Currently clueless...aiming for awareness

savingholmes

Are you got to be able to sustain the over  £1K a month reduction you had between May and June of your unsecured debt? If so you are likely to owe £16K less by the time your mortgage renews which will be a great help.

canvascamper

I'm going to try my best but not sure, we've got new carpet coming on Tuesday which we've had to buy on 0% credit so that will add £2k to the amount rather than reduce it, unfortunately.
I'm hopeful we can reduce it significantly but last month was a particularly good one. 

This weekend has been reasonable. Saturday we stayed home all day whilst the children fully recovered from their stomach bug. Managed to list a load of stuff on Vinted so I can fund some new summer clothes for Child 1 including a new wetsuit ready for summer holidays. So far I've made £15. 

Today is Father's Day so we made a fuss of Mr CC in the morning then drove over to see my dad and Mr CC's dad in the afternoon. £30 in diesel. I also did a food shop for packed lunches and the next couple of days of food, £40 on food 😩 so expensive for fruit, nuts, vegetables. 

canvascamper

Ooh hello diary, it's been a while!
All sorts going on the last couple of weeks, life has been crazy!
The good news is I've sold enough on Vinted to buy some of my daughter's birthday presents on Vinted with my account credit, so basically for free.
The bad news is my pots are all looking very empty and it's nearly the summer holidays when I was hoping to have a bit of a buffer.

New carpet came last week, I'm very pleased with it, BUT the new monthly payment starts in August just to add to the list of monthly payment commitments. It seems to grow every month.

savingholmes

Well done on the Vinted sales. It all helps.

On the debt side of things - until you can break the cycle of adding to your debt e.g. the carpets you will find it difficult to make progress. I know because that's where I was stuck on repeat for a long time.

canvascamper

Well good morning!
Have been MIA, life has been manic! Oldest child finished primary school, youngest finishing nursery to start primary, middle child in productions, work has been crazy...
Anyway we're en route to Cornwall for 2 weeks of (rainy) camping so I'm going to be here logging spending. We've got a fairly tight budget and I'm going to try my hardest not to reach for the credit card.
First stop will be Gloucester services for breakfast. Not particularly budget friendly! But at least the play area is free and will let the kids get some energy out, we've been driving since 7am. 

canvascamper

Today's spends - 
Breakfast for 5, plus sweets and drinks for the journey £44
Camping pitch for 2 weeks £670

Remaining budget for 2 weeks is £373, plus MrCC has £400. So around £50 per day for the 5 of us. May be a bit tight 😬

Some things are already planned, so we know we want to go to Heligan which is £55 entry, and I've already booked Eden Project with clubcard vouchers so that's free save for food (will try and do a picnic because food there is £££).
We've got national trust membership so will do Lanhydrock, and parking is free at various places. 
Tomorrow looks like horrendous weather so we might do a Meerkat movies to see Ninja Turtles.
Hopefully the sun will come out in the next few days and we can have some free beach days!!

canvascamper

Oh, yesterday was wet and windy! Today is looking 'less' wet and windy, so that's an improvement!

Yesterday's spends - 
Cinema £32
Lunch and snacks £29

Remaining holiday budget £312

Today we're meeting some friends who are also on holiday here for a pub dinner, and then hopefully it will be dry enough to go to an NT place with a big woodland playground. Tea at the campsite from stuff I brought with us. 

canvascamper

Today was fun! Had a lovely pub lunch out, Mr CC paid, and then a free afternoon at an NT place with a good playground (in the pouring rain).

Spent £4.39 on a new football and some marshmallows for the campfire.

Remaining holiday budget £307.87

canvascamper

Well we survived Storm Antoni yesterday but what a miserable day! Sat all day in the tent making sure it didn't blow over. We went out for pizza in the evening when the wind died down.
Friday we went to Eden Project, and today we had a lovely day at the beach. Have booked the Lost Gardens of Heligan for tomorrow.

Spends -

Friday - £64.60 at Eden on drinks, ice creams and souvenirs
Saturday - £14.85 for parking and drinks
Today - £58 on Heligan tickets and £7 in the camp shop on suncream and drinks 

Remaining holiday budget £161 (9 days left...) 

savingholmes

Hope the holiday is positive despite the rain.