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

seahorsey

Morning! Well DS is still not well and he’s shared the love so a few more quiet housebound days for us. On the plus side the only spends have been on calpol, lemsip and OH dentist appointment (that I hadn’t budgeted for :mad: ).

I really need to get summon the energy to get eBaying. The money is really handy (obviously!) and I’m determined to get on top of and keep on top of the house work and clutter in this place this year. Struggling to get OH on board with this though which is frustrating. Whilst I’m happy to do the majority as I work part time, I’m his partner not his carer and he also needs to take some responsibility. Need to work on a solution that is relatively pain free for us all.

Dog food has been ordered for next month - had coupons which meant I saved nearly £6 plus another £1.48 to come in cash back - pleased with that.

Had my appraisal at work which was actually really positive and my grading was the highest I’ve had in all the years I’ve been there. Our annual pay rise is linked to our grading so fingers crossed. A little extra money each month would be very much appreciated especially given the increasing cost of everything else.

Submitted the meter readings and we are slightly in credit. Really need to drive our monthly running costs down though as we are paying a lot. Hoping the smart meter will help with this. Already trying to make little changes such as using teapot / flask rather than boil the kettle multiple times, charging phones iPads etc during the day when I can unplug as soon as charged rather than leaving them on all night, religiously turning lights off when leaving room, only letting the oven warm up for 10 mins or so rather than putting it on and forgetting about it for the next 45 mins, being mindful of tumble dryer use - drying what I can in airers/ radiators. Hopefully it should begin to make a difference - any other ideas would be very much appreciated.

I’d better go and get a few bits done in preparation for another snuggly day on the sofa with DS. Have a good day x

seahorsey

Morning!
Almost recovered now. DS began to pick up once the antibiotics kicked in, although he’s still on the quiet side. Me - I’ve used it as an excuse to get a couple of early nights and feel a lot better for it!

eBay sales have picked up a little over the last couple of days (must be payday for some lucky people!), so have transferred that out of PayPal to tide us over for a couple of days - pay day is almost within touching distance :T I’ve also had £7.91 payable in TCB, so again this has been transferred to the current account. We’ve almost survived January :rotfl:

No real plans for this weekend. May take a detour to the tip later on my way to the ponies and get rid of some more junk and also our bedroom needs a good sort out, but other than that I’m going to concentrate on getting us all back to full strength.

Food shopping is still my absolute bugbear. It constantly hovers around the £83 a week mark for food, toiletries, cleaning stuff etc - which for two adults and a toddler seems a lot. DS and OH are fussy. OH is typical meat and veg, so rarely any cheap pasta / jacket pot meals there and I’m veggie - so we are literally cooking 3 separate meals a day. I try to meal plan / batch cook for me, and to be fair OH is good at just buying what he needs for the week but there must still be some wiggle room. Would feel more comfortable if we could get this down to around £70 a week. I feel a challenge coming on......

enthusiasticsaver

Sounds like you have a good plan to get rid of the debt and well done on moving the overdraft. I think these are the worst to get rid of and the most expensive way of borrowing these days with many banks restructuring the fees over the last year. Is April 2021 your proposed DFD?

enthusiasticsaver

Cooking three separate meals for you OH and DS must be expensive energy wise as well as time consuming and expensive. It makes sense really to batch cook. Can the toddler not have either the same as you or your OH so at least it is only two separate meals? It is a pain to cope with cooking separate meals for everyone.

Homegrown0

I heard something yesterday that you set a child's taste palette when they're a toddler, usually around 14-18 months so it's worth persevering around that age with all different flavours, textures and combinations to encourage flexible tastes.

A bit of topic but I thought useful after enthusiastic comment about trying to get the toddler to eat what you eat.

enthusiasticsaver

Yes, I read that too Homegrown. Interesting. My DGD1 was fed lots of jars, pouches etc and well pureed food when weaned until about 18 months and is pretty fussy with what she will eat now she is 3.5. Not as bad as some though. I think the jars and pouches are pretty bland. DGD2 is only 9 months but has been fed normal food from 6 months obviously cut up small but not pureed except for first few weeks and always had lots of lumps in it. We are yet to find anything she will turn down foodwise.

Homegrown0

My two had a mixture of pouches and regular food but from about 9 months they've more or less eaten everything we eat. The only thing my 6 year old won't eat is noodles, weirdly. My 3 year old request a jalapenos in his fajitas etc! Haha

Anyway, we digress

seahorsey

:hello: Hi Homegrown and enthusiasticsaver :hello:

Thanks for your comments- DS eating habits drive mad! Fortunately he does like fruit and veg, so I guess that’s something, but is very reluctant to try anything new now (weirdly he was much more adventurous food wise as a baby). You can serve him up something he ate the week before and he’ll refuse to eat it. Think it’s a combination of fussiness and him thinking meal times are a waste of playtime!

Well, it’s finally payday :j, time for a quick recap as to where we stand.....
Cc1- £1934.16
Cc2 - £6890.00
Very - £390
OD - £0

Total = £9214.16 :eek:

Increase due to BT fess etc. The only way is down from now on.....

I’ve made payments to all 3 this morning and hopefully will add more via eBay sales as the month progresses.

NSD planned for today. Quick trip to the dogs home with two bin liners full of bedding I’d sorted out as part of my decluttering done and then running club tonight providing it’s not snowing. No sign of it here yet so fingers crossed.

seahorsey

Morning,
Still no snow here! Don’t know whether I’m pleased or disappointed about it :rotfl:

Had a marathon eBay listing session the other morning - two items sold already which is good news so money put to one side for now. My plan is to pop all the ebay / fb sales money into a separate account and then decide how best to use it closer to payday.

Had a semi light bulb moment with regards to my spending diary. I’ve been religiously tracking all spends in a paper diary for a few months now, but have never done a great deal with it. So I’ve summarised it all on my trusty spreadsheet so I can compare month on month spends and track trends. Each spend is categorised. Not rocket science I know but it’s hopefully going to help me highlight the areas that need targeting. Will go back and populate the last few months too as and when I have the time as I think that would be really useful.

Food shopping day today - must be good. Still have a good stock in the freezer, so will draw up a quick meal plan and hopefully keep the spending down.

Plan for today.....
1. Play with spreadsheets
2. Post eBay
3. Food shopping
4. Tidy garage ready for meter refit
5. Run
6. Have a chat with OH re. Sky package

seahorsey

Morning!
Spreadsheet has been updated for Oct - Dec spends and makes interesting reading. We’ve spent a lot more than I realised on misc house stuff i.e. home bargains and b&m spends and whilst a lot would have been stuff that would otherwise have come from the supermarket, I’m guessing a lot of it has also been pretty unnecessary. We’ve also spent a lot on eating out. I’m not talking restaurants / pub lunches as we make the conscious effort to save these as treats (last harvester cost over £50 for the three of us!!!! - I’m sure it used to be nearer the £30 mark!), it’s more the grab and go stuff like McDonald’s, cakes and sandwiches - none of which do the waistline any good :rotfl: Sooo, definitely need to tighten our belts in these areas.

So in other news there’s good and bad......
The bad news, our boilers playing up. I’ve got someone coming to look at it this morning and am keeping everything crossed it’s a cheap fix. Our emergency fund will once again be wiped out before it gets off the ground BUT at least it’s there as a buffer no matter how small!

The good news - my tax code has changed for the remaining couple of months of the financial year as I’d overpaid ever so slightly meaning an extra £30 a month in my wages :T hopefully it’ll continue as this into next year and coupled with my pay rise due in April should mean we’re about £60 a month better off :j

Right - better get moving and get the house looking semi presentable for the plumber! Have a good day