Time to stop letting our hard earned money slip through our fingers!

BabySteps234

Yes, your DH sounds just like mine! I mean to be fair, I’m far from perfect too, but I do recognise we get this sorted and we could then afford to buy things and also save for our future and have a nice life. These endless card payments are killers and we pay more servicing our debts than our mortgage and bills combined!!! He’s 45 so hoping couple of hard years and we can be in a far more positive place financially AND emotionally!

findingthisdifficult

Hi BabySteps, I've just found your diary and will definitely be back to keep up with your journey.

Mr FTD and I are in early stages of kicking this debt habit, we've been in debt ever since we met 12 years ago this year, I would cry if I knew how much interest we have paid over the years. We've got better the last couple of years since we bought our house.
We are currently working to clear down a CC balance before the 0% ends in June, even though I have another 0% card I could shift the balance to if I needed, I want to prove to Mr FTD that we can do this. Then there is our loan that we've consolidated more times than you can shake a stick at, we're hoping for that to be gone next year, it could definitely be gone if I was super strict but I've decided the gentle approach with Mr FTD will be better in the long run, like your DH he is struggling with the new found tracking every single penny that's being spent.

Good Luck on your journey!

Rollingwithitmama

Found your diary and am following:T
Your doing fab I have not long started my own diary here also. It’s nice to have a wee outlet and some cheerleaders.

You really are doing fabby.

BabySteps234

So it’s been a bit of a rubbish month for money saving but it’s been a rubbish month all round! We have all been really poorly. 2 of the children have been in hospital: One quite poorly but is getting better now, thank goodness. As well as being worried sick (and feeling quite fluey myself) I’ve been snowed under at work and me and DH have had to juggle days off caring for them which is also worrying us sick.
His work place is great, mine ok, but we have had reocurrent family illnesses all winter before this more serious episode so it’s really hard when working full-time to cope with all the demands.
It Feels like we are constantly being torn in two! All of the time I’m thinking I should be at home caring for the little ones and yet the burden of this debt over us means I have to keep going! I’d love to be part-time but until we spend this hard year getting on top I just can’t afford to reduce my hours.
It makes me feel sick some days leaving such a poorly baby at home but then I remind myself that it’s to give us all a better future and it’s enough to push me through the door to complete another day in the office.

DH is almost on his knees so he’s really worrying me too. I had to ease up on the financial plan this month as I just don’t think he could cope with hearing or dealing with it this month, which may sound defeatist so early into the hard save plan but I recognise when someone is near their limits!

We had to spend £300 on a bus pass for DS until Easter and £150 on DD’s lift as we have been unable to leave the little ones so couldn’t do school runs. Still, we did use ‘real money’ for that and didn’t reach for the credit card. Also spent a small fortune on hospital food, snacks, magazines and car parking. When I say small it’s probably not that small, those places are pricey!

So this month we have paid the usual £600 servicing CC debts. Paid the £300 from last months overdraft. I also put another £100 into the Christmas / present account (now has £300 in it) and £100 into the contingency plan so that also has £300 in it. That at least feels good.
I do currently have a bit in our bank account so I’m waiting until the end of the month to see what is left and will then transfer it to debt repayment just before payday. It won’t be £1000, or anything like it, this month but this past 6 weeks has solely been about surviving!

I have done a big food shop this week and sorted out a healthy eating plan (as cheaply as I could) as we were getting into grabbing things each day which was definitely more expensive.

I also went through the PPI pages on MSE and despite not thinking we had any they have already located some for both of us! Guenuinely shocked! One is for a loan I had 20 years ago! I don’t even recal having the loan so definitely didn’t know about the PPI! :rotfl: Everything crossed for some cash coming back our way! We pay 20% on anything we get but considering we weren’t expecting anything at all I’m fine with that! Whatever we get, large or small, it will definitely all go on servicing the debts.

Anyway, weekend has arrived HORAH! It’s a quiet stay home one with our poorly babies but snuggle time and DVDs will be pretty near perfect! Have a lovely weekend one and all! X

Rollingwithitmama

The PPI find is definitely is win.
What a difficult month, all my well wishes for you all nothing worse than the pain of juggling kids life and work.
But every small step is one to be happy with.

BabySteps234

Woken up to a beautiful day and looking forward to spending an outdoorsy weekend pottering about in the garden. Spring definitely raises the spirits.

The children are all looking a lot healthier and have returned to nursery and school which is a huge weight off our minds. Working full time you can kind of muddle through until something goes wrong (like illness) and then it all comes crashing down!

We had a bit of a setback moneywise last month as no time (or inclination) to go through the finances properly. Time unpaid from work and hospital chaos! CC were all paid though and I've increased the direct debits to automatically pay off another £200 each month and not just service the minimum payments of £600. Everything is now on 0% with at least a year and half on the terms so I need to work out which one I want to throw some extra money at.

Another £100 in the Christmas pot and £100 in the contingency plan so £400 each

Had to pay £200 out on a handy man as we had some repairs that couldn't wait. My Dad usually helps with things like that as he's amazing at most jobs but couldn't help at short notice. Still, cash was paid and nothing has been added to the CC. That in itself is a small achievement as we are changing the habits of a lifetime here!
We also had another big bill from nursery (thought I'd had the last) but that bill was paying off the previous month and I had a months worth of fees so almost £900 to clear that too! Our monthly will from now on will be minamal as get the 30 free hours now (THANK goodness!!!) but still have to pay out of hours care £100 and one days care as paying someone to keep her home for rest day whilst she's on the road to recovery after her spell in hospital. Puts the budget out but she comes first. The numbers are still rolling back, just not as quickly as I'd like!

I want to track better - what's the best way to do this? Is it an excel spreadsheet that you all use? I'd like to track spends, debt payments and see percentages.

Enjoy your weekend :j

BabySteps234

So, we started out on our 'money saving' journey at the end of February. I must admit it's been harder than I thought it would be in some ways but I feel much more in control of our finances and certainly I know where our money goes to each month which until this point we were clueless!
I had hoped to pay off more by now but have come to realise in the real world things happen that we can't always plan for. In the past 3.5 months I've had some unpaid time off work whilst I cared for a poorly toddler followed by a poorly doggy, who with insurance, has cost us over £1000 and has another operation planned so more £; Thankfully she's going to be ok, so money well spent but it's been a lot to find. We managed though but it did push us into our overdraft a couple of times, but at a low rate and I wasn't remotely tempted to reach for a card! (Big progress!).

Positive things though: I have finally paid off that MBNA card which I am feeling really good about. I had about £2000 on it in January and it was my last interest paying card so chuffed to say it's gone and account closed! :rotfl: I joined ClearScore to check on my credit score and realised I'd had that MBNA card opted since 2005 (once owing £10,000 on it!!!:eek:) so they must've had huge amounts of interest out of me over the last 14 years.

We paid DH's NEXT card couple of months ago too and he'd had that open 19 years at 29%apr!
I've also saved £600 in my contingency plan savings - trying for £1000.
Needed 4 new tyres last month (cost £300!) and I almost used the contingency but we managed without using regular account so another pleased with self moment!
I've saved £500 in our Christmas account too - very excited to think we won't stress as much this Christmas.

We have also been putting money away for our summer holiday - again, without fail in the past this would have instantly gone straight onto a credit card. We now have the whole thing paid for and money into pots for spends by selling things on FB and eBay. I realise this could have been spent on debt repayment but we are still making big strides there too. All credit card payments met on time and half of them being paid well over minimum payments each month.

Realised part of my 0% deal on the Halifax CC ends in October so I've worked out I need to up that payment to £300 a month in order to finish that part before interest. So going to make that a £200 monthly increase from this month. Although I won't wipe out as much debt as I'd hoped as quickly as I originally wanted, we are still on the right track. My DH is also able to cope better as the impact of working all the hours and constantly talking about money problems / debt had a real negative impact on his health so I feel like the balance is right for us both now.

Back to enjoying my sunny garden - free family fun! :A Hope sun is shining for you too

Moneywhizz

Sounds like you have got the balance right between paying off your debts and still being able to enjoy your life. As long as your debts all reman interest free, there doesn't have to be a date for paying it off set in stone. Things happen in life, especially with children, and debt paying might not always go to plan. The important thing is that your debt is decreasing and you are not paying interest. I see that you are putting away money for Christmas and your emergency fund but have you worked out a budget where you put money aside each month for other irregular expenses? It is better to build up pots for all the different things that you pay so that you don't find yourself short some months because you have one or two things that have to be paid in the same month. Having a budget that covers everything is the way to really get control of your money and takes away the stress of unexpected expenses. Good luck with your journey to debt freedom.

PositiveBalance

BabySteps234 wrote: »

I'm after a bit of advice please.... once the MBNA card goes next month the rest of the cards are on 0% deals. I was wondering whether I continue with the minimum payments and pay the rest of the money into a high interest account? Then at the end of the 0% term I'd hopefully have gained a bit which may be enough to pay a chunk of something else off. Is this a good idea or not?
I can be disciplined and know this money is to service cards and not spend it!

In theory this is a good idea and I did something similar once. The net result was £25 interest on a £5000 CC balance! :rotfl:

The amounts that you are paying back are likely to be higher than what I was paying back each month, but if you only earn a few pounds like that, will it be worth it? Seeing the balance tumbling on your cards each month is likely to keep your motivation much higher than the paltry amount of interest you will earn with the added bonus that it is rehabilitating your credit rating as you go so if you need to take out another 0% CC near the end of your debt-free journey to help you get rid of the last bit, it should be a lot easier. (But it's up to you. )

BabySteps234 wrote: »

Thank you. Hoping so - has felt unachievable until now. The spare income never seems to be that spare.... as well as the £40k also pay £250 a month on a loan of £25k which I didn't include on the £40k credit cards. That Was a family loan to help on the mortgage so have to pay £250 for the next few years there too! But I am excited to be reversing the trend - really wish we could skip forward to next year and see the new numbers as reality!

Keep this in mind mentally so you don't start to go off the rails once you get towards paying off your commercial debt. You can snowball all the money you have left and get this family debt paid back much more quickly once all the CCs are gone.

BabySteps234 wrote: »

So it’s been a bit of a rubbish month for money saving but it’s been a rubbish month all round! We have all been really poorly. 2 of the children have been in hospital: One quite poorly but is getting better now, thank goodness. As well as being worried sick (and feeling quite fluey myself) I’ve been snowed under at work and me and DH have had to juggle days off caring for them which is also worrying us sick.
His work place is great, mine ok, but we have had reocurrent family illnesses all winter before this more serious episode so it’s really hard when working full-time to cope with all the demands.
It Feels like we are constantly being torn in two! All of the time I’m thinking I should be at home caring for the little ones and yet the burden of this debt over us means I have to keep going! I’d love to be part-time but until we spend this hard year getting on top I just can’t afford to reduce my hours.
It makes me feel sick some days leaving such a poorly baby at home but then I remind myself that it’s to give us all a better future and it’s enough to push me through the door to complete another day in the office.

This is your WHY. Every time you start to wobble about repaying your debt, think about this time and how it could have been different if you didn't have all this debt hanging over you. You'll soon get back on the right path!

BabySteps234 wrote: »

We had to spend £300 on a bus pass for DS until Easter and £150 on DD’s lift as we have been unable to leave the little ones so couldn’t do school runs.

Flippin' Nora - that's expensive! Do you like in Timbuktu?!

BTW, you didn't state how you had divvied up the extra CC payments each month. If you haven't already done so might I suggest paying the minimum on all but one then laser focusing on on debt at a time and knocking it out completely before moving onto the next one?

BabySteps234

Thank you PositiveBalance, £25 on interest eh! 😂 Lucky you!! Maybe I will rethink that idea...
We aren't quite in Timbuktu, but certainly out in the wilderness (just as I like it!) the children are less impressed and long for civilisation. My Son's school is almost 20 miles away (we do have schools closer but chose this at a time when transport was slightly easier) he only has a year to go, so left him there. It is expensive though and I have to drive him the first bit and then he catches two buses! It's all really lovely until things go wrong (such as poorly children) and then it totally messes the logistics up!

I hadn't really thought about paying extra onto one card and leaving the others at a minimum payment but think this is something I will do from next month. It would likely give me more chance at getting another 0% deal card when my current cards 0% starts to expire in a years time.

Thanks also for my WHY.... think I was feeling bit down and having a bit of a whinge! But certainly it is a good way of keeping focused and on top of that I'm always explaining the importance of being good with money to my older children and how I hope they never spend above their means and be in the position I am. It has such a negative impact on your life so really I want to do it for them as well as myself so they can see how much easier life is when not paying off debts. It's all they've heard their whole childhood!
It will be so good to see the credit cards go - it's the first time in my adult life and my DH that we haven't had a credit card for spends, it just seems mental that we lived that way for so many years. He is leaving all the sorting to me but was amazed that we have savings pots and things going well. I think he'll dare pop his head out of the sand a bit longer once the numbers really start moving!