Crunchy pays off the loan early, and other stories

crunchy_time

Morning all!

Hope everyone had a lovely Christmas. Ours was very quiet in that we spent it on our own. The children loved their presents and we spent lots of time together.

Unfortunately one of our hamsters died yesterday. It had wet tail. We took it to the vet on Christmas Eve and it stayed in for a few hours for some tlc and drugs then came home. I’ve been hand feeding it and it seemed to be fighting but just got worse yesterday. I checked on it whilst putting kids to bed and it had died. We didn’t tell them till this morning as we didn’t want it to be on Christmas Day. 

I have a nice vets bill for £108 to contend with but I’m glad we gave him a chance to live. Got to get another hamster now of course.

Plenty of food in the fridge. Got to make it last as long as possible as husband doesn’t get paid until Friday. We might just need to pick up some bits and pieces.

I have had some thoughts about how to manage our household spending next year but not properly formulated it into a plan yet. Just waiting for New Year’s Eve now when husband gets paid and we can consider the consumer debt on the loans gone.

Anyway, hope everyone is having a relaxing Boxing Day.

Crunchy x

WinterWarrior

Sorry about your hamster. They have such tiny little lives, but are still sadly missed 😢

crunchy_time

WinterWarrior said:

Sorry about your hamster. They have such tiny little lives, but are still sadly missed 😢

Thanks @WinterWarrior he was such a little fighter, I honestly thought he had turned a corner but no.  Poor little man.  He will be missed even though we only had him a week.

crunchy_time

Evening all!

Just had a money meeting with the husband.  It was very productive and I was very pleased as to how far we have come as we used to have awful arguments about money and I would end up crying.

We have decided to use his bonus to pay off his credit card and start the new year fresh.  I have already taken it off my signature.  There might already be a bit left.

We have also decided to up our food money by £100 every month in an effort to over budget rather than under budget as we seem to have been doing all year.  The plan is to be under budget and then slush any extra money into a short-term savings account for other things. 

The other thing we have decided to do is start a  slush fund again for all those extra bits that we don't/can't seem to budget for.  I shall hold the purse strings for it and the aim will be to gradually build up a nice big amount that we can overpay the loan with in a few years' time.  It will be nice to start to actively save for things rather than constantly be paying things off. I think this is going to be a real game-changer for us going forward as I don't want to spend money that I have saved.

In other news, I have started to put the Christmas decorations away and get organised for the New Year.  We still have lots of  plans with family and friends to look forward to but have already started working towards my 2022 habits.  Yoga Monday has happened today and I am about to have my weekly bath treat to myself (obs I have showers daily ha ha!)  I have also followed my cleaning regime and just cleaned the sitting room today.  It will  be the study tomorrow, then the kitchen on Wednesday.  I've been trying to start this for ages so it's good to get it going.

Anyway, I'm off for my bath now.  

Have a good evening!

Crunchy xx

crunchy_time

Hi everyone!

Husband gets paid tomorrow so already checked his bank account to see what was going to be paid in with his bonus.  There will be enough to pay off the credit card so that shall be happening tomorrow!!

After a couple of bills to be paid with the excess, there will be about £470 starting the slush fund for January.  Although the car is due a service next week so lots shall be swallowed up by that.

When I was checking through our accounts, I noticed that our home insurance is up for renewal as they hadn't taken it out this month.  They have sent a new quote which is the same and I realised it is for 11 months so I have slushed the extra money straight onto the loan.  A bit naughty since that isn't our plan but perhaps a little bit of slushing won't hurt.  It now stands at £7116 so by rounding things up and down perhaps we can get it down to £7k at some point this Spring.

Feeling very focused now.  I'm looking forward to 2022 being about tackling our spending habits and becoming more intentional about our money.

Crunchy xx

ohdearhowdidthathappen

Sounds like a good plan, clearing debts with a onus sounds like a good use of it.  
Sorry to hear about your hamster, I've never heard of wet tail.  We have 2 dwarf hamsters, I don't have much to do with them but they're sweet little things.
I like a new year for a refresh, good luck with your plans for '22 x

crunchy_time

ohdearhowdidthathappen said:

Sounds like a good plan, clearing debts with a onus sounds like a good use of it.  
Sorry to hear about your hamster, I've never heard of wet tail.  We have 2 dwarf hamsters, I don't have much to do with them but they're sweet little things.
I like a new year for a refresh, good luck with your plans for '22 x

Thank you! Xx

crunchy_time

Happy New Year all!

Went to bed at 11pm. Got up early to drive one hour to beach to watch sun rise. Was absolutely worth it and best way to start 2022 for us!

House is a tip so about to start giving it a tidy. Sigh!  Determined to find joy and gratitude in every day this year.

If it wasn’t a bank holiday today and a Saturday our loan payments would have gone out meaning we are officially consumer debt free! Hurrah! It’s taken 3 years and one big holiday but we got there. We have also cleared the credit card as well with husbands bonus so starting 2022 on a good footing to build on.

Onwards and upwards!

Crunchy xx

crunchy_time

Gosh I’m so keen! I’m back on here already!

Honestly feeling so fresh and ready for new financial goodness after clearing that consumer debt and not having that credit card over our heads.

So far today I have:

- cleared out DDs wardrobe and found some bits to sell and some dresses that can be made into tops for the Spring.
- started a big bag of things to sell although I’m not sure how I am going to sell them yet.
- started planning a budget for my personal spends money for this year so I plan for the whole year rather than month by month as it was last year. Already realised how much money I wasted.

- Thought about upping my pension contributions this year. 

- Thought about when we can up our mortgage payments - when would be a goal date to aim for.
- Decided to slush the loan rather than save up to pay it off even if it is a little bit every now and again. I find this satisfying.
- Decided to log NSDs.

Tonight I will start to list stuff to sell

Crunchy x

pennywisepoundstupid

You sound really focused and motivated, well done on finding bits to sell I found 3 items today just need to get my backside into gear and get them listed.