Trying to keep on top of it all.Busy,crazy ,life!

Catty89

Thought I better start a new diary since its been a decade. 

I look back at my last posts on here and laugh and wish I could be that debt free even though we were on so much less money! 
Crazy how before you know it you have debt....and kids and become a full blown adult. 
Anyway, hello! I'm Cat, iv 3 kids ages 4,7&8 it's been a rollercoaster of having kids very close in age (3 in 3 years) and buying a house, and now there that bit older and all at school! Feel we are almost at a stage we can breath a little bit again....especially after the last 18 months with homeschooling, working from home and trying to keep my sanity. 
Not sure what il actually put in here tbh mostly ramblings, bits iv saved or bargains iv found (love a bargain) 

Catty89

So I was going to put up everything we owe and everything we earn and spend but I don't really think iv the energy for that just yet to be honest. 
I think we owe about £22,000. Most of that is a large loan. We took all our payments: car payment, 4 credit cards and put them all into one large loan and I'm happy to say after 18 months iv stuck to it and never touched a credit card again! I'm really pleased as my loan is £425 a month so that's alotttt of money that iv to pay for things I bought in a previous life. 

I'm finding life really very expensive right now. We don't even have sky or the kind of splurgy things I even cancelled my contact lenses which iv religiously used since I was 14 but I thought I'm paying 30pm when noone even sees me as always in a bloody lockdown. 


Our biggest is expense is definately our children. I know everyone will say what a ridiculous amount to spend but for there activities we are-

30pm on cheerleading

100pm on dancing for 2 girls 
£20pm each for swimming

£30pm for sons football lessons. 
That's alot isn't it. Thing is I want to add even more onto it haha but I need to stop they do enough activities. 

I have been shopping at Aldi lately and I'm down to about £50pw there then £20 every 2 weeks at the butcher's then a top up shop so I'm maybe 80pw I'm chuffed with that as it spiralled to about 120pw at one point.

Anyway I'm rambling and it's all over the place.

Catty89

Soo another random thing I need to add before I go to sleep! I just found vinted and I'm really enjoying it. 
I got my daughter a brand new pair of ballet shoes still in the packet for £3.50 and it was a collection from a shop which was free so no postage! This then sent me on a spiral and I got all the kids a Xmas jumper for £1 each with free postage. Usually December comes and I spend about £30/40 on this so was chuffed... 3 for £3 and no postage! 
Alot of them do charge collection postage but I just seem to get lucky and find some that are free not sure how they can even be free?!?
This then sent me on another spiral for Halloween and iv got 2 of my kids there Halloween costumes. Found a Harley Quinn costume in Argos for 6 quid back in June and my son got a mandalorian  costume for his bday and decided he was too old for dress up so that can be his. Old me would definately have bought him another costume as that one isn't scary. 
This then sent me on another spiral to check through all 3 wardrobes to see what clothes they have for autumn/winter. 
Safe to say my house is a total mess and iv now got 6 bundles of clothes to give to friends kids but least I know what they need/don't need which is surprisingly not alot!!

TheAble

Slow down a bit. You're 22k in debt and therefore you need to stop spending, irrespective of whether it's a "bargain" or not. Benjamin Franklin wrote that "many have been ruined by buying good pennyworths".

Cheerleading, dancing and all the rest of it is fine when you have money, but not when you're that much underwater. Get yourself in the black as a priority, and then you can reintroduce these things.

Catty89

TheAble said:

Slow down a bit. You're 22k in debt and therefore you need to stop spending, irrespective of whether it's a "bargain" or not. Benjamin Franklin wrote that "many have been ruined by buying good pennyworths".

Cheerleading, dancing and all the rest of it is fine when you have money, but not when you're that much underwater. Get yourself in the black as a priority, and then you can reintroduce these things.

I definately agree, I think my worry is that once I can finally afford it they will likely be too old for it. I think I need to have a good long think about it and maybe cut one of my daughters dance class and let her keep one or two classes. Or find cheaper activities as dancing is very expensive with all the shoes and outfits. 

Catty89

Today has been a busy one but I managed not to spend much. We leave the house at 8.30am and my son has swimming lessons, then just next door to that my daughter's have dancing. Usually when there doing their dancing the 3 of us go to Costa and get a bacon roll and coffees and I get hot chocolate for the kids. Anyway iv managed to cut it back today one bacon rolls and 2 baby hot chocolates (oldest daughter is in dancing longer and doesn't realise they have)  so it used to be about £16 but today we cut it to £7ish. It's something that is hard to stop as has become such a routine.
When oldest was in her dancing (she's in 9.45-12.15, little one just goes 9.45-10.15) I went to asda and done the weeks food shop and husband and the other 2 went and played football at the park. 
For the week ahead we have got 
Sausage and mash

Spaghetti carbonara

Wraps with different meat and veg 
Hot dogs for the kids and stir fry for us

Steak for husband, freezer meal for the kids.
Tuna pasta bake 

I have different meals to this as I'm currently recovering from a pretty serious health condition so I have to eat a very healthy diet for now so my body processes it easier.
I basically live on soup, brown rice, heaps of veg and plain chicken and brown bread. 
I do have the occasional cheat but it usually makes me feel sick so best to just stick to my plan. 

So everything from asda was £68.40 that even included my health drinks etc, healthy extras are so much dearer like olive spread than basic butter etc. 
I will have to do a top up at some point but I'm happy aslong as I stick to about £80.

Nothing else will be spent today. Tomorrow should be a NSD as we will be at my son's football game then grandma's for dinner. 

BellaLasagna2018

Catty89 said:

Today has been a busy one but I managed not to spend much. We leave the house at 8.30am and my son has swimming lessons, then just next door to that my daughter's have dancing. Usually when there doing their dancing the 3 of us go to Costa and get a bacon roll and coffees and I get hot chocolate for the kids. Anyway iv managed to cut it back today one bacon rolls and 2 baby hot chocolates (oldest daughter is in dancing longer and doesn't realise they have)  so it used to be about £16 but today we cut it to £7ish. It's something that is hard to stop as has become such a routine.

Routine or not, you’re the parent. What you say goes, or should anyway. £16 or £7, it’s still a lot of money to spend every week at Costa. (Assuming you do it term time only, so 35 weeks (I think) that’s £560 or £245 per year!!!)  

You could take a flask of hot chocolate and some breakfast stuff to have a « car picnic » . I bet the kids would love that. 

Catty89

BellaLasagna2018 said:

Catty89 said:

Today has been a busy one but I managed not to spend much. We leave the house at 8.30am and my son has swimming lessons, then just next door to that my daughter's have dancing. Usually when there doing their dancing the 3 of us go to Costa and get a bacon roll and coffees and I get hot chocolate for the kids. Anyway iv managed to cut it back today one bacon rolls and 2 baby hot chocolates (oldest daughter is in dancing longer and doesn't realise they have)  so it used to be about £16 but today we cut it to £7ish. It's something that is hard to stop as has become such a routine.

Routine or not, you’re the parent. What you say goes, or should anyway. £16 or £7, it’s still a lot of money to spend every week at Costa. (Assuming you do it term time only, so 35 weeks (I think) that’s £560 or £245 per year!!!)  

You could take a flask of hot chocolate and some breakfast stuff to have a « car picnic » . I bet the kids would love that. 

Crazy when you look add it up like that!! 
The bacon roll is the husband haha but tbh it's my fault as I used to go for myself and they used to have to tag along. I used to get ones from home bargains or milk shake drinks but your right they would like it just as much.

I think sometimes the problem is that it feels we can afford it as the money is there for it, in reality this money could be going to much more important things like savings or paying off debt early! 

greenbee

Is there a play area near the dance class? If so, go there, take your own drinks/snacks. Much more fun for the kids, cheaper for you. Just wrap up warm We used to do this, and it was a lot less stressful than trying to get them to sit still/be quiet/not knock their drinks over, plus they used up some energy... 

BellaLasagna2018

Catty89 said:

Crazy when you look add it up like that!! 

I used to do that for myself when I was in debt. I still do it, multiply to get the amount spent over a year. It can be an eye opener! 

Catty89

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household.........2
Number of children in household......... 3
Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................550
Partners monthly income after tax....... 2493.99
Benefits................................197
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income....................3240.99

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................493.21
Secured/HP loan repayments..............415
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax.............................167 (over 10 months)
Electricity............................. 60
Gas.....................................55
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 70 (for 2)
TV License.............................. 13.20
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 27 ( netflix plus some football payment for the laptop?)
Internet Services.......................27
Groceries etc. ......................... 400 (including cleaning products & toiletries)
Clothing................................ 50
Petrol/diesel........................... 80
Road tax................................ 2,43
Car Insurance........................... (pay yearly with topcashback money)
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 35
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 204.50 (swimming, dancing, cheer, club, this is term time amount)
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 9
Buildings insurance..................... 
Contents insurance...................... 13.27
Life assurance ......................... 50.38
Bank charges ......................... 34 for 2 (ridiculous going to look into changing mine to a free account, OH can keep for AA etc)
Presents (birthday, Christmas etc)...... 100
Haircuts................................ 50 (we only use this every few months)
Entertainment........................... 125
Holiday................................. 0 (we only save if we are going away)
Emergency fund.......................... 0
subscriptions.............. 15 - Amazon music
Total monthly expenses.................. 2684.99 ( this includes everything)


Assets
Cash.................................... 3200
House value (Gross)..................... 165,000 ( we still owe 121,000)
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 3000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 6200


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly.. .APR
Mortgage...................121,000... 498pm. (I dont know APR the details around 3%)
loan......17,742......415pm.....9% APR.... (i am trying to get them to lower APR as my credit score is better now)
Total secured & HP debts...... 

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly.. .APR
.credit card...............900...........50pm...........0 
Season tickets for football-177 .....59pm.....0 for 3 tickets
Laptop.....320.....27pm.....0
windows and doors- Hitachi-----2880......80pm....1.5 percent
Total unsecured debts.................£4227