10 years here. My final diary this time!

clearmydebts

hugglemonster wrote: »

Looks like you indentified areas that you can reduce already, good news on the electricity. What do you class as Entertainment? Is there any way to use vouchers or special offers.

A holiday to Australia sounds amazing! Hope you're having a lovely weekend.

H x

Hi MH,

Entertainment I would class as either DH and I going out, or eating out with the kids. We don't go out that much but I am definitely starting to cut down on the amount we eat out as a family. I use deals where possible but the town we live in doesn't have any chain restaurants so it is few and far between.

clearmydebts

savingholmes wrote: »

HI CMD - noted your comments above I still would look at groceries, insurances, mobiles, clothes and entertainment. Having said that - DH and I allow ourselves £100 each personal spends and still have a dining out and days out fund of £50-100 each so we are probaby close to your costs in practice. I do pay lower insurance costs - but as you say you are in Ireland... so no idea on typical costs there. We allow ourselves £25 pcm for clothes each - but pay it quarterly so it feels more - anything more is supposed to come from personal spends or by cutting back on groceries.

DH and I are now on pay monthly sims for about £6 each. DD has a more expensive contract though... I think in future we want to buy mobiles outright so we don't get sucked into expensive contracts...

HTH

Thanks SavingH. The cost of living in Ireland for groceries etc wold be higher than the UK but I could still do better on the groceries. Clothing is an estimate - I haven't bought myself anything in a few months but DD might need new shoes for example. We both have bog standard mobiles and the package we have is absolutely the lowest possible here. Entertainment is a work in progress as we do like a night out every 6-8 weeks either together or separately but we don't need to eat out with the kids as often.

clearmydebts

Afternoon! Had a lovely weekend. We were invited to a friends yesterday for dinner and it was yummy. Brought flowers and wine but already had the wine. Not a very spendy weekend thankfully and I misjudged the cost of a school activity so was able to pay another €30 off the loan to take it to under €24,000. Am hoping all these little things add up.

[Deleted User]

Well done on directing the new-found EUR 30 straight off the loan. These little things really do add up so much, you'll see the benefits in no time!

clearmydebts

Moguline wrote: »

Well done on directing the new-found EUR 30 straight off the loan. These little things really do add up so much, you'll see the benefits in no time!

Thanks Moguline. It is hard to see the difference at the moment as the debt is so high but from reading all the other diaries I know little bits do add up and start to make a real impact. I think when I am able to put the 2 loans together and free up €388 per month I will really start to see the snowball effect!

clearmydebts

Morning/afternoon!

Have been playing around with the mortgage overpayment calculator today. If I diverted my 2 loans into overpaying I'd pay the mortgage off 13.6yrs earlier. Food for thought and definitely an incentive to keep plugging away at it. I do overpay by €66 a month and it has already taken 1yr 9 months off it.

Spag bol is on the hob. It's the one dinner the kids are guaranteed to eat. Have offered some to my parents as well and if they don't take it I'll freeze. I like to offer them dinner a few times a week as they are very good to the kids.

I have to lodge a cheque, pay library fine, print out birthday invites and drop in insurance money into the school prior to collecting the kids from school. Busy busy but I like to get everything done in one batch rather than having to go down the town every day.

I had a NSD yesterday :money: Won't manage it today!

clearmydebts

Turns out that library fines have been waived since Jan 2019 so didn't need to pay anything. So €30 gone into the loan account. It's so additive seeing the balance come down!

savingholmes

You are making great progress - those 30s will add up. Plus cheer yourself up by looking at progress in signature. Knocking a year and 9 months off your mortgage is cause for celebration to. If you do redirect your paying off debt £ to the mortgage you could be free years early - sounds like a plan to me. Don't forget pension longer term too - ideally around 15%

clearmydebts

savingholmes wrote: »

You are making great progress - those 30s will add up. Plus cheer yourself up by looking at progress in signature. Knocking a year and 9 months off your mortgage is cause for celebration to. If you do redirect your paying off debt £ to the mortgage you could be free years early - sounds like a plan to me. Don't forget pension longer term too - ideally around 15%

Thanks for the reminder re: the pension SavingH! I had a decent one in my last job so as soon as I get another job I'll resume it again.

hugglemonster

Ooh I like playing with overpayment calculators too amazing how even a relatively small amount can change so much.

Keep going! H x