Mummy to be of three...want to be debt free!

Achar90

1 Day down - 30 more to go
Amount in no spend pot: £37.34 Goal: £598

Yesterday was the first day of our no spend month - we went out for a lovely 3 mile walk and took a pack up so we didn't stop off at the cafe (We usually always stop at a cafe spending approx £12)

Today hubby is back at work so I have both kids - and the little one decided to wake at 4:30am :eek: such is life! I went with my mum to Asda but didn't buy anything:T:T

I'm really proud that my hubby is onboard, usually he is a spend it think about it later kinda guy but he know's how much the debt has been worrying me - he has agreed to cancel Amazon Music which saves us £7.99 a month. Need to look into cancelling TV Licence but not too sure how it works if you have aerials coming in the house:huh:

Mummy_bear

Hi, dropping by to say I've subscribed.
Wishing you all the best on your debt busting journey.

Achar90

2 Days down - 29 more to go
Amount in no spend pot: £187.34 Goal: £598

Friday means payday for my hubby as he get's paid weekly. He recieved £40 extra this week as when he takes holidays he gets paid time and a third:j. We pay mortgage from this weekly which is £105 plus petrol and diesel anything else left we just used to spend :eek:

I filled the car up today with £15 which will last us for the week and food delivery came which totalled £71.15 this includes £12.50 spent on non food items (anti perspirarent, nappies & wipes, kids vitamins and toothpaste) so total food shop was £58.56.

DS not back to school until Monday and he is getting bored he asked to ho to soft play this morning but I lied and said it was shut. We had a walk to the shop with my sister and played at her house. Think we will all be glad to get back into a routine on Monday!:rotfl:

No Spend Potnow stands at £187.34 (31% of the way). This has increased by £150 since yesterday due to the following:
£20 postcode lottery win
£130 from hubby wage

Car is booked in for MOT and Service tomorrow we got a cheque for xmas which will cover this but praying car passes :T:T

Achar90

3 Days down - 28 more to go
Amount in no spend pot: £187.34 Goal: £598

So the first weekend of No spend January! Luckily the weather wasn't too bad yesterday so we took the kids out for a lovely walked...turned out to be 6.12miles! Very impressed that my little boy managed the full walk and he didn't even moan that much, amazing what some games of eye spy and smarties can do! We didn't get back home until 1pm so the rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing.

The passed it's MOT:j:j Total cost was £125 for MOT and service - as mentioned previously we received a cheque for Christmas (£200) which will pay for that. I also received my breakdown cover and home insurance renewal yesterday:(

Green flag is quoting me £90 for cover this year up from £63 - however when I go on their website and search for a new quote I get a quote for £65! Cheeky !!!!!!s! We will be able to use the £75 left from the cheque to pay for this outright.

Admiral home insurance has also gone up by £40 so need to do some shopping around for this - I paid this off in full last year however will properly have to opt to pay this monthly depending on what I can get my final quote to.

mark55man

HI there, all looking good and loving the tight grip on the family purse.

I have 4 children with the youngest just gone 20yrs. You are doing great with the walks - my regret is we dint do more of that, as it does last all the way through and is very cheap. You can spend too much when they are young, and I wish I had saved more for when they older (not Uni - that's just another topic entirely), but for more challenging holidays and/or the more exotic school trips. My DD1 went to Berlin/Prague/Auschwitz and she came back a changed girl. But ther were more she could have gone on if you catch my drift

I think you really have got the right messages attention to detail, keeping on with it, and stopping the many small leaks which are more important to getting debt free (IMHO) than the bigger but less frequent savings. I mean you can save £50 once a year on insurance, but you can save £50 every month by taking a pack up and not doing a coffee

Best of luck with the debt busting and with #3. Kids are a blessing and the more you have the more blessings you get (although that sentence is also true with the word blessing replaced by headache!!)

in_need_of_direction

Have you registered with top cash back and Quidco? These gave me good payouts when buying insurance

Achar90

mark88man wrote: »

HI there, all looking good and loving the tight grip on the family purse.

I have 4 children with the youngest just gone 20yrs. You are doing great with the walks - my regret is we dint do more of that, as it does last all the way through and is very cheap. You can spend too much when they are young, and I wish I had saved more for when they older (not Uni - that's just another topic entirely), but for more challenging holidays and/or the more exotic school trips. My DD1 went to Berlin/Prague/Auschwitz and she came back a changed girl. But ther were more she could have gone on if you catch my drift

I think you really have got the right messages attention to detail, keeping on with it, and stopping the many small leaks which are more important to getting debt free (IMHO) than the bigger but less frequent savings. I mean you can save £50 once a year on insurance, but you can save £50 every month by taking a pack up and not doing a coffee

Best of luck with the debt busting and with #3. Kids are a blessing and the more you have the more blessings you get (although that sentence is also true with the word blessing replaced by headache!!)

Thanks for the encouragement! Yes we are hoping to get out walking as much as we can, the more we do the more the kids will be used to it- hopefully we will get a nice summer which makes it easier!

Your post really got me thinking about cutting back on costs now while the kids are little - My little boy mentions every now and then if he can go on an airplane - I would love to take him abroad for a holiday but that will not be possible for a couple of years. It's something I often feel guilty about however he wouldn't even remember the holiday at his age (4), I know I don't really remember any of the holidays my parents took me on until I was about 8/10. If we can tighten the purse strings now then by the time the kids are at a age where they will be able to remember holidays abroad we may be able to afford one!

Achar90

6 Days down - 25more to go
Amount in no spend pot: £223.34 Goal: £598

So the first weekend of no spend January has gone - wasn't actually too bad! Just another three to get through. I think the hardest part will be the staying in on a Friday aft rather than popping to the pub for a couple :beer:

Hubby sold off a couple of old American football shirts on ebay so that's another £36 in the pot. I'm looking into selling my wedding dress but need to decide the best site to try sell on (alot of the wedding sites charge)

I have looked into breakdown cover and home insurance.

I managed to get breakdown cover for £37.90 as we are with soverign health care they offered 20% discount with Start Rescuse. I have also joined Quidco and bought home insurance through them. It was £109 then I should get £25 cashback:j

I put both of these on a credit card but £75 from the xmas cheque (when it finally clears!) Will go straight to the card and the other £71 will come from my wage on the 25th (SO already set).

Back to work, school and routine today:D yay!

Achar90

14 Days down - 17 more to go
Amount in no spend pot: £466.64 Goal: £598
78% to target

Almost half way through the month and it hasn't really been that hard, although we do still have another two weekends to go!

I'm £243.30 up in my goal pot this is broken down by:

£20 - Hubby selling football shirt on ebay
£20.30 - Cheque from Halifax bank from some old overdraft fees(from 2016!)
£130 - Cash back from Sovereign healthcare for dental and glasses.
£73 - Left over from hubby weekly wage once mortgage, petrol and groceries deducted.

Last Saturday we took the kids to the Coal Mining]museum in Wakefield - It's all free (apart from if you want to go in the mine but kids have to be over 5). There is a big adventure playground, small soft play area, train, nature walk plus the actually museum. Parking is also free! Again we took a pack up with us, the kids actually love sitting in the boot of the car eating their grub!

I estimate that by the 1st Feb we should have been able to put another £339 away. This will pay off the £623 on the Virgin card that I need gone before June.

It has been such an eye opener just to see how much with little tweaks we can make - I think we are going to try carrying this onto into feb but set aside £20pm for kids activities (swimming / soft play on a wet day) & £40 so me and hubby can go out once a month.

mark55man

well done on your savings and your trip sounds like a fab (practically free) day out