Noticed some changes? You can read all about the improvements we've made on the Forum in our latest announcement. We also have a new set of Forum rules so please take the time to give them a read and familiarise yourself.
Diary of a reformed shopaholic (I hope)
shoppingobsessed2020
Forumite 291 Posts
Recently had my light bulb moment and still have to get dh onboard as he is living in cloud cuckoo land! So a brief introduction! I say brief but I tend to ramble 
We are a family of 3. His lordship who doesn’t like change, me who likes to shop (make up and toiletries so now on a self imposed ban) and monkey boy who is 8 and runs us ragged with various clubs and activities most days and nights.
dh works deep sea on a 2 month on 2 month off rotation so when he is home I feel the need to treat him so there’s lots of yummy food and booze when he is home which means the food bill rockets. Then when he’s away monkey boy and I eat pretty simply but spend lots as we are always out and about so it’s too handy to grab a cup of coffee and a sandwich so that seems to be where most of my frittering happens. Costa balance is ridiculous so that has been knocked on the head!
i work as an admin for a local company on not much more than minimum wage. It’s a huge change career wise but it suits our family life even though we still don’t seem to have adjusted to my smaller salary despite it being 8yrs since I stopped matching what dh earned! We made the decision when we had monkey boy that I needed to be home as we couldn’t both work (I did work as a health and safety advisor for an offshore company) but that life didn’t suit what our family goals were so I became a stay at home mum. I then got bored so started a little crafting business but when monkey
boy started school I wanted more and I got a job as an admin which fits round us.
now the lightbulb part. This coronavirus has caused me to take a greater look at our finances as I want to move house as we have outgrown this house and I got the shock of my
life to find out that our great on paper income is just going on paying back debt! So Soa has been some some changes have been made and others can’t yet be made till dh is home and has his own lightbulb moment so
for now im grateful he’s away on an extended trip so I can start making headway into paying this mountain off.
im off to do lunch for monkey boy (known as mb going forward) and myself and I’ll be back.
We are a family of 3. His lordship who doesn’t like change, me who likes to shop (make up and toiletries so now on a self imposed ban) and monkey boy who is 8 and runs us ragged with various clubs and activities most days and nights.dh works deep sea on a 2 month on 2 month off rotation so when he is home I feel the need to treat him so there’s lots of yummy food and booze when he is home which means the food bill rockets. Then when he’s away monkey boy and I eat pretty simply but spend lots as we are always out and about so it’s too handy to grab a cup of coffee and a sandwich so that seems to be where most of my frittering happens. Costa balance is ridiculous so that has been knocked on the head!
i work as an admin for a local company on not much more than minimum wage. It’s a huge change career wise but it suits our family life even though we still don’t seem to have adjusted to my smaller salary despite it being 8yrs since I stopped matching what dh earned! We made the decision when we had monkey boy that I needed to be home as we couldn’t both work (I did work as a health and safety advisor for an offshore company) but that life didn’t suit what our family goals were so I became a stay at home mum. I then got bored so started a little crafting business but when monkey
boy started school I wanted more and I got a job as an admin which fits round us.
now the lightbulb part. This coronavirus has caused me to take a greater look at our finances as I want to move house as we have outgrown this house and I got the shock of my
life to find out that our great on paper income is just going on paying back debt! So Soa has been some some changes have been made and others can’t yet be made till dh is home and has his own lightbulb moment so
for now im grateful he’s away on an extended trip so I can start making headway into paying this mountain off.
im off to do lunch for monkey boy (known as mb going forward) and myself and I’ll be back.
2 credit cards gone forever, just 6 more credit cards, 2 loans and 2 car loans to go! What were we thinking!
6
Replies
neighbours so we could meet the minimum spend for delivery (they will bank transfer me when shopping arrives). I was very restrained in what I ordered and can take some bits off my supermarket shopping list.
thats £13 spent of my £250 budget for groceries this month. My month starts when dh gets paid hence starting today.
Made in Feb: £41.68 Made in March: £32.15
Made in April: £31.79, Made in May: £30.18
I totally understand the living in luxury while he's home and poverty while he's away. I am definitely guilty of that too.
How many debts are you fire fighting?
Keep going xxx
Loan 2 £1000/£5800
Total £6200/£13800 55% PAID
@StartingAgainAt29 you feel my pain
@Kitten868 he spends a little bit when he’s away but I don’t count that as it comes off his wages direct. most he’s ever spent a month when at sea was £50 so I can’t begrudge him that. When he’s home though even before I had my lbm I’d wince at what he spent on a daily basis just going to the shops and just buying what he fancied to eat. I like to meal plan as juggling full time work and a busy child means I need a plan the same as most of us, yet when he’s home it’s popping to the shop daily and picking up a bottle of wine or a new gin etc so the spending gets totally out of control. Although I suppose he doesn’t spend much on himself in the way of treats it’s more the food and drink he likes and eating out so he’s cramming such a lot of stuff into a small time period.
debt wise I’m not totally sure of the exact figure off the top of my head but it’s approx £77k which us utterly terrifying so
i need a handle in the spending I can control and need to wait for him to have his lbm and just hope the bits I’m doing now will help him have his sooner rather than later.
so the child related expenses won’t be paid towards debt this month as it’s absorbed by my loss in wage!
i have however paid the capital one card down to £400 today. So that’s the surplus balance gone already but it’s paid a good chunk of debt down.