Little By Little...

redmel1621

kindofagilr wrote: »

Great news on OH's job

I have always wanted to have properties to rent out, but don't think I will now.

I do however want a villa abroad, probably cyprus (I love cyrpus) so we can go there in the winter xx

I'm with on Cyprus. We absolutely love it there and would love a villa there ourselves. Well dh would love to move there and when we were holidaying there earlier this year, I was actually checking out jobs lol

redmel1621

So first things first. We have discussed our future in a bit more detail and I can see a plan forming. I'm feeling positive, albeit impatient, about how we are going to achieve a more stable financial future.

Secondly, now that the weight of an uncertain future is lifted, I am able to concentrate on the here and now and I have made a great start on the Christmas shopping. In fact, I have nearly finished the younger two kids. I have made some decisions on what to get the older two, but just need to bite the bullet and get it all.

And thirdly, I have turned my mind back to the debt busting. I have decided to pay off the council debt tomorrow. We still have money from dh's overtime and although we were trying to save it, I think we should just get rid of this other £50pm debt. Come next month that will be £102 less we will need to find. Plus dh has 1 shift of overtime in his pay this week and will have 2 in his following pay, so the bank will be replenished. Also, I know if I don't pay it off, we will fritter it away on rubbish and it will vanish into thin air.

As long as he can keep earning the money he is we are fine. I just can't wait until January to start contributing a bit more. I hate that I am earning so little (well in comparison to what I could/should be earning)

After Christmas we want to buy a male Newfoundland pup and breed our girl. This has been our plan ever since getting her and she is coming up to 2.5yrs now, so will be perfect age for breeding once the male is 12-18mths. We could find a stud, but firstly, it is the tracking and meeting and fees etc that are a nuisance, and secondly (and more importantly) dh is desperate for a male This is a crucial step in our future plans. We will only breed her 1-2 times (I am not overdoing it because first and foremost she is our pet) and use the money from the sale of the pups as a deposit to purchase a BTL property. Thankfully we have a friend who is a veterinary nurse and also breeds her Boston Terriers, so we have a good source of information when it comes to the pregnancy care of our girl and the care of the pups.

Feeling upbeat and positive at the moment - I wonder how long that will last?

redmel1621

Wooohoooo council debt paid off.

I've also decided to hit the Hitachi loan next, instead of the V12 ones. Hitachi have made it really easy to overpay, by simply logging in online and making payments. It then adjusts the amount owed etc. I need to have another look at it, but I'm sure there was the option to either reduce the term, or reduce the monthly amount, but I might be getting confused with something else I was reading.

I think overpayments will have to start again in January now, as we have our eldest's 18th birthday on Friday, then Christmas is looming...

I will continue to deduct the regular payments as they go out (and may well make a teeny overpayment to Next) so the figure will still go down in December. I am excited to see how much we have paid off by the end of the year. Given I only started on this at the end of August, I'm not expecting a great deal, but nonetheless, it will be interesting.

I need to start getting a budget in place for my new income in January and also dh's income using the lower wage, as I'm sure he will be kept on. If he isn't then he does have a few other options that he can look at (contacts he has made while working here and in his previous job) so I'm not too concerned really. This is one reason I am focusing on getting the monthly amount we pay out down. I want to be able to cover our outgoings on only my income (and child benefit) just in case he isn't in work for periods of time.

I'm going to Asda today and will chuck my penny jar into the coinstar machine (I know, I know) I'm sure there will be about £30-£40 in it, so it will cover the boys hot choc hamper stuff and also get a couple of chocolatey pressies for the four of them.
Once I've done that I will wrap and list what I have already, and make a little 'to buy' list. I should have time to make a start on a budget for January this afternoon.

Oooooooh I also get my daughter back today yay. The house feels all out of whack when a child is away on a school trip. I've missed her more then I thought I would tbh.

ImpulseSpender

Yay on paying off the council debt :T

Hope you have a lovely Friday for your son's 18th :j

redmel1621

Thanks ImpulseSpender, I am absolutely made up with the fact we have 'freed up' £102 per month just by paying off those two debts. We have now paid three debts off in full, while still paying the min payments odd the others. I'm eager to attack the Hitachi loan now and slightly frustrated that it needs to wait until the new year.

We've had a fantastic evening. DS1's birthday has been lovely. Once we all got home from school, college, work, we did birthday cake and singing, then gave presents and cards. He loved everything and got a good chunk of money too. We then went to Nandos for a lovely meal, and were supposed to take him the pub afterwards, but he met up with frineds who just happened to be in a local bowling/arcade/pool/bar place. We left him there with them and bought him a drink before we left...

I still haven't managed to get a budget started for January, so I want to try and do that over the weekend.

Dh is working all weekend again (on the plus side it is more overtime money that we can save towards our new pup in the new year) He definitely needs some time off though!

BabyStepper

Hi redmel

I'm so glad to visit your diary...2 debts paid off!! Well done!! You are so motivating!! You go girl!!

Lydia42

Yay, well done clearing those debts - what a massive boost!!!! Keep it up

DD265

It sounds like things are going really well Redmel, I am excited to hear how things go come January!

redmel1621

Thanks everyone

So, Dh has now given me the log in details for the Hitachi loan. The estimated end date for the loan is 3rd Sept 2021 (I've added this date to the debts list) I am going to aim to pay it off by 3rd Sept 2019. This is probably slightly optimistic, but I can try

I've made a start on the budget for the rest of this year and will hopefully get round to January's tomorrow :A

redmel1621

I just cannot get to grips to with making a budget on our income - with DH's being weekly and mine monthly.
I'm not sure why I can't get my head round it; it is driving me insane. It doesn't help that DH can't remember the pin numbers for any of his cards, his main joint card isn't contactless, he can't remember bank log in details for either of his accounts (joint or solo)... so my initial plans to move savings into one account, spends into another and leave all the bills to come out of the main account, won't work.

He makes life so difficult sometimes.