind because on pay day I would pay a payday loan off, then 5 mins later take another one out to survive the month-ugh, the thought of all that gives me the shivers...never again!
Wishing you luck and strength on your journey and keep reminding yourself-it's not forever.

Take care x

Starmummy

Hi guys. Happy Monday...and cheers to a four day week :beer:

Not much to report on the debt busting side as no payments until payday on Thursday.
It was Mr Star's birthday this weekend so feeling a bit guilty about that as other than baking a cake I didn't get him anything. He didn't want anything and I couldn't really afford to get him anything but I still feel guilty.:(

I got my updated credit score this weekend too and it's improving, so that is great, but I do think I've miscalculated the amount I owe on my two loans. I think I've added an extra payment on so I potentially owe £491.94 less than I think...I shan't celebrate until I've contacted both loan companies to check though. If I did get it wrong then I owe just over £15k, so this time next week i'll be into the 14k's which makes the debt seem so much more manageable. It brings my DFD to 20/09/2019....just 18 months until freedom.
then I can start focusing on saving a security cushion and for a new(er) car.

Take care
SM

Poppy1984

Wow starmummy you are doing so well!!! I love allyour goal setting. Your DFD will be here before you know if

Starmummy

Hello Lovlies :j

Payday tomorrow :beer:
I've contacted both loan providers and I had miscalculated the last payment date for the loans. The smaller one ends in July 19 the larger in September 19. so thats almost £500 off what I thought my debt was.
So the scores at the end of March look like this (from LBM in Jan 2018):

O/D £1000..............now £0
CC1 £2905.66........now £0 (balance transfered)
CC2 £3681.65.........now £1847.79 (part balance transfered
CC3 £0..........£4634 (balance transfer card)
Loan1 £2362.27.........now £1989.28
Loan2 £7719.81.........now £6616.98

So total paid this year £2,849.05. and remaining debt stands at £15,100.57 so close to being in the £14k's. I'm not expecting the rest of the year to be quite as successful due to pension payments increasing, trying to get an EF sorted, and work needs doing on my car...plus with the lighter evenings I don't want to be a total hermit. My goal is to be down to £7.5k by Christmas.

AND.....for the first time in possibly my entire adult life I'm not in my overdraft. In fact I have a balance of £13.49.
I don't have anything in my emergency fund though due to paying off my OD (saving £24ish in fees each month.
I need to get some final paperwork off for opening the new current account with a £250 0% OD...and a £125 bonus (which will start up my EF).

Still feeling really positive.

Take Care
SM

Starmummy

YAY PAYDAY!

It feels soooo good for my wages to come in and for it to all be my money rather than half of it disappearing to pay off the previous months overdraft.
It shan't last long once the bills start going out, but for today it's all mine