“Debt is normal. Be weird.”

LzzyIsGod

That's quite a big increase! How much is the Very amount at? Is it a buy now pay later one? Just asking as I remember from other diaries Very can have a really high APR

browneyed_girl

The Very interest does get absolutely ridiculous if you don't pay off the BNPL items before the necessary date - thankfully we've always cleared it before then and will do so again this time!  Sometimes the interest is more than 40%!!  

At the moment, our Very balance is at £994.49 with us due to pay off another £179 once DH gets paid at the end of this week.  Our BNPL interest-free period doesn't end until November so plenty of time to get it cleared - this should really be done by the end of April according to my spreadsheets and the spreadsheets never lie...

browneyed_girl

I'm aware that I haven't been posting as regularly because work has been busy, but I also know that this keeps me on track and I really need to try and make the effort even if I'm feeling knackered at the end of the day. 

Spending in the last week hasn't been great.  Food and fuel spend has been nearly £300 already out of the £800 monthly budget, mostly because the first shop of the month involves stocking up the cupboards.  This should mean subsequent shops this month are cheaper, but with DH's expensive taste and my frequently changing cravings, I'm not as confident as I normally am!

Extra spends budget has also taken a hit early on this month as we had a list of things we'd put off getting last month to stay in budget then (mostly tools/DIY kit necessary for all our planned redecorating).  We don't have any big events or anything during March that would necessitate a large spend so I'm not too worried about this.  However, we had planned on purchasing some !kea furniture for the living room that amounts to £115 (originally £144 but I have a £20 voucher from completing a recent survey, plus I signed up for the family reward account that knocks off another £9) which is still manageable, but I'm saving buying it until the end of the month to make sure we don't go over budget.  

As it stands currently until next payday (27.03):

• Remaining food/fuel/sundries budget - £500.93
• Remaining "extra spends" budget - £226.11.
  

browneyed_girl

Argh!  Another weekend of grocery shopping, fuel top ups and unexpected spending on the necessary bits for DH to fix a leaking pipe under the sink.  Pretty much all the piping has been replaced but at least the leak is fixed at a fraction of the cost of calling a plumber.  Still, very depressing paying for this when I had plans for the rest of our extra spends budget

A few smaller spends on a birthday card for a relative turning 60 and some choccies for SIL who has just had her first baby.  Bless her - she looks completely shattered only a few weeks in!  

Have tried to be really good but did spend a whole £1.38 on myself in L!dl on my way home after a nightmare day (overslept, rushed in without packing any food from home, barely stopped all day, on my feet all afternoon and told myself picking up anything from the expensive canteen was akin to blasphemy).  Cue being so hungry and tired that I couldn't even make the 40 minute drive home without an injection of sugar and hence the irresistible pull of L!dl bakery...

So, remaining budget to last the next 16 days until payday are:

• Food/fuel/sundries - £292.60
• Extra spends - £160.61

I've also put together a list of things that next month's extra spends budget will need to cover.  Unfortunately, there's Mother's day, Easter, DD2's birthday and our trip away to visit friends to factor in so going to have to be careful...

LzzyIsGod

Im with you! For a shortish 4 week month to payday it seems very long .......... keep going though. I think navigating the unexpected spends and still not using credit is the hardest bit, blooming life hey.

browneyed_girl

Thanks @LzzyIsGod - I don't think I'd be so depressed by it all if the debt was actually coming down, but it's gone up because of spending on house and garden renovations!!  Telling myself it will all be worth it, but I'm very driven by seeing the numbers on my spreadsheet go down so am desperately seeking some other way to motivate myself!

A few spends on food today to ensure there is enough in to last the rest of the family the weekend.  As I'm working long hours this weekend, I won't have the chance to shop then and if I gave the task to DH then I know there would be a massive overspend!  Spent £26.97 at L!dl, £6.48 at B&M (plus another £1.50 for a new cup for DS after he broke his and was absolutely heartbroken!) and £10 cash taken out to allow the kids to pop to the local shop over the weekend for a few treats. 

Remaining budgets until 27.03 are:

• Food/fuel/sundries - £231.61
• Extra spends - £169.51

Strangely, I think I prefer having a tighter budget to work from as the month goes on as it makes decisions much simpler.  Instead of thinking "why not" or "maybe" when considering spends, it's just a blanket "no".  Part of me seems to like that absolute.  The only problem is that I'm the only one in the household that listens to the "no".  DH sees a dwindling budget and just seems to think "F*** it!"  Still some work to be done then!

browneyed_girl

I don't think I like March very much.  Good news seems to be in short supply and finances are just looking miserable.  Plus work has been hectic and I've had very little downtime - made even harder by DH insisting on pushing on with decorating! 

Very nearly had a rant on here after my long weekend working due to DH messaging me whilst I was dealing with an emergency at work in order to complain about there not being enough food in the house.  Firstly, there was plenty of food in the house, just not everyone's favourite foods with umpteen choices to pick from as I was sticking to a budget (so what if the kids are fussing about having a sandwich instead of getting to choose from the usual wraps/crumpets/muffins/bagels etc?! They can eat it or go hungry!).  Secondly, I was working a 13 hour shift and he was at home perfectly capable of going out and buying something!!  Seriously felt like tearing him a new one last weekend, but have mentioned my displeasure once and then bitten my tongue (not an easy thing for me to do!).  Hoping he got the message though, because next time I might not be able to hold back my full wrath!

As it currently stands, we're going to be over our food budget for this month anyway.  However, rather than being like past me and deciding the taking part was good enough and carrying on my merry way, I've opted to allocate £50 of the "extra spends" budget towards food.  Although this means not getting an item of furniture I was hoping for this month, I think it's much more important to actually make the effort to stick to the budget goals I've set.  I'm so used to just accepting overspends as we are able to absorb them financially speaking, but the reality is that this attitude won't stand us in good stead for the future.  I'm still hoping to pay off all the debt and the mortgage by 50! 

I suppose a few good things have happened in the last week - I cashed out £100 on Swagbucks (took a few months to get to that) and added it to the holiday pot; I've got £16.51 pending in my Prolific account just from logging on for one evening and pregnancy has now passed the 24 week point which is always a critical time in my mind!  Family still don't know about it and the longer it goes on, the less I feel inclined to tell them!  DH and I are quite enjoying having our little secret - I'm just waiting for one of the kids to notice something since I can only hide my growing bump for so long!  DH isn't as concerned.  In his words - "I don't think we need to worry. Our kids are pretty dumb".  So charming!  Not sure I would have used those exact words, but they're definitely typical kids more wrapped up in themselves and their own dramas to really notice anything that's going on around them!  

So, just to sum up finances for the rest of the month, remaining balances until 27.03 are:

• Food/fuel/sundries - £122.29 (including the £50 shifted from extra spends)
• Extra spends - £63.95

Looks very doable as I type it knowing it's really only 6 days with that budget.  I could have been fooled into thinking the food/fuel budget would have been manageable even without the additional £50, but I know both I and DH need fuel this weekend which would have cleared out most of it.  Still hoping I can work some wonders with food budget though!  It does help that MIL has offered to have the kids for a sleepover tomorrow which means one day's worth of food that can rollover to next week's meal plan.  Wonder if she'd keep them for the week if I asked nicely?!
 

browneyed_girl

Payday tomorrow!  Can't come soon enough if you ask me!  Pregnancy-induced insomnia is giving we way too much time to think things over and play with figures in my head.  Tonight, the addition of heartburn to the mix has me sat up on the sofa, sipping hot chocolate (it works better for me than Gaviscon or Peptac bizarrely!) and planning next month's spending.

March hasn't ended as abysmally as expected.  £10.27 left in the food/fuel budget and -£5.24 in the extra spends budget with today planned as a NSD.  Went over on that because DH picked up a guitar from FB as a present for MIL this weekend - time-sensitive so didn't want to risk it being sold and then having to spend more down the line.  Had budgeted for Mother's day spends after payday so it will actually save on that.  Am trying to work out if I can buy the furniture I wanted last month with this month's budget - my initial estimate of total spends was £489 out of £500 for next month, but I've already managed to cut that down by nearly £100.  Got a £50 Am@zon gift card as a reward for applying for an Am@zon CC.  Was accepted and given a £9000 limit but never intend to use it - just wanted the gift card!  Feels a bit naughty, but also like getting one up on companies like this!  I'm aware that it can have an impact on my credit rating, but this is already excellent and I have no need for credit in the near future (she says, optimistically).

Have used the gift card to buy a present for SIL's birthday, a gift for best friend expecting her first baby and a few other bits and bobs.  That's essentially £50 that I had expected to pay from the extra spends budget next month that has now been freed up for other things

I've also reviewed planned spends and shopped around for some better deals.  Luckily, the bean bag chair I want for DD1's room (which has now been fully painted and decorated with new bed, desk, blinds and lighting - DD1 is really chuffed!) is 20% off (saving £12) and DH has already bought the underbed storage boxes I wanted with a refund he had on his Am@zon account.  

The thing that may put a spanner in the works is that DH has decided he wants to change his job.  He had the opportunity to do so in December and go back to working with some people he had worked for previously, but turned it down at the time because he felt his current job was more convenient to fit around kids etc.  Now, he's not enjoying his current job (boss is awful) and the position he was offered in December is essentially being held open for him.  He has a meeting tomorrow to discuss this - the issue currently is that they may not be able to offer him the hours that he wants right away as it's a fairly new company that they are building up.  However, I'm willing to take the financial hit short-term if it means DH can be happier in his job, plus there would be advancement opportunities and increases to salary in the near future that might make us better off in the long run.

Anyway, hot chocolate has done the job so I'm back off to bed to see if sleep comes more easily this time...

browneyed_girl

So DH has called to say that he's moving job, effective pretty much immediately!  Turns out he's actually going to get paid more straight away (by almost £500!) but the job involves more travel time so we're going to need to be absolutely on it for time organisation where the kids are concerned.  We're also going to be relying on DD1 a bit more for help with morning school runs - hoping she can be mature about it instead of giving us the usual teenage response of an incoherent mumble followed by shutting herself in her room for the remainder of the day

Although DH is getting paid more, the problem we're going to have to figure out is that currently he gets paid weekly and now he'll switch to monthly.  This means that we won't see a full payday for him until May 10th and will therefore need to budget accordingly.  It's completely upset my current plan to pay £389 off Very tomorrow and part of me is gutted that I'm not going to see any positive change on my debt spreadsheet for a few more weeks, particularly since the debt has been going up recently due to the renovations around the house.  I'm hoping that since it's all due to DH's decisions that he'll at least be fully onboard with the necessary money squeezing this month!

Having done a few calculations, I can still cover the usual monthly costs, plus the £300 to annual Monzo pots and still put £97.07 on my CC to round it to a nice even £2000.  I might have to be stricter with our £500 extra spends budget though and I don't think I'm ever getting that storage unit for the living room!!
  

browneyed_girl

I really miss the days when Saturday mornings were set aside for lie-ins and lazy mid-morning breakfasts.  As it stands, we were all up by 7am to get DD1 ready for her DofE walk which had a starting point about an hour's drive away (excellent planning by the school ).

Still, it's let me get an early start on the usual weekend housework since I'm out later this morning to help one of my brothers with putting up furniture in his new house.  SIL is still recovering from her C-section so hasn't been able to do any heavy lifting - really unfortunate timing for moving house!  I also need to get grocery shopping done today - at least my brother's house is very near the supermarket so saves me a separate journey and and the not so insignificant fuel costs.  Have tried to stick to a very budget meal plan in view of DH and his whole job switch/payday palaver but I'm not sure it's going to go down well with all the kids.  If it wasn't for DD3 then it would be much easier, but her restricted eating means having a very limited repertoire to choose from or face having to cook different meals each day.

I've made a few purchases since payday, with the bulk of these going on the 0% CC as they are house-related.  This is instead of using the extra spends budget that we won't have this month due to the aforementioned job palaver.  I have agreed with DH though that these spends are going to be paid off on his first payday so won't add to the running balance that I'm aiming to pay off in full early next year.  I'd rather not have spent anything, but needed the paint and new blind for the hallway/landing that is currently in a half-decorated state - I can't live with it like it is for the next month!  Once the hallway is done, I'm hoping that the weather will be suitable for DH to finish all the gardenwork that he started (we still have fence panels sat doing nothing in the back garden).  Luckily, MIL has just retired and is already eyeing up our garden as her first project! 

Other than food and fuel this month, the only other necessary spends I have planned are a small gift for my mum for Mother's Day (she just wants a voucher), £45 on DD2's next lot of drama lessons and Easter eggs for kids and nieces/nephews.  I know I can stick to this for the month - I'm just hoping DH doesn't do his usual scrolling and buying in the evenings as this is what always messes up our budget!