*sigh* this may take a while

ohdearhowdidthathappen

EssexHebridean said:

Good progress on the plan there - and definitely the right thing to include car finance in debts! 

A couple of suggestions if I may - and I know the first is a bit "off piste" for the method you're following, but....assuming your mortgage product allows it, take the decision now to simply round up your monthly payment to a level a little above the contractual. You'll need to inform them that the extra is to be taken off the capita, not the term. Even just £10 a month will start making a difference from the moment you begin to pay it - and a little more than that will still barely be noticed. It will surreptitiously improve your LTV ahead of the point where you need to get a new deal, and will reduce the interest you pay down the line as well. Even a small amount here really is win/win if it can be done.  Also, when you've cleared the PP debt - assuming I am right and this is PayPal credit - just stop using it, close the account. They "sell" it to people on the basis that the interest free period is a good deal, but realistically, a better deal is to save the money for the thing you'd buy first in an interest-paying account - and that route doesn't come with the risk of incurring more debt, either! 

Great idea to budget what you've been spending for the various areas and then work on trying to cut it back - often more sensible where finances allow for it than trying to cut back by reducing the budget, then going over anyway. 

Thanks EH... I like the mortgage idea.  Our payment is £1788 a month, so I could set it to £1800 to start with and we wouldn't notice it.  We talked about rounding it up to £2k in the past as it's a nice round number, but £212 a month was a bit much, so we just gave up on the idea, £12 is much more doable  
Yes, PP is Paypal credit.  We've never paid any interest on it, but it's too easy to always have a lingering balance there.  You're buying something over £100 and can do it over 4 months so it's easy to say 'well that's only £25 a month', but then you do it a few times a month and it ends up being £200 a month to avoid interest  

ohdearhowdidthathappen

I'm quite sporadic at posting on here, so I'm thinking of starting a Friday round up... if I check in more often then that's a bonus, but if I have a day a week where I definitely post, I think it'll keep me accountable.  Might do an end of the month round up too

No idea what to include in it though a mix of health and money maybe.  At the mo, I've come up with these  

-NSD (2 this week)
-any unexpected spends that may need to be worked into future budgets 
-average step count for the week (8900 this week, would like to be over 10K!)
-number of strength training sessions (none this week, aiming for 2 per week)
-alcohol free days (3 this week, aiming to do 4 each week)

We've been paid today, so I put £300 each to PP and CC so the balances are £900 each now

crunchy_time

ohdearhowdidthathappen said:

Moneywhizz said:

Working to realistic budget is the best way of getting on top of your finances. As long as you have identified all of your spending, it should be relatively easy to stick to it. If other things come up that start to eat into the extra £500 then you should make another pot for them. Have you allowed a reasonable amount of spending money for both of you? Having some money that you can spend as you wish also goes a long way to help you stick to a budget. Good luck with it, will check in and see how it is going. 

We're hoping the £500 'spare' will help us identify anything we've overlooked.
We have £200 each a month to spend on what we want, but we have to do our clothes out of that and any entertainment that is just for us... so if I go out for dinner with friends, it would come out of my personal spends for example

We have the same amounts to cover the same things - clothes, anything we want like books and my make up etc and then going out but we rarely go out anyway. X

mark55man

All looking good OSHDTH - routine is your friend, but not your master especially with young ones and random school demands

Also be careful not to clamp down too much as you will rebel and not hold the targets which is demotivating, but do watch the small everyday expenses I found that made a lot of difference. There is a fine line between not doing enough to make a difference, and doing too much and I think you are walking that line quite nicely

ohdearhowdidthathappen

Thanks Crunchy and Mark
It is a weird balance because on paper we can afford xyz, but we need to keep one eye on the future and we need to save.  I think the new budget is realistic

Honeysucklelou2

Great plans and goals 🙂

savingholmes

Good luck with your goals. Sounds like you are back on the right track for you.

ohdearhowdidthathappen

Weekly round up (a day early as will be a busy day tomorrow) :

-NSD -2 this week again
-any unexpected spends that may need to be worked into future budgets - £0
-average step count for the week -9500 this week, getting better, my work days bring my average down.
-number of strength training sessions -none this week, aiming for 2 per week, so this is def an area to focus on
-alcohol free days, 3 this week, aiming to do 4 each week, won't drink tonight either so that ticks this box
-podcasts listened to - 1x n@ked mind, 2 x s0ber @wkward, 2 x DR.  I'm liking the drinking podcasts, much as I'm not planning on giving up alcohol completely, they're very motivating for cutting back.
-books, currently reading DR's TMM, which is quite good actually.  Got a cheap copy off ebay

So all trundling along ok.  We'll both get paid early this month, so will need to be careful in December/January not to overspend

mark55man

Yes we get paid early in December - I used to dread January - but older and wiser now!!

ohdearhowdidthathappen

Makes it a loooong old month  
Normally I feel skint and fat after too much eating and spending.
Tempted to do dry January this year