It's the final countdown...£10k to go

enthusiasticsaver

How about you both get some personal spends every month and your DHs nights out have to come from that just like your tights etc come from yours?  It may slow the debt repayment a little but it helps with the budgeting so you are not constantly shuffling money.  I would have to say I can identify with how you are feeling having spent much of my life doing what I consider to be the bulk of the housework and childcare when our children were young, financial admin, shopping, laundry etc etc but forgetting how much my DH has saved us in DIY over the years.  All the little fixing jobs he does without me noticing are actually noticed now we are retired. I did point out the other day though that I hate housework and food shopping whereas fixing stuff (he was an engineer) is actually enjoyable for him. Communication is the key if either of you are feeling unappreciated. 

t2rry

enthusiasticsaver said:

How about you both get some personal spends every month and your DHs nights out have to come from that just like your tights etc come from yours?  It may slow the debt repayment a little but it helps with the budgeting so you are not constantly shuffling money.  I would have to say I can identify with how you are feeling having spent much of my life doing what I consider to be the bulk of the housework and childcare when our children were young, financial admin, shopping, laundry etc etc but forgetting how much my DH has saved us in DIY over the years.  All the little fixing jobs he does without me noticing are actually noticed now we are retired. I did point out the other day though that I hate housework and food shopping whereas fixing stuff (he was an engineer) is actually enjoyable for him. Communication is the key if either of you are feeling unappreciated. 

Yes so this is the kind of thing I'm thinking, except rather than just plain individual budgets (again, DH does have one, that will continue as it always has), I'm thinking budgets for specific monthly spending to allow us to spend on those areas without feeling regret or like we shouldn't.  Because they are largely inevitable and I don't think we should feel bad for them.  

So in October so far, the spends over and above food & petrol I can categorise as follows:

- Home improvements - £116.04
- Entertainment (this month has been our 3 evenings out between us) - £105
- Clothes - £52.99
- Gifts - £67.99
- Self care (my hair takes up most of this) - £134

That's £476.02 Plus £400 food, plus £60 petrol.  That's not far off our usual monthly spending.  I usually allow us around £800 but we always go slightly over.  So rather than feeling a massive pinch at the end of each month trying to not dip into savings, I am going to budget this stuff moving forward.  This is my thinking:

Birthdays I will continue to budget for those in the month, for November that budget is £90 (3 birthdays, including DS)
Then I will allow:
£100 Entertainment 
£100 Clothes/self care (can be combined and a lot less than Oct as hair is an expensive rarity)
£100 Home
That equals £390 of additional spending, and I think quite reasonable, whilst saving a little on last month but not as much as for instance my hair cost, so I think it is very doable.  Then if we get to the end of the month with any money left in these pots, it can feel like a little extra bonus.  Hopefully it will mean that give and take comes within each pot, rather than shuffling things around when we spend on something unplanned, which let's be honest is always going to happen..

Feeling more positive

t2rry

One more thing, I'm thinking of downgrading our main bank account.  It's a fee paying one with benefits.  It costs £20 a month, with £5 a month cashback.  We have always had it purposely because of the car breakdown cover, mobile phone insurance and travel insurance.  The travel insurance really has been the only one we have used in the last few years (not that we've ever claimed), though just for that it was still worth it, as we travel abroad twice, sometimes three times per year.  That said, it is currently not valid because of gov advice against travelling to certain countries (all those we would ever go to).  The car naturally we aren't using all that much (previously I would travel quite a lot out of area, so felt better with some cover), certainly never travelling anywhere out of town for now. Mobile phones we're managing with old paid off handsets, neither seem worth paying the excess for to ever claim on the insurance so £20 a month now seems unnecessary.

I can downgrade to a £2 fee, still with the £5 cashback.  So that would save £18 per month - £216 per year, hardly to be sniffed at.  I'm thinking I'd save the £18 per month in a separate account so if and when need for any of those things arises, I could use that fund.  Realistically, I know I won't do this until everything is paid off, as it feels so close now, I just want it gone, then I think I will set us up with separate savings accounts for various expenses to save monthly for one off spends.  I've done this before when our income was such that annual spends (insurances etc.) would be impossible otherwise, and it worked well.  I stopped when we got to a point where we can afford to pay most annual expenses out of one pay day & just save less that month but I think for long term budgeting it would work well again.

t2rry

enthusiasticsaver said:

How about you both get some personal spends every month and your DHs nights out have to come from that just like your tights etc come from yours?  It may slow the debt repayment a little but it helps with the budgeting so you are not constantly shuffling money.  I would have to say I can identify with how you are feeling having spent much of my life doing what I consider to be the bulk of the housework and childcare when our children were young, financial admin, shopping, laundry etc etc but forgetting how much my DH has saved us in DIY over the years.  All the little fixing jobs he does without me noticing are actually noticed now we are retired. I did point out the other day though that I hate housework and food shopping whereas fixing stuff (he was an engineer) is actually enjoyable for him. Communication is the key if either of you are feeling unappreciated. 

on the last point, too, I'm the DIY'er here.  Like you but in reverse, I enjoy it, so I count it as 'my time' rather than a chore, it's my version of a nice relaxing bath and I'm grateful DH gives me the time for it (often in evenings or weekends he will dedicate some time to the kids so I can escape for a bit)  That keeps me sane

juicyjackieb

Just dropping by to say well done, you’ve achieved so much! I’m subscribed to your diary and will be cheering you on!

t2rry

juicyjackieb said:

Just dropping by to say well done, you’ve achieved so much! I’m subscribed to your diary and will be cheering you on!

Thank you so much!! Will hop over to your diary too, looks like you're doing well in a lot of areas!!

t2rry

I have been productive (read: procrastinating!!!) in terms of finances today.  I have downgraded the bank account, so saving £18 per month from now on and got them to waive this month's fee.  

I also (as per Martin moneysavinggod's latest post on it) sorted the working from home tax break for my hubs, and also put another claim in for me as previously i only claimed the weeks I had already worked, so i've now extended it to the full year.  That will theoretically turn into what, about £5 more a month!?  Every little helps...!

Payday tomorrow and I can't wait to have a signature shuffle! 

juicyjackieb

t2rry said:

I have been productive (read: procrastinating!!!) in terms of finances today.  I have downgraded the bank account, so saving £18 per month from now on and got them to waive this month's fee.  

I also (as per Martin moneysavinggod's latest post on it) sorted the working from home tax break for my hubs, and also put another claim in for me as previously i only claimed the weeks I had already worked, so i've now extended it to the full year.  That will theoretically turn into what, about £5 more a month!?  Every little helps...!

Payday tomorrow and I can't wait to have a signature shuffle! 

Good call with the bank account, I have one of those with Natwest that I took out on their recommendation that it would curb the spiralling costs of my fees I was getting for missed payments. I haven’t actually had a missed payment for years and I tried to cancel over the phone a few years ago and they told me to go into a branch and I never got around to it. This is a good reminder to get this done next week, thank you. I’m gonna see if I can’t get a refund on the last one too, they can only tell me to bog off and I am shameless  

t2rry

juicyjackieb said:

t2rry said:

I have been productive (read: procrastinating!!!) in terms of finances today.  I have downgraded the bank account, so saving £18 per month from now on and got them to waive this month's fee.  

I also (as per Martin moneysavinggod's latest post on it) sorted the working from home tax break for my hubs, and also put another claim in for me as previously i only claimed the weeks I had already worked, so i've now extended it to the full year.  That will theoretically turn into what, about £5 more a month!?  Every little helps...!

Payday tomorrow and I can't wait to have a signature shuffle! 

Good call with the bank account, I have one of those with Natwest that I took out on their recommendation that it would curb the spiralling costs of my fees I was getting for missed payments. I haven’t actually had a missed payment for years and I tried to cancel over the phone a few years ago and they told me to go into a branch and I never got around to it. This is a good reminder to get this done next week, thank you. I’m gonna see if I can’t get a refund on the last one too, they can only tell me to bog off and I am shameless  

Thank you, honestly I wish I'd done it at the start of lockdown, or at least when the travel insurance part  became defunct, I'm not sure why I didn't!

t2rry

PAYDAY!!  Woohoo!! Making my signature look much healthier indeed.  I need to fess up though, the £3,000 now banked is dependent on a couple of things;  I am owed £48 from family for things I've subbed for and £56 from my tiny side hustle.  The £56 should hit today, but since it has not yet, I'm wondering if they've messed up (it's been owing since about June, and they promised today was the day)  The family is always awkward isn't it, £28 of that is from the beginning of october, so now I'm going to have to either choose to let it slide, or chase, which is always horrible. 

Otherwise, I think we're in a good place.  There's another £110 set aside to make minimum payments (I'm only going with the minimum payment rounded up now so I can really concentrate on getting that banked pot up as quickly as by as much as possible.  I am confident (touch wood because you never know what could happen) in our ability to pay both CC's off before their 0% runs out (mine in April, OH's in August) so I want to have a pot bigger than needed to pay them come those dates so we are never without cash in the bank ever again!!!

I also have £300 set aside for a new house purchase, something we've been putting off and managing without for over a year, I'm not going to press the button yet because £300 is still a lot of money (even though a lot less than we could spend on such an item!) and now (much to OH's irritation) I'm naturally thinking 'well we've lasted this long...'!!!  Maybe I'll just keep pushing it back a little, make sure the rest of the budget for the month has worked out well before taking the plunge.  

Theeennnn.....think i'm going to be a little fluid between budgets for this month and next so that I can start getting xmas presents sorted when I can find good deals and hopefully save some pennies on the currently £650 budget for that!! 

I'm going to do the sainsmybobs double up voucher thing as a start, i've never done it before but hoping it'll be worth it, we have the maximum £100 available to spend so that could make a good dent if used sensibly.