Working Hard Debt Diary - Here goes

WorkingHardDFW

Thanks SBNP - Love the name by the way!

Doesn't feel insparational in the least its felt by a long old slog, with a way to go yet and loads of learning still to do however its been worth the effort and its nice looking back at what we've achieved.

Keep on its really worth it

Happytogetdebtfree

Working that sounds fantatstic me and oh have just hit a wall well mentally im in debate about australia its only 3k that we would not be paying on debt we are not ading to debt but part of me thinks should i be thinking about sacking australia off this is meant to be are "honeymoon" i need some advice i may not take it but i feel like i did when i had my LBM i have reduced debt but with saving and paying for wedding battling the debt mountain has not been fantastic x

Compingirl

Cheers WH, did I tell you i've been 'growing my own' this year? I've wanted to do it for years but garden has always been kids playground, but now they are older its veggie time! Its been great, we dug a 1m deep border at the bottom of the garden and ive had all sorts growing My mates call me Percy now Anyway, weve had (and still got!) a great supply of lettuce, courgettes and mangetout, my tomatoes are all ripening i've just pulled my last carrots and finished the brocolli we've now started on the sweetcorn and parsnips! Its one way to keep the food bills down. This is why i'm feeling chilled and the real reason my ebaying has slipped!

My debt payments have been minimal for the last couple of months but i am hoping for a last flurry before we get into Christmas, i'm not going to achieve £20k paid off this year I will be lucky to shift £10k, but,we have done lots in the house and garden this year and had a fab holiday so all in all I can't complain.

I agree with your tactics of increasing your budgets gently, until you find your comfort zone. I think thats what I will do when we are in your position! Its so tempting to wake up DF and go on a mad spending spree of all the things youve denied yourself over the past few years. But I think everyone on this site has learnt their lesson the hard way and not over eager to repeat the process either

anyway, my youngest is at a sleepover tonight and ive started with a cold but no work tomorrow so i'm having a few gins tonight (dont like whisky!) purely medicinal of course! bye for now cgx

WorkingHardDFW

:rolleyes:Not sure that i understand your quandry HTBDF. You've clearly got the chance to go to Auz which will cost £3k and to do so won't increase the debt. Was it a gift then? Plus you are feeling guilty because your fab effort at paying for the wedding means that yoru debt busting has taken a back seat.

Only you and OH can decide what is the best course of action for you. Questions I would ask are what are the size of the debt, how and when will we pay if off, what difference would paying the £3k off the debt make now (short term loss for long term gain), how much will the trip really cost (you know what I'm like for a budget) and can we really afford that, can we postpone the trip....

Tough call I'm afraid but your call and yours & New OH's alone - Sorry

Wow CG growing your own - FAB and very trendy as well. I'll like to do that but I don't think I've the patience :rolleyes: It would help reduce the food bills as well. Well done.

You are right in DB is about balance between working hard to clear the debt and living. We'll all had the full one LBM and been Db 24/7 but it does wax and wane with energy levels and setbacks etc. I hope that my plan will keep us on the straight and narrow...it needs to since I'm not going there again !!

WorkingHardDFW

Progress on the debt busting front.

Finally organised for OH to take Childcare vouchers to pay for the DS's holiday Club in the summer - small amount pm which really won't be noticed that much. So small saving there.

Also organised for the kids c/minder to take childcare vouchers. Again to pay for both general in term cover and holiday cover. This from my salary and a largish amount.

This will reduce our monthly income by about £100 per month but we'll also be able to reduce our monthly savings for childcare by £150 per month thus having an extra £50 to throw at the debt .

Me liking that very much ............every penny!! Mind you no doubt it will soon get snapped up by something or another but I can enjoy for a moment or two can't I...

littleangels3

ur doing so well clearing your debts, well done xx

Happytogetdebtfree

Evening working, im on a night shift, for both me and oh its 1450 to go to australia, thats not each luckily our cousin is a travel agent and saved us 750 quid on the whole do.... we have an excess of 750 a month on basic wage 250 is paying remainder of marquee off and then 500 per month is going in to savings for spend, so really its not adding to debt all our bill are paid etc etc debts, our debt will all terminate feb 2012 but im aiming for dec 2011, having seen this can work for others also my mum is paying some of our credit cards with her lower intrest credit cards instantly halfing the percentages so a saving to be had, yes we could post pone which is something i thought about but this is one of the things i can tick off the list before kids and technically we have no board to pay as we will stay with family only thing we will pay to do out there is go up the harbour bridge and the other stuff is free apart from foods.... we got 2000 in cash for wedding 100 dollars 30 pound thomas cook vouchers and 300 quid vouchers for clothing so technically its paid for ive convinced myself... any extra cash made from unsocial can be paid on the debts for now till january xx does that make sense ? it is 4.30am after all x

elantan

it is hard working to get the right balance with it all ...when we first start out we are much more stricter with ourselves but as time goes by we kinda let slip of the reins a wee tad ....and that is ok there has to be a balance ...you dont want to land up like me debt free and saving and a year (maybe less i cant remember exactly when) your back in debt ...not a kick in the backside from where you origonally were ...not a good place to be believe me ...so if you can get the balance before you get there then you have done fantastic ...

i know what you mean about the school kids shoes it deff is a false economy buying the cheaper ones ...our son had his wrecked very quickly when it was the cheaper ones ...saying that he buys his own now so it is surprising how long the cheap ones are lasting:rolleyes:

keep up the good work every but helps

WorkingHardDFW

Sounds like you've got it under control HTBDF which is good and you've of course got to do what works for you. Great to have that to look forward to - I'm a little green.

I hear what you are saying Elantan and I don't want to be back there again so its a slow progress edging forward to being DF. I think its a little like when we had the LBM. We suddenly realised where we were going wrong but it took at least six months, if not longer, to actually learn all the lessons and to to be honest i think I still am. I definately want us to have a system which keeps us in control, living within our means, saving something and building for the future. We'll keep plodding on.

No more excitement until next payday then. Our account looses all its cash on monday when the DD & SO's all go out so we'll be broke again then but all the bills will be paid so thats a positive.

Got DD to try on her school trousers after betting her at the beginning of the hols that she would have grown out of the them and yet she's grown out of them so thats a couple of pairs of school trousers to buy. Luckily they're not as expensive as shoes!!

elantan

i always used to love adams for clothes then it shut down ...so i would land up in b.h.s tried asda they wernt any good for my son ...tried m&s too expensive and so not worth it ..i found b.h.s good quality at a reasonable price