In need of encouragement...

findingthisdifficult

Ooh no i didn't mean non payment either, I just meant after years of paying back the debt, it will be weird to not owe people money...

Thanks for the list, I'll check it out.

Kitchen update - our kitchen is quite small and we did consider putting in a new one in order to sell the house but decided against saddling ourselves with more debt just in order to sell the house.  We've moved the tumble dryer out today (temporarily rehoused in a cupboard within our living room) and put in a storage unit which has opened it up a bit more and freed up space on the worktops so it feels a lot bigger in there now.
We had the lights redone a few years ago, made such a difference.  We also put in a new tap at the start of lockdown after putting up with a leaky tap for 3 years!  
Luckily someone decided to put real floor tiles in before we bought it but they're a horrible colour, we'll probably just leave them as they are though.

Next up - the spare bedroom that is currently used as an art studio...

You're lucky to have a friend who is a painter, I need to find myself some friends in the trade.  The only bonus I've got is discount at a couple of hardware retailers so that makes the few DIY projects a little cheaper.

Hope you've had a great weekend.

IrishSean

👍😉
I think you can get tiles painted as well; as far as I know they get sanded, painted & sealed; again a lot cheaper than having tiles lifted and new ones put down.

Yes, my prob is my painter is so good he's booked 3 months in advance, lol. 
Still stuff I can get done in the meantime. I think i'll paint boys room, will free up carpet fitter then I can build beds I bought them pre Christmas 2019 built 😱😂

UPDATE: 
My Clearscore / Equifax updated to show my debt dropped £2134 to a temporary total of £240, yet neither score nor offers changed.
I think I need to accept that on a piecemeal self employed 'wage' its not going to change. I've had to add to that short term debt with shifting DW balance for hol cottage, plus 2 0% MTs but my goal is to service these then pay off when part or all of late parent property goes. I'm going to be super disciplined with (0%) OD & CC; no more spend: will let current account balance by end Sept then clearing the decks again, financially. Planning a proper budget & savings plan.
At 0% CC existing savings & income from Sept is better going to bonds / house improvements.

I'm conceding in part that DFW is in part the mind-shift away from frivolous spend / large or expensive debt to something small, 0% & manageable. I'm enjoying the move away from thinking £5 - £10k debt is in someway normal or OK. Anything @ 0% in three figures feels a lot more acceptable for me now!

I spent £400 of earnings on shares on surprise car stuff for DW Audi; i'll have to style that out to her but she'll love it when finished. New(ish) interior and improved suspension will add to eventual resale value & cheaper than a change after the service. I'll do some clean & polish myself too then perhaps get scuffs resprayed next month maybe look at cost effective bits to 'keep it fresh' looking.

My only big pre-Christmas out-going is car tax at £200 x 2; I know, should have used the £400 above for it but I can squeeze it into the budget. Back to school, no more hols, end of EO2HO means Sept spend will be low; lots of Autumn stews & casseroles planned   

Thx for reading & GL with DFW

ryanm8655

Do you do the work on the car yourself? Impressive if so.

My left front suspension has started squeaking over bumps. The front suspension needs some work (bushes, cv joint worn etc.) but as I’ll probably get rid of the car early next year and it will still pass the MOT, I’m just not sure it’s worthwhile. The car is pretty worthless anyway so not worth spending much on...

IrishSean

ryanm8655 said:

Do you do the work on the car yourself? Impressive if so.

My left front suspension has started squeaking over bumps. The front suspension needs some work (bushes, cv joint worn etc.) but as I’ll probably get rid of the car early next year and it will still pass the MOT, I’m just not sure it’s worthwhile. The car is pretty worthless anyway so not worth spending much on...

Only the cosmetics now R; I have replaced electrical components in cars i've sold. Fitted a new boot release mechanism to a micra a while back; most of its just plug and play. 
I used to do oil and filters years ago but now i'm blessed with having a fabulous mechanic from Lithuania who is what I can only describe as an oracle. Man i've known some smart and experienced mechanics but this guy is different level.  
Unfortunately bushes, CV joints all tend to require new; most cars have excellent pattern parts tho. Read the forums, some cheaper new parts are best avoided but most are as good as oem (car makers own). 
The tooling for older parts is sold on. In some cases the same company continues to make the part but doesn't sell it as a 'Ford' part for example, but as their own. In short, it's identical but a fraction of the price. 
My A6 timing belt & brake caliper at my Audi dealership would have been £1800 - £2200 fitted!

Is why I tip my existing mechanic every time😂

Oh, I showed the DW the leather seats I bought for the Audi and she was... delighted👍😉
I said to her I thought she'd see it as a waste (dishwashers on the blink of course since I ordered them) but she said "cheaper than changing; sure it'll feel and smell like a new car"

£250 fitted seems really reasonable. 
Still i've 4 hours polishing & detailing to do at the weekend 😱 yikes; roll on the football season

IrishSean

Mini update:

DW & I have agreed £100 cash each for casual spend & socialising in Sept. Will keep the needless off the joint account; I said to her we should try to make the small spends in cash as it balances A LOT faster than contactless. I think as long as we wash our hands we should be 'covid secure' enough to use cash, hehe...

One car tax of £210 to pay then i'm pulling the hatches down on the finances for Sept. Did a huge shop costing £100 which I paid in leftover cash from Aug which outside of a trip to the butchers will cover a good bit of Sept meals. 

Now come on Ernie i've been good, a wee £25 in Tue Premium Bonds draw would be nice; i'll buy fuel for school runs, I promise!😂

findingthisdifficult

You'll have to let us know how you get on with your allocated spends, hopefully as you say it will keep any needless transactions off the joint account.

We've just had car insurance through for renewal so better take a look at that over the next couple of days, better to get in early with these things I think.

Good Luck on the premium bonds

IrishSean

findingthisdifficult said:

You'll have to let us know how you get on with your allocated spends, hopefully as you say it will keep any needless transactions off the joint account.

We've just had car insurance through for renewal so better take a look at that over the next couple of days, better to get in early with these things I think.

Good Luck on the premium bonds

Yes, early days but already seeing many fewer transaction on joint account which is great.

On a double positive my son had to be tested for Covid; I made a promise (any saints with ears on them😂) that I wouldn't spend frivolously or spend anything on lotto, gambling etc. If it came back negative: 7.15am we got a 'negative for Covid' text 💪😊
So i'm back firmly in the DFW fold again. In all seriousness though, big relief, be spent first 2 days back in p6 class with a positive case. Didn't want Covid in the house for 2 weeks!

A final BH drink tonight then even the empty calories & empty spend that is booze is off the menu.

Bar car interior being fitted for £50 tomorrow all my big spends are over until next year; yey!
Will b a budget guru by the time Christmas comes, altho VR headsets are the no1 choice 😱..

Really need Ernie to deliver now, lmao

Ta for reading

purplehippo276

How are you finding using cash for your allocated spends?  I tried this before in one of my previous get out of debt attempts (there have been many incarnations over the years but I've finally found my stride this time!) and I didn't work for me as if I bought anything online (or right now in shops that don't accept cash - as some here aren't accepting it just now) then it was a pain to put money back into my account to cover it.  Interested to hear if you've been able to crack it, as I would prefer to pay for cash for my allocated spends as there's definitely something psychological about using cash that makes it harder to spend.  Paying by card doesn't always feel like spending money!

IrishSean

purplehippo276 said:

How are you finding using cash for your allocated spends?  I tried this before in one of my previous get out of debt attempts (there have been many incarnations over the years but I've finally found my stride this time!) and I didn't work for me as if I bought anything online (or right now in shops that don't accept cash - as some here aren't accepting it just now) then it was a pain to put money back into my account to cover it.  Interested to hear if you've been able to crack it, as I would prefer to pay for cash for my allocated spends as there's definitely something psychological about using cash that makes it harder to spend.  Paying by card doesn't always feel like spending money!

Hey Hippo, thx for popping by; so far so good on the cash front.
If we are buying coffee, snacks etc it's OK. Also we shop Tesco & Lidl so they're fine with cash. The Mrs buys a bottle of wine in cash.
We actually don't have much in the way of online spend on ourselves, hobbies etc. that might make the casual spend difficult. We used to get magazine subscrips years ago but kids meant we never got time to read😂
My only social spend is monthly card school but that off since Feb due to Covid & i'm going dry until halloween so no cheeky bottles for me 😉
We had a major conflab about about phones, contracts & insurance which both of us admitted is a mess. No idea of real costs: son needs his hand set fixed, insurance hadn't kicked in last year!
£75 new screen needed which is OK I guess. 

Had posted about a Monease card but never got around to it. If we do buy stuff online we sort of 'honesty box' it off our £100. No more EO2HO reduces the spend on ourselves too, hehe.

Lastly most of our clothes buying is need rather than want so it's not included at the minute. 

Ta for reading☺

findingthisdifficult

Fewer transactions - great news!  but as you say early days...keep going.

Good news on your son too, hope he didn't have to wait too long for his test results, I feel like it really varies on how long it takes depending on where you live.  Welcome back to the DFW fold

Don't get me started on VR headsets, Mr FTD wants one, I'd love to get him one for Christmas but I wouldn't even know where to start. 

@purplehippo276  I know what you mean about the preferring so spend in cash and the faff of moving money across if you spend online.  I wanted food shopping and frivolous spends to be cash but it didn't work for me (probably a good job, given the current situation and all of my food shopping being online)  What did you find worked for you in the end?
I have an account specific for spends which I think has helped a lot as it's complete separate bank to the bills account.