Crunchy pays off the loan early, and other stories

crunchy_time

foxgloves said:

Hello Crunchy, 
When we were first starting to save into an emergency fund, we too found we were having to use it for exactly the sort of expenditure you describe. Once we'd got the debt paid off (£35k at its worst), I set up savings pots.....just 6 cash envelopes at first & it took me a couple of attempts as the Budgeter in the Relationship to get a system which worked. When I got more confident with it, I changed to virtual savings pots & increased the number to ten. So under our system, new football boots would be paid for from the clothing pot & new toaster from the appliances replacement pot. Implementing this system meant that we have (so far) been able to ring-fence our emergency fund for unforeseen emergencies in case of job loss, damage to home, etc. Previously, everything we needed to buy that we couldn't pay for from our normal budget came from our emergency fund, making us question, like you mentioned, what constitutes an emergency. Before that...... well, we had no emergency fund, only debts, as despite two full time professional public sector salaries at the time, we were spenders.
F

Thank you! It’s good to see what other people do with their money xx

crunchy_time

EssexHebridean said:

foxgloves said:

Hello Crunchy, 
When we were first starting to save into an emergency fund, we too found we were having to use it for exactly the sort of expenditure you describe. Once we'd got the debt paid off (£35k at its worst), I set up savings pots.....just 6 cash envelopes at first & it took me a couple of attempts as the Budgeter in the Relationship to get a system which worked. When I got more confident with it, I changed to virtual savings pots & increased the number to ten. So under our system, new football boots would be paid for from the clothing pot & new toaster from the appliances replacement pot. Implementing this system meant that we have (so far) been able to ring-fence our emergency fund for unforeseen emergencies in case of job loss, damage to home, etc. Previously, everything we needed to buy that we couldn't pay for from our normal budget came from our emergency fund, making us question, like you mentioned, what constitutes an emergency. Before that...... well, we had no emergency fund, only debts, as despite two full time professional public sector salaries at the time, we were spenders.
F

This sums it up. 👍🏼 I think we’ve all had the “is it really an emergency?” debates at some stage - but ultimately, if it could be foreseen (ie the washing machine starting to make unhealthy noises, a car needing a mileage or age related replacement part, or a child growing out of an item of clothing, it’s not an emergency - it’s something we failed to plan for. The key to budgeting is learning to plan in the predictable stuff - WM’s usually give a few months of life once they reach the “unhealthy noises” stage, your garage will tell you if you ask when the “expensive” services for your car will be, and kids, well, they do tend to grow! If you know something is likely to cost you money and can predict roughly when - budget for that spend. The WM suddenly stopping working with no warning, the car breaking down and needing a repair as a part has failed with no warning, or (as has happened to MrEH) a rugby boot literally snapping in half across the stud-line - those are unforeseen. 

Thanks for this!

We have always had some sort of emergency fund over the nearly seven years we have been doing debt repayment in various forms.  More often than not we have had either pots for these things or a buffer or we have had  enough money left at the end of the month to pay for things. But the last six months our outgoings have increased and we have had to get a new car. 

We have always been in such a rush to get rid of the debt but I’ve noticed a mindset shift since we paid off the blip in 2018. I want long term financial sustainability now and am in not such a rush to ditch our current debt before having proper savings pots. 

I think for now this emergency fund is more like a buffer and I am open to our budget evolving organically as we go into this phase of debt busting.

Slow and steady is our mantra now!

crunchy_time

Morning all

Both my children have Covid so I’m having to take unpaid leave to look after them. Should only be for a day or two as husband can help out. Luckily they aren’t too poorly - headache, fever and fatigue.

Gosh finances are just so squeezed at the moment! Just going to keep plodding on and do our best to keep our outgoings down.

Crunchy xx

crunchy_time

Currently sitting outside eating outside eating a homemade cake and watching the first load of washing dry on the line 😊.

I have been busy baking this morning - 2 cakes and a pasta bake for dinner using left over tomato sauce that was in the freezer.  

Did the online food shop for delivery tomorrow and spent £80 which will leave £65 ish for the last week of March which is tight but we seem to have a lot of food to make meals out of. So long as we have homemade snacks and cheap meals we should be ok. I’m so determined not to use the emergency fund for food and have told husband as much. He thinks buying snacks on credit card is acceptable - in the past at least anyway.

Kids are ok at the moment.

Crunchy xx

BlueJ94

Hey Crunchy! 

your diary came up at the top of the thread, i'll sit down and have a proper look later this evening but home made cake sounds delicious!!


Following your diary to keep me inspired! 

crunchy_time

Morning all

The kids are much better but still testing positive. Shall do another test later and fingers crossed it’s negative followed by another tomorrow so they can both go back to school on Monday. We have a contingency plan though.

Minimum payment for sofa loan has come out reducing that slightly. It has about a year to go. We are supposed to be paying it off next in the snowball but I think it will be a pain to overpay it so I’m going to focus on my credit card then husbands, after the overdraft is paid off then we should have enough to just pay off the balance of this. 

We can then add our min payments of £100 + £25 + £64 + £40 together to then overpay the loans and get them cleared earlier.

I get paid on Friday and the husband the following Friday. All we have to do is stick to food budget until then.

It really felt like spring yesterday!! It makes me so happy!

Crunchy xx

ohdearhowdidthathappen

Annoying you have to take unpaid leave, it's completely unavoidable taking time off for covid ridden children
Hope they make a swift recovery

crunchy_time

Morning all!

Children are much better but still testing positive. Of course I now have it so that’s 5 days off for me! It also solves the dilemma of what to do with the kids today. I am going to be homeschooling them today and probably tomorrow as well.

At least that is a weeks fuel saved as well. And I get paid on Friday. I can ration the food at home as well as I only want to do one top up shop at the weekend.

Crunchy xx

crunchy_time

Morning!

Pay day today! Got paid about £173 more than normal. Not sure why but going with it. Have squirrelled it away as emergency fund which now stands at over £500 so we have made target!

Sinking funds are topped up.

We still have about £50 left in food budget to last a week. I’m only going to buy the bare minimum - milk, bread, cheese etc.

Crunchy x

crunchy_time

Husbands pay day today.  Not that we can make much progress at the moment with cost of living. But we have managed to up the emergency fund to £600 ish and pay off £25 of the credit card.

Crunchy xx