AimeeMum's Debt-free challenge

aimeemum

Sunday and it's been a nice day so far despite the weather. Lie in for the first time in 3 weeks...I say lie in, we were still up at 7.30! lol 
Pizza last night was delish! We had a big fry up for brunch this morning (mine was mainly mushrooms, tomatoes and beans lol)and will finish the pizza leftovers for tea tonight. I chopped up the rest of the 'war cake' which I love but no-one else will touch, and have put it in the freezer for me to have as and when - it's nice for breakfast with a cup of coffee actually!

Finances - I realised this morning that EVERY SINGLE ONE of our bank accounts (Current, sinking funds, savings pots, everything!) has money it in! Some of it may only be £1-£2 but I've literally never seen it like this. It's taken us 18 months, but I'm finally starting to feel like we're out of the woods. I also did some research yesterday about student finance.....I don't want to spend ages saving up and making us stable just for it all to go on the kids education....if I need to save up for that seperately (DR style) I'll happily do it, but it looks like it's a big hill to get to that stage.....£50k household income and even then it's only 30% of the loans/grants. I may well come back to it, but that's still 9 years into the future so a while to go yet. 

Signed us up for Disney+ today too...cancelled the netflix as we're barely using it. Thought we'd give Disney a try and we're looking forward to watching the marvel movies in order! 

aimeemum

Wednesday and I'm in a good mood. I'm shattered, and I'm so far behind with the house work it's not even funny, but things are good at the moment and I don't want to ignore that. 
Tesco order is coming tomorrow, but I'm making a chilli today so we'll have plenty to eat Not sure about lunch today - I'm sure I'll figure it out. 
I've gained 1lb this week (hardly surprising given cakes, cheese, pies and pizza take-aways. Aiming for a 2lb loss this week so trying to be strict with myself. Incredibly bored of this weight-loss journey now but so close to being at my target weight, and then I can increase my calorie intake a little to a more 'normal' level, and maybe start eating more normally. 

aimeemum

Morning all - payday so I've been up early and sorted it all, including ordering the last of middle-born's birthday gifts. Should be here early next week then I just need wrap and cards from the shops before the big day. Also paid £80 off the CC....I've been putting £10 a week into an account ready to 'pay off' the holiday, but thought it was better to just add it to my weekly payment instead. Paying off £50 a week from now on, but today I put the £30 from that account on top too. 
Tesco delivery is due from 9, and then home-school we're starting a new 'project' all about planet earth - today we're learning about rocks! To be honest I'm fed up of the uncertainty around school, so i've made a decision to go for it 100% with the home-schooling. As I'm a SAHM, I feel like I should keep them off and let others who 'need' a school place more have them....I'm pretty capable of teaching them, so lets do it!! 

aimeemum

Sunday - hubby is off fishing so I'm up early to see him off with his lunch etc. He's so excited - lockdown took it away so him and a fishing buddy are meeting at the pond at 6am this morning for a whole day by the pond! Means I'm on my own with the kids today but that's fine...my plan is to give the house a once over, catch up with washing, help the kids tidy their rooms and do their chores and then have a relaxing afternoon. We were supposed to have a roast for dinner but as hubby is away fishing I may swap to spag bol so I can get it ready when hubby gets home. 
In finances.....
I have spent hours this week going through a backlog of 6 years of photo's and bit the bullet and sent over 1000 of them to snapfish to get printed. There was an offer of 50% off online so I got them for 5p per print (plus a bit of postage so cost my £64 total!). I'm downloading the app in the next couple of weeks to get their 'free' prints every months to keep more on top of it. I also need to get some new albums (worked out I need 4! lol) which I'll get over the course of the next few months. That money was the money I saved from the car insurance renewal - a bit frivolous but I am happy it's done. I like the fact we have albums and I was starting to get upset by how out of date we were! 
I spent some time updating my figures and turns out hubby forgot to tell me about some parts he put on the CC for his and eldest's bikes, so the CC is about £80 higher than I thought. I've requested a no-spend month for at least June, and ideally July as that's when the 0% period finishes and I want to make as big a dent as possible. 
Also feeling a little but grown up. I spent some time updating our contents insurance to accurately reflect things like the bikes and hubby's music equipment. I had paid up front for the year last May so it was up for renewal, and I've opted for a DD this time so I can budget accurately....a whole £11 a month!! I don't know why I'm always scared of these things. I've also done another quote of joint life insurance for my and Hubby...... 5 years at £20 a month to cover us both for an amount equivalent to 2 years of hubby's salary! I will double check all the documents but I think I'm going to sign up for that too. Will put my mind at ease and help me feel a lot more in control of things. 
Another thing I am attempting to work out at the moment is how to help my Mum. She told me on Friday that she was 'broke'...couldn't even afford a £2 bottle of vitamin supplements I suggested she buy. She and my Dad are 65 and 75, and she's 1 year off claiming her state pension. Selfishly, while I am worrried about them on a personal level (they're supposed to be shielding but every time I call they've been out shopping or similar) and I hope theyr're eating etc...I am also worried about them being in debt, have they got enough to cover a funeral should the worst happen? If not, will we have to pay? We would be set back by about 3-5 years if we have to pay for them/cover their debts. I really don't want that to happen so I'm going to have to talk to her, for my own peace of mind and to see if we can improve their situation. Awkward conversation but it needs to be had. Hubby and I have been researching pre-paid funeral plans and savings plans for them...we're tempted to take them out a plan each out of our own pockets but I'm loathe to put us out of pocket for something that should be their responsibility. It's all a bit of a mess really. 

aimeemum

Wednesday and today has already been fun! 
Tesco order failed to go through as hubby sent a bill through over-night ans left me without enough to cover....managed to sort it before my slot though so hopefully it should arrive any minute. 
All of DS's presents have arrived and hopefully tesco man should be bringing wrapping paper and a tub of sweets today so I can get them all sorted ready for next week. I've also ordered the pot noodles he's asked to have while we 'camp' in the garden for a night Just need to sort out the cake which I'll get the ingredients for on Monday. *Tesco order came - brought everything!! *
I have also spent some time sorting out the bank accounts - new 'pots' set up for separate monies for 'Entertainment' 'Birthdays' and 'Xmas' so I can see how much money I have. 
Sorted out the contents insurance last week, and now the life insurance is all set up and done too. We're covered for a small amount of money but it'll make the world of difference should the worst happen. 
Also went through and made some longer-term plans for trips - and booked a holiday for next May! We're going with some friends, taking the dogs with us, back to Carlton Meres which is where we had our first ever camping trip, but this time we're in a 10-berth caravan. We're going to split the cost a little but to be honest, the price was pretty good so I'm not worried if they pull out/can't pay. 
Anyway, off to go enjoy the sunshine xx

aimeemum

Right - all change. I've been doing some thinking and I'm going to start my DR baby steps from scratch. My debt is not getting smaller, quick enough for my liking, and once I've completed BS1 ( which will only take me a couple of weeks as I've been working hard on sinking funds etc and I need to have one week's wages in my kitty) then I'm going to send every last penny to the debts. I think that by the end of July I could have halved it, and maybe, just maybe have it all gone by September. 
Hubby and I have decided that we're going to upgrade the tent this winter (want a polycotton air-beam one) so we need to have all the debts gone and BS3 at least 1/3 of the way there before we go for it as it's going to cost about £1000...thankfully the rest of our kit will still be fine....it's just the tent that needs an upgrade. 
I am getting a little impatient I will confess.....I've been working on this for 18 months and I feel like the last 3-4 months I've made so little progress that it's starting to get to me. Determined to see us keeping all our money to spend on ourselves and our futures, rather than paying out for the past constantly!! 

aimeemum

Update for the weekend - 

Got my UC statement and it's what I expected which will mean we have more than enough to cover next months bills, enough to top my BS1 EF up to the required level and enough to make a small BS2 payment too! Very excited to get there now....roll on Wednesday. 
In other news, it's so windy I can barely walk outside at the moment. I gave away 2 of the kids old bikes/scooters that were cluttering up the garage to some of our neighbours yesterday, and collected some logs from another neighbour ready for our fire-pit for our 'camping' trip this week. 
Hubby is out fishing again today although I'm not expecting him to be out long as he hates fishing in the wind and it's blowing a gale! 
Today I'm spending time finishing some unfinished things....masks for everyone *have done 3 plus 4 of the face panels. I need to just make the straps for the 4, then put 2 of them into an envelope and send them down to my Mum. 
Also need to finish my history magazine and do some blog/writing planning (and need to keep it realistic!) so I can make some progress - I've printed off a new calendar ready lol. 
I'm off to go and do all this stuff now...already 11am but I have had a bath and breakfast and caught up on all my admin too. Happy weekend folks! 

aimeemum

Feeling quite responsible today - 

• Finished making masks for my family plus extras for my Mum and Dad
• Parcels all packed up ready to be sent out to friends and family (been meaning to do it for ages!!) and Hermes courier all booked for them all. 
• Sorted the kids Junior ISAs/CTFs so I can see them all online now....had to set one up for youngest as I still hadn't done one for him, and that's all done with an initial payment of £20 in there now. 

Tesco delivery also came and that's all packed away and meals all planned for the next 11 days! Hubby is due to go back to work from Sunday but we still don't know his rota as they've changed it all again and aren't going to publish until middle of this week. Still, at least now if he's not on furlough his pay will be back up to a normal rate *although he's going to be in one more day a week so we're no better off thanks to fuel etc.* and he's got 2 weeks holiday booked in July, and that will be honoured so we can look forward to that! 

aimeemum

Well, what a week! 
We all camped out in the garden on Tuesday night to celebrate Ds2's 8th birthday. We roasted marshmallows, ate pot noodles and generally had a great, if not a bit of a tiring, time. Wednesday was his actual birthday so lots of hot dogs, cake and presents were had and he loves his presents too. Lots of lego and cars so he was a happy boy.
Thursday and payday meant it was time to pay all the bills up to date for June (my month works 27th-26th of the month so I'm always a little in front) which is all done. I also took the plunge and bought the GPs their new cage - budgeted £90 but got a code that discounted it to £76.50 so that was a bargain. It should be here tomorrow, and I'm hoping that will allow us to free up a bit of space in the LR, although hubby has plans to fill it all with guitars! 
Today I've managed to rescue the house from post-camping meltdown, and put up the little paddling pool for the younger boys to enjoy while eldest and hubby went on a bike ride. I had had to order eldest some new shoes (should be here Tuesday I think) as his toes were poking through his current ones but other than that, no out of the ordinary expenses. 
Managed to put a significant amount into savings this month - really happy with it. Would have liked it to be more, but it has increased so I am really happy.
Hubby managed to get accepted for a balance transfer off his barclaycard onto a new card. 15 months at 0% plus 6months 0% for new purchases so we're going to order a new bed and mattress for eldest and instead of saving up, pay it off the CC as we had that already accounted for. Also on track to halve the debts by 1st October - will be less than £1k and all the electric arrears will finally be gone (currently sitting at just under £700 which is half what it was this time last year!!) plus the barclaycard/new CC will be a big chunk less too. The Vanquis card that I'm paying off £5 a week has been sold to a new company. I rang them to confirm the payment structure and I've halved the payment to £10 a month to enable me to concentrate on higher priority debts (elec) and also I asked about an F&F and they were willing to take 20% discount offer (means that I can save about £80 in the long run)....not a massive discount so will try again in September when I have to re-arrange. May be able to pay it off in cash by then, especially if they are willing to take a smaller offer. 
All in, it's been a busy week. I'll put my current situations below: 

Current Debts - £1,862
OVO - £699
Vanquis - £445
'Barclaycard' - £718


Current Savings (Total) - £753
(Of which EF - £238)

aimeemum

Been a great week really - all things considered. 

Just waiting on my Tesco order (couldn't get a Thursday order so had to pay for Friday delivery) and then my week is done and dusted. All bills have gone out, paid £25 extra on top of the OVO. Nothing else to report debts wise, but it's going in the right direction. 
Plan is to order eldest his new bed (and do up his bedroom at the same time. Priced it up at £120 in Argos plus £50 to buy paint etc to sort his walls out. On top of that we've got the bed which is going to be £200 from Dreams (this is supposed to last him until he's 18 so worth the extra cost). Going to use Hubby's new CC for the bed, and savings for the extras, and use part of his birthday sinking fund to cover half of the extras to go in his room. He's very excited, and so am I to finally be able to give him a proper room. In anticipation I have bought new curtains for the other boys' room....at the moment there is 1 pair of curtains straddling to two rooms and it's been like that for almost the whole time we've lived here. I've bought some blue and green pattern (which will match their room when I do it up in 'nature' theme at the end of this year) off ebay for a bargain price of £10 plus a pack of curtain hooks! The existing pair can then be used in eldest's room - they're red and he's gone for a grown up red, black and white theme for his room. 
Aside from that, I've decluttered all the school uniforms etc - spoke to school earlier and made it clear they wont be back before September, and there's no way half of what was in their drawers will fit them! Best get saving up for a full set of replacements!