Sorting out the debts before it's too late!

tiredmomma

@savingholmes

thank you so much for your imput, it really does help to get an outside view of things!
- The water I'm scared to move onto a meter just because of the amount we use! I looked on the United Utilities website and filled in a quiz thing to see if it would be beneficial, and it told me it would be cheaper to not install one!

- The mobiles are 3 phones, all still in contract, one due to end in November so I can drop it to simo then and save around £20, the other 2 have 9mths and 12mths remaining on them.

- Groceries, I agree I'm sure I can cut that down more, I'll have a look on the Old Style board tonight!

- Clothes was definitely a shock, I had no idea I was spending that much!! I live in a quite low income area (and really kind of proud/snobby if that makes sense?!), so it very rarely comes up that bundles of clothes etc are sold on fb, with the exception of baby clothes, but I can definitely look into bundles on Ebay instead?

- The other child related expenses are my eldest's bus pass to school, and my dd's gymnastics subscription. I cant get either of those any lower.

- The buildings and contents insurance is combined.

- The £1400 is how much I normally spend for all presents throughout the year, so it includes birthdays and Christmas. I am about 50% of the way through xmas shopping for this year, and have already bought all birthday presents that are needed until next year as well, so I can really try and bring this down further, and having a newborn for xmas should be a good excuse for why we cannot afford to spend our normal amounts on presents for everyone!

- Haircuts, I cut everyone's hair!

- We could cut down on entertainment, but that budget at the moment will do one family trip to the cinema and a takeaway/McDonalds twice a month, so I want to try hard not cut all the fun things out the kid's lives!

- The kid's savings...this is a difficult one. I grew up with no money. I know what it is like to not be able to go on school trips because my parents couldn't afford it, and have had to fend for myself financially as soon as became an adult, with no help for college, house deposits, driving lessons etc. I desperately do not want my kids to deal with that, so when my eldest was born I vowed that I would build him a pot of money so that no matter my financial position, he (and each of the other kids as they came along) wouldn't go without that type of support. I am scared if I stop paying into this, I will never start again.

- nationwide. I keep this because it covers all 3 mobile phone insurances, car breakdown cover and has the extended warranty thing for white goods which I had to use a couple of years ago, so at the moment, I find this better value than paying for all this separately.

Thank you again!x

tiredmomma

@enthusiasticsaver,

The Argos card is on a BNPL until April next year, but yes that needs to be paid off in full by then.

PayPal has a mixture of BNPL and an 24mth interest free deal, but I will pay that off before it starts charging interest.

And yes my pay will drop to £640 from January to June, with the exception of February's pay which will have a bonus of around £900 extra on it. I want to try and bring the credit card amounts down as much as I can before my pay drops in January as I will only be able to pay the minimums then. Luckily none of the 0% interest periods for the cards end until after I go back to work next year.

EsmeWeatherwax

Hi TM,
I read your first post and thought - that was me! Had debts, realized I was pregnant and had to sort them out before the baby arrived. And then again for number 2. Which shows that I can work towards a goal, but never really sorted out my spending habits. What you said in #12 really struck a nerve tho, because thats exactly what it was like for me. You would think that experience as a child would make me better with money, I think it just makes me spend more on the kids now.

We also pay into the kids savings every month - when my DH got made redundant with very little payout we reduced it down to token payments, as things improved we gradually increased it. I can understand why you don't want to stop saving for them but why don't you decrease it to £5 or £10 each - and pay the £45 or £30 month straight to Argos. It could be gone in 10 months, shorter if you can find some additional savings.

Have you got help with childcare, or will that be an additional cost?
Esme

ceb1995

tiredmomma wrote: »

truth be told, I have no idea how I'm going to do it! I am hoping that physically seeing the amounts of money I am spending, racking up on a daily basis, is going to put me off and stop me buying!
The holiday budget is definitely one I can work with I think. Need to look for more free stuff to do through the school holidays, everything gets so expensive when you need to multiply it by 3!
Clothes I dont know, I try and only buy from sales etc most of the stuff is from supermarkets/primark. The uniform costs kill me every year, and the eldest is 13 and is currently growing like a weed, so he needs a whole new wardrobe quite regularly.

how do you feel about buying clothes bundles off of ebay and getting things from charity shops? it's how my parents managed for me and my sister and i've mostly carried on with that and primark as an adult, don't feel like i miss out at all. have you got cashback accounts with quidco and topcashback always check for deals on there for any big or any spends really?

i'm not a parent yet so take this with a pinch of salt if you wish, would you feel comfortable discussing the money situation at least with the eldest so they understand cut backs have to be made? my dad died when I was 9 so mum had the conversation with me very young as i ended up inheriting some of his money and paying our bills sometimes, it taught me something about responsibility with money, we have debts now but they are from home improvements and the car falling apart and needing replacing so i'm certainly glad mum had those conversations with me.

tiredmomma

EsmeWeatherwax wrote: »

Hi TM,
I read your first post and thought - that was me! Had debts, realized I was pregnant and had to sort them out before the baby arrived. And then again for number 2. Which shows that I can work towards a goal, but never really sorted out my spending habits. What you said in #12 really struck a nerve tho, because thats exactly what it was like for me. You would think that experience as a child would make me better with money, I think it just makes me spend more on the kids now.

We also pay into the kids savings every month - when my DH got made redundant with very little payout we reduced it down to token payments, as things improved we gradually increased it. I can understand why you don't want to stop saving for them but why don't you decrease it to £5 or £10 each - and pay the £45 or £30 month straight to Argos. It could be gone in 10 months, shorter if you can find some additional savings.

Have you got help with childcare, or will that be an additional cost?
Esme

Hey Esme, thanks for your post!

Possibly lowering the kids savings temporarily is something I can do, and then increase it again once I am back on full pay. Really scary though!

We will need childcare once I am back in work in July, but OH and I work alternate shifts for most of the week, so it's likely to only be 1 day a week needed.

tiredmomma

ceb1995 wrote: »

how do you feel about buying clothes bundles off of ebay and getting things from charity shops? it's how my parents managed for me and my sister and i've mostly carried on with that and primark as an adult, don't feel like i miss out at all. have you got cashback accounts with quidco and topcashback always check for deals on there for any big or any spends really?

i'm not a parent yet so take this with a pinch of salt if you wish, would you feel comfortable discussing the money situation at least with the eldest so they understand cut backs have to be made? my dad died when I was 9 so mum had the conversation with me very young as i ended up inheriting some of his money and paying our bills sometimes, it taught me something about responsibility with money, we have debts now but they are from home improvements and the car falling apart and needing replacing so i'm certainly glad mum had those conversations with me.

I'll definitely give Ebay a go!

I use TCB and Quidco for every purchase I can and I've got back loads over the years, its brilliant!! Now I'm cutting back on spending though, I wont be making as much from them haha!

About telling the eldest about our financial situation, I have let him know that money will be tight while I'm on maternity leave, and that he should expect less takeaways and more cheaper grocery choices. He is a bit of a worrier though and so I wouldn't want to add to his issues if I dont have to.x

ceb1995

tiredmomma wrote: »

I'll definitely give Ebay a go!

I use TCB and Quidco for every purchase I can and I've got back loads over the years, its brilliant!! Now I'm cutting back on spending though, I wont be making as much from them haha!

About telling the eldest about our financial situation, I have let him know that money will be tight while I'm on maternity leave, and that he should expect less takeaways and more cheaper grocery choices. He is a bit of a worrier though and so I wouldn't want to add to his issues if I dont have to.x

they sometimes have free cashback on quidco worth a look. maybe give homemade pizza's a go or making some fried chicken at home instead of the takeaways?

tiredmomma

£94 weekly grocery shop, a little higher than normal but everything was essential this time.

Had to shell out on some water repellent paint to see if I can sort out some damp coming through on an external wall - £15, but hopefully miles cheaper than getting a builder or someone to fix it, so fingers crossed it works!

Another £11 payable for TCB so should get that by next week.
Otherwise I have been pretty good with the pennies for the week.

Minimum payment for MBNA and Virgin have gone out, and PayPal will go out in the next few days, it's not much but at least the numbers will be going down and not up!

tiredmomma

So, I've been AWOL for the month, and come back with a baby!

I lived in a post birth fog for a week, but am feeling sufficiently myself to get back onto watching the pennies.

I decided a couple of weeks ago, to do a balance transfer which cost me around £40 in fees, but has meant that I can now pay off the PayPal amount, the Argos card and part of the mbna debt, which were the 0% deals that were due to expire first.

This has given me a bit of breathing space and the next 0% deal doesn't expire until June 2020 which is a month before I go back to work and back onto full pay, so hopefully will have overpaid that down quite a bit by then if possible, and will be able to look at finances again and maybe do another balance transfer if available and appropriate.

Doing this has meant that I can concentrate on just saving as much as possible on a daily basis for the next 8 months when money us going to be TIGHT!

This month has been a write off for saving as we have had to pay for last minute baby things, takeaways, and frequent hospital trips involving car park fees and Costa coffees!

But I am back on the wagon, starting today, debts have decreased slightly in total after fees and spending to £13,390.
Today will be a NSD (and hopefully a few more after this) as grocery shopping was done yesterday and birthday presents for the next 2 recipients have already been bought and paid for.

also have £7.70 in my Prolific account, £33.97 in TCB and £27.51 in Quidco to cash out so will do that at the end of the month, and put it towards one of the cards.