Getting it together...one £ at a time!

Homegrown0

Morning all! Monday is here again - I can't quite believe it. Another full week of work ahead. I know many people would kill to get back to work but the incessant work it taking its toll on me with everyone being at home. Although I'm not currently juggling the kids' care, i am really feeling it. But just taking one day at a time! 


My MIL asked me to order a few things for her yesterday on top of shopping for both of us, so spent an additional £65 that she has added to her tab. Spending account is running low thanks to all the extra grocery shopping and husband's birthday so will need to reassess on Thursday how much I can transfer to savings. This will of course top up once MIL squares us up after things are eased but it still is a little demotivating to not be saving as much as I'd planned this week. MUST REMEMBER PERSPECTIVE!


Meal plan done, shopping list done and shopping completed yesterday so at least we are organized shopping-wise this week. Shouldn't need anything more, so that's us in until the weekend now. The weather had to be nice here this week, but i checked again last night and it's changed to rain every day except Wednesday. This is not what I ordered!! haha 


Husband is phoning the builder today to talk about what will happen once lockdown is eased here (i.e. when we can expect things to kick off relative to the lifting of the restrictions). It'll be nice to be prepared both financially and physically. If we know it's likely to be a couple of weeks, then we can start to make preparations and clear outs in the affected rooms while husband is at home and we can't go anywhere. It'll give him a project too which i think he needs. 

Right, must be off and be productive with work. Got a lonnnnnnnng day full of meetings tomorrow so i want to make sure I get ahead today. Take care! 

Days until pay day: 10

doingitanyway

Have a good day.
I am also prepping for when the restrictions lift. Trying to get finances in place and areas cleared to store things.
Your MilL is helping you save in reality

Homegrown0

That's exactly the way I'm looking at it @doingitanyway. Whatever monies she gives to us (she is keeping a 'tab' apparently ) will go straight to savings. Hope you manage to take a deep breath and get that outbuilding sorted DIA. It might be a horrid task but you'll feel so much better for it once it's done. Keeping fingers crossed for a spider-free session. 

Husband spoke to the builder and I believe it'll be August before he can begin (has to tie up all the loose ends of jobs that were halted when lockdown came into effect) and although i'm disappointed that it's still quite a bit away, it gives us another two full months to save so I can't be upset about that. At least now we know. And as long as it's done by Christmas!

The only thing left to sort out is when husband will be due back to work (I'm hoping not for a while yet). Then i'll be able to reflect our finances fully. 

teafor2

Hi HG Good to read that you're all OK and keeping well. We have a builder in the family and he's managed to re-jig some of his work and do some outside jobs that were booked in. It's all a bit higgledy piggedly though but he's trying his best to keep going and not get too far behind. On the plus side, you managed to get the finance sorted and get quotes/choose a builder before all this started so you're further along than you could have been Take care. xx

Homegrown0

Thanks @teafor2 , you are absolutely right. I'm so glad we got arguably the hard part out of the way before now. At least we know once things are up and running a bit again then we can get started. Much of the work will be outside and not require much access to our house until the latter stages anyway so there would be a workaround to maintain social distancing when it all begins. Glad your family member is still managing to do some work. It must help with sanity as well as finances if he can continue doing some work safely. 

I just spent some time this afternoon forecasting and working out the planned debt in my spreadsheet. Looking at the big number is shocking to me, but actually looking at how quickly it will be coming down is comforting. And that's without any overpayments. We might find ourselves making overpayments from time to time (if the agreements allow). 

Looking at how long we'll be paying off the remainder of our credit card debt (7k) at the existing rate we're paying it was actually pretty shocking, so i just logged onto both and increased the direct debt by £10 per month each. It's not massive but i know we have the capacity to do it and it has shaved 10 months off one and 7 months off the other. Now i just need to remember to make semi regular overpayments to both of these while continuing to throw most of our cash at savings and I know it'll make a decent difference. Total reality check. 

It's so easy to let debts like that coast along when we have another focus (house renovation savings) but a little extra dent here and there can go a long way. 

I need to do a monthly roundup soon - maybe i'll get round to this in the morning. For now, i'm off to make the dinner! Have a love evening all! 

Homegrown0

May2020 ROUNDUP!

Balances and paid amounts
Loan: Paid off  (yes, i'm still displaying this on my totals)
CC1: £3,989.87 / £4,736.59 (£746.72 or 16% paid off)
CC2: £3,127.00 / £5,031.14 (£1,904.14 paid off - 38% paid)

Total: £7,116.87 / £25,619.44 (£18,502.57 paid off, 72% paid)

Highlights

• CC1 dropped into the £3k bracket
• Very close to breaking into the 2k bracket for CC2 and the 6k bracket for overall debt
• I've increased the payment to CC1 by £10pm and CC2 by £10pm because we do have the spare funds to pay more so i figured that I should up it a little and it actually makes a massive difference. Will continue to remember to pay extra off these as and when we can instead of focusing 100% on savings alone.

Savings

• £7,880 in savings (saving hard for extension contingency, hence why debt payments above are less than usual)
• Aiming for £9,000 in savings by the end of June 
• £255.50 in clothing/ gifts account - not been used this year, mainly because of lockdown... the kids will need all the shoes and school clothes once we are outside again
• £300 in Christmas saver (restarted in November)
• £351.68 in credit union (restarted in November)

Days until pay day: 6
Loan payments left: NONE!!! - Yes, I'm still going on about it! 
Childcare payments left: Technically two, but possibly 0 depending on lockdown...

teafor2

Hi HG That £10 a month is certainly worth paying to get all those months knocked off the CC bill. The extension savings are looking great and with another 2 months to add to the pot you've got a good head start for when the works begin. It's surprising what we've not spent since LD started. Some things beg the question did we really need them in the first place, but as much as DS would love to live in his PJ's, he's also going to need some clothes and shoes when this is all over the rate he's grown! xx

Homegrown0

Oh yes, @teafor2 , my two will most definitely need shoes (school shoes, trainers, indoor shoes for school - each) and that's before I get started on school clothes for both! The good thing is, my kids mostly wear shorts and t-shirts from April until October so I won't need to worry about too-short-trousers until winter is approaching. They are of course growing like weeds though, so a new wardrobe will be imminent. 


My mother-in-law is insisting that she repays us what she owes us this weekend (I have been doing her grocery shopping since lockdown started) so I think we'll be receiving around £250. This will go into the savings account as I said I'd be trying to save what we're not spending from our spending account (but there's mysteriously been no surplus for the last two months). 

I'll also keep plodding on with the credit card payments. The extra £10 per month per credit card will of course make a dent in it but i'll try to siphon off some money here and there to overpay. Recently, I've just been throwing every spare penny into savings and it is going really well but I think I'm at a point now where I can sacrifice some money semi-regularly and divert heading towards the savings to the CC. We'll see how I get on I'll try to report back in here to keep track. 

Otherwise, not a lot going on this week. Work is hectic as usual, but at least the weather is nice. Last night after dinner, we took the kids for a bike ride (husband and I walked) and it was lovely. I hadn't moved much yesterday so some fresh air and movement made me feel a whole lot better! 

Still eating well (that's probably the main reason for our massive weekly grocery bill - bought and used 8 bunches of spring onions this week alone...) and I know that's contributing to energy levels and mood so really want to continue. 

Still no word on husband's work situation. For me, no news is good news and I'm happy for him to stay at home for as long as possible. I'd imagine that over the next 2-3 weeks we'll be at least making plans for him to go back but for right now, I'm happy with the way things are (aside from missing family, freedom etc.) 

Hope all is well in your worlds?

Days until pay day: 1

Homegrown0

Hello all! Hope life is treating you well? 

Our run of glorious sunshine is over and although the weather isn't too bad, it seems like a return to normal for us. No days spent entirely in the garden in the paddling pool, and more days doing puzzles and colouring in. Can't complain, it's nice to have some variety after all! And it makes it easier being cooped up in my office rather than hearing the kids squealing and having fun outside and feeling like I'm missing out  

Pay day came and went as it normally does. Money is all allocated to where it should be and things are going fine. Just in the waiting period now until I can start transferring more money to savings (mid-month then the end of the month again). 

It's my youngest's birthday 4 weeks today and I have purchased his main present but I'd like to get him a few other bits. He doesn't ever ask for much, but there's a few thing he's mentioned lately so i'd like to treat him. 

We have been asked by my son's nursery if we want him to return when it's safe to do so. He is starting school in August and in Scotland, there's still much heavier restrictions on movement. We decided against it so he will be off now until he starts school. There are many upsides to this decision (as far as we are concerned) but a MSE upside is that we won't have any more nursery payments! The last payment was due to be paid in August but the last payment we actually made was 1st March so we've saved 5 months worth of fees. Of course, that's all balanced out because my husband is earning less etc. But it's still a significant saving.

My MIL transferred us £300 to cover her shopping for the last 8 weeks or so. I put it straight into the savings account so as not to be tempted to spend it. We don't need to spend it. The savings are looking really strong these days and I'm so proud that we've managed to focus and achieve what we have. Just need to keep going and use every extra month as an opportunity to save like a maniac to prepare for the house renovations that will hopefully start in August now. 

*GOAL ALERT* If we are really careful and watch what we're spending this month, we should be able to break the £10k savings barrier. I've done my sums for the month and it is possible, we just need to be vigilant throughout the month. This money will combine contingency for the renovations and anything that's left over will be to furnish our new space. *GOAL ALERT*

Hope everyone is staying safe! 

Days until pay day: 26
Days until school starts back: 69
Nursery fees left to pay: 0

elly68

you are doing fab on paying off the debt and saving x