2020 - 'Nothing in your life will change until you make the decision to change'

jwil

I have decided to start a new diary for 2020. 2019 was difficult for me in many ways, particularly with regards to my mental health and so I have decided I would like to wipe the slate clean and start afresh for a new year and new decade.

I have been on here for years, tackling my debts with various degrees of success. One thing I have not managed to conquer is my tendency to fritter money away. This means that I don't have any savings and I haven't reduced the debts as much as I would have hoped. This is what I need to tackle this year and to do that, I am going for a new approach.

My finances will still be incredibly tight until September when my DD starts school and the childcare bill reduces. I want to use these 8 months to try and change my mindset and get to grips with budgeting properly. I am in the process of working through my bank statements for the last 12 months to see exactly what I've spent and where.

I also want to continue the work on the house. It needs complete renovation, but there's no point in doing any work until we've cleared the clutter. 2019 was the year when it feels like we turned a corner, and it's becoming visibly less :T We are starting to uncover a house under the clutter :rotfl:. I have pretty much done mine, but DH still has a long way to go. I need to keep assisting him and encouraging him. I need to keep on top of the kids' stuff and encourage them to let go of stuff when they no longer want it.

Finally, I want to work on me. 2019 was taken up with sorting my mental health, and I feel that I have made great progress with this. I have agreement from my GP to start coming off my medication, and I will continue the self-help work that I did which really helped me. I want to focus more on my weightloss this year. I lost almost 2st in the first half of last year but have gained about half of that back in the latter half (and over Christmas!). I am rejoining SW this week and will wipe the slate clean on that too. I have approx 10st to lose, so am in it for the long term, but want to do it slowly so it stays off. I want to make permanent changes, not be on a 'diet'.

I also want to start looking after myself more generally. Exercising more and looking after my appearance. These have all been neglected over the last few years. Make more of an effort. I'd also like to continue moving towards a more sustainable lifestyle. We do a lot already, but there is certainly more we could do, but have been limited by funds.

Lots to do this year, and I am going to tackle it in small steps rather than try and tackle everything at once and give up. That way I'm more likely to create new and better habits.

Happy New Year everyone :beer:

jwil

At my LBM I had 8 debts totalling £34,557.

Now I have 4, totalling £18,718. I am currently paying £1 per month to all of them in a self-managed DMP and my first default will fall off in 2020. Most of the rest in 2021, with one in 2022 :T

My 4 debts are:

1. £8,309.00
2. £3,778.00
3. £1,872.00
4. £4,759.00

These I will let tick over and hopefully save towards some F&Fs to clear them.

I also have:

Car: £1,600
HMRC: £288

Mortgage: £112,675

Because of my tendency to see money in my accounts as 'available' money, I need to have a new plan. I keep dipping into pots thinking that I will replace it, but never do.

My new plan is to have these pots out of sight in different accounts, and treat them as 'debts' - i.e. I have to pay them and can't touch them. Once I have paid off my 'debts', my finances should be where I want them to be, and I will have hopefully become a saver.

So, my new 'debts' are:

General emergency Fund - £1,000
House emergency fund - £4,000 (to cover any urgent work that arises before we renovate)
F&F fund - £10,000
Mortgage overpayments - £20,000 (I really want to be sub-£100k. These will be paid straight to the mortgage rather than a separate pot)
House renovation fund - £20,000
Car replacement fund - £3,000 (Hopefully won't need this for a long time as only replaced mine in 2018).

This means I have 'official' debt of - £20,606
and unofficial 'debt' (aspirational targets) of £58,000 :eek:

I'll try and put something in all of the pots, but mainly will be focusing on the emergency funds and the F&F pot. In terms of my actual debts, I would like to clear the car this year, and will pay back HMRC this month.

jwil

Here are my decluttering totals from 2018 and 2019:

2018 totals:
Books: 339
Magazines/papers: 157
Ebay parcels: 1093
Other: 1772

Total: 3361

Ebay listings: 1045

Survey/other earnings:
Amazon: £174.82
Paypal/cash: £339.79
Other vouchers:£59


Decluttering 2019 totals:
Books: 90
Magazines/papers: 277
Ebay parcels: 900
Other: 2005

Total: 3272

Ebay listings: 945

Survey/other earnings:
Amazon: £113
Paypal/cash: £324.63
Other vouchers:£42

It would be amazing to do similar this year

I am going to follow Marie Kondo principles again for decluttering my stuff. It has really worked for me.

Decluttering categories (roughly following Marie Kondo) with my own sub categories.

Clothing

• Mine
• Little Jwil
• Little miss

Books

• Mine
• Kids

Paperwork
Miscellaneous (Komono)
Kitchen

• Cutlery
• Crockery
• Pans
• Equipment
• Food
• Cleaning products

Toys
Stationery
Christmas Decorations
Airing cupboard

• Towels
• Bedding

DVDs
Toiletries
Accessories
Nick nacks
Electrical
Computer files
Sentimental

• Photos (hard copies)
• Photos (digital)
• Holiday stuff

Treadingwater02

Happy New Year jail!!

Best of luck with all your endeavours in 2020!

Xxx

Treadingwater02

Jail = jwil (damn auto correct!):rotfl:

jwil

Treadingwater02 wrote: »

Happy New Year jail!!

Best of luck with all your endeavours in 2020!

Xxx

Thank you :beer:

Treadingwater02 wrote: »

Jail = jwil (damn auto correct!):rotfl:

:rotfl::rotfl:

jwil

Debts 2020:

1. [STRIKE]£8,309[/STRIKE]/£8,309
2. [STRIKE]£3,778[/STRIKE]/£3,778
3. [STRIKE]£1,872[/STRIKE]/£1,872
4. [STRIKE]£4,759[/STRIKE]/£4,759

Car: [STRIKE]£1,600[/STRIKE]/£1,600
HMRC: [STRIKE]£288[/STRIKE]/ £0 :j

Mortgage: [STRIKE]£112,675[/STRIKE]/£112,675

Other 'debts'

General emergency Fund - [STRIKE]£1,000[/STRIKE]/£1,000
House emergency fund - [STRIKE]£4,000[/STRIKE]/£4,000
F&F fund - [STRIKE]£10,000[/STRIKE]/£10,000
Mortgage overpayments - [STRIKE]£20,000[/STRIKE]/£20,000
House renovation fund - [STRIKE]£20,000[/STRIKE]/£20,000
Car replacement fund - [STRIKE]£3,000[/STRIKE]/ £3,000

'Official' debt of - [STRIKE]£20,606[/STRIKE]/£20,318
= £288 paid, 1.4% cleared :T
Unofficial 'debt' (aspirational savings targets) of - [STRIKE]£58,000[/STRIKE]/£58,000
= £0 paid, 0% cleared

jwil

Just cleared HMRC (Tax credit overpayment). It was a bit of a cheat putting it on, but it feels good to have cleared a debt already :T

another_casualty

Best of luck in your goals for 2020 and beyond .
Congratulations on the HMRC payment .
Regarding the weight loss , I'd say regular exercise if you enjoy it is the key . Treating it as a hobby and not a chore , is the best way to go imho. I'd say finish off eating crap etc until Monday and Start then .
Best of luck

beanielou

Happy shiny new diary

jwil

another_casualty wrote: »

Best of luck in your goals for 2020 and beyond .
Congratulations on the HMRC payment .
Regarding the weight loss , I'd say regular exercise if you enjoy it is the key . Treating it as a hobby and not a chore , is the best way to go imho. I'd say finish off eating crap etc until Monday and Start then .
Best of luck

Thank you You are right, exercise will be key. I hate it though :rotfl: I definitely need to do something.

My SW group is on Thursday, so I shall be starting from then. I've got one more day of eating rubbish :cool:

beanielou wrote: »

Happy shiny new diary

Thank you