“Debt is normal. Be weird.”

browneyed_girl

mumtoomany said:

Hi, @browneyed_girl. Reading this and your previous diary, I think you have the same job as my DD1. Shan't say what as I don't wish to out either of us. DD1 tells me that most people in her (and maybe your) field do not know they can claim tax back on their exam fees and any other fees to professional bodies. Worth it if you don't already claim. Must agree on the choice of biscuit. Are you aware they are on offer at Farmfoods at the moment, two twin packs for £3. Cheering you an, mumtoomany.

Hi mumtoomany!  Thanks for visiting and I very much appreciate the oath of secrecy!  As you later commented, I did finally pull my finger out and claim back on these professional expenses.  Three of my brothers are qualified chartered accountants and were all nagging me for a while!

Not aware of the biscuit offer - I must go and investigate!  I do also like the Lid! version which are much kinder on the wallet and probably of equal yumminess!  

browneyed_girl

Afternoon all 

Today is DH’s payday which means it’s a good day for debt-busting!  As this was his first full month at his new job, we weren’t sure exactly what to expect and I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was £300 more than I had cautiously budgeted for at the beginning of the month - winning!!

The extra £300 has already been put towards DH’s CC and the planned payment of £304.98 to Very has been made.  This means that there is only £249.99 remaining on Very and I plan to pay £50 a month towards this so that it will be cleared by the end of the year (next payment on my payday at the end of this month).

I’m also pretty confident that we can clear the balance on the Barclaycard in three months, which then leaves us more each month to throw at my CCs.  Very and CC debt to be cleared by the end of 2021 seems like a very achievable goal in my current good mood!

By my calculations, we still have a buffer this month of about £450 (I like to sit down with my spreadsheets and a notebook at the end of each month to budget for the following month and know what money we’ll have left to play with).  Whilst I would love to put this towards the debt, I’m aware that we have DD1’s birthday and the MOT due on my car within the next month.  Going to keep this aside for that, but fingers crossed there will be something left to put on the CC!

Spends today were £40 on fuel and £30.67 at Mr T on a small-ish shop that will see us through to Saturday.  

I also had a whopping 6p of interest added to my emergency fund balance.  I set myself the task of funding my emergency balance solely through earnings from surveys and cashback.  It’s definitely slow progress, but if I set myself a challenge then I can’t help but see it through to the end!  I’ve not had a lot of time for surveys and the like recently, but typing this now is giving me the necessary motivation to tackle some this evening.  I think I became disillusioned with the idea when I had to use the savings I had made last year (this was for spends related to the car purchase, which out of respect for DH will only ever be mentioned again as “the incident”)  It was difficult to see the balance go back to zero after months of hard work, but c’est la vie!  The current balance of £157 is from a very slow 4 months - I’m hoping I can get it to £300 by the end of September if I really focus.  Ooh, that sounds like goal number two from just this post alone!  Clearly, I’m in an MSE frame of mind today!

browneyed_girl

I just thought to update the figures in my signature - surely there is no task more satisfying?!

Feeling pleased that the payments today have taken us out of the £47k debt bracket and now into the £46k range.  Instantly, this feels like a much more manageable amount!

BlueJ94

Have to agree @browneyed_girl it's satisfying seeing the numbers decrease! I try and update mine monthly! Well done so far

badmemory

Just a warning as DH is in a new job.  Have the new employers given him a full tax code as if he hasn't worked at all earlier in the year?  If they have they are going to pull that back so next month will not be good!

browneyed_girl

That is a very good point @badmemory that I hadn’t considered.  There were deductions on his payslip but I didn’t scrutinise his tax code - rookie error!  

I’ll take another look and be extra cautious with predictions next month.  Thanks for the heads up!

browneyed_girl

Morning money savers! 

I feel as though I have lots to write about today, so I’ll aim to post on here a few times throughout the day as long as the kids remain preoccupied (as I type it, I’m already positive that this is purely wishful thinking!).

Firstly, I need to add to yesterday’s spends.  DH stopped at Mr T on the way home from work last night and spent £9.56.  He had called me earlier in the evening to discuss getting a takeaway as a payday treat, but then opted instead for Mr T as he knows I’m writing this diary and was worried his naughty spending would be scrutinised!  It seems this diary has powers I wasn’t even aware of!

I must admit to staying up yesterday evening to join in with the spoils, which I’m slightly regretting now - partly because it’s bad for my diet (which has been a bit of a non-starter recently) and partly due to the ridiculously early hour that DS then decided to wake me up this morning.  No work for me today though, so I’m sure I can muddle through in my sleep-deprived state! 

I do like to stay up to see DH home from work, despite the impact on my sleep.  As I work full-time hours during the week, DH looked for a job that could work around my shifts so that we didn’t have to spend a fortune on childcare.  Unfortunately, this does mean that we forfeit a lot of our evenings together, as the minute I walk through the front door at the end of my working day, DH is already getting in the car and heading off to his shift.  He then won’t be back until nearly midnight.  The only saving grace at the moment is that it’s the summer holidays so he can sleep in a bit in the mornings instead of being up early for the school run.  Thankfully, DS will be starting preschool in September and we now qualify for 30 free hours (this is the first time this has been the case and it feels like such a novelty!).  This means that DH will have an empty house during the day to power nap or at least put his feet up - he definitely deserves it! 

After years of getting by on my salary (with DH often picking up temporary work during periods of maternity leave) and the limitation that this put on repaying debt, it’s really worth it to find we can suddenly afford to pay off £1000 a month without any worry.  I know that a lot of people aren’t that lucky, so I try to count my blessings where I can

Right now, my four other blessings are fighting over crayons (of all things - we must have about a thousand), so I must be off to negotiate a truce, followed by a much needed cup of tea!  

[Deleted User]

Following.

No idea how you cope with 4 kids - I have 2 and am permanently exhausted!

Look forward to your updates (particularly on the biscuit front!)

browneyed_girl

Thanks for following @[Deleted User] - it helps keep me motivated!  How are you managing with the kids over the summer holidays?  I always struggle with finding cheap activities after exhausting all the options in the first few weeks.  I’m now resorting to sending them to various relatives for sleepovers (not all at once of course - I still want my family to be talking to me after!).

I just happen to be sat with the obligatory cup of tea and today’s biscuit - the humble bourbon.  Chocolate hobnobs unfortunately did not last long with all the kids hunting for snacks every minute of the day (does anyone know if we can send them back to school yet?!).  Still, I’m quite happy with a bourbon as anything with chocolate gets a thumbs up.  If I ever mention chowing down on a plain digestive, you’ll know I’ve been replaced by an evil clone

On a positive note, today looks as though it’s going to be a NSD  We don’t seem to have many, so it’s always worth celebrating when they happen. 

DH has also just had a phone call from his boss about working more hours.  It seems as though he’s quickly made himself invaluable (classic DH - it’s quite annoying to the rest of us mere mortals ).  DH has quickly accepted (knowing that this is potentially an extra £500 monthly), but I think we’re both a bit worried about the practical implications.  I don’t want him to push himself too far and regret the situation, though at the same I’m already planning how to use the extra funds to pay off debt!

I’m busy planning spends for tomorrow.  I know I need fuel as I have to make a couple of extra journeys in order to deliver birthday presents for various nieces and nephews.  Presents were bought a while ago (using Amazon CC - shame on me ) and I have a box of birthday cards (bought two years ago - 500 for £25) and spare/recycled wrapping paper that I can use.  I also need to get cash to add to a card for oldest nephew (soon to be 17) - DH thinks this should be £30 (I’m still not sure).  It does seem that you need to spend so much more as everyone gets older - I used to be able to find perfectly good quality presents for the children when younger without spending more than £10!  Add to that DD1 asking for a phone and things aren’t going to get any cheaper! 

Reminding myself now that I need to get to work on surveys etc.  I’m also waiting for £30 cashback to land in my TCB account from car insurance purchased a few months ago.  Will be adding this and any survey earnings to the EF - I need to see some progress here to keep me motivated. 

I now have DD3 being demanding and throwing herself onto the floor.  She does need to learn some patience, so I’ve managed to ignore it and carry on typing until now.  The problem is that I’m now getting a headache from the sheer effort of blocking out her tantrum, so I’m off to rifle through the medicine cabinet

[Deleted User]

Mine are only almost 3 and 9 months so I am currently on mat leave (though back at work in a month's time) and don't yet have the distinction between term time and holidays though won't be long for DC1!  Sleepovers are a good call!

Bourbon biscuit sounds good, pure bourbon even better!