Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans .......

seahorsey

Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.....

I had a bit of an all round lightbulb moment / wake up call the other day. Sat having a works Christmas meal with 3 colleagues that I have worked with for years and more importantly get on well with and literally had nothing to say or add to the conversation! Where am I going with this? Bear with me..... As I sat there listening / observing, I had the realisation that I’ve been so caught up on the hamster wheel over the last few years existing and getting by, that I had pretty much stopped living. I no longer really know what I enjoy or what makes me tick. Rather than living in the now, I’ve constantly been on hold until the next milestone is out the way, for example, the debt being paid off, DS starting school, Christmas being out the way etc etc. Bogged down and stuck in a rut with no sparkle left! Life is passing by at super speed and I’m determined to make the most of it!

So this diary, whilst focussing upon the DF journey will also be an all account of hopefully rediscovering a bit of sparkle and lust for life

seahorsey

So the money stuff.....
I’m absolutely appalled to be writing this down, but here it goes.....
Cc1 £5323.35
Cc2 £4364.92
Cc3 £3059.22
OD 1 £1000
OD 2 £650
Very £165.45
Next £29.45

Total £14591.94

This has largely come about due boiler replacement, car repairs and replacement, vet fees of £2k plus that insurance wouldn’t touch. However route cause is the fact we have no emergency fund and very little discipline when it comes to money - this has to change.

Priority 1 is Very, followed closely by the overdrafts. These are subject to the huge increase in interest come March so need to be gone ASAP.

Priority 2 is getting a £1k emergency fund in place - by mid year at the very latest.

Will sit down later and look at annual spends such as Christmas, birthdays, car maintenance, vet fees etc and set up ‘pots’ for these and work out how much should be put in monthly.

Right better sign off for now - will be back later x

in_need_of_direction

Can you throw something on eBay to clear Next in addition to your other repayments? It’d reduce the number of debts by 1 which might give you a boost.

Can’t wait to see your progress

Iwantanewlife

Happy new diary. Your opening paragraph really resonated with me, i often feel like that too. Good Luck on your journey x

enthusiasticsaver

Good luck on your diary and love the title. I try and live by the mantra "live every day as if it is your last" but life can be a treadmill sometimes especially if you are in a job you dislike and or are struggling with finances/health or relationships.

Overdrafts are next on banks target lists to cut back on so good idea to target them and Next which was always an expensive card.

My three suggestions.

Save an emergency fund to get you out of the cycle of borrowing and I am pleased to hear you intend to do that.

Keep a spending diary to instil some financial discipline and find out where your money is going.

Try and focus on why you overspend. It may be, as you think, that you don't budget and have savings or it could be you spend to cheer yourself up. Separating spending from emotions is a good thing and really focuses on the difference between wants and needs. I have made a rule not to spend on things before properly researching and moved completely away from impulse spends. Just thinking for a day or so before buying stuff sometimes makes you realise you don't need all these things.

From the sound of it though the cause of your debt is not having any savings to deal with broken boilers, cars or vet bills. Why didn't the pet insurance pay out?

seahorsey

Thanks for all the lovely replies

Enthusiastic saver - pet insurance didn’t pay out on one claim as I’d already claimed previously for the condition so it was excluded from the policy. I ended up paying approx £2.5k on this occasion- pony was very poorly and it was touch and go for a while but fortunately he is still here causing mayhem! I then had another claim turned down when my retired riding horse was put to sleep. They linked it very loosely to an ongoing condition and refused to pay out for both the treatment and subsequent euthanasia- cue another bill for in the region of £1k.

I’m in month 2 of a spending diary - admittedly they haven’t been typical months due to Christmas spends and increased social activities but it’s been eye opening all the same. We definitely need to cut back on food spends and acknowledge how quickly spur of the moment spends such as the odd bottle of pop when out or a McDonalds lunchtime treat for DS add up. We’re good a controlling the big splurges - rarely go out or eat out (unless it’s maccie d’s for DS) or buy lots of nice things for the house, but the spends under £10 catch us out and quickly add up.

seahorsey

Morning!
Not feeling particularly festive as yet. Popped to town yesterday to get the few last pressies that couldn’t be ordered in my pjs from the comfort of my sofa. Got absolutely soaked and discovered a massive down side to paper carrier bags :rotfl: At least the pouring rain meant I wasn’t tempted to hang around and browse! Got home and finished writing the Christmas cards. I’m so disorganised this year. Usually by now everything is bought, wrapped and largely distributed but I still have a ton of wrapping to do :mad: Next year will be different......

2 small eBay sales yesterday totalling £14. I’m going to leave this in Paypal for now and see where best to use later in the month. I’m conscious that OH gets paid early due to the Christmas break - this then has to stretch 6 weeks :eek: The plan is not to touch it until what would have been payday, but already it’s proving to be an expensive month so need to make sure we’re covered for the rest of the month before jumping in and making overpayments - as tempting as it is.

Work today (another cause of lost sparkle), shorter day though as I have the farrier coming to the ponies later, so have the perfect excuse to leave in daylight. Only 3 working days until Christmas- I’m looking forward to the break as much as anything!

Pots have been set up as follows......
Emergency fund
Presents (Birthday & Christmas)
Ponies (farrier, feed, worming)
Vets (dogs meds, pony meds, vaccinations and dental checks (ponies)
Cars
Holiday

Just need to work out how much I need to pay into each one monthly....

seahorsey

Financial
1. Pay off overdrafts - £1650
2. Emergency fund to £300 (to increase to £1k once OD paid off)
3. Clear very account £165.45
4. Clear Next account £29.45

Home
1. Deep clean house and get it into a sustainable state (constantly fire fighting here!)
2. Look at fly lady / the organised mum and see which suits best and implement little and often approach to keeping on top of things.

Sparkle
1. Plan 1 x family day out per month - very rare the 3 of us take the time to do something fun together
2. Lose 1.5 stone (3 stone to go at - my weight has spiralled out of controlin the last 12 months)
3. Restart couch to 5k. I’ve not run since I completed my last half marathon in September. Miss it dreadfully both from fitness and mental well being point of view.
4. Enter local 10k at beginning of March

I’m sure I could add loads more but conscious that trying to focus on too much at once will result in me focussing on nothing at all :rotfl: Wish me luck :j

Honeysucklelou2

I like your layout of goals - finance, home & sparkle. Best of luck with all of them.

jwil

Good luck with it all

in_need_of_direction

Loving the sparkle