New Habits Needed...

BalanceBy50

So having been hanging around the forums since 2015 and starting a short lived diary in 2019 and really not getting much further in my debt busting ways I thought I would start a new diary. I follow several diaries and I am so inspired in many ways and have acquired new habits just from reading these diaries that I want to crack on and become debt free now.  Good news is that my husband and I are in a much better place than we have been for years.

The background....
We have a DMP ticking away in the background and I am not too worried about this - I pay the payments and have been luckily enough to reduce the debts from 10 down to 6 and I will continue to save for F&F payments to clear these. These are all defaulted and should disappear of our credit file this year apart from one which is, unfortunately, October 2016.

However I haven't learnt my lesson and took on additional debt which needs clearing asap as I would like to do some major work on our house within the next two years which will require additional borrowing on the mortgage but I want to be in the best possible place, financially to do this.

Credit Card balance - £2,771.49 apr 26.4% monthly payment £150
Store Card - £1833.74 apr 23.9% monthly payment £150
HP - £25 last payment of £25 on 22/5/21
Family Loan 1 - £200 pay £100pm
Family Loan 2 - £450 not paying anything at the moment 
Family Loan 3 -  £505 - pay back bits when I have spare funds  
Total - £5785.23

We have £800 in an emergency fund and lots of saving pots to pay other things from; Christmas, Gifts, Clothes, Beauty/Health, Car, House, Holiday, Big Birthday Celebrations.  I also overpay the mortgage every month, only by £28 but surely it all helps.

I wanted to be debt free apart from the DMP by the end of 2021 but this will not happen however my new debt free date is Nov 22 but I want to knock 6 months off of that.

New habits I want to acquire....
Over payments to cards
Stop spending more than I have in my savings pots and then trying to repay them back - currently I am about £500 adrift on this.  I have rejigged the budget and increased some amounts (food & groceries!!) so that hopefully we should have enough in each pot now.
Stop wasting money on a daily basis. I get paid monthly & DH gets paid weekly so I allow £100 for entertainment and other stuff - this pot is called weekly spends.  I am going to track this on a daily basis on this diary in the hope I shame myself.  I have already 'borrowed' £16.03 from next weeks weekly spends.  I am fed up of standing at check outs moving money around on my phone as their isn't enough in the pot I am using to pay for whatever I am buying!!

Longer term money management...
Start saving for annual bills - mainly car insurance and home insurance.  I have renewed our home insurance today and thankfully the charge for paying it monthly was only £8.
Sort out our pensions - I think between us we have 8 or 9.  I need to gather the paperwork for all of them, some don't even have our up to date addresses and we have lived in our current house for 11 years! Check they have details for nominations and then get some independent advice on what to do with them and what our future retirement looks like.
Cars - no budget to replace either car and they are starting to age.
House - I want an extension!

I deal with all the money stuff in our house - my husband rarely spends anything/buys anything and when he does he asks which card to use!

There I think that's it for now.  Will be back later with today's repayments and money news xx

WinterWarrior

Good luck @BalanceBy50. Starting is the hardest part.
I have also started a diary this month and was doing similar with my pots, adding at the beginning of the month and then taking it all back. I am hoping this is the beginning of a new way of life ⭐️

BalanceBy50

WinterWarrior said:

Good luck @BalanceBy50. Starting is the hardest part.
I have also started a diary this month and was doing similar with my pots, adding at the beginning of the month and then taking it all back. I am hoping this is the beginning of a new way of life ⭐️

@WinterWarrior 😁.  Thank you for the good luck message x

WinterWarrior

We can do it!! I have followed you. Feel free to follow mine if you want to see my daily mutterings 🤣 

BalanceBy50

So today I have spent £4.58 on breakfast - this is a big weakness of mine that I need to tackle!

 I have renewed my home insurance today and saved about £50 on my annual premium - still paying it monthly and would like to be in a position where I can pay it annually. 

I have rejigged all my pots and moved my weekly standing orders from a Thursday to a Friday - DH gets paid on a Thursday but we were getting a text to say there wasn’t enough money in the account so I have moved the standing orders to a Friday so our account will look to be in better health. I may also need to take a couple of hundred pounds from a saving account to create a buffer as there are pinch points in the month due to the weekly pay day and no longer have an over draft 😁 x

BalanceBy50

WinterWarrior said:

We can do it!! I have followed you. Feel free to follow mine if you want to see my daily mutterings 🤣 

Thank you 😁 I have read you diary and bookmarked it - I will be following you xx

WinterWarrior

Weekly pay days must be a challenge when everything big comes out monthly! At the moment I have all the large payments come out in the first week of the month, so I only look good for a few days and then wham, it’s gone! The aim is to have 3-6 months living expenses saved a la Dave Ramsey, but it may take some time. 

I take it you go out to work? I have worked from home for 15 years and hope it continues, it cuts out a lot of temptation. Normally I have coffee at 8am and then a slice of toast and coffee at 10am. Routine keeps me on the straight and narrow. 

[Deleted User]

Welcome back, I think I used to lurk on your previous diary Good luck, I've subscribed to cheer you on

BalanceBy50

[Deleted User] said:

Welcome back, I think I used to lurk on your previous diary Good luck, I've subscribed to cheer you on

Thank you BCNS much appreciated 😁

BalanceBy50

Quick update as it’s late and it’s been a long day! Almost a NSD however I managed to get hold of some greenhouse glass which has been like hens teeth round here. Needed 6 panes but bought 7 as don’t have complete faith in DH not to break one whilst cutting it to size 🤦🏻‍♀️ So a £30.50 spend out of the house pot but only £16 in it so need to do some juggling. This is a habit I need to break!

I have 2 primary school aged boys who have started a new activity and want to keep doing it so need to pay a month in advance for both of them plus they need a bit of kit. Youngest has also started music lessons in school which is also an extra cost & I need to buy some books for that. Why are kids so expensive? 

Full budget update tomorrow x

BalanceBy50

WinterWarrior said:

Weekly pay days must be a challenge when everything big comes out monthly! At the moment I have all the large payments come out in the first week of the month, so I only look good for a few days and then wham, it’s gone! The aim is to have 3-6 months living expenses saved a la Dave Ramsey, but it may take some time. 

I take it you go out to work? I have worked from home for 15 years and hope it continues, it cuts out a lot of temptation. Normally I have coffee at 8am and then a slice of toast and coffee at 10am. Routine keeps me on the straight and narrow. 

Before children when I earned more my monthly salary covered the DD’s and DH’s covered food, petrol & entertainment now roles are reversed and he earns more but as its weekly I have never really got on top of it. Lots of our DD,s come out after my pay day but it’s only the last year I have got back to earning nearly as much as I did pre kids. Two mat leaves on SMP & spending like I was still earning have contributed largely to our debts. Lots of flickering lightbulb moments but never stayed on for long but hopefully the flickering is getting stronger.

Yes I go out to work & I like to have my breakfast in peace once I get there catching up on the bbc news website! Worked from home today so had egg on toast after the school run before my first online meeting 😁 maybe I need to do that more often? X