Crunchy pays off the loan early, and other stories

crunchy_time

I've jiggled around my spreadsheet so I only have to find £267 to overpay the loans by so that it's all paid off by Christmas.  
I've added around £700 to the car but that's fine as we are planning on keeping it anyway even after it is paid off.
That's a bit easier and quicker!  So looking forward to having that chapter of my life closed.
Crunch xx

remote_control

Good to have a plan. We've moved all ours onto the 'final' 0% cards and set up DDs so that the cards will be cleared before the 0% period ends. In my head I have now closed that chapter and it does feel great. I've moved over to the MFW board and am now putting any extra money that comes my way towards savings and mortgage. I'm really looking forward to the debt being gone but equally I'm not thinking about it.
I'm nervous about things opening up as we did actually spend a lot of money last year, mainly on eating out and days out. I feel I'll want to do the same this year. We've saved so much due to covid and that's been awesome so I suppose I shouldn't fret that that is coming to an end. 

ohdearhowdidthathappen

Your money plans sound good and holiday sounds fab!

missymoo81

Loving the sounds of your plans! Such a positive way forward! Well done you!

crunchy_time

Morning all!
Yay!  The sun is actually shining!  I'm not going to get to enjoy it much today though as shall be in hair salon for a good three hours having hair sorted out from the last 7 months of not having it cut.
Husbands pay day was yesterday so have done a money shuffle.  The minimum payments for the loan go out on Tuesday but I have taken them out as now so we are down to £3603 of consumer debt.
This half term is going to be a bit spendy since its nice weather and we have a family birthday this week.
I know I keep saying this but I need to get a handle of our grocery spending money.  This is the month I do!
Crunchy xx

crunchy_time

Morning!
Gah! Credit cards of crept up again and need paying off - extra food, clothes, etc but then lots of bills have come in as well - sports subs, air conditioning in car gone, eek!! I also paid off £100 off the house credit card not realising that husband had set up a direct debit so we are paying it twice this month.
Im going to write it all down later and make a plan to smash it down and build up a buffer again.  This is all part of the adjustment out of lockdown and we have totally got this. We just need to focus on it.
Crunch xx

DayDreamerandGeneralWaster

I think everyone will be spending more now we are creeping out of lockdown. At least you have made inroads during it.

Aspiration

Exiting Lockdown has been hard Crunchy! We’ve decided to be sensible and budget a bit more money for being out and then make sure we don’t overspend that. Big positive we can get out again so trying to look at it as a good thing. 

You’re doing well on your journey! 

crunchy_time

Afternoon all,
We have had a lovely half term holiday and cannot believe we will be back at school tomorrow.
I've written out what is on the credit cards - it is not as bad as I thought and a lot of it will be paid off quite quickly from budgeted spends each month - clothes, kids clothes, fuel, spending money.
Husband and I have agreed to get these paid off and then build up these funds in monzo again.  We are also going to aim for £500 sinking fund that we top up each month.  Anything over this goes into another savings account which we will then aim to grow with extra money with the aim of paying off the £5k house renovations and credit card privacy project in the future as well as anything else we want to do to the house/adventures we may want to have.  It is going to be tricky getting the balance right over the next few months but we can do it!
We have 2 weeks until  my pay day and 3 weeks until husbands.  I did an Aldi shop today and only spent £80 compared to our budget of £150 which is a great start.
Going to spend the rest of the day getting ready for the week ahead!  Hope everyone is fine and dandy!
Crunchy xx

Husbands
£125 Interest (I know - this is horrifying)
£65 Roller  - for our backs - it is really good and replacing one that broke.
£27 Clothes - We budget £100 a month for clothes.  Husband had a spree and this is the last bit to be paid off.
£54 - Sports clothes for kids 
£120 - earphones - husbands supposed to be expensing these but of course hasn't done this yet!
£100 Sports massages/treatments - paying off £20 a month from spending money
£354 extra food money - this will be paid off at the end of June - see below
£169 - garden stuff that needs to be transferred to 0%
£46 - fuel - we budget £200 a month but are paying it in arrears at the moment till  we sort out our buffer and to keep an eye on the amount - might need to budget more.
£44 - night out with friend - I thought he had money for this but it turns out he didn't.  He actually didn't want to go in the end but I forced him so he would be sociable.
£15 - magazine sub that he STILL hasn't properly sorted out.
Total: £1119
My Credit card
£54 interest
£43 - uniform for kids and clothes
£87 - weights and books - from spending money
£159 - Bike for DS.  Ordered the wrong size by mistake.  Husband was supposed to return it but didn't and now we have missed the deadline.  Will have to put it on gumtree or wait until son grows into it - I am cross about this but there is nothing I can do.
£33 cinema - I bought tickets on cc intending to pay back with slush fund but that was needed for other stuff in end.
£61 - kids shoes
£53 - beauty products and toiletries for me.
£36 - present for friends baby - couldn't really afford it at time and have been paying it off gradually.
£172 - clothes for me
Total: £698

crunchy_time

Just tried to transfer the £169 onto the 0% card for the garden stuff but we have run out of time for the 0% deal so we shall have to just pay it off as soon as we can.  The balance is now £3055 and the minimum payment was £70.  I will let this run until we have sorted the other two credit cards out.
I've just had to hack into the money I put aside for childcare each month to pay a friend £45 for a day out this week.  I have also just paid the school dinners - DS has them every Friday although I don't think it is worth it.  Perhaps we stop this till the end of the term and see what a difference it makes.
So I have to find the money for:
Air conditioning fix on car - should be about £50.  We can't pay for this on credit card so may have to raid the child care account if we can't wait until I get paid to pay it.
Rugby sub for next season - This will have to be done when I get paid.  No hurry as it doesn't start till Sept!
We also have about £200 for food to last two more weekly shops so £100 a week.
Husband said that we went to start our older car this morning and it struggled to get going.  This is not a good sign!  It is nearly 14 years old and we have been waiting for it to die for the last few years.  If it is not worth fixing (when it gets to this stage) then we will have to take out a bit more loan to buy another one.  I've already done all the maths for it.  But if it only costs a couple of hundred to fix then we shall try and eek it out until next year.  We paid this car off 4 years ago and plan to do the same for the bigger car which has £10k left to go so I know we have got this.  We aren't 'overing' ourselves for cars.
I've decided to set myself a challenge to stick to the following rules these next 7 weeks or half term:
1) Sweat app 3 times a week
2) Run - 2 times a week
3) Yoga - Once a week.
4) stick to protein goal of 100g a day
5) Two study evenings a week
6) Shopping at Aldi
7) Finish one thing on the house each week - using resources we already have or are low cost - e.g. a tin of paint.
8) One sugary treat per week.
9) Three green smoothies a week 
10) Alcohol on Fridays only.
I want to see how good I feel after these habit changes.  I feel sluggish at the moment - too much sugar and alcohol.
Wish me luck!!
Crunchy xx