Winds of change
WildflowerWind
Forumite 16 Posts
So here we go, I've been a long time lurker on these boards (over a decade since discovering MSE while at uni). I've had various levels of debt and have thought many times about starting a diary but never have (perhaps I didn't really want to be accountable?)
Now it seems like the perfect time, today is the first day of my maternity leave and DH and I are expecting our first baby very soon! We have excellent timing as we recently bought our first house and I started a new job only a few months ago.
We're not high earners and baby was a bit of a surprise so we haven't saved as much as we would have liked for maternity and baby costs and we have outstanding debts. I'd love to throw everything at paying these off but I have to be realistic about managing on a reduced income.
So debts, I will detail in full later but the story is: I had a student overdraft that I could never get out of after uni with min wage jobs. Then a couple of credit cards that just spiraled. I've had a few mini light bulb moments over the years and have a much better handle on things now and have been paying off gradually over the last couple of years.
My aim for this diary is to keep on track, keep paying off the debts, and try not to add to them! There's so much we want to do to the house and we know it's going to be a long process to get to where we want to be. There's huge changes to our lives and we need to make good financial decisions - while enjoying some quality of life.
I'm going to post on here to keep myself accountable and, hopefully to look back and see how far we've come! Thanks for reading and following along 😊
Now it seems like the perfect time, today is the first day of my maternity leave and DH and I are expecting our first baby very soon! We have excellent timing as we recently bought our first house and I started a new job only a few months ago.
We're not high earners and baby was a bit of a surprise so we haven't saved as much as we would have liked for maternity and baby costs and we have outstanding debts. I'd love to throw everything at paying these off but I have to be realistic about managing on a reduced income.
So debts, I will detail in full later but the story is: I had a student overdraft that I could never get out of after uni with min wage jobs. Then a couple of credit cards that just spiraled. I've had a few mini light bulb moments over the years and have a much better handle on things now and have been paying off gradually over the last couple of years.
My aim for this diary is to keep on track, keep paying off the debts, and try not to add to them! There's so much we want to do to the house and we know it's going to be a long process to get to where we want to be. There's huge changes to our lives and we need to make good financial decisions - while enjoying some quality of life.
I'm going to post on here to keep myself accountable and, hopefully to look back and see how far we've come! Thanks for reading and following along 😊
2
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Love your username. You’ll find lots of support and encouragement on the DFW Diary board.
I've read some amazing stories on here and learnt loads, everyone has been so inspiring and supportive of each other.
CC 1 - £1736 0% until 30/06/22
CC 2 - £2388 0% until 31/07/22
CC 3 - £334 0% until 01/11/22
CC 1 is what remains of my historical debt, built up by overspending and not paying off cards, plus my overdraft. I've chipped away at this for a while, it was around £4000 at one point. At the moment I'm paying £60 per month towards it. I won't clear it before the 0% runs out so will likely need to shuffle.
CC 2 is balance on a car, DH's died last year and we bought another, secondhand. We each pay £50 so £100 a month comes off in total. At that rate we will also need to look when the 0% runs out.
CC 3 is some course fees for DH who's looking to start a side business. He's paying £150 a month so will clear that soon.
We may have to add to the list at some point as we want to swap my car for a cheaper one, I'm thinking we can manage with one while I'm not working and we can look at options.
We have an emergency fund of £1000 and some small savings, around £500 left in the baby fund and £1600 maternity fund (this won't go far to cover the drop in income but its something!). We put money aside to cover annual costs like car insurance etc but I'm not sure how we'll do this from next month.
Our baby was unexpected too, coming after 10 years of marriage so we hadn’t prepared as well as we might have, although I did get the mortgage down to around 15K.
Anyway, this diary is about you not me. One thing I will say and it is stating the obvious - Make sure you get your Child Benefit and any Tax Credits sorted as soon as possible.
I think you might be quite busy pretty soon so not sure how often you’ll manage to post
Good luck with your bet clearing as well as your baby
Good advice on the benefits, I've got the child benefit stuff ready and I sent my confirmation to start my maternity allowance today. I'll have to look into tax credits again, I had a feeling we weren't eligible but I'm not sure.
Haha yes I may be pretty occupied soon! We'll see how the debt busting goes but there may be other priorities 😄
Its pay day tomorrow, I always like to take stock and plan for the month ahead, I keep quite a strict budget in my own account but our joint account isn't managed so much. This might have to change as I won't be able to put in as much and we can't rely on a buffer in there anymore. Something to discuss with DH.
I do need to keep active and eating well at the moment, usually I love running and play sports, and I love cooking. My job can be quite active so I need to be careful I don't just stop now I'm on leave. I am going to try taking some more regular walks and to be a bit adventurous with cooking. There's also a few bits to do to prepare for baby so plenty to keep busy with, without wearing myself out of course!