Crunchy pays off the loan early, and other stories

crunchy_time

Afternoon all
We're having a lovely day over here, lockdown considering.
My first proper pay day is tomorrow and my bank is showing my pending transactions.  My pay is about £50 less than the worst-case scenario I anticipated.  This is not horrendous news, but I have been desperately trying to reconcile my decision to leave teaching (albeit temporarily) and was weirdly hopeful that £900 would make it more justifiable than £850 a month!  Ha ha!
All it means is I will have to double down on my efforts to stay in budget each month as we won't have that extra £50 a month to 'play' with. 

Here are my planned efforts to help:
 - My childcare bill per month is an estimated £275 so a huge chunk of my wage.  Husband has said he can try to take the kids to school more in the mornings and pick them up two days a week and they just be at home with him until I get back.  The lady that runs the club said its mostly flexible it just needs us to be more organised and plan ahead more.  The cost will vary each week but every little helps.
 - I have drawn up a timetable for a weekly meal plan - e.g. Monday = chicken night, Tuesday = stir fry etc etc.  This will help significantly with meal planning.  Since all we can really buy at the moment is food - I m already thinking of the most expensive things we buy which we don't really need to e.g. £6 a week on oatibix (so the kids don't eat weetibix which is bag for their tummies.  I'm introducing new breakfast ideas to them whilst we are off using things we can cook from scratch e.g. breakfast muffins.
 - Making more stuff from scratch is going to be my jam and lockdown has taught me to keep a stock in of things at all times.
 - Now I have more time I'm planning to make myself more clothes - I know - I have planning to do that for a long time but this time I really mean it.
 - I have significantly cut back on alcohol recently but plan to even cut out the non-alcoholic versions as they will save money off our food bill.
- I'm going to bite the bullet and start using ebay/gumtree again to self children's clothes.
- Halving the children's pocket money will be a good idea too.  
- Reducing and doubling up trips in the car - we were rubbish at this before lockdown.
- planning for birthdays and Christmases now - This is very mega organised of me but will be worth it.
- costing out each house project before we begin.
- Starting an 'unexpected money' pot again which can save up for Christmases and birthdays.
Lots of stuff as always to work on. Right - off I go to take the kids on their daily bike ride!
Crunchy xx

crunchy_time

Morning all
Pay day today!  And the overdraft is gone!  I'm so pleased as we worked so hard to pay off a £2k overdraft a few years that my husband had had since I had known him. Then, in late 2018, HMRC decided that they wanted back all the child benefit that we had been claiming but knew we shouldn't be (husband earns over the threshold) as HMRC had told us to claim it and then it would be worked out on husbands tax return (or something like that).  We didn't have enough of an emergency fund to cover it so we had to take out an overdraft again.  I think it was near £1800.  So it feels good to be overdraft free again.
Since we will be housebound again for another 3 weeks, I have put my monthly spending money into the 'unexpected money' savings account.  So it's currently standing at £100 ready for birthdays and Christmas.  Husband gets paid next week but then it's a five week month for May.
Not much else to report other than I went through my wardrobe yesterday and earmarked loads of clothes to create new ones out of!  That will keep me busy for a while!
Hope everyone is keeping well!
Crunchy xx

savingholmes

Upcycling clothes sounds fun - what kind of things do you do?

Mumoffourkids

I love the idea of upcycling clothes as well. I am currently upcycling clothes and other fabrics into cushion covers. But I might do some clothes as well.

Seasidegal58

Another one here who thinks clothes upcycling clothes is a good idea. Unfortunately my sewing skills are abysmal - sewing on buttons is all I ever do. At school we alternated with weekly needlework and art classes. I got kicked out of the needlework class and was put permanently into art!  Which I didn't mind but all kudos to those who are crafty with the needle and sewing machine. I would have been walking around in rags if I had lived during WW2!😱

Honeysucklelou2

I like the idea of an “ unexpected “ money pot. 🙂

t2rry

Hi Crunchy, nice to see you are back!  Sounds like you've been really busy planning too, lots of good ideas!

Homegrown0

Hi Crunchy, welcome back! I remember you from your previous diary. Glad to see that life is treating you well. Looks like you've got a good plan in place to get the loan cleared and minimize interest. 

crunchy_time

Afternoon all!
Wo! What a few weeks1  I think it's been about six weeks since I last posted and it's gone in a blur.  Working from home and homeschooling a Year 3 and a Year R child has been mega stressful.  Year R child went off to school this morning for the first time in twelve weeks and it has made such a difference.  I have actually had some headspace to think!
Here are the highlights from the last 6 weeks or so.
 Loan - has gone down from £18,145 to £17,160.  This is just from minimum payments as well as our first overpayment of £275 to cover the last £150 owed from our holiday last year and the £150 deposit for our UK holiday this year.  It was so much fun making the overpayment - I can't wait to do it again!
Pay issues - Last time I wrote about the fact that my pay was about £150 less than I thought it was going to be.  Of course, it turns out that I am being emergency taxed as my new employer has not received my P45 so I should expect a nice pay rise and rebate at some point soon.
Work - before the pay situation was rectified I had a huge wobble about my new job.  I thought I had made a huge mistake to go for something lower paid as it was worse pay than I thought.  I want to save up to do further education course and there was no way I could afford that on what I thought my salary was.  I decided on a whim to look for a full-time teaching job, not because I really wanted to do it but because I felt I deserve the money and it would help me meet my education and financial goals quicker.  Then last week I had a really stressful day at work and my boss went out of her way to make it easier for me around my kids.  I realised that although I am capable of teaching full time, this new job is way more flexible and understanding than if I was teaching.  I have applied for the teaching job but haven't heard yet if I have been selected for an interview and I would have by now as it said the interview was today or tomorrow.
Further education - for many years I have wanted to do my masters.  I am now pretty sure what I want to do it in.  One course provider costs £8k that I will have to pay for myself.  I resigned myself to this hence the panic about my apparent lower than I thought wage.  However, through a different provider it looks like I can pay using the student loans company so I am going to investigate this.  This means that I don't have to save up for it and can do my current job but work my !!!!!! off for the next 3 years to get my masters.  I am also qualified to do what I want to start doing after a year so it would make sense to do it now.  Must do some more investigating but this is the way that makes sense.
Halved the children's pocket money - no issues. Didn't even notice.
Stopped buying oatibix at £6 a week and started buying Aldi cornflakes at 50p a week - win!
Painting the house - is going to cost double what we thought - £1850.  Must get it done this summer.  Must save up what we can and maybe use emergency fund for the rest.
Stuck to budget for Son's birthday - wasn't hard since stayed at home.  Present budget stuck to.
New clothes - created some tops out of tunics and dresses and changed the sleeves of some tops to suit me better - those that were asking.
Next steps
 - determined to stick to food budget.  
 - need to do a financial audit at some point.
 - continue to be frugal even if the lock down is being lifted.

Got to go and pick up child from school.  Will try to update more often.
Lots of love!

Crunchy xx

savingholmes

Nice to catch up. Glad the panic was over nothing and that your new boss is supportive too.