Debt Free by 40 - let the countdown begin!!!!

seahorsey

Thanks for dropping by both.

Kitten - I actually purchased Marie Kondo’s book before Christmas but haven’t had chance to get to grips with it yet. Will dig it out and give it a read. In terms of clothes budget, I was hoping to cover us both, however as I said, I’m not sure how realistic this is given I have absolutely no idea what I spent this year. Keeping note of it will make me more mindful though and hopefully given me an idea for a realistic budget going forward.

Reasonably low spend weekend this weekend. Saturday was spent clearing the garage. We managed 3 tip runs plus they’ll be at least 2 more this coming weekend! Feels good to have cleared so much and to actually have useful space in the garage again :j

Food shopping actually came in at under £70 for the first time in as long as I can remember. It usually ends up around £85 so £68 is a big reduction for us. Would love to average £60-£70 a week and am working on our meal planning to help us achieve this.

Right, jobs for today.....
1. Post eBay
2. Return DS pjs (purchased in the next sale in size up but would only just fit him now - he has plenty in this size so am returning for a refund)
3. Quick trip to home bargains for birthday pressies (x3 :eek:) for parties DS is going to over the next few weeks.
4 Living room tidy

seahorsey

Morning! Home Bargains is lethal - I definitely need to either avoid or be more disciplined!!!! Came out £20 lighter have only purchased half a birthday pressie :mad: popped into town and managed to get 2 sorted, so just one left. That ones not until the end of the month though. PJs also got returned- in days gone by I won’t have been bothered to do this, so definitely a step in the right direction.

Need to list a few things on fb selling pages from our garage sort, if they all sell they should raise £30 - £40 so fingers crossed.

Sorry for the short pointless post, but getting in the habit of reporting in frequently helps keep me focussed and motivated. Have a good day x

Homegrown0

Hey seahorsey, just stopping by because your chaotic mornings and rushing around resonates massively with me. Trying to get myself and two kids organised and out the door in the morning can be torture.

Since going back to work yesterday I've been laying out clothes, prepping bags and lunches the night before in a bid to make it easier. I've also started getting up on my first alarm instead of snoozing so that I can have a coffee in peace before the kids wake.

We are only two days in but so far, so good (I've already put dishes away and put a washing on while waiting on the kettle to boil).

These things all help!

Well done on getting back into your park runs. I'm not great with running outdoors, I get sore ears weirdly so prefer the treadmill. Must be the cold air, although hats don't seem to help.

seahorsey

Yay to organised mornings Homegrown. It’s actually amazing what you can ge5 done in the time it takes the kettle to boil. I used to have this weird idea that everything takes far longer than it actually does. I don’t need a spare 15 mins to take the rubbish out or empty the dish washer - it’s literally seconds. This new mindset has been a really productive one for me so far! Are you familiar with the Organised Mum blog? I’ve found it really useful.

So I rang Tesco yesterday to find out when my 0% period finishes- turns out I have various amounts ending over the coming months, so I have transferred all except £34.06 ending feb (will be cleared by next payment) and £644 ending in October onto the BC (0% until July 2020) I’ve then done a money transfer from Tesco to pay my OD off (0% until Feb 2020). Yes I’ve paid a fee for the pleasure, but it equates to approx 2 months worth of interest on the OD so in the long run will save me money. The OD will be cancelled as soon as it comes through. I must admit I had a bit of an oh sh*t moment with the whole brexit thing and took Martins advise if you need to borrow do it sooner rather than later. Feel better now it’s all sorted and have reviewed my plans to get it all paid off by April 2021.

I also checked by Experian credit rating at that is excellent (999/999) so all good there - phew!

I’m going on a massive declutter this year. I’ve joined the 2019 decluttering thread and have have so far decluttered 34/2019 items for the year. I’ll only bore you with the details of the ones I’ve sold on here, so £7 for DS old toddler bike ( I bought it from a car boot for £5 :rotfl:)

Thinking forward to next Christmas, I found a load of little money envelopes as I was clearing out. Going to allocate on to each person I need to buy for and then seal them once I’ve put the budgeted amount in throughout the year. The sales this year haven’t been too fruitful so rather than buy for the sake of it I’ll put away little and often and use it when I see something suitable.

Right, going to jump in the shower before DS wakes - have a good day x

Homegrown0

I know exactly what you mean about having a warped sense of how long things take - I was the queen of putting things off with all the time-based excuses. I suppose I still am, to a degree, but a million times better. I do follow The Organised Mum on Instagram to catch her posts and stories often,but i haven't ventured onto her blog yet. I must take time to have a read!

seahorsey

Morning! The transfers all went through yesterday, so OD is paid off (well debt shifted to 0% really) and all debt is now at 0%. I was paying nearly £15 a month interest on the OD and getting no where. Whilst I’m really good at not using the cards, the OD is my get out of jail card so I really struggle making any headway with it.

The emergency fund is ticking away nicely currently sat at £71.50 out of a planned £66.24 so nearly a day ahead of schedule which is great. I have someone coming today to collect an item and someone who collected the bike yesterday, so that’s a combined total of £10. I’ll pop this in an envelope for the Christmas savings.

Jobs for today (it’s a busy one....)
1. DS to swimming (if he’s well enough - think he’s coming down with the cold we both have so we’ll have to see)
2. Collect DS meds’ from chemist
3. Post eBay
4. Food shopping
5. At least one tip run
6. Get birthday pressies wrapped (x4) for this weeks birthdays

Have a good weekend all x

seahorsey

So numbers 1 & 5 off my list didn’t get done, but nevermind, there’s always next weekend!

Spent some time today going through my various spreadsheets in light of the transfers. All seems to be in reasonably good shape. Can’t believe there’s still 16 days to go until payday - what a ridiculously long month!

Had a lovely afternoon at DS best friends birthday party, other than that we’ve not left the house, so a nice NSD :j

Managed to sell another item on fb for £20, I’ve split this between emergency fund (£5.78 to keep us a full day ahead of schedule) and £14.22 to the spending money fund for our little break in a couple of months time.

I managed to claw a couple of hours to myself yesterday and have blitzed the downstairs, so much easier to keep on top of when you’re starting with a clean tidy house. Feel so much better for having done it.

At the mo I’m feeling pants and full of cold so no exercise this weekend - must get back on track.

Here’s to a positive (and cheap!) week :beer:

seahorsey

Morning!
Busy day at work yesterday, at least the time went reasonably quickly. Up and just about ready for round 2 today.

£10 sale on eBay yesterday which has been rounded up and added to the emergency fund for another 2 days worth of payment, meaning I’m still ahead by 1 day. Fund at the moment stands at £88.32. Need to ensure it doesn’t get dipped into as payday is still 2 weeks away and money is getting very tight! The spending money pot for our break is at £46.85, so given that we have two months council tax free Feb and March (our CT is £192 a month!!!!) I may use this to bail us out and replace next month with the CT money. Far better than using the OD to see us through.

Yesterday was another nsd (I really need to get into the habit of tracking these......)

Off work tomorrow and Thursday, so hoping to get some more eBaying done. Just realised that to stay on track with the E fund I need another 88.32 before month end. No wriggle room in the budgets so best get eBaying to bring in the extra pennies!

Right enough of my waffle - best get on! Have a good day x

seahorsey

Morning!
Bit of a spendy day yesterday, fortunately for the budget most came out of my personal spends/ Christmas money rather than the joint budget.

DS needed new trainers as he’s nearly kicked through the toes in his current ones. £16.75 spent. Whilst out I tried a pair of jeans on as they’re on my wish list for the year. Perfect fit (rare for me!) and reduced from £90 to £20. So my first clothing purchase for the year has been made (£20/£300). Fortunately I still had Christmas money left so have used this. Third purchase was £12 for storage boxes - determined to get decluttered and organised this year and needed these to help me progress at the weekend. We were home by lunch time too so didn’t get caught out with having to feed a hungry toddler!

In other news I joined a local running club last night. It was great to have company to run with and did my motivation the world of good. Even better that it’s completely free :T Hopefully I’ll get my mojo back and lose some lbs along the way.

TTFN x

seahorsey

Good morning.
Quiet few days in the seahorsey house. DS has been poorly, which has meant a day off work for me and lots and lots of cuddles. He’s still suffering bless him - hate seeing him like this, he’s usually such an active, bubbly little man but is feeling v. sorry for himself.

Not much to report in money news. Still 10 days to pay day and it’s very tight. OH was last paid on 20th Dec making it a 6 week month, so things have definitely been stretched. The spending money fund has been zeroed due to miscalculation on petrol needs, but at least the money was there to cover it. Emergency fund is currently at £100. 06, a couple of days behind target but realistically if we can finish the month with £100 put away it will be a massive win.

Managed to get another tip run done yesterday which has helped clear the garage some what. Feel like I’m finally getting somewhere with this decluterring lark. Maybe by the end of the year I’ll be somewhere near organised!!!

Plans for today are for another lazy day with DS. Need to do food shopping at some point too - will try and make it a cheap one!

As part of my digital detox I’ve rediscovered my love of reading. I’m on my 3rd book this year. It’s really helping me to relax and also to not work through my lunch breaks! It’s also meant online shopping spends have been reduced (my weakness!).

Managed a short run yesterday (2.4 miles) and hoping to do similar later this afternoon. Really enjoying it again at the minute, I just need to get my fitness back.

Have a great day x