AimeeMum's Debt-free challenge

aimeemum

abba1772 said:

all sounding very positive esp in these unsure times xx

Thanks  - I do feel lucky that we're so stable. Believe it or not, if it wasn't for the fact we're already on UC (have been for 4 years now), it would be a completely different story. Hubby's furlough will be registered with HMRC so we shouldn't even have any issues with his drop in wages. I'm also thankful that we cleared as much debt as we did in the last 15 months! If we still owed close to £10k, I don't know what we would have done?! 

aimeemum

Update for the beginning of April. 
Had to buy parts to fix car to the tune of £105! Not happy, but was able to pay cash and still pay all bills on time this month. Thankfully hubby's furlough means no fuel needed this week! 
Payday tomorrow and we find out how much 80% of his wages are. Still not completely sure how much it will be but I'm confident we'll be able to stick to budget. I'm also heading to the supermarket for the first time since lockdown began.....should be an experience! 

aimeemum

Hi All, 
It's been a busy couple of weeks but today is the day that all my statements and payments are sent out so I find out what my budget will be for the next month. I've been pleasantly surprised as my UC was higher than expected (mainly thanks to the allowances all going up - annual rise plus the CV19 additions) and my CB has also gone up by £3 a month - shan't spend that one all at once! lol Between that, hubby's back-pay coming in which is another reason why I wasn't sure about UC, and a couple of bills being delayed like car insurance which is due for renewal so no bill this month, my bank accounts are looking healthy. Going to sit down today and write out my budget for May and I'm going to work hard to stick to it. Got a couple of big expenses of DS2's birthday and the car needs some work, but at the moment I'm happy  

Yesterday was exciting in that I booked us a holiday - it's a trip to a static caravan for October half term. It was a really good deal so I went for it. Hopefully we'll be able to go and things will be somewhat back to normal by October. If not, I've booked it on the CC and taken out the cancellation policy just in case. I would like to think that we'll either go which would be brilliant (it's a holiday park so lots of indoor stuff to do, a beach to take the dog for walks etc, so will just be a nice change of pace and scenery after a spring/summer in lockdown) or it'll be postponed until 2021 in which case we've still got something to look forward to. The kids are really excited! 
We're also planning a camping trip for May half term......in the garden! I need to price up a small fire-pit/BBQ so we can have the full experience but the kids are super excited about that. It looks like we probably wont be going camping at all over the summer, so I'm putting together a list of days out instead - thinking 1 per week around hubby's days off (provided it's all open of course). 
Home-school is going well...kids aren't too bored and the house is still standing. I've even managed to write some of my fiction book - I am trying to write as much as I can with an aspiration of 500 words a day but I'm only getting to about half of that. Would dearly love to have my first draft written by September when the kids go back to school (hopefully lol). 
There's so much un-known at the moment, but I did managed to pin hubby down about one thing. We're NOT moving! We've decided that we're going to stay here, get eldest's school place for secondary school sorted and go from there. If we're not happy with the school he gets we'll react accordingly, but at the moment, we're staying here indefinitely. I'm going to ask the landlady for permission to decorate/get the chickens we want, and also get her to fix the back door and the leak in the bathroom once the summer lockdown is lifted. It's nice to know we're settled.....foreign for me, as the longest I've ever been anywhere is 5 years and we'll have been here 5 years in August. Suspect I'll get itchy feet in the autumn lol. 

aimeemum

Forgot to say yesterday, I've been calorie counting since April 1st (when you stand on the scales and you're a stone and a half overweight, it's a wake up call! lol) - I have myself down as 11st7lb on the 1st april but the scales actually said 11st11lb! (but that was middle of the day etc so I've lowered it to a weight I KNOW I was....weigh day today and I'm 10st 13lb (13.2lb to be precise so not much off 12lb!) I'm aiming for 10st 4lb so I now have 9lb to go. If I keep going as-is I will take another 4/5 weeks, but I'm going to add in some workout/yoga to hopefully speed things up. I would very much like to be at target before middle-son's birthday as I would dearly love cake!!

aimeemum

What a weird few days! It feels like a month since I wrote that update 2/3 days ago, yet nothing major has happened. I'm confused! lol 
Budgets set up for May, shopping arrived yesterday with nothing missing *tell a lie, I needed yeast and brown sugar and neither were available online. I will have to go out on Sun/Mon and try to track some down at the small shop in town. I'm not attempting the supermarkets. Last week when I went it took me 3 hours to do my shopping! 
Bank balances are looking healthy for the first time ever....which is worrying because I feel like I've forgotten something. Paid all my bills for the week, and just waiting for Monday to start paying May's bills. Put £156 into savings as 'surplus' to bills and essentials this month. I will have to pay for DS's birthday out of that, but that's the most I've ever had in excess....normally I'm scraping together to make the bills through the month! Best not say any more - frightened I'll jinx it!! 

aimeemum

Update: not much to update! Bank accounts are looking pretty happy, and I have sorted my budget for the rest of the month. Hubby is driving me a little bit mad trying to spend the money I'm saving but I'm better at saying no than I used to be. His bike died while he was out on it yesterday though so I see a big spend in our future buying him a new one (and probably eldest as well as his bike is verging on too small).
In other news I'm starting to up my game with my weight loss. I've lost 9lb in less than a month but I feel like it's hitting a plateau so I've downloaded a free activity tracker on my phone and plan on tracking my steps etc for the next few days before setting myself a target for May. I'm still aiming for 10st4, so I have 8lb to go and I'm determined to do it. Hubby is currently calorie tracking with me but he's not the most supportive when I try to lose weight (he finds it very easy to lose whereas I have to be super strict) so I'm going to do 5:2 when he's finished in 2 weeks time and upping my activity levels incrementally. In an ideal world I'd get down to 10st 3 and stay there forever!  

aimeemum

Update on last post - I can't believe it's been 8 days but feels like forever! 

Hubby called in at a local bike shop (they recondition used bikes) and managed to pick himself a new bike, one for eldest and a helmet for £120!! I was flabbergasted - considering eldest's bike would have cost about that on it's own if we'd bought new. We have had to buy a few new parts (inner tubes and such) but in the long run it's definitely a bargain! 

Bills for May have all gone out on time and in full, including the CT in full too.....I'm incredibly happy about that! First time in months. I have a bit of 'leftovers' too, which is amazing.....I'm not mentioning any spare cash to hubby until I have 1 week's wages in the account free and clear.....I reckon 8 weeks I can scrape that together provided he doesn't go buying any more bikes! 

Current debt is up at nearly £2k as he had to update his tablet.....annoying but it could have been a lot worse. 

Weight - I'm at 10st 10lb!!! Only 6lb to go and I am hoping to have shed another 1lb by Saturday as that's our monthly Pizza night and I'd love it to be guilt free lol.

Other news, we've decided that we're going to try to book Florida for our 40th Birthdays in 2024....we plan to go for the Easter holidays and the kids will be 14, 11 and 10 which will mean they'll still enjoy things like Disney, but old enough to ride the coasters etc. Hopefully things will be sufficiently recovered by then!! The H2S's mature in 2023 and should have over £5k in them, so that's a massive chunk towards it all, and I plan on hiding a 'stash' to convert to dollars too. We will then have 10 years to save up to buy a house once the boys have left home (funny to think about things like that with them all sat around me (aged 10, 7 and 6) but I'm sure it will be here soon enough and we need to have something to work towards. I do have a habit of making these long term plans and I like to think they will happen.....definitely more likely now we're more solvent financially though! 

Writing wise - I've done literally nothing. Oh, that's a lie, I bought 2 books but haven't looked at them yet. I will get there - I haven't got the time or energy to give to it....and even when I do I always get interrupted!! 

aimeemum

I spent some time yesterday checking up on my HTB ISA - it is now getting a SO of just £1 a week (not a massive amount I know but every little will help and that bonus will be nice, no matter how small it is!) and I will up it from January, probably to £5. It will stop taking new deposits in 2029, and I'm not sure what will happen, but it gets 2% interest, so it's pretty good anyway lol. 

Payday today - £35 paid off the CC as per normal, £5 to vanquis too. £48 sent to savings too. 
Total Debts - £1,989
Total Savings - £516 (NEVER in my life have I/we had £500 in savings!)

aimeemum

Went down a bit of a financial rabbit hole yesterday - looking at LISA's/pensions for me as I have none. It's a while off but I'm determined to have one set up before I'm 40 (37 in September) so I may make it a birthday present to myself lol. 

In other news, payday yesterday and all bills paid which feels great. As I did a big shop last Sunday, I still have money in the bank - I've placed an order with the farm shop and may need a top up of fresh stuff on Mon/Tues, but apart from that we're set. Also wont need much fuel as hubby finishes for furlough tomorrow! I genuinely cannot wait - his shifts have been appalling and I'll be glad to see the back of 4am alarms!! 

Ordered some of middle-born's birthday presents - just need to do another order next Thursday with the remainder from Smyths. He has asked for a 'camping trip' for his birthday so we're putting our 2 small tents up in the garden, toasting marshmallows and eating pot noodles. Hopefully the weather will be good by the last week in May! 

Anyway, bank holiday today so no home-school, just decorating the house, having a 'party' in the garden for VE day, setting up Vera Lynn et al to play through the speakers and generally having a swell ol' time!  

 

aimeemum

Happy Saturday everyone! 
Got my Farm-shop delivery and very happy with it...lots of goodies. Looking forward to ordering a pizza for tea tonight too (Saved up cash over the last 3 weeks to pay for it!) Not very weight-loss friendly, but I think I/we have earned a treat. I weighed myself this morning expecting to have gained and I had maintained (and I had already had a cup of coffee and a raisin slice.....silly me!) so I'm hopeful that 1 lapse wont cause me too many issues. 
Money wise, I've been looking after the accounts as normal and I'm not used to seeing positive balances at this stage in the week/month. I'm hoping that I can keep our spending down over the next 3 weeks -  I need stuff for the garden, but if the weather is going to be as bad as they say, the garden will not be a priority for a little while! 
Hubby should be home soon to start his 3 weeks off - looking forward to having some quality time and some adult company.