The man who likes stuff. Can I pay 7k this year?

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  • I think many of us can relate to having spending weaknesses.  My husband would be the first to admit we'd all be living out of the boot of a very, very, very expensive car if he controlled the finances :) To avoid this, he's happy for me to take the lead on our financial planning and he's waiting patiently for his car upgrade!  Up until a couple of years ago I didn't spend anything (free ebooks don't count!) but as the kids have got older we socialise more and I now have a (somewhat controlled) weakness for theatre, concerts and tributes.  Far cheaper than a new Audi at least! 

    The key for me is balance and budgeting and allocating money to things at the beginning of the month so it's 'gone'.  We are focused on home improvements, cash and retirement savings at the moment, with much of the home improvement costs going on interest free credit. Hubby pays quite a bit more than the minimum into is work pension (we never see this money and can't be tempted to spend it!), we want to build up a decent cash pot, 'just in case' (economy isn't looking great, is it!) but we also want a cash lump sum for retirement and this forms part of that. Finally we spend around £1,200 a month on cc's and interest free loans, mostly linked to home improvements.  As one payment ends we commit to the next big job on the list! That list does includes a car upgrade sometime in 2023!

    What's left at the end of all that we can spend on the nice things in life, but we try to get a balance between living for now and saving for our future selves.

    Outside of getting debt free what other plans do you have?  Having a plan can really help with focus as it can feel like a bit of a hard slog otherwise!


  • MB148
    MB148 Posts: 27
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    @Retireinten It sounds like you are using 0% sensibly, I guess that all comes down to job security, pending any huge mess ups my wife and I are in a very secure job position which we are extremely grateful for this given the times. I completely agree with the balance of budgeting, every month I allocate my finances now making sure all expenses are covered and any spare is going to savings and debt, I am cutting down a lot on my 'spends' throughout the month - as this is what was hitting me hard and leaving me with nothing.
    As for my future plans - when I am debt free we will be preparing for purchasing a new house, which will hopefully be our forever home so I will be plowing money into that as much as possible. Many years from now I would love to be able to put some money into my kids for when they leave school and help them with whatever they decide to do, I wish I had been taught how important these years are looking back on things.
    Your husband and I could probably put the world to rights talking about cars!
    £0/£9000 remaining - Halifax CC paid off 29/01/21
    £2666/£3000 - Tesco CC
    £6924/£16k - Halifax personal loan  

  • alt80
    alt80 Posts: 4,190
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    edited 10 November 2020 at 9:26PM
    Know what you mean about Christmas, you’ve done good with that. First year Christmas isn’t an out of control mess for us, everything bought now and not into the thousands. You’ll also pay less for the road tax 12 months up front rather than 6 so win win.

    Absolutely true re the security of your jobs. Last recession I saw some awful things happen financially to a few guys I looked up to in business when just starting out. Forgot about it until corona but that focused the mind a bit. In a lot of ways you are in a position to carry personal debt easier than others because of the job security. I imagine it’s easy to think f**k it as you know the job is always going to be there but the money isn’t great. Practically all my income is dividends so my company doesn’t perform I earn practically nothing - risk/ reward thing but should probably be less willing to spaff it all up the wall when times are ok.

    Brilliant idea re kids. I’m in property and despite being in debt I put some money away in an account for my son he’s 7. My  plan is to give him the chance to buy a flip project when he’s a bit older and I’ll help him with it. No 100ltvs like when I started out anymore.
  • MB148
    MB148 Posts: 27
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    Spent the day tidying the garden today with the family and now feeling knackered! Managed to not spend any money on food at work this week so that's good, however we have purchased a new Rabbit hutch as the old one was in a bad state of repair, something which needed to be done. 
    Got the news yesterday that my brother has lost his job and the company has gone into liquidation, we are going to be putting lots of the home improvements in his direction in the next year, so it will be good to support him and improve the house bit by bit, he also has incredible attention to detail something which is right up my street, its so hard to find trades who actually care about their work, most don't even call back!

    £0/£9000 remaining - Halifax CC paid off 29/01/21
    £2666/£3000 - Tesco CC
    £6924/£16k - Halifax personal loan  

  • alt80
    alt80 Posts: 4,190
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    You’re doing well mate.

    Sorry to hear about your brother. What trade and where is he based? Hit me up if he’s based anywhere near NG. Always keen to get to know trades (I’m in property could possibly put a bit of work his way references dependent etc).
  • MB148
    MB148 Posts: 27
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    alt80 said:
    You’re doing well mate.

    Sorry to hear about your brother. What trade and where is he based? Hit me up if he’s based anywhere near NG. Always keen to get to know trades (I’m in property could possibly put a bit of work his way references dependent etc).
    Cheers mate, he's a Carpenter and thanks so much for the offer but we aren't anywhere near you unfortunately, luckily he has a few jobs lined up I don't think he's going to struggle too much which is great news. 
    £0/£9000 remaining - Halifax CC paid off 29/01/21
    £2666/£3000 - Tesco CC
    £6924/£16k - Halifax personal loan  

  • MB148
    MB148 Posts: 27
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    More money spent today unfortunately but rabbit food and Hay needed, also renewed his water bottle ready for the new run as the old one was starting to look a bit minging. I'm going to buy the kids some more presents (nothing crazy) before payday so they are almost sorted for Christmas and will hopefully be able to overpay my loan again with the remainder of my account balance prior to getting paid, I'm going to aim for another £100 overpayment.
    Feels a bit selfish writing about myself constantly but for some reason I really enjoy reading other peoples diaries and this is definitely keeping me more focused than before :) 
    £0/£9000 remaining - Halifax CC paid off 29/01/21
    £2666/£3000 - Tesco CC
    £6924/£16k - Halifax personal loan  

  • alt80
    alt80 Posts: 4,190
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    He’ll be fine - all trades if decent are in high demand. 

    Mate I wouldn’t get worried about spending a few quid on your pets and kids. Needs to be a bit of balance in your life.
  • Good luck with the journey sounds like you have a plan in place just one off costs keep cropping up. 
    *Dad loan - £5300 - £1700
    *Virgin Credit Card - £3552.50 - £0
    *Barclaycard - £0

    *Total debt - £1700*

    *Sinking Fund - £2000/£3000*
    *Emergency Fund -£50/£2000

    *Debt Repayments Pot - £0/0*

    New diary- https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6474943/the-three-cs-coffee-clothes-credit-cards/
  • MB148
    MB148 Posts: 27
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    So got a bit bashed up last night at work and feeling quite sore now so whilst I'm sitting around in my Pyjamas I thought I'd update my diary! Pay day has been and I did quite well last month, not only overpaying the loan but paying my car tax in full for the first time in a while which is great, also had quite a few NSD's and the Rabbit is mega happy in his new run in the garden and is getting used to the dog staring at him.
    £1604 - Halifax CC 0% now £1134 
    £2694 - Tesco CC 0% now £2666 (min payment)
    £8599 - Halifax personal loan  now £8242 after overpayment and monthly payment
    Christmas is fast approaching but I will definitely be overpaying the loan again, hoping to do at least £200 on this, no real unexpected costs as of yet and just trying to not spend much day to day and maximise the NSD's. I could definitely get more strict per month after reading lots of diaries on here and push my overpayments harder, but will wait until after Christmas to do this.
    £0/£9000 remaining - Halifax CC paid off 29/01/21
    £2666/£3000 - Tesco CC
    £6924/£16k - Halifax personal loan  

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