The long haul supporters thread...

ltm07

In_Search_Of_Me wrote: »

Go for it PG! Being at home could go either way - less temptation or more opportunity to spend!! Very exciting re the wedding ltm - when is it? Sorry if youve said before - so many people on here at the mo that I loose track! Feeling positive about the debt coming down this year - dont know why - just feel somethings clicked IYKWIM!

Wedding August ISOM! I know what you mean, it is hard to keep track with everything on here, so many people doing so many different things! The payment we have made was £1,000 deposit, so up to now we've paid off £1,520, apart from a little we have used out of the £1,200 OH's Mum has kindly given us, we have saved the rest, so pleased about that! Got around £900 left out of the £1,200 so we are going to be extra careful how we spend it. So far we have paid deposit, registry office, OH has ordered dress for a bargain £105 & we have also bought some gifts for bridesmaids & pageboy. Target we are hoping for is under £5,000, including honeymoon, so I think we're on track to do that(hoping for less than that but that is the budget we hope to stick to)! Not doing as well as we had hoped this month, think it's just the hangover from the end of last year IYKWIM, but will hopefully have a better month next month. Sig DFD not as bad as it looks, some transactions haven't hit their destinations yet & monthly payment is set at the average we have paid off per month so far on whatsthecost(just over a pathetic £138:rolleyes: )! Thanks for reading & all the best!!

ltm07

Hi all! Well some of you may have read my diary or noticed that our sig has changed for the worse:mad: ! The reason for this is when OH left her old job they continued to pay her for a couple of months. She rang them up at the time to tell them & they said that they would be in touch. This was over two years ago & way before LBM. We did put the money to one side but it just ended up getting swallowed up in paying off debts. Anyway OH received a letter yesterday saying that they had overpaid her by over £1,300 & they will be sending an invoice out. OH is going to ring them when invoice arrives, to arrange paying back in installments. So added the new debt to our sig, as he debt was incrued before LBM.

This weekend has been about trying to get or finances back on track, ok we've had that bit of bad news but we will deal with it, we are both in work & can put food on the table & have a roof over our heads, so life ain't that bad. Yes we have our bad days, but doesn't everybody? Bought the News of The World today & have just spent the last hour or so doing Martin's budget planner. He must have known that we were going to have a sitdown this weekend to see where all our cash was going;) ! Very scarey at first, but after tweaking it & chopping & changing bits & bobs we are earning more than we are spending so, if we can stick to the planner, we should be able to pay for wedding without adding anymore debts & also stay on top of things. Hope everyone else is ok!!

Keeping_Positive

Rotton luck LTM07 at least you still have a plan of action and can work together. I seem to be going backwards fast and nothing to do with pre LBM :mad: Budgets this month going ok except for clothes for the kids. Could have done without the £180 bill for the washing machine. Oh well 2 weeks to pay day!

ltm07

I know what you mean KP, it is so difficult at times isn't it. Just doing Martin's budget planner this morning and writing down everything that we spend makes scarey reading. We can cut it down, but it really doesn't leave much at all left over! People will think that we are mad to get married this year, rather than become DF before getting married, but as you & others say, there is always something that knocks you back on the DFW journey. Don't mean to go back to my'life is too short' posts last year where people who we know have either passed away or have cancer, all young people & that is the reason we decided to get married this year, rather than wait heaven knows how many years before becoming DF. Keep your chin up & all the best!

Keeping_Positive

It is a cliche but so true though Life is too short.

millionaire_in_training

hi there. Not been on here for ages. Glad to see itis still going strong Was away doing naughty spending over December and was too embarrassed to show my face . Back again though. New diary new me ( hopefully) Noy managed any overpayments this month as have had a few expensive things like dd going on school skiing trip and needing extra spends as the euro is rubbish, my nieceis 21 so thats cost a few bob too. bUt hey ho we need to live as well as become debt free so it's all good. I have managed so far to keep £100 in mysavings account as I have set that up for a fund for a wee holiday at summer and also for Christmas as that screwed methis year. On both occasions I added to my debt so thats why I am saving rather than paying it off my debt to try and avoid the same happening this year. Dunno if that even makes sense for reading :rotfl: . Will be here regularly from now checking in x

ltm07

Good for you MIT! Re the spending, we are only human aren't we? If it was just debtbusting 24/7 without treating yourself you would go insane! I know what you mean about having a savings fund too, we have done the same for our wedding, so hopefully we won't have to dip into overdrafts & CC's to pay towards it, working well so far & if we didn't have a savings fund we would end up losing track of how much we had to spend IYKWIM! All the best & welcome back!!

millionaire_in_training

ty ltm. Jeez a wedding could set you off into a different stratosphere spending wise from what I have heard. Mine was over 20 years ago so I cant mind. I just feel that if I dont save then come summer and Christmas I will just put it onto the cc's again. I rarely treat myself tbh but I really dont want my kids growing up and all they remember is a deprived childhood with no holidays and no Christmas. No way. Bad enough that they only have me these days without that lol.
I am xcited again about money saving so hopefully I will have a good year. In fact hopefully we will all have a good year and be all smilesnext year as we are further on the road to being debt free .

In_Search_Of_Me

dont ever feel embarassed mit - if you cant talk about money etc on here where can you eh! Plus being long haulers we have to accept that there will be peaks and troughs along the long road...people cant help you out of a trough if they dont know youre in it!! Regardless welcome back and look forward to seeing more of you this year!
Fab re the wedding ltm...very exciting and I recon a dfw wedding is a good thing - after all its about celebrating your lurve not for show. Bummer re the old wages though...you'll catch up though! I'm doing the 4000 a year challenge and it sure adds up!

ltm07

Thanks for your replies folks. Know what you mean MIT about the kids & making sure they have holidays, nice Xmas presents etc. Our DD is growing up so fast, she's 14 now & we'd like to think that she will look back in 2 or 3 years & think that she has had a happy childhood with nice holidays, Xmas presents etc. Some of the best holidays we have had have been the £9.50 Sun hols, they really are a bargain & I don't know if people agree with me, but saving towards things even if you are in debt does sort of help you start to value money again, as long as you are keeping debts under control IYKWIM. Re the wedding ISOM, we are really looking forward to it now. We were originally planning on marrying 3 years ago, but thankfully we saw sense, as we were going to have the big day at a place that would have cost probably 2-3 times as much as this wedding will. Good luck with the £4,000 challenge, like you say it sure adds up. As I was saying earlier, we did Martin's excellent budget planner in the NOTW & this includes the budget for the wedding, so all being well we can pay off as much debt as possible whilst paying for the wedding in full at the same time!