The Mental Debt Struggle...

Keedie

That sounds very painful @dawnybabes, but glad that the physio was able to help you walk properly. My son's brace is now off and so he's free in that respect, but he needs to steadily build up the muscle in his right thigh, as he has a slight drag and his knee is stiff and so he needs to work on his range of movement. I'm kinda worried that he's not doing all that he's supposed to be doing, and doesn't seem to understand the long term impact of cutting corners on his physio. I think I'm going to have to have serious words with him after his birthday. He's been discharged from the children's hospital physio and has been referred to adult physio, as he needs specialist gym equipment for the next few stages of his recovery. Hopefully he'll see them by mid-November, as it's roughly a 6 week wait. But he's got to do a lot of work in between now and then. He has a review with the orthopaedic consultants on Monday, so hopefully they'll help him to see how serious everything is as well. 

The hydrotherapy has really helped my shoulder @Cherryfudge, and I'm hoping that once my son gets to a better stage in his physio/recovery, he'll be able to join me, as I've found a hydrotherapy pool to use locally. So I'll go there once my NHS sessions ends. I have two more to go.

It was nice to go to the hairdressers @beanielou and she was really happy to see me. She was stunned that my son is 18 on Monday, as she's been doing my hair since before I got pregnant. My hair is much more manageable now, and she trimmed my split ends. It's definitely given me the incentive to do more with myself and make more of an effort.

As for the dyscalculia assessment, I need to contact the Additional Learning Support team at my son's college as they are meant to be doing some kind of assessment and I'm honestly not 100% sure what they are assessing him for. They have put his extra time in place for his exams which is the main thing for now. But I'll speak to the lady that is in charge of the assessments and see what they are doing. My son said he'd rather wait for his assessment and then if needed, he can do a private assessment, but he doesn't want me to spend money unnecessarily. 

After being given the complete run around by a local college where I wanted to study the AAT Level 2 Bookkeeping, I've decided to just do it via distance learning. The college won't tell me the cost of the course as they said that I have to enrol on the course and then do a financial assessment before they can disclose any information to me. I asked them what the full price cost was and they've been incredibly evasive. They also said told me multiple contradictory information about the entry requirements, and each person I spoke to kept moving the goalpost. So needless to say I got rather frustrated with them! But I think they have done me a favour. As it's given me the time to sit and really think about what I want to career wise and the study path I want to undertake. I've realised that I want to run my own bookkeeping business, and so the ICB Bookkeeping qualifications will help me to qualify and go freelance. However, AAT is more recognised by employers and I need to get out of HR and move into finance, so I'm going to do the more standard route and then top up qualifications with the ICB (Institute of Certified Bookkeepers). It's a slightly delayed/long winded way of doing things, but it assures better employment prospects as well as being able to freelance. I don't want to solely freelance as I know that my mental and physical health makes me too erratic and unreliable, so I need to have the routine of part time employment in a field that I actually want to do, plus freelancing. But I think I'll need to start with the AAT Level 1 Bookkeeping, as I will then go onto either Level 2 Accountancy of Level 2 Bookkeeping. In any case, the Level 1 I will do online via distance learning which is significantly cheaper and means that I can work to my own timeline and pace myself with the cost of the courses.

So, because there isn't a big rush to pay for any courses, I will be sending a lot of money back to my Barclaycard. I've set it up as a payee from my Chase account, but sent only £25 as a test to see how long it takes to clear, so that I can then plan how to do the rest of the money that I need to pay so that I can work out my true debt by the end of October.

Keedie

The payment to Barclaycard has cleared already, so I sent another £1,175 from the money transfer funds that I received last month. The rest is sitting earning interest, and I've worked out a plan to replenish the extra money that I borrowed. My siblings owe me a combined total of £956.32, so that will all be going towards the Barclaycard.

I've worked out a budget whereby I can contribute to my main sinking funds, set aside money for moving, pay my debts with the reduced fixed amount and have a better life balance. I've based it off my income from December 2024 when I increase to 80% of full time at 28 hours per week, the child benefit and a portion of my PIP money and my universal credits. I'm going to do some more freelance work this side of Christmas, so that I can set the money aside to pay for my courses in the new year. 

When I eventually get out of debt, that £150 fixed payment will be turned into a one month ahead fund. I'm going to get fully one month ahead on bills and eventually being 3-6 months ahead on bills. I don't consider this an emergency fund, as emergencies are things that are unplanned. Whereas this fund, will enable me to step back from life and working if needed, if I become unwell etc.

Anyways, this is what I'm working with for £2,500 a month:

• £1,200 Fixed Expenses = rent, council tax, gas and electricity, internet, phone bills, car and life insurance etc. 
• £150 Debt = fixed repayment (Barclaycard as final creditor)
• £350 Savings = various avenues, £50 Help to Save, £50 emergency fund, £100 for the Big Moving Fund and then £25 to each sinking fund - Christmas/Eid, birthdays, car maintenance, holidays, home, annual subscriptions and bills
• £300 Food = this includes a big monthly shop, weekly top ups and take aways
• £275 My Son = travelcard, college food, allowance (from child benefit) and towards clothes etc
• £150 Me = consisting of £100 spending money and £50 for the AWE List if I need anything to help me have a better disabled life balance
• £50 Travel = this is mainly for petrol, I rarely drive so a tank last about 6 weeks
• £25 Miscellaneous = this is for anything unplanned, like prescriptions, or if another spending category needs topping up

I figured for any surplus that I manage to earn or accumulate over the amount that I have budgeted (£2,500 a month), I will do the following as I am bringing back Freely Debt Savings:

• 10% Freedom = a life buffer in case something comes up and we need something or want to do something fun
• 40% Debt =  this will steadily accumulate and each time it reaches £250 I will pay this off Barclaycard. That way I'm still making headway, albeit at a slower and less stressful pace. 
• 50% Savings = This will be split in two parts, so 25% going into a house moving pot and the other 25% going towards topping up generic sinking funds so that I am not relying on any form of credit for things like car repairs or any short term emergencies that crop up and to make sure that annual bills are covered.

I'm going to trial this for this last quarter of 2024 and see how it goes, but I think I might have finally got a better balance. The trick now, is to just try and level up the income, so that I can exceed £2,500 a month as much as possible. I've got my spreadsheet all synced up to the Freely Debt Savings percentages, so that I can then split any surplus into their respective categories. Fingers crossed it all comes to fruition.

Keedie

I've not done a Sunday Summary in awhile, but they did used to really keep me on track. So I'm hoping that with the changes to my budget and the decisions that I'm making, that things will be easier to follow if I'm checking in with myself on a weekly basis. I've adapted the format to fit how things are now...

THE SUNDAY SUMMARY

(Week 40 ~ 6 October 2024)

Debt Regrets

Goal 1 - 100% repayment to Bank of Mum 3 (school fees) - due 1 April 2024
Progress Checker = £3,800/£3,800 (100% repaid)
🎉 Achievement Date = 24 March 2024 🎉

Goal 2 - Pay £5,000 off my overall debt balance in 2024 - due by 31 December 2024

Progress Checker = £3,898.80/£5,000 (77.98% repaid)
This has been reduced from a target of £6,750 to £5,000 to pay off by the end of 2024. I've cleared the Argos Card and made payments to Barclaycard via the fixed direct debit and some additional small payments. The lower target and the payments made in recent months puts me at 77.98% of the way to target, which is more motivating. The money that I got from Barclaycard via the money transfer last month, is not being counted in these totals, as that money was mainly to be able to pay down Plan 1 quicker to avoid interest, so I don't see them as genuine repayments.

Goal 3 - Clear Barclaycard Plan 1 (£6,508.43) - due by 31 January 2025
Progress checker = £3,297.23/£6,508.43 (50.66% repaid)
I have changed the deadline from 31 December 2024 to 31 January 2025, as that is when the balance needs to be settled so that I avoid interest. This has put this as Goal 3 instead of Goal 2 as it originally was. I have also moved some money around via a money transfer, with £1,200 being sent back to the credit card yesterday, hence the amount paid off is a lot higher than it would be otherwise. I've reduced the direct debit to a fixed payment of £150 a month, and I will make overpayments when I have accumulated £250 at a time. Once the £150 direct debits from October 2024 to January 2025 come out (£600 total), there will be a balance of £2,611.20 to clear. The money that my siblings owe me (£1,156.32) will also be going straight back on the credit card. So I have the remaining £1,454.88 to sort out by 31 January 2025, and I have around half of that sitting in an account, waiting to see what is happening with my son's dyscalculia assessment before I send the money back to Barclaycard or need to spend it.

Saving Grace

Goal 1 - Save £500 for my son's 18th birthday - due by 30 September 2024
Progress Checker = £500/£500 (100% saved)
🎉 Achievement Date = 15 September 2024 🎉
I saved everything I needed and then brought the countdown of presents for my son's 18 days to 18 and he's really enjoyed having presents every day for the last couple of weeks. He's 18 tomorrow and very excited and feeling rather mature 😂. The money managed to stretch quite far and I had a little bit left, and I am going to use that to get myself something for my birthday. It was a nice treat, but I won't be doing this every birthday, so next year is back to normal. But he might get something special like this for his 21st. 

Goal 2 - Save £500 emergency fund - due by 31 Deccember 2024
Progress Checker = £212.86/£500 (42.57% saved)
This goal has been reduced from £1,000 to £500 as it is more realistic and I will save in £500 increment targets. I put £50 a month in this account, but if I can build some surplus income over the coming months, I can increase what I put in here. 

I've removed the 50 Envelope Challenge and the Build a Buffer of £500, as it was too many things to keep track of and I need to be more strategic with my savings and focussing on building a moving fund etc.

Balancing the Budget

This section of my weekly check-in will focus on how I am preparing for the upcoming month, so that I can stay on track and be more successful in meeting my targets.

Income Tracker - £2,500 for November 2024's Budget
Progress Checker = £804/£2,500 (32.16% accumulated)
I received my universal credit and child benefit this week and so I have put them in the pot towards next month's bills and expenses. I think this will also help me to have the discipline not to touch anything for the next month, as there has been times when I have been overspending and then dipping into the money that I have set aside for the following month and then playing catch up. So fingers crossed, by holding myself accountable like this, I'll leave the money alone and I can actually start to work on my plan to save for moving, boosting sinking funds and still paying off debt.

Freely Debt Savings - £300 Goal for November 2024
Progress Checker = £0/£300 (0% saved)
I am going to do some freelance work next week and try and build £300 after taxes by 31 October 2024, so that I will have £300 towards my Freely Debt Savings in November 2024. This will give £30 for fun (10%), £120 to debt (40%) and £150 to savings (50%) that will be split across sinking funds and the house move at £75 for each pot. 

Sarahwithlove

Sounds like a good debt/life balance 

PennysIntoPounds

Happy birthday to your son for tomorrow, and happy 'having got him to 18 and look how well he's turned out' day to you too. Hope he'll be buying his mum a legal drink!

beanielou

Happy 18th to your DS. 

Cherryfudge

I am always amazed how much detail you put in to your budgeting. I like how it's looking, and well done on getting to the end of the birthday fund with something in hand!

Happy birthday for tomorrow to your son.  

Sun_Addict

I love how you name your pots 🙂 Happy 18th to your DS 🥳🎂 he sounds like a lovely lad and a real credit to you. Also great news about going to the hairdresser who understands your hair. A good hairdresser is worth their weight in gold. 

Keedie

I feel more confident about my finances now @Sarahwithlove, as it feels more manageable. Splitting it into two parts with the fixed bills, life expenses, debt repayments and sinking funds one side and then having the freely debt savings on the other side has given me more focus. I even redownloaded Qmee, so that I can see if I can gain some money from surveys. Not done them in such a long time, so I'm aiming to earn £2.50 a week. £0.10 down, and £2.40 to go for this week 🤣. 

Thank you all for the birthday wishes for my son. It does feel a bit surreal that he's turning 18. When I was scared and all alone when I was pregnant, I couldn't think this far ahead. It's been such a rollercoaster, but he's definitely coming out of the other side of the teenage rebellions and he has become more thoughtful and considerate again. I dunno if I'll get him buying me a legal drink tomorrow though @PennysIntoPounds as he's a bit of a miser when he's ready 😂. But maybe he'll treat me on my birthday on Tuesday.

I think my finicky nature helps me budget wise @Cherryfudge, and it gives me good structure. I just need to rein in the impulse spending and my actual expenditure will match the budget for once 🫣. That's what I'm working towards, and the fun names keeps me motivated and (easily) amused @Sun_Addict 😂. And yes, hairdressers are worth their weight in gold. My hair so much more manageable now that it's had her magic touch. It was getting dry and hard to comb as it was easily tangling and I can't lift my hand above my head properly to be fussing with it. So now, I'm just very excited as it's all easy to do, and it's amazing what it can do for your confidence when you treat yourself.

I can't remember whether or not I mentioned it, but I got in touch with my old carer and she's agreed to come and help me declutter in order to get ready for The Big Move. I've worked out that I can pay her from some of my PIP money and I've set some aside to start off this month. We'll be doing a couple of hours a week, as I'll get too tired trying to do too much in one go. I'm really looking forward to seeing her again.

Humdinger1

As impressive as ever @Keedie! What an inspiration you are.  Love Humdinger xx