Mrs F planning the future!

Mrs_F_2017

It's really about time I had my own diary! 

I am a religious follower of these forums & of the site in general and although over the last few years we have been much better at budgeting and have paid down a lot of debt (although not cleared it), there is a lot of room for improvement and creating a brighter future for hubby & I. 

I am a big YNAB user ( for user read BORE as I really do bark on about it too much) and although I always keep this up to date, the problem is ME - I spend too much & then move money around to cover my overspending.  MrF & I are both furloughed from work at the moment so actually had a lot of time to go over March's spending and shockingly we spent over £170 in March in our favourite coffee shop (we do buy our coffee beans from here too but even then!!) It's safe to say I was horrified.  We are in the fortunate position of being able to pay down our debt but this revelation was a shock & showed that we could, and should, be paying off so much more!  Our other main culprit for budget blowing is groceries, we both love cooking and eating, and do buy nice food.  When we get organised and meal plan properly we can easily come in underbudget so need to be stricter with ourselves about this. 

We've also recently found out that we won't be able to have children (at least not naturally) so feel like we're at a turning point in our lives and I need to gain some control over the bit of our future that we can control.  We are taking our time to consider our options in terms of donor conception or adoption, or maybe just deciding that we are OK just us two.  But sorry, I digress, this is a side issue to our massive coffee addiction and lack of financial control. 

Anyway here's a quick summary of where we are:

Credit card 1 - £922.67 (interest free until September 2020)
Credit card 2 - £1,183.19 (interest free until March 2021)
Loan £8842.65 (standard payment £217 per month)

My plan of attack is as follows - clear credit card 1 by August - challenge to myself to clear it sooner, then divert those funds to credit card 2 which should clear by January 2021.  We can the overpay the loan (no penalties) with a goal of clearing this by May 2022 if not sooner.   We do have a few unknowns -1) we are supposed to be moving house, we have a buyer for ours & are in the process of buying our new home, but with the current COVID-19 situation who knows what will happen with this, 2) I would really like to change jobs, I earn well but the hours are unsociable & although I don't hate it, I don't feel like I have a 'career' that I want to do 5 years from now. 

Anyway, if anyone is reading my ramblings, hello! And if not, this diary will hopefully help keep me accountable. 

daniellemaire

Hi MrsF
I'm a bit shocked as we sound very similar - I first posted yesterday (link below).  We are also in a lot of debt, after buying a house and we are desperate to be debt free as soon as possible.  We are also saving up for IVF which is SO expensive!!  
I'm really sorry that you've been furloughed, I know it will be tough but use the time wisely and if you have a plan on something that you want to do, put your all in to it as it could help you in the future (like rewriting CV, setting up linkedin etc). 
Good luck with paying off your debts - looking forward to seeing updates!
Link: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6125317/181k-in-debt-need-help/p1?new=1 

Mrs_F_2017

@daniellemaire we do sound like we are on pretty similar journeys. Must be tough for you if you are the only earner at the moment.  Good luck on your journey, I'll keep an eye on your diary!  Re your IVF - are you entitled to anything on the NHS or will you have to entirely self fund? It's so unfair everywhere seems so different.

I'm 2 weeks into furlough now with hubby too and its actually nice for us to spend time together!  I have been researching jobs & have submitted a few applications so we'll see what happens. 

Mrs_F_2017

Good morning dairy, 

I am using my furlough time to make sure I keep up to date with the budget & accounts. Obviously not a lot of spending happening as we can't go anywhere but I am hoping my daily checking of budget and accounts will be a habit I can form whilst off that will continue when we go back to work. Not a lot to report, a few standard direct debits gone out. 

Much greyer skies here today which means I can't just lay in the garden and read my book at the moment so will have to find other activities for the day.  The spare bedroom wardrobe needs a sort out so if it gets really bad I could do that!

Have a great day everyone

Mrs_F_2017

Morning all, 

I hope everyone managed to have a nice, albeit strange, Easter.  We would normally travel to see family, spend money on food & wine for the occasion so I guess there is the benefit of lockdown that these were not needed!

Nothing much to report on the financial front...accounts & YNAB all up to date. Weekly grocery shop is really our only spends.  We do seem to be spending a lot on food being at home though, we both enjoy cooking and baking so with time on our hands we seem to be baking a lot. 

I hope everyone is staying safe & taking some positives of being able to enjoy this lovely weather. 

savingholmes

Sorry to hear you have been furloughed - is that on the full 100% or on 80%? I am loving the weather and getting out in the garden more. Good luck with the IVF journey. My sister started down that route and in a month off from IVF managed to conceive naturally and now has 3. Hope things work out how you want them.

Sarahwithlove

I'm loving YNAB at the moment. I've found it good to go into my accounts on it and look at what I have spent when it c9mes to moving around spends. It's so easy to get into bad habits such as coffee etc. Maybe look at keeping a spending diary to see if you can get an idea of a realistic budget for you. If u want to have coffee then budget a reasonable amount for it. I have a personal spends which I use for eating out and activities and find this works. 

Mrs_F_2017

Hello @savingholmes & @Sarahwithlove and thank you for y@savingholmes

@savingholmesHubby & I are both on 80% but by the time we are taking away commuting costs & spending money for days out/bars/restaurants we are no worse off luckily which I know is an incredibly fortunate situation to be in. It has made me value an emergency fund though so this is now priority for me to try & increase the small one we have.  We haven't 100% decided on the IVF route so using this home time together to consider our options.  We are in a situation where it definitely won't happen naturally so know if we want a family this will be the route we have to go.  Have had cancellation letters through this week for different fertility appointments which I completely understand but is gutting none the less. 

@Sarahwithlove I do have a years worth of YNAB history so am pretty confident in what we spend, its more I need the determination to make sure we are saving & paying off our debt rather than spending. How long have you been using YNAB? 

Weekly shop completed for this week so I don't envisage any other spends until middle to end of next week. Direct debits to credit cards have gone, just waiting on the one for the loan next week & then I will update my debt totals :-)

Hope everyone is OK :-)

Sarahwithlove

Mrs_F_2017 said:

@Sarahwithlove I do have a years worth of YNAB history so am pretty confident in what we spend, its more I need the determination to make sure we are saving & paying off our debt rather than spending. How long have you been using YNAB

Could you maybe set a standing order to buy premium bonds for savings as they aren't as easy to just spend but eat enough to cash in if needed. Also could you increase your direct debit for credit cards to a set amount so that you don't have the money there to spend on whatever you want if you don't feel like you have enough willpower? 

Mrs_F_2017

Sarahwithlove said:

Could you maybe set a standing order to buy premium bonds for savings as they aren't as easy to just spend but eat enough to cash in if needed. Also could you increase your direct debit for credit cards to a set amount so that you don't have the money there to spend on whatever you want if you don't feel like you have enough willpower? 

Thanks for your response @Sarahwithlove. I have increased one of the direct debits and made a considerable overpayment this month to the one I'm aiming to clear first, so on track to clear before interest free periods are up. 

We already pay more than required into our pensions, but for now other savings will be cash as we are hoping to move house over the next few months. 

Mrs_F_2017

Good morning diary,  

Final direct debits for debt payments have gone today so am updating my totals for this month:

Credit card 1 -  now £722.67 / £922.67 
Credit card 2 - now £1,148.19 / £1,183.19
Loan - now £8,626.21 / £8842.65

When I started this diary I'd already made an overpayment of £157 to card 1 on top of my standard £200 direct debit,  which means in total I've paid off £608.77 this month, which is approximately 6% of our debt.  Feeling pretty chuffed. Am on track for my goals above & hoping we can continue this no-spending behaviour post-lockdown. 

Have a great day all x