Crunchy pays off the loan early, and other stories

crunchy_time

DayDreamerandGeneralWaster said:

Getting ever nearer to the 6s! 😃

Yes! On the 4th January it will be around £6650 ish! And then by 1st Feb it will be around the £6000 point. 

It would be nice to set a target to be around £5000 by first of March. 
Will add that to my organisational list!! 

Crunch x

crunchy_time

Morning!
Went to Sains yesterday to do the Christmas shop as a family. We didn’t get there till 4pm so it wasn’t as busy but it was a massive shop so it took ages to do! Spent £318!! Including a small free range turkey for £30 and lots of booze. Husband always gets a Christmas bonus of £200 ish so when he gets paid on Thursday we can pay that off. A lot of the food will last into the new year week as well. 

I intended to start the organisation project last night but ended up staring at my spreadsheet looking ahead to the new year. We think we have made a decision about cars. The older one - paid off - 13 years old and 140,000 miles is due it’s MOT in February. Since husband isn’t travelling anywhere at the moment, it just does the school run and an occasional trip to a kids club. We are not planning to do anymore work on it and will replace it with a slightly newer banger when the time comes and if needed to get us through the rest of the debt paying off. Not sure how exactly we will pay for it but prob be an extension of the loan. The bigger - newer - 5 year old - 70,000 mile one will have about 2 years and a few months left to pay off and once’s it paid off it will be kept and maybe used as the second car at some point and we get a hybrid one if they have come down in price. We don’t want to be spending lots of money a month in cars.
Less stuff and more money in the bank has always been the appeal for me. And more adventures with my family. I’m enjoying the slushing and can’t wait until I am slushing the money into our savings account and then towards the mortgage. 

Or towards adventures!
My DS has a tummy bug and was sick in the night so that writes off today’s plan which was to go for a walk along the beach. He seems fine now poor boy. I’m contemplating going for a run. My plan for this Christmas since there is no social pressure was to crack on with my fitness goals. I can run 5k now - I only started back running in 30th June and just started a new 12 week program in my app. I have the opportunity to create the time to work out everyday of this holiday - maybe not Christmas Day. May as well make the most of this time.
Right - I had better have a coffee and get going then!
Oh! I slushed another £30 off the loan yesterday! 

Crunch x

crunchy_time

Morning all
Husband thought he was being clever getting up early to get to supermarket for 8am only to find the queue to get in half way around the car park. It’s the last minute dash for a ham, chocolate money and Santa’s for stockings, lasagne sheets, and one more crafty present for DS. We got the presents together last night and worked out he had one less than DD so just going to get something small so it’s fair - then that’s it! 

Wrapping tonight or tomorrow night as we don’t want to have to do it on Christmas Eve. We are having our Christmas meal on Christmas Eve night so we can spend time with the kids on Christmas Day. We have bought the paint now for our bedroom as DDs is now done. The plan is to start doing it the day after Boxing Day. Despite everything going on in the world, I am trying so hard not to worry about it and focus on the here and now. An old friend of mine is dying of cancer and this is her last Christmas- she is my age with kids my age. It’s really sad and I am trying to see the world through her eyes at the moment and be grateful for the privilege of where I am right now.
Todays jobs
- book big car in for service and MOT
- give DS a hair cut
- ironing
- make Christmas biscuits
- driver cards to neighbours
-walk dog
- clean out utility room as it is a dumping ground.
- make sausage rolls
- make lasagne - if we can find some sheets!!
- wrap presents tonight

Have a good day everyone!
Crunch x

DayDreamerandGeneralWaster

I think l might go late this evening. 

I am also making sausage rolls today!

ohdearhowdidthathappen

Our local supermarkets are only allowing one person per household in... I actually prefer it, people dither less and no annoying kids (including mine!) running around.  We do most of our shopping online, but id pop out yesterday for a few bits I'd missed.  Went at 10pm and was very quiet (unsurprisingly!).  I walked as had had a couple of glasses of wine, quite enjoyed it

crunchy_time

We are now in tier 4 from Boxing Day.  Sigh. All plans cancelled from Boxing Day onwards. Shed a little tear for the small businesses out there and the pubs. At least we have copious amounts of projects to keep us amused. I have had a gin and tonic and two glasses of Prosecco to ease the pain. Now watching the bodyguard and wrapping Christmas presents listening to the sound of the rain outside! 

Let’s hope things get better in 2021. We are ok but for the millions out there that aren’t. I might not chat about it on my diary daily but I am thinking about it. 

Crunchy xx

crunchy_time

Morning all!
Gosh it's been raining all night - it was flooded around here yesterday just from the rain coming off the fields into the drainage ditches.  I'm waiting for it to stop so I can take the dog out around the roads - I shall avoid the field - they will be too slippy!
Just done the banking after husband's bumper pay day with his bonus.  Extra pay was £1950 after tax.  Christmas is all paid for now.  He wants to buy a new TV for about £550 and we decided we want to buy some new plates and bowls and glasses in the sales.  The rest of the money will go into savings for now.  I'm hoping we can sit on it until at least the Spring and it will encourage us to save even more money.  
I have done a quick audit of what is on the credit cards as these are the areas that aren't budgeted for and need to be considered going forward.
There is about £200 of food still from husband and I not sticking to one weekly shop - we have decided to work harder on this.
The dentist is on there - £289 - I have started saving £40 a month towards health now but this is paying this off rather than saving for the next dentist trip.  Will have to slush this down with spare funds and avoid slushing the loan for the time being as otherwise we will be in a constant circle.
That is the bulk of it.  Other than that there are a few kids toys where we have been out and husband has bought them a book or something.  At the moment I budget £50 a month for kids clothes and they get pocket money on top of this.  Perhaps we need to up this budget.  There is also £22 for a trip to a cafe - husband and I should really split the bill on this.
2021 focus is to stop using the credit card and actually have money in the bank in a pot ready to pay for something.  Often we have it but it's just not 'ready.'
Husband and I have been chatting about ways to keep the food budget down.  We are going to start eating more veggie meals and have meat/fish 3-4 times a week.  We are also going to buy all shared toiletries and cleaning products at the beginning of the month to last the month so we know how much is left to spend on food.  And cook from the store cupboard more.
It's going to be needed more than ever this month as it is a five-week month. I'm going to aim for £100 a week which will be hard but doable if we keep our minds on it.  No better time to try than when you're in Tier 4!!
Hope everyone has a lovely Christmas Eve, even if it is much different this year.
Crunchy xx

crunchy_time

Morning all!
I hope you all had lovely Christmas despite the woes of the world - and the weather! I’ve felt a bit down yesterday and not really sure why. I’ve just gone with it and had a good cry and now I feel better. I read an article on the guardian website about great things that have happened in 2020 and it’s made me feel better too.
Lockdown in the winter is definitely harder in the winter with the kids not being able to play outside as much. We managed a walk yesterday with scooters and have started our 1000 piece jigsaw- the kids got bored quickly whereas husband and I got very into it!
Todays plans are for husband to paint the ceiling in our bedroom whilst I attempt to make a bar or dream house out of cardboard. Wish me luck!
We finally ordered a wardrobe for our bedroom which will arrive in the second so the bedroom has to be ready for it by then. 

I still have a number of things to put on gumtree and eBay to sell but haven’t mustered up the enthusiasm yet. Perhaps the arrival of the wardrobe will do this! The wardrobe was only £450 which is much better than the £1000 we were looking at a few months ago. The plan is to pay for it from our savings but we also have a car service to pay for as well so I shall wait until that is sorted and then take the money out. Husband has also ordered some crockery to replace our ageing chipped and cracked set from his bonus money.
Yesterday I cleaned out all our food cupboards and made notes of meals we can have this week using the leftovers. If we can make it to Friday with as minimum spend as possible we are winning - probably only need veg but we shall see! I also know we need some washing up liquid too!
Anyway, I feel just about ready to start the day now! 

Crunchy xx

enthusiasticsaver

Will the debt be gone in 2021 Crunchy? £7168 sounds like it could be doable even without your DHs bonus. I think moving away from using the credit card routinely is a good idea. Much harder to overspend when paid for from pots or budget as you can always see what is left. We do use our credit card for food and fuel And clear it in full monthly  but never let it go above £400. Just two of us though. 

crunchy_time

enthusiasticsaver said:

Will the debt be gone in 2021 Crunchy? £7168 sounds like it could be doable even without your DHs bonus. I think moving away from using the credit card routinely is a good idea. Much harder to overspend when paid for from pots or budget as you can always see what is left. We do use our credit card for food and fuel And clear it in full monthly  but never let it go above £400. Just two of us though. 

Yes - the plan is to have rid of the consumer debt off the loans by Christmas next year.  I need to overpay £1000 by then but that is totally doable - the rest is from monthly payments.
Looking at the £196 of food that is still sitting on the husband's credit card - I have decided to create a food and fuel buffer savings account on Monzo.  Every time we go under our weekly budget I am going to slush the money into this.  A target of £100 should be enough.
Other than the dentist costs which I am hoping to address - that is largely what is on husband's credit card.  We tend to use it when buying online for clothes or large goods but have a plan to pay it off.  Husband has then used it when he has gotten disorganized with his card etc.
I'm off this morning to do a food shop to last us until Saturday.  There is not a lot of leftovers now to use up but I have managed to create a few meals from what is left in the fridge.
Still haven't mustered up the motivation to get stuff on ebay/gumtree - will hopefully do so tonight.  I worked out before dinner yesterday so was very tired and just collapsed on the sofa scrolling and half watching a film.  My screen report says it has gone up 100% this last week which is an eye-opener. Must make more time to be present.
Have a lovely day everyone!
Crunchy xx