First Steps to Solvency

alt80

0%s
Looking like I can clear the 2x BCs with sales / min payments before 0% deals end. 

M&S one is a bit more complex - looking like £1705 outstanding with the BCs paid and the min payment from the BC1 being diverted to the M&S for the 7 months it's interest free. 

To work this out properly going to have to sit and work out exactly how the min payments are worked out so I can direct everything to the M&S - still going to have outstanding amount by the looks of it so think I'll probably have to throw a bit of it on the mbna. If anyones got a spreadsheet calc for working out min payments exactly as balance comes down hit me up. 

RelievedSheff

You don't know if you don't try.

We hate food waste. There is very little food gets thrown away in this house. 

getmore4less

I have yet to see a proper snowball calculator that takes into account min payments, 0% change dates and possible new deals.

Dodgy Dave does not even do the snowball right. 

mamamu

The only thing in our household we do not compromise is food we do have a crap car thought  

We fo not buy from supermarkets. Shop only at farm shop once a week, no ready meals unless it is take away order maybe once a month. No food waste no frozen meals and mainly cooking from scratch each time or just eat bread cheese ham and vegetables. I hate plastic packaging, and care about it. 

Our food bill is around 750£/m 2 adults and 1 child. 

6 year old doesn’t need an iPad, he doesn’t need tablet either. Buy him a bike or lego and spend some quality time enjoying teaching him to ride a bike or building lego and playing with it. 

mamamu

alt80 said:

0%s
Looking like I can clear the 2x BCs with sales / min payments before 0% deals end. 

M&S one is a bit more complex - looking like £1705 outstanding with the BCs paid and the min payment from the BC1 being diverted to the M&S for the 7 months it's interest free. 

To work this out properly going to have to sit and work out exactly how the min payments are worked out so I can direct everything to the M&S - still going to have outstanding amount by the looks of it so think I'll probably have to throw a bit of it on the mbna. If anyones got a spreadsheet calc for working out min payments exactly as balance comes down hit me up. 

Should it be written in T&C of the agreement what % of remaining balance should be repaid as minimum payment. 

alt80

So worked out we spend about £200/m on booze... could definitely cut that down he says after yet another bottle of wine sunk lol (not counting Champagne that's another £45/90 depending it we have one or two bottles in a month and is 'entertainment' for the purpose of budget as of next month). About £50/m is on coffees that can't be expensed so wife actually spends about £400/m on food now we're on the new budget and tbf has shown me her plan for coming week's food, all homecooked and next to no waste so she's worked it out herself - happy days on that front perhaps I should have a bit more faith in her lol.

Also she's got another girl for nails. This works out £250/m now after materials etc accounted for. Wife's beauty spends have also been massively cut as she's no longer having stuff pumped into her face and had last eyebrow appointment so she has cut the beauty spends down to £80/m her choice but probably influenced by her believing me for once when I told her I'm definitely not 'always looking for a fit 20 year old' - she literally has no idea how much I don't want a relationship with a 20 year old anymore lol. Had a discussion tonight over what to do with the other £170/m and whether she wants to keep the money for herself or put towards something from the budget - she agreed it could be our holiday money so another £2k/y off cards taking it to £10/k to find when 0% runs out and the M&S won't run over 0%. She said she's actually enjoying doing the work (fml only taken a decade to persuade her she could enjoy work if on own terms/ doing something she enjoys) and plans to do more - her aim is to be able to cover 1/2 son's school fees. My aim is to JV with her on a salon but not mentioning that until she's met her aim and well on her way to exceeding it. If she gets to the point of funding £2k towards holidays and 1/2 son's school fees it will actually be a massive help. Really proud of her tonight. 

£170/m is going to be diverted to M&S as of next month and told wife it's on her whether we have a holiday next year or not. Actually thinking I might divert the holiday money to cards - current covid situation means it's unlikely we'll get away more than once and may as well go towards the card balances so long as we don't spend more than the £2k budgeted I'm winning.

Wife is worried about my stress / anger levels now I'm about a month away from entering my forth decade (joy of joys properly into the midlife phase as she keeps reminding me - told her I've no AM so doesn't count haha). Seriously I think I do get too angry and stressed out - something I need to work on controlling that, the spending and the greed to an extent. The greed pushes me forwards I think tbf so is probably not that bad but the rest isn't great and not going to lie I do get anxious about becoming that 50 year old who has a heart attack through being angry and stressed all the time lol.

alt80

Goals W/C 12th Oct

1. Spend less than £50 entertainment probably not going to be hard this week. Still £0
2. £10 groceries spend (have everything we need so should not be spending anymore than a few quid on milk or loaf of bread). £5.40 total / £0 today
3. Check and update the Yolt app daily. Done.
4. Structured work days - 9am starts 5.45pm finishes, emails off in evening. Lunch with wife. Eat dinner with family rather than wife cooking twice. Working from home all week (lockdown) apart from fee earners booked. Not switched emails off but not looked since mid-afternoon was on hold to a call centre and anger levels were getting towards a 9. Yep I punched my desk after hanging up... what was I saying about anger levels haha.
5. Train with wife 4x this week. Going to regret this I know haha. She’s already decided what we’re doing so no chance of backing out now. Day 3 - done, feeling it now.
6. Activity with son everyday - probably going to be dog walk not going to be allowed to do much else... Dog walk and bedtime story. Yep dog walk as a family and bedtime. Need to come up with something more creative lol.

RelievedSheff

You are making huge leaps forward as a couple. 

The next step will be sustaining that progress.

I actually think you will both smash these card repayments in super quick time now that you are both onboard. 

getmore4less

On the card cash flow, one of the benefits of looking at the annual total allocations in the budget rather than piggy bank/envelope the funds for each category you look at the cashflow and can bring some things forward and push others back as long as the total are on plan.

Holiday is the obvious one as no one is going anywhere any time soon.

if you can cashflow the cards to not need another 0%(or just a smaller one) by using funds for other thing that won't be needed till later you make things a bit easier/less stress. that's where a 0% purchase card can really help as you can bring even more forward if there is a short term gap.

monetxchange

It's actually so lovely that your wife sat down and thought about the meal plan so there was minimal waste. It feels like she's addressing the areas where she's contributed to the debt too. Also great you've hit a lightbulb moment on all this wanting her to be a career woman - turns out she just might have different career ideas than you! Hey maybe if we have another national lockdown she can become the next Joe Wicks and show us all how to work out online - god I need that at the moment 😂

I've found that work is even more infuriating this year as it's so hard to get hold of people on phones, massive wait times on hold etc. Definitely take a step back for a few minutes if you find yourself getting to that super stressed level.

In terms of doing stuff with your son, has he got any things he likes doing if you want a change up? I mean like a game he likes that you could play with him, or a set or toy thing he likes playing with you could let him show you? When my friend's kid was that age they basically loved talking at me at length through all their whatever the latest trend was collection. You just have to sit there looking engaged! Though bet the dog is loving all the extra going out.