Debt and Budget (Reset) plan

enthusiasticsaver

Looks like you are doing well with the Lloyds CC overpayments.  Good that it is now below £2k. Keep going with the budgeting. I have a Starling account too and love the separate pots  in the savings spaces. 

shell16

Thanks for checking in @enthusiasticsaver

Yes I'm very pleased with the Lloyds CC reduction and payments I'm making. I need to pay around £183 a month to stay on track to becoming debt free in around 12 months. Fingers crossed 🤞 

Starling is great for the pots system,  they have a definite fan in me!

Shell xx

shell16

What another lovely sunny day and its Friday so a double bonus!

Made a £5 PAD to Lloyds CC and already have a £10 overpayment for the next payment due in a months time.  I think when I finally do reach that milestone of being debt free, I will continue with the PAD's towards other things like savings and mortgage overpayments....a dream at the moment but all the time getting nearer!

Not alot planned this weekend, weekly budget reset and so I need to draw £145 from the cash machine today to split between Grocery and Fuel.  Its my last week (and a bit) of my paycheck before getting paid again on 18th July so another 10 days to go.  My account is looking very sorry for itself at the moment and Im not even taking anything out I shouldnt be like overpayments, where these are coming form surveys or save the change.  

Roughly worked my next budget out for July and on paper its looking ok, but all really depends how I finish this month and whatever figure I end up with negative or positive will be what is rolled over, I have a feeling im going to hit my overdraft again.

I also have holidays coming up and im hopeful with being away and solely using my Holiday savings to fund the entire trip that my account will have chance to recuperate. Schools out so no more costs for 6 weeks but will need to be mindful of using those savings to go towards things to do with my girls when we get back and will need to last 4 weeks.  The grocery budget will be saved for the 2 weeks I am away on holiday as eating out is fully funded so thats £200 there, school costs will be around £190 so need to be aware of those and plan carefully.

Im on my own tonight as my husband and daughters are away and back tomorrow so will get myself a G&T and sit down with my budget book and work out what I am going to do and how im going to fund it!

Thats about all for now.
Shell x

sunshine_raincloud

Sounds like all your planning and hard work will be paying off with having the holiday fund stashed away! Hope you are going somewhere nice 

shell16

Hi @sunshine_raincloud

We have a motorhome so our trips are substantially reduced.  We are heading up into Scotland for our Summer holiday this year.  Going to various places including Edinburgh, St Andrews (Hubby and Brother in law play golf) and Loch Lomond plus a couple of other places along the route.  Im just really hoping we have good weather as I prefer the south coast for summer as more often than not guaranteed better weather. 

Hope you have something nice planned for summer too?
Shell x

Sewn

I need to have a better look at some of the challenges, I'm not good at setting budgets for things (hence the level of debt no sh*t sherlock) and I think to keep me on the straight and narrow I'm going to have to start budgeting properly

Squirrelz92

Love the idea of being to travel in a motorhome! Such a brilliant way to see the sights in the UK!
Brilliant news with your Lloyds payments! Must be such a thrill knowing if you stick to the £183 you could be DF in a year!!! 

shell16

Hi @sewn the best way to set a budget is look at what you are spending.  Have a look at your bank statements from the last 3 months then add up and divide by 3 to get an average amount and use that every month.  It is trial and error, i found watching youchoob vids of others budgeting really interesting from a point of view of how to do my own.  When I first started my debt journey in August last year, I had never set a budget in my life.  Its the first thing I do on a morning now and I know where every penny of my paycheck goes. 

@Squirrelz92 I love our Motorhome and you are quite right we are able to see alot of places within the UK. Pre covid, we even travelled to France every year.  Its a big expense initially (loan payment nearly completed for this though woohoo!) but the actual savings we make as a family are huge.  2 weeks abroad on a plane holiday during summer you are looking at around £3k to £4k as a minimum, we can go away in our motorhome and eat out every day including spends for around £2k.  Thats just 1 holiday, we go away lots for weekends or for other adhoc hols during the year too.

Shell x

shell16

Evening all!

im sat here with my G&T on my own as Hubby and my Girls are away until tomorrow so just thought I would give an update on what I have done today.  This post isnt debt related but it is budget related, its a bit of a long one .

  I have mentioned that I have struggled to build up an emergency fund since I started this journey in August last year.  Something has always happened which has depleted the fund, I know thats what its there for however its one of those things that has really been bugging me!   

Secondly I havent got anything saved for school uniform whatsoever!  My youngest starts high school in September and my eldest also now needs a new blazer, so come August (at the very latest) I need to buy 2 blazers, 2 skirts, 2 pairs of shoes, tights, school bags (handbags!) PE kits.  As with most schools, the blazer, skirt  & PE kit have to have the logo on so im thinking I will need at least £250.

I see these 2 as pretty urgent, so here is what I have done.... I had £300 saved in my EF already ( I set myself a £500 target).  I also had £359 saved in my Holidays fund.  This figure excludes the savings I have already for my summer holiday in a couple of weeks, so isnt that urgent that I need it now or anytime soon. I sent £200 to my EF so that is fully funded, and the remaining £159 I have sent to my School Uniform fund.  I need £91 to ensure I meet at least £250 target which I will send when I get paid on 18th July.

I have mentioned I watch some youchoob budget videos and someone I am watching reprioritised their sinking funds and focused on a particular saving fund until it was fully stuffed (Virtually) which I thought was a really good idea hence why I decided to do above.  I have listed everything I need savings fund wise between variable and Annual and prioritised them pretty much like debts.  I currently put away something like £500/£600 a month to various savings and I have worked out for the remainder of the year i will need to carry on with this.  From beginning of next year I should only need to put around £200 a month as most of the funds will be where they need to be.  In addition my loan is paid off in November and I will be £385 a month better off. 

So Im hoping I can chuck more disposable income to debt come the new year, thats the plan anyway!  I know all too well, life has a way of steering you away from the debt free path and I also appreciate I may have to dip into these funds too, but this way, If I get them to a good level I shouldnt have to start from scratch just top up if that makes sense?

Sorry for the long post....why is it MSE is the first port of call for these things, I couldnt wait to get this typed up!
Have a good rest of the evening and a great weekend!

Shell x

shell16

Morning

What a lovely weekend we have had weather wise and looks set to continue too which is good!  Lots of washing done over the weekend and basket is empty, so hot things were drying in less than an hour!

Ive made a £3.50 PAD to Lloyds CC today and have sent £22.50 so far to the Credit card already before my next usual payment of £114 comes out first week of August.  At least another £46.50 needed to make sure I stay on track to becoming debt free sooner.

I have £4.86 cleared in Prolific and £1.22 pending so as soon as I hit £5 or over will get that cashed out and sent to Lloyds CC. 

Looking forward to tackling my various saving/sinking funds and using the priority method to get them stuffed to target within least possible time rather than sending various amounts to various pots.  If I tackle one at a time and send all available cash to that fund, I will see savings/sinking funds grow much more quickly.

A busy day ahead, so will close off for now.
Shell x