My 2 year battle to try to keep our home

Tiredbutdetermined

The marking is still not there to do, which is frustrating but I have been trying to get stuff done whilst waiting.
I have updated my budget planner and need to keep acid this month. My budget pots are still very wonky and I haven’t tracked consistently enough to be able to readjust and create a workable budget. I think I need to have a look at whichever bank allows you to create savings pots for things like car maintenance and haircuts.

Natwest changed my perfectly fine debit card for a new one so Amazon prime and audible didn’t go out at the end of last month. I didn’t update my card details as the end of the month was a budgeting mess so I went to sort Amazon prime today but swapped my regular membership at £7.99 a month for student membership with 6 months free than £3.99 a month. That feels like a good use of my time.

I have also done a whopping payday PAD of 75p to my savings. I need my second loan payment to go out tomorrow so I can update my signature. My daughter has a genetics appointment in the morning but hopefully I can ring up and get up to date figures for that one tomorrow too

Tiredbutdetermined

Finally hit my 80% target on the marking before tomorrow’s deadline.

I have had to put petrol in my car, which makes me really grumpy. I can’t believe how much the cost has gone up in the last few months  

Tomorrow might be a bit of a blur with boring bits to get done and hopefully I can keep up to the marking in between

Tiredbutdetermined

Grr!
There is no marking available at all this morning, which is beyond frustrating

I have stepped on the scales this morning so when I get back from my daughters hospital appointment I can start my pretty new health journal and start an improvement of diet and exercise. I lost a load of weight last year through stress so I need to get it back down in a more sensible manner.

A load more of my direct debits have gone out this morning so I need another session with my budget planner. I also need to start putting a food shop together. I suspect June is going to have too much month and not enough money

Tiredbutdetermined

Finished the dreaded marking but now doing extra to bump up my pay a little.

The kids know this years extra hustle money goes to pay the solicitors for the divorce but they have started dreaming about a holiday next year with it. I have started the horrible realisation that this time next year I might still be stuck in this crud and still not divorced

I used the gym membership this morning and took 2 of the kids to the pool. They messed about and I did 42 lengths.

Tiredbutdetermined

Rang the PO this morning for an update on my loan total, very frustrating that I had to wait on the phone for 35mins for a 1 minute update on my total but it has gone down a little more than I had expected so quite chuffed with that.
I wish I had more clarity with the ex/divorce/house situation. If my savings aren’t needed for a house deposit then they could be used towards the loans and I would be nearing the halfway mark on my debt repayments. 

I did a little extra marking yesterday but ended up far too tired to do much. I still need to do a load of my regular school work too so need to balance myself this weekend. 

I decluttered the last of the bramble gin last night so that is a bonus. I have too many open bottles of spirits at the moment so need to have a good tidy up. Tonight I will try to work on the strawberry gin!

I need to update my budget planner later on and see if I can squeeze anymore money into savings. I did a tesco delivery earlier which cost an eye watering £132.73. I did get a load of cat food, cat litter, gerbil stuff and a load of gluten free pasta for me so hoping those bits will bring down the cost of the next shop

Suffolk_lass

You have done really well when you look at your signature. Over £9k of debt since May 21.

With the debt you have remaining being loans, rather than CC have you considered looking around for a 0% no fee credit card to balance transfer, and pay off the loan with a different card first so the balance is there to shift? It would save the interest and the magic snowball would move a bit faster.

I can't comment on house savings, except to say an emergency fund is a really good idea, so whether you call it EF or house savings, having some there gives you more options.

Tiredbutdetermined

Suffolk_lass said:

You have done really well when you look at your signature. Over £9k of debt since May 21.

With the debt you have remaining being loans, rather than CC have you considered looking around for a 0% no fee credit card to balance transfer, and pay off the loan with a different card first so the balance is there to shift? It would save the interest and the magic snowball would move a bit faster.

I can't comment on house savings, except to say an emergency fund is a really good idea, so whether you call it EF or house savings, having some there gives you more options.

I hadn’t actually thought about putting my loans onto a credit card but that would be an awesome move to reduce the interest, give the snowball more momentum but also I could make easier, more regular payments/PAD.  However, I am not sure I can right now as my mortgage offer expires in July so if the divorce isn’t sorted and the ex is still being a fudge stick then I could end up having to restart the mortgage process and taking the extra credit wouldn’t be best at the moment, especially when repaid loans don’t seem to show as cleared for a month or two.

When the ex transferred the energy bill to my name he left me £700 in debit. I am a bit proud I haven’t just repaid that but actually ended up in credit. I have taken a payment holiday this month on my gas and electric and am now £1.30 in debit, which feels better than credit and I have popped the £100 payment into my savings again.

My contents and buildings insurance was due for renewal so I have made a tiny saving there on the monthly cost. It was nice being able to think about paying annually rather than monthly but as the divorce still isn’t much further I was to keep my monthly expenses regular. Hopefully I can take that option in September when I renew my car insurance. I feel like a financial grown up!

Tiredbutdetermined

Had a busy weekend with a bit of expense
I had lunch with some friends yesterday and they gave me cash then I paid on card so it feels like a bigger cost. Money seems to have a way of disappearing from my purse so I am going to send some of the cash to pay a little off the cost of my daughter’s trip to a gym display in October.  Next month is going to be an expensive one as she qualified in her tumble comp last week to the English finals.

My signature seemed to have gone very wonky but I feel very chuffed with the amount I have in savings. I have never had proper savings before. I also have tutoring money saved for solicitors fees but the tutoring was mostly GCSE so will be a lot quieter now

I travel 40miles round for work each day and then lots of little journeys with tutoring and being mum’s taxi so I am really feeling the effect of the cost of petrol. I need to start driving in a more fuel efficient manner but I am always in a rush everywhere.

Hoping for a cheap week!

janb5

I think everyone is struggling with the petrol right now so you should be thrilled with all you have achieved.  Well done!

Tiredbutdetermined

Signature updated but not much else to update!

I think there may be some light at the end of the divorce/finances/mortgage tunnel but it might just be that the tunnel is on fire as the ex loves a plot twist!

My savings look pretty decent as I have been paid for some of my exam marking. However, I am racking up the solicitors bill at a scary rate so I have no idea what I might or might not be left with when the divorce stuff is sorted.

I am still worried my mortgage offer expires this month and things still might not be finalised in time.