*sigh* this may take a while

ohdearhowdidthathappen

In other news, my husband has been told the company are paying bonuses this year, although not what percentage. In the last few years, they've been £5-7k (after deductions) so we're hoping for similar this year. Whatever he gets will go straight into the debt repayments.

mark55man

That sounds good. Very strong willed if you can move it all across to pay down debt.

You could try to use some of the lump sum to "stooze" ie to rest it in a 5% interest account / regular savers and then pay the balance at the end. But if you haven't actually paid it off the card the temptation will be to find another purpose. That's my downfall

enthusiasticsaver

ohshithowdidthathappen wrote: »

In other news, my husband has been told the company are paying bonuses this year, although not what percentage. In the last few years, they've been £5-7k (after deductions) so we're hoping for similar this year. Whatever he gets will go straight into the debt repayments.

That would be a massive help. Will you spread it over the Virgin, Tesco and your family loan or are you targeting one or the other? Alternatively is it easy to do a lump sum repayment on the car HP as that is the one currently costing you interest?

ohdearhowdidthathappen

If we try and put it into an account, we'd spend it, especially with so much stuff left to do around the house
The first £4k will go to the family loan, much as I've lumped it into one figure, we owe both sets of parents money... my mum is the one we pay monthly and my husband's dad is happy to get as and when repayments. Both parents are retired and much as they're not putting any pressure on us, we're trying to keep the momentum up on paying them back.
Anything over that will go on the virgin card.... the tesco card is 0% for another 2.5 years. The car HP will have to wait unfortunately.
He should hear the percentage soon and he gets the bonus in his February pay back :beer:

enthusiasticsaver

That makes sense to target the family debt and the Virgin card then.

ohdearhowdidthathappen

Doing some decorating again today, decided to 'make good' a few walls that had been affected by build; one had had a radiator moved, one had been blocked up and plastered, another had a steel put in and plastered etc etc… we already had brushes and rollers, but had to buy paint which was £30. By the time I'm finished today, the downstairs will be completed in terms of painting, which is worth the spend in my book

I've been investigating the childminding business further and I'm 95% sure that it's the way I'll go. My radiography registration remains for 2 years, so I can return to it if I really feel the need. Definitely feels like the time to try something new... I only need to bring in £700 per month to cover what I take home from radiography. I've got the local council's childminding support lady coming round next week to look at my paperwork and setting to see how best to grow the business. My husband is very keen as he currently has to work around the children as much as me on the days I work... as he's very senior, this is often frowned upon, so it would make his life much easier too

crunch_time

Very exciting! Hope your meeting goes well!

Crunch x

mark55man

go for it - affordable (I hope) reliable childcare makes the working world go round. Not just helping yourself but helping a stream of mums and dads (mainly mums I would suggest) in your community

ohdearhowdidthathappen

Thanks for the encouragement both of you :-)

I’m actually thinking of trying to offer more flexible options... a lot of childminders only do 8-5.30 and charge retainers in holidays, limited flexibility for shift workers etc. The local school’s breakfast club doesn’t open until 8 and shuts at 6 and it’s a bit rubbish. Definite gaps in the market...

mark55man

being flexible is always good

not sure about retainers - if they are what everyone does you would be leaving money on the table not to do that, but it would grate with me