Wobbling my way out of debt

Fla603

Grocery spending is our main challenge too! We have a 1 yr old son and including his formula and nappies/wipes our groceries have gone up a considerable amount, approx £300-350 a month. Because of our working/childcare arrangements one if not both of us is at home everyday for lunch and dinner. So rather than buying work lunches from our own money it’s just added groceries. I don’t know how some people manage on £100-£200 a month as we are not extravagant foodies... probably just wasteful with our leftovers to be honest! I also thinking food in general has gone up in price!

My DH loves the idea of spending money. He takes a notion he wants something new then spends hours perusing the net and mentally torturing himself about choosing the right product. He usually convinces himself he needs it, buys it and then quickly the desire fades and he’s on to the next thing!! We also have a saying in our house “buy cheap, buy twice” - so when we do have something to buy, we generally spend a lot of time mulling the choice over and then choosing the medium/expensive option!

Fla603

Just realised my grammar above sounds like our groceries have increased by £300-350 a month!!!! That is thankfully not the case... the total now is about £300-350 a month!

findingthisdifficult

Fla603 wrote: »

Grocery spending is our main challenge too! We have a 1 yr old son and including his formula and nappies/wipes our groceries have gone up a considerable amount, approx £300-350 a month. Because of our working/childcare arrangements one if not both of us is at home everyday for lunch and dinner. So rather than buying work lunches from our own money it’s just added groceries. I don’t know how some people manage on £100-£200 a month as we are not extravagant foodies... probably just wasteful with our leftovers to be honest! I also thinking food in general has gone up in price!

My DH loves the idea of spending money. He takes a notion he wants something new then spends hours perusing the net and mentally torturing himself about choosing the right product. He usually convinces himself he needs it, buys it and then quickly the desire fades and he’s on to the next thing!! We also have a saying in our house “buy cheap, buy twice” - so when we do have something to buy, we generally spend a lot of time mulling the choice over and then choosing the medium/expensive option!

I could have written this post myself, we are so similar :rotfl:

We aren't foodies either, we eat the same things all the time but like you say we probably aren't so resourceful with leftovers, we generally cook enough for the 2 of us, so there aren't leftovers to be had. I guess if we batch cooked some meals we would probably save some money.

findingthisdifficult

It's been a while, not much has happened in the FTD house.
I rekindled my relationship with my fitbit in the last month and for the first time since wearing it again, I managed to smash my 10000 steps target yesterday with 12462 steps.
Still such a long way from payday, hence no real DFW updates.

Fla603

Hi FTD, how’s things going? Is it pay day for you yet? Mine was today so I have dispersed all my money into it’s various pots!
My diet is going badly mostly because July is a major birthday month in my family so there has been ALOT of cake and BBQ’s.
Any More house developments with u?

findingthisdifficult

Hi Fla,
Thanks for popping by, it's been so busy in real life and I haven't had much chance to get on here. Payday was 31st for us so I've spent some downtime today working out the budget on my spreadsheet.
Diets are always a right off when there are family occasions to attend.
No house developments with us just yet, we're still trying to decide colours at the moment.
The positive update for today is that the loan is nearer to 9k than 10k :T

Off to update the signature.

Fla603

Fab news on the loan front!! In my diary you mentioned you had money set aside for a cc payment? Did you make it as planned or did anything else pop up?

My house decorating budget has been blown. I ended up picking really dear paint!! I know it will be worth it in the end as it’s the perfect colour but so far I haven’t actually convinced myself to part with the cash and purchase it. DH laid our new flooring and skirting boards, and although it’s taken longer than paying someone, it has saved us money.

Are you planning to move somewhere bigger? Different location? I think we’ll be in our house for a very long time. We have just about enough space, lovely neighbours and a nice village still convenient to town. It doesn’t have allll the rooms I would love to have, like “good” living rooms and fancy dining rooms, but it does just fine for 3. I’ll keep dreaming for the rest!

findingthisdifficult

So I've been M.I.A for nearly the whole of August, what can I say? Real life got in the way and I've had a setback which I know some of you will judge me for.

My CC balance now stands at £2771 as I've had to help a relative out, I won't go in to details but this was 100% last resort, if they pay back all will be fine, if they don't then I'll be cutting ties, fortunately Mr FTD and I can afford to pay this off before the 0% runs out.

It's nearly pay day and another budget to work out for the month, I'm toying with the idea of running my account to zero, usually I leave a buffer of more than £100 just in case, however I might move the excess money in to savings account and if it's still there on pay day next month then I'll move a chunk over to the CC.

Next week I should see the loan drop below £9K this is exciting for me, Mr FTD doesn't really get the excitement but to me it means the end is in sight.

Also Fla, due to above setback, I only paid £50 off the credit card, not the £185 I was hoping for.

findingthisdifficult

Just checking in with balance updates:
CC still stands at £2771 - I still need to make a payment on this in a couple of weeks
Loan now £8788, :j never has this happened to the FTD's before, I know it seems silly to be pleased about this as it is still a lot of money but historically we never got below £14K before consolidating again so this is massive progress.

Fla603

Fantastic news!! That is a massive achievement. Are you making overpayments on the loan each month as you are really knocking off the numbers!!!