Little By Little...

redmel1621

So the big move has been done. I admit that I sobbed a bit when I said goodbye to my son and left him in his university halls. We ended up with some unplanned spending as we took him to Asda and did a shop for him that cost around £40. We then realised we had left the box of plates/cutlery/glasses etc at home, so we nipped to Sainsbury's and picked him up a few bits, which cost another £40. We then needed lunch as it had all taken so long, which was £25. We had to charge the car on the way home, so stopped in for the loo and to the services, which cost £15. Basically the day cost about £120. We really shouldn't have spent that, but hey ho. I will suck it up and try to recover from it.

I've finally had a few days work, which means that on Friday we can pay the £350 we owe a friend for flights. We just need spending money then.

I'm not really sure how long this job will last, but it is really handy as it is around the corner from me meaning I have no childcare costs and I can still see my kids off to school and meet them at the end of the day most days too..

I've updated our budget after our spending, so at least I know how much is going out now and when. Once we get paid on Friday, I will be able to get started on ynabbing it all - I can't wait to get cracking on getting everything straight again.

redmel1621

I've done it - yay. I've got myself back onto YNAB. Our wages went in yesterday and I have allocated them as best as I can. There are a few outstanding bills that we can't quite clear, because we haven't got enough money to cover everything. (that is quite a big thing for me to admit!) So, I am doing my best to prioritise what needs paying. This week isn't helped by the fact that my husband is working away next week and will need money to eat out all week. He can claim it back at the end of the week but we need it upfront!

The kids and I are left with £32 for food for the week, well Monday to Thursday as I have dinner in for all of us for today and tomorrow. Looking in the freezer, there is a big bag of chicken pieces, so I will have those with some salad over the week (just need a few quid for salad bits) and I have sausages and chicken breasts that the kids can have with chips one day and tinned potatoes and veg the other day. So that means 2 days of meals to plan for them and that's all. £32 should easily cover us.

I've been looking around at stuff we have to sell and in all honesty, we don't have very much!? We have stuff, but we use it all so it's not like it is sat gathering dust. I can't justify selling things we use.

Next Friday, I will get a full weeks wages (I only got 2 days yesterday as I had only just started at this place) and I will need to budget wisely as it is the end of the month, a lot of bills are due out on 1st AND we (adults only) go away to Ibiza on 5th. We are also hoping to go out for a meal on the 9th, with the kids, as that is my actual birthday. If we can't go out then no biggie, I'll just get a cake and we'll have something at home.

I have a list of things that need to be paid or replacing fairly imminently, so I am focusing my efforts on those right now:
Tyres on the car
Tyres on motorbike
Flights to be paid off
Spending money for Ibiza
£500 to clear son's school trip
Clear balance on Disneyland trip

Once all those are sorted I can concentrate on Christmas! I really have no idea how I am going to do it all.

I think as well as using YNAB, I might need to do a forecasting budget for the next few months and get a loose plan of the order of clearing the above list. One fallback plan is that we are also workingo n clearing husband's credit card which is 0% balance for another 13 months, so if we have to, we will use that and then make sure it is paid off before the end of the 0% period. Not ideal, but hey ho...

Anyway, that is a mammoth post and I need to make dinner.

redmel1621

Back with a title change, a few new debts, a few paid off debts, a job and a working husband.

Well... Christmas happened! I put a few things on BNPL plans, our eldest came home from uni for three weeks and we all had a wonderful time together. It is in the past. I'm not going to dwell on any added debt as overall our total debt amount is still lower than it was back in September (when I last posted)

I assured the husband that I would be getting serious with the debt pay off plan in January and true to my word, I have paid off one small debt (£29.23pm) and I have just one last payment to make to a bailiff debt (£124) which will be paid on Friday.

The debts list has been updated, I have got a whole year of YNAB for free using my son's student ID and I am ON TRACK.

I'm going to list some stuff on eBay this week and put any money made there towards debts.

Hubby and I have had a MASSIVE chat and we have a 10yr plan! I think we are FINALLY on the same page with what we want our future to look like.... I'm not saying things will be plain sailing - no way. Our life is always stressful and we have to both fight our spendy demons but I think we're feeling super determined right now and want to get things moving in the right direction.

My side hustle has been bringing in a bit of much needed extra money; I've been using that to cover my wages when it is school holidays and I have no income from my day job.

That's all the finance stuff covered.

Now for me. I'm back on the weightloss wagon. I've back to my pre-Christmas weight and I am running (on a treadmill) to get fitter. This year I will be adding £££s and losing lbs

I've also got the house a bit tidier lately and it seems to be staying that way... Not sparkling or anything by any means but it isn't cluttered on every surface which is a big improvement.

The days seem to be stretching out a bit and I'm looking forward to the warmer weather coming so we can get out and about a bit. I HATE the cold weather.

Better get off as I want to watch some youtube vids about FIRE to get me motivated. We need an early night for DH to get up at 3am to drive up to Scotland for work again and I need to sort packed lunches out for the kids.

BabyStepper

Great to hear from you Redmel and glad you had a good Christmas. Good luck with your FIRE plans, ambitious but worth it!

kindofagilr

Fab to see you back redmel, I have just updated  mine too, I have been missing too long, I let it all just get away from me xx

redmel1621

Aaaaaannnndddd I am back again.
With lots of updates and changes to figures.... Some debts to add on, some to take off, some to amend figures to. It has been an eventful few months. My son has left uni and returned home (for now). He wasn't enjoying the course, nor coping very well so decided it was not for him. He is moving back to the area with friends after the summer, but needs to find a job in the meantime to get rent money together. I think he'll do it but it is still a little stressful with him not yet finding work, and now is not really the best time to be job hunting.
A few days ago, I put in a claim for airline fixed compensation from Qatar airline. When 2nd eldest went to South Africa the flight from UK was delayed over 4hrs and meant he missed his connecting flight and was stranded (in a very nice 5 star hotel) for over 24hrs before having a rescheduled flight to SA.According to the revolve website we should get £600 back from the flights. That can go straight off the credit card if we do get awarded itand that will almost clear dh's card   

Right I have amended the totals on the front page.

Stay safe, M x

kindofagilr

Hey hun, how is everything going? xx