Diary of a 30-something idiot

Kim_13

stymied said:

£50 each for personal spends (or a little more) is fine if it includes vaping, work lunches & any pub trips / bottles of wine x

This. I echo the advice to pay for any subscriptions from these pots. If the money isn’t there, then they’re unsubscribed for a month or so.

I wouldn’t worry about not paying the Spotify or Netflix - it’s not a bill and shouldn’t be seen as such. You can’t get an essential service cut off or people knocking at the door if you don’t pay it. However, your phone bill is.

I suppose the time you have to wait for the van to be looked at means that the fuel budget/money made on Vinted etc in the interim can be used to pay it.

This is the first time this van has been in, I think, so I wouldn’t be rushing to replace it with a runabout. Though the insurance does seem high.

foxandflowers

Well what a miserable start to a Monday.

I had a half day from work on Friday and I managed to go and choose some new glasses and got £1 (!!) cashback on them. Luckily by the time I need to replace these ones I can use the £70 voucher from work towards a new pair. and I'm putting £5 a month into a pot towards the cost. 

Picked Mini Fox up two white T-shirts from Poundland, which cost £2.50... I swear Poundland used to actually be £1 for everything? I remember doing my Christmas shopping as a student and coming out laden with After Eights and other random stuff and only spending about £7. Just need to get her some joggers now. Will have a look on Vinted for those as the charity shops did not have much suitable. 

Bills are mostly all paid. I have another £243.12 coming out before that's done with, which leaves me with £177.82 for the month which is HILARIOUS given that I only got paid four days ago. Luckily I am due another £100 in rent, £100 in child benefit and £130 in child maintenance before the van goes in for its repair, and then another £50 rent before I get paid. Although strictly speaking I shouldn't be counting the rent at all, as we find out soon if Stepson will be moving up North.

I sold some golf clubs that we bought Second Stepson about four years ago that he never used for £40. I was supposed to be knuckling down and selling stuff this weekend but I was pretty lazy, so that was the only thing I managed to shift. I did redye my hair (£6 box dye), change the bedding, and do some laundry, but otherwise I just sort of existed. That £40 has been put into a box in the bedside table as a reinstating of my SHTF fund. 

I also spent time setting up a virtual card on Monzo for all the subscriptions to come out of, so it can still be attached to my bill pot and I won't get taken too badly by surprise when they crop up. Have updated everything I can think of to come from there instead, and I feel a bit more in control of that side of things, even if it is depressing having basically no available funds.

The food shop came in at £121.57 including delivery. So I felt very smug about that, for all of 20 minutes and then I realised I'd ordered BBQ sauce instead of mayo, and I forgot hand soap and bacon. Easily rectified by a quick trip to the garage, where I got fleeced with plastic surprise puppy bag toys? And now it's Monday morning and we've already gone through 2 loaves of bread. I will be attempting to NSD Weds-Friday this week. 

Fox.

PS. Mr Fox & I have decided to do Sober October. Can only help the budget!

Bluegreen143

Sober October will definitely help the budget. 

Things sound very tight again. I’m rooting for you but it sounds like it will be tough. Getting food from the garage sounds expensive, might be worth one of you nipping into a Lidl or Aldi for that kind of thing if it gets left off your shopping delivery? 

I’ve found that you can’t really get second hand joggers, at least for boys, as they get older because I think older kids tend to wear them out as they fit for longer. Though I just buy supermarket/Matalan joggers and they’re not a brand or label anything so that might not apply to items which were more expensive to start with. 

foxandflowers

Oh I forgot to say I redeemed my Switch on Friday too. That combined with this month's Stepchange and friend repayment means that I am down to £42,441.68. Officially back over the 10% mark of things paid off

Aiming to get to £41,500 by December 31st. Next month is Ramsdens, and then tackling the credit card. Come January I can scratch out a budget that includes paying back Friend #2 as by then I will hopefully only be in the office two days a week, saving a further £55 a month. 

@Bluegreen143 definitely another tight month ahead. Unfortunately part of me thinks that will never change as long as we are living in such a large house. We'd be better off moving to a 3 bed terrace when Stepson moves out and slashing our bills that way. 

Bluegreen143

Can you now sell your Switch and put the money towards debt? It’s not a necessity and you’ve lived without it for a while. 

MFWannabe

foxandflowers said:

Oh I forgot to say I redeemed my Switch on Friday too. That combined with this month's Stepchange and friend repayment means that I am down to £42,441.68. Officially back over the 10% mark of things paid off

Aiming to get to £41,500 by December 31st. Next month is Ramsdens, and then tackling the credit card. Come January I can scratch out a budget that includes paying back Friend #2 as by then I will hopefully only be in the office two days a week, saving a further £55 a month. 

@Bluegreen143 definitely another tight month ahead. Unfortunately part of me thinks that will never change as long as we are living in such a large house. We'd be better off moving to a 3 bed terrace when Stepson moves out and slashing our bills that way. 

Moving house is not the answer; it’s not the household essential bills that are the issue; it’s the extra subscriptions that are the issue; around £100 per month for extras? That could be spent on food or building an emergency fund for when things go wrong 
Also the van going wrong and the amount that costs to run 
How is moving house going to change that? 

Stepchange can just tick over; there’s no rush to pay that back 

Sarahwithlove

I agree, see stepchange as like having a mortgage. Pay the monthly amount and learn to live within your budget first. Prioritise an emergency fund and sinking funds. If stepson moves out could you look at whether you may be entitled to UC to fill the gap in your budget? 

The only way moving benefits you is if you learn to live within your means first to avoid any future debt. Good luck. 

Bluegreen143

I worry about moving too. Because you’re then reducing your assets and it would be so easy to fritter them away. 

It would be different if you were already living within your means and chose to live in a smaller place so you could invest the rest - or even used it as a one off debt payment, knowing you’d completely changed your habits. But releasing this capital now, when you have a budget that isn’t balanced and you both tend towards impulse purchases and too much luxury spending, means it’s very likely it would get frittered away.

Obviously it’s your choice, but that would be my advice anyway. Don’t move yet, balance the budget first and get into good habits. 

stymied

How long can you stretch the food delivery? We’re on rather a processed food week this week because DD (13) did the meal plan. At least that means it’s cheap:
- chicken bakes (Sainsbury’s own brand) with alphabites (10 for £10 Iceland) & carrots
- lasagne (from the freezer, previously batch cooked) & garlic bread
- soup & sausage rolls
- crispy chicken (10 for £10) wraps with carrot/pepper/cucumber sticks
- pizza (10 for 10 again)
- toad in the hole
- roast chicken with roasties, parsnips, butternut, carrots, hm Yorkshire puddings (only DS 8 eats a large portion of meat so this will do 2 days)

foxandflowers

@stymied
I'm hoping for 12 days. We are 3 days down. I still have Macaroni Cheese / Jacket Potatos with Tuna Mayo / Spag Bol / Hot Dogs / Chicken Wings x2 / Fish Finger Sandwiches / Toad in the Hole / Tuna Pasta / Chicken Lettuce Wraps.