Crunchy's Final Debt Free Diary!

crunch_time

Evening all
Currently sitting in a freezing cold car with dd waiting for dad who is doing karate. It’s been a while since an update.

I paid husbands money payment on his virgin card so that now stands at £7500.

Other than that not a lot going on. Just trying to stay in budget in a five week monthZ it’s difficult since children seem to need loads of new things at th moment - school shoes, forest school stuff not to mention school trips out .
My maternity leave cover end date is slowly creeping up so I’ve been looking at the jobs boards and thankfully there are at least 3 I can apply for and mostly may leave cover again which is good as not many people want that but it suits me!! They are full time as well. I’m doing 3 days a week at the moment but feel like I work more than I did when I was 4 days last term but had whole class responsibility. It’s the toning and fro OMG between me and my job share that gets me down. I just feel like I am on all the time.

I went to see a school today which is half an hour away and liked it so shall apply. Full time money is another £500 a month after childcare but we said we would get a cleaner so less another £100 - £400 extra for what I feel is the same amount of work isn’t too shabby!!

Frugal Christmas plans are coming together nicely too. Not buying anything till December so I don’t have time to stick pile.

Crunch x

Willowtree222

Little ones seem to go through stages where they need everything. I am having one of them at the minute. It's so difficult when you are trying to save and make sure they have everything they need.

Good luck with the applications. x

crunch_time

Gosh its been a while since I've updated!

I decided not to apply for the full-time roles after all. I feel it would be too much for us and the extra money would be lovely but would only pay for a cleaner and stuff for the house. I've decided to apply for a couple of part time jobs - 3 days a week - do my school work on my days off so I dont have the dreaded Sunday night frantic ahcaos of trying to get it all done. I'm then going to spend my evenings and spar time orchastrating my inevitable move out of teaching which I'm planning to happen over the next few years. Im stuck att the top of my scale with no further career prospects unless I go into management which I dont want to do. Im in no rush but want to keep up momentum. I want a career but I want to be around in the evebings for my kids. This is th best for us for work lif balance - moneu isnt everything.

On the money front we had to buy a new vacuum cleaner today - £500 as ours blew up. It was 5 years old and had been used and abused.

I need to sort out our money a bit - it has got busy and disorganisation means bits are popped on credit card when they needn't be. I get paid on Tuesday which is a relief.

Christmas is currently budgetted at £500 but i want to spend waaaaay les than that. We were in JL today and i took photos of some of the things the children wanted. Lego sets for £20 etc. Im even going to go through my bookcase and find books im yet to read and gift them to myself - ha ha!!

Husband is away this week so food bill should go down - ha ha!

Right - I'm off to bed! Bit of a boring update but just logging on and writing soemthing keeps me on the straight and narrow.

xx

Honeysucklelou2

Can totally understand not doing full time. I do 3 days in a bid to be there more for my own children. I'll be interested to read how you move out of teaching. I could have written the same sentence about career progression!

ohdearhowdidthathappen

I find 3 days a good balance with children, I' currently doing 4, but the 4th is a Saturday, so OH is with the children.
Hoovers are expensive, we had to replace ours recently. After eyeing up different ones, we went for a Henry... £100 and it is serving us well!

Willowtree222

I agree about working full time. I am doing it and would do anything to work part time. x

remote_control

I couldn't work full time now! I think we rely on freezer tapas too much and it's so nice for them to be at home after school on the days I'm off.

Excuse me if this is a stupid question - why do you have the credit card? What would you do if you didn't have it?

crunch_time

remote_control wrote: »

I couldn't work full time now! I think we rely on freezer tapas too much and it's so nice for them to be at home after school on the days I'm off.

Excuse me if this is a stupid question - why do you have the credit card? What would you do if you didn't have it?

No it's not a stupid question at all. Husband has it for work. He has a corporate card but this is just incase he gets stuck or needs to buy himself dinner. Only problem is other things go on it too. It is the source of so much frustration over the years. He has just told me he spent £200 on a pair of shoes but it is ok as they will last for years. I am livid. We cannot afford this.

We talked about taking it away and replacing it with the Virgin one which has to be used in absolute emergencies. I am absolutely going to do this now. I have just given him a good talking to about needs and wants. He wants to crack on with stuff for the house but ive said no we cant until we get our finances under control.

I am so cross with him and he knows it. I am taking back control.

crunch_time

Grrrr - I'm cross this morning - See above for why!!

I'm going to find a way to confiscate this stupid credit card.

And breathe!

Some good news

- only £775 left of the holiday debt to pay off!
- My HSBC one has dipped below £4k finally to £3990
- My Virgin one is now £2850.

I have a quiet weekend planned. A friend should be coming over for lunch tomorrow and I have a mountain of work to tackle.

I think my stress about the husbands credit card is compounded by the fact that I am considering going back into the 9-5 world for some sanity since my contract is ending in February. We may have to take a hit financially as we ould be paying for more childcare on potentially a bit less money. I have been worrying - he said we will be fine. Things are not fine.

Maybe a full time teaching job from Feb till August is the answer to our financial woes?

Right - off to walk the dog and fume at the husband some more.

Crunch x

enthusiasticsaver

I would be livid too Crunchy. Do you have money for personal spends? Shoes come out of our personal spends so that would have to come out of my husbands personal spends money which is budgeted for. £200 is ridiculous and I would be saying he has to take them back or find the budget the money is coming from to pay off the card.

It sounds like he has bought into the I work hard so I deserve nice things lifestyle. Always a potential hazard when only one person in a partnership watches the finances.