The Mental Debt Struggle...

Keedie

Most of what you've said is more or less the same @daisy_1571, especially with regards to the polite condolences and promises to get together 😊. In Scotland @beanielou is it a self serve buffet? We usually get called table by table to the buffet line, or you get up and join the queue.

My mum confirmed today there are approximately 200 guests, and that the family meeting went well last night and my uncle will be the DJ (he has a full DJ set and does parties etc) and one of the venues that is being considered looks like this, and the venue would be available for 12 hours, and you can set up for 4 hours as required and then 8 hours of event time. They said that they clean up, provide servers etc. We're still sourcing a caterer. My poor mum sounds very tired. And we need to collate photos for the slide show at the wake. I was talking to my sister this afternoon and she said she's also getting her finances in order to contribute too.

On a different note, one of my friends is a Schools Business Manager and so she deals with office management, HR, premises and finance for a primary school. I jokingly asked her for work experience as I am struggling with my bookkeeping course as I have no practical experience to reference, so everything is very abstract. She said I can come to her school once a week and volunteer and she will show me how she does everything. So that starts on Monday 24 August and she's going to be showing me how to close July's accounts and she said that I can do a range of finance stuff and basically be her voluntary finance assistant. I used to work at that primary school doing HR admin so I know my way around the school. My DBS is still valid from last year when I had to get one to volunteer as a co-facilitator for the bipolar group. So I'm all good to go, and very excited!

daisy_1571

You've not come accross that beanielou? I'm struggling to remember where it was. Falkirk? Polmont? Grangemouth? Somewhere around there think

Cherryfudge

Thank you for the explanation @Keedie . Coming from a small family, I'd not appreciated how much is involved. How lovely that there's such a large group of people all wanting to honour your Grand mother's memory.

Well done on finding yourself somewhere to get practical accounting experience!

BestnamesRgone

hi Keedie, long time lurker here. Great news re the volunteering opportunity. Just a heads up, despite having a current DBS I think you may need to apply for a new one as it’s in a different setting?

beanielou

Yes. You will need a new DBS.

Keedie

My work experience went well on Monday and as there was no kids as it's still summer holidays, I was allowed to be there and do my thing whilst waiting for the new DBS. I made a mistake on one task, and I couldn't get the transactions to balance and despite going over it a couple of times, I just couldn't work it out. I might have applied the incorrect VAT status to a transaction, I dunno. But I had a lot of fun. My friend thinks I'm weird for geeking out over the bookkeeping tasks. But it solidified the fact that this is what I want to do as a career and now that I have practical experience to mentally reference, it is making studying easier to process as well.

My Granny's funeral dats has been set and they've chosen a much cheaper (and way more tasteful) venue than that overloaded gold venue. So it's at a cricket club now and it can seat 150 people and has outdoor seating and a grass area. My mum told me last night that due to my mobility issues I have a place in the hearse with her and my eldest sister who can't travel alone/indpendently due to her autism. My son will make his way to the church which isn't too far from my Aunty's house. So me and my son will get an uber to my Aunty's and then seperate from there to travel to the church and then again to travel to the cemetery.

Me and my siblings and cousins as the grandkids are sorting some flowers that spell Nanny, and I was confused as to why they cost so much. My mum said that for the flowers her and her siblings are sorting out, they're struggling to find it much below £60 a letter. It's just as well that I'm being cremated so that no one has to spend a lot of money on flowers, and my funeral package provides some basic flowers. I like nature, but I can't keep flowers alive very long. My poor money plant was starting to decay, so my mum took it from me for a few weeks and nursed it back to help (she has exceptionally green fingers), and it was looking healthy, but I am too embarrassed to tell her that it's getting a bit wilty and rubbery again 😬. Maybe after the funeral I'll ask her to help me again. Google confused me, there's too many instructions about top soil, water saturation, dry soil and I think I've been over watering it 🤦🏾‍♀️.

On a completely different random note, my decluttering is slowly getting better after a mental health set back. I'm hiring my 11 and 12 year old nephew and niece to help me as my Worker Bees this weekend to get on top of a few things. They're very excited as they'll get £15 a shift (about 4 hours total with breaks during the day) and lunch. I'm going to create a timesheet for them, so that they can complete it and realise that earning wages does not come with immediate gratification. They'll get a payslip like they did the last time as well.

And I found my label maker machine (a foresighted but at the time completely unnecessary purchase), and so I can now label the top lip of each drawer in my chest of drawers. Inconspicuous from the outside, but organised when you open the drawer and it reminds me where to put things and helps my carer to know where things go as well.

I need to sit down and face my debt figures this weekend. I saved £740 in a savings challenge and I need to figure out the balance between debt repayment, long term savings and sinking funds. So I've put the cash in a Monzo pot whilst I ponder this so that it doesn't get squandered. Completing savings challenges and then reallocating the money is definitely the way to go. I've set up a seasonal cash binder, and so from September's budget, I will play those games and in November when autumn ends, I will have a few hundred pounds to reallocate into various financial priorities. I also have my pound jar to open on 1 January 2027 and the coin jars and see what I've saved in there. And I've decided to think of myself for once, and everything in the coin challenges will go into The Keedie Fund and I can spend it as I wish throughout the year.

Here's my completed savings challenge, it's called Ducky Dots. You get a bag of little yellow dots and under each duck there is a different coloured dot sticker and you save the corresponding amount. It took me most of the year to save it, but I'm quite proud of myself 🤗.

And the coin jar is coming along nicely too…

Cherryfudge

Those ducky dots are novel! I like things that add variety to a challenge.

I'm glad work experience went well and you are finding the practical application useful.

It also seems like good thinking is going into the funeral planning. The place is tasteful, large enough, less costly and you have transport arranged. All good. I hope it all goes smoothly and you are able to give a much-loved lady a fitting service.

And as for the money or jade plant, if it's the same as the one I call by those names, they don't take a lot of water. The fleshy leaves are designed to store water against times of scarcity, but the roots don't cope well with too much water as they can rot, meaning the plant is limited in its ability to take in more. It then starts to look as though it needs more, but that can be because the damp has started to kill off the roots. Best bet (apart from handing it to your very able mum!) is to let it dry out to the point where the top of the soil is dry to at least a centimetre depth, then return to watering but only once a week unless you have extreme heat or central heating switched on. Then it might need a bit more. Most plants survive underwatering better than overwatering.

Keedie

Yes it's a great savings challenge, that Ducky Dots. Thank you for the plant advice @Cherryfudge, you make a lot more sense than Google and I can actually follow what you've said. I don't want to bother my mum, and I do need to learn these things myself, so your tips are very helpful.

And the work experience has given me more motivation to get on top of my studies. Although I was a bit salty about the price I paid for the course, as I just looked today on the learning provider's website so that I can confirm the courses and modules so that I have a long term study strategy, and they've dropped the price for ultimate course bundle by £1,000! Like, seriously?!?

Anyways, I'm trying to be zen about the things in life stressing me out, but I can't help thinking that my debt would be a grand lower if I hadn't enrolled when I did… 🤦🏾‍♀️, especially considering the fact that I have barely studied in the last 12 months 🥴.

Right. So I've stopped burying my head in the sand about The Debt. It all makes me feel a bit icky. But I need to just pull my finger out and get it sorted. I've written everything down, but I don't like numbers with pennies in them, so everything that is not a whole number will get sorted with some of the £740 that I saved. I also need to bring the overall balance to the nearest £50, so that I am working with whole numbers and I can accumulate repayments in manageable figures. I

Some of money is genuine debt to my mum and some of it is debt to me, to repay my savings that took a serious hit with Silver spay surgery and my son's issues with his bike. And some debt was government related, and that is kind of sorted for some it. So I've put them into the three categories. So here goes from smallest to largest:

Bank of Mum = £4,800 (£750/£4,800 = 15.63% repaid)

• £1,800 moped insurance (business)
• £3,000 bookkeeping course (£750/£3,000 = 25% repaid)

Keedie Kash = £2,950 (£0/£2,950 repaid = 0%)

• £700 moped repair
• £750 new moped engine
• £1,500 moped insurance (standard)

The Tax Man = approximately £2,074.50 (£1,624.50/£2,074.50 repaid = 78.31%)

• approximately £450ish council tax arrears (kept forgetting to tell them my son wasn't in education, so awaiting a new bill).
• £1,624.50 tax bill (£1,624.50/£1,624.50 repaid - 100%) - I paid the final amount of £424.50 on Saturday evening.

Approximate debt = £9,824.50 (£2,374.50/£9,824.50 = 24.17% repaid)

Once the council tax arrears have been confirmed, I can update the correct total and update my signature, so that I can track everything and pay down the debts/savings repayment.

The Action Plan

1. Actual debt (Bank of Mum and The Tax Man) is approximately £6,874.50, and as £2,374.50 has been repaid, the balance is £4,500. I will use whatever is needed from Ducky Dots completed savings challenge to reduce the legitimate debt to £4,250 so I can work in £250 increments. This will mean that this payment will reduce the council tax bill maybe 50%.
2. Continue to set aside £5 a week towards debts
3. Tackle debts in the following order:
   1. council tax - The Tax Man
   2. moped insurance (business) - Bank of Mum
   3. bookkeeping course = Bank of Mum
4. Tackle savings in the following order:
   1. moped repair - Keedie Kash
   2. moped engine - Keedie Kash
   3. moped insurance (standard) - Keedie Kash

My son will be repaying me for his portion of the debt in £25 increments, and so as they come in, I will add them to the debt accumulation pot (where the £5 a week goes), and make lump sum payments from there.

My friend that owes me money is starting to pay me more and so that will go towards repaying my savings. And I have set my budget to enable me to play £40 a week in savings challenges. Then as I complete challenges (which are much smaller than Ducky Dots and so will be finished quicker), I can reallocate the money across debts, savings and sinking funds.

When the Help to Save account matures in February 2027, I will distribute that across debts, savings, sinking funds and fun money.

I think that's it for now. And when I have the final amount for the council tax, I can review/tweak the plan, and then it's full steam ahead 🚂…

Keedie

The council was faster than Bolt to issue a revised council tax statement 😂. The updated bills came in just after 1am this morning. Funny how I never see a less than a 48 hour turnaround when I have a query or need something from the council 🤔. I remember when I was about £38 in rent arrears in 2018 when I was transitioning from child tax credits to universal credit and the rent credit I had ran out and so I needed an advance of the universal credit. The council sent me a letter within a few days of the arrears (although I actually cleared it and was back on track within a week), stating that they were considering a notice of seeking possession! I actually called them and asked them what they were playing at? The lady I spoke to couldn't explain why they would send a letter for that amount threatening eviction when it was about 1/4 of the weekly rent. And they were exceptionally slow to send a letter confirming that the arrears had been cleared before I'd even received the letter.

Anyways, the council tax bills confused me for a hot minute, and then I realised that they only counted the last tax year as a debt at £221.72 and adjusted this year's bill to reflect the removal of the 25% single person's discount in my 2026/27 bill. I wasn't able to pay the £221.72 on the council portal as they have set it as a direct debit to be paid on 1 October 2026 plus my new revised amount as a direct debit on the same date.

So now, my overall debt is £9,596.22 which Debt Debt (Bank of Mum and The Tax Man) is £6,646.22 and Savings Debt is £2,950.

As £2,374.50 of Debt Debt was already repaid (35.73%) this left a balance of £4,271.72. So I have been able to exceed Action Point 1 (use Ducky Dots money to reduce Debt Debt to £4,250), and I have brought Debt Debt down to £4,000 🥳 by the £271.72 that I have paid/transferred today. I moved £222 from Ducky Dots money into The Burden (where my bills come out of a locked Monzo pot), so it'll be processed when the council tax direct debit comes out. And an additional £50 into the debt pot for my mum, for a total of £272. So Ducky Dots now has £468 available for reallocation.

I've revised my figures below to reflect the correct council tax debt.

DEBT DEBT = £6,646.22 (£2,646.22/£6,646.22 = 39.81% repaid)

Bank of Mum = £4,800 (£800/£4,800 = 16.67% repaid)

• £1,800 moped insurance - business (£50/£1,800 = 2.78% repaid)
• £3,000 bookkeeping course (£750/£3,000 = 25% repaid)

The Tax Man = £1,846.22 (£1,846.22/£1,846.22 = 100% repaid 🥳🎉)

• £221.72 council tax (£221.72/£221.72 = 100% repaid)
• £1,624.50 self assessment tax (£1,624.50/£1,624.50 = 100% repaid)

SAVINGS DEBT = £2,950 (£0/£2,950 = 0% repaid)

Keedie Kash = £2,950 (£0/£2,950 = 0% repaid)

• £700 moped repair (£0/£700 = 0% repaid)
• £750 new moped engine (£0/£750 = 0% repaid)
• £1,500 moped insurance - standard (£0/£1,500 = 0% repaid)

ACTUAL DEBT = £9,596.22 (£2,646.22/£9,596.22 = 27.57% repaid)

So, things are looking up with the debt 🥴. Progress not perfection and all of that, it's coming together. I have a workable plan now…

The Action Plan

1. Reduce Debt Debt (Bank of Mum and The Tax Man) to £4,250 - exceed, Debt Debt reduced to £4,000
2. £5 a week towards debt - this is ongoing so already being actioned as £5 a week to debt is budgeted for
3. Tackle debts in the following order:
   1. council tax arrears (The Tax Man)
   2. moped insurance - business (Bank of Mum)
   3. bookkeeping course = Bank of Mum
4. Tackle savings in the following order:
   1. moped repair - Keedie Kash
   2. moped engine - Keedie Kash
   3. moped insurance (standard) - Keedie Kash

Keedie

As it's the first of the month, I paid £50 to Help to Save and £150 into the Natwest Digital account, and I delcared this on the PAD thread.

And I also updated my signature to reflect my Debt Debt. I've decided to just focus on this for now and blitz is as much as I can, so that when the Help to Save matures in February 2027, I should be able to clear it 🤞🏾🤞🏾🤞🏾. Then I can focus on Savings Debt. I figured that I still had my emergency fund and small sinking funds as I've saved the majority of what I need for birthday and Christmas gifts. So the savings replenishment, although necessary, is not a priority.

My friend is giving me some more money when I see her on Sunday, and so that will go straight into debt savings challenge. It's a bit of a long one, as it saves £1,000. But I'm aiming to complete it by Christmas, so that I can go into the new year with less hanging over my head.