*sigh* this is still taking a while, but moving forward (slowly!)

Drawingaline

I can join you with the weekly weigh in, I have quite a bit more than 14Ib to shift!

ohdearhowdidthathappen

EH - I don't really have specific triggers, I can find any excuse for a glass of wine   Good day, bad day, a child being annoying/rude etc... I'm not interested in day drinking, it's mainly wine o'clock, cheeky glass of something to wind down at the end of the day.  I've found having a bath and then a hot chocolate has done the trick so far!

DAL - a weigh in buddy sounds good

ohdearhowdidthathappen

Looking at our bank account there are a few things not budgeted:

• £27 huge pack of razors for DH (he shaves his head and this will last him all year)
• £10 alcohol free beer for DH (technically could be covered under grocery budget as that'll be lower this month!)
• £33 donation to a shopping trip for DD2 (she's very low maintenance and it was nice to see her out with her friends)

We have personal spends budget of £150 each a month, I was looking at what I spend mine on and it's mainly makeup, face creams (as I'm getting older they're getting pricier!), perfume, nights out with friends, weekends away with friends.
I have quite a stash of beauty products now and my mission is now to only spend when I need to replace an item, not 'just because'. 
I don't actually spend much on clothes and I would like to start spending my allowance on this plus keeping up with the odd nice meal out or weekend away with friends.

EssexHebridean

I need to start working on using some of my toiletries stash - it's not makeup and face creams so much as things like body butters - mostly that I've been given as gifts. I need to get one out to pop in the bathroom to help to obscure the slightly shonky area of mosaic tiles mind you so maybe I should actually use it rather than just leave it sitting there as house-dressing ready for viewings!  

A little devil's advocate however - if you pay for your personal care items from your personal spends budget, how come Mr OhSh's razors aren't paid for from his?! (I know, I'm a trouble-maker - sorreeee!)

ohdearhowdidthathappen

Body butters.... and B@yliss & H@rding kits seem to multiply in our house  

I pay for my haircut/highlights out of our joint account and he's never commented, so the razors are a bargain  

We've put away the car keys for the second car and we're going to see how many times we have to use it over the next month or so, it's part of my quest to prove to DH we don't need it.  He knows really, he's just in denial as it would be his small car that would have to go.

ohdearhowdidthathappen

So, I've updated my signature as I realised it shouldn't really have a DFD when we're still in debt.  Always had been really because of the car loan, we were just in denial 
So details (warts and all):

• PP is higher than I'd previously said as DH made a couple of purchases (£600) which he is paying off out of his personal spends (up to him as it's his money, he'll clear it before interest kicks in), the other £900 we're clearing out of joint account.
• The CC is the result of a nice big fat boiler replacement a few months back of £1500 (annoying) plus loaning our daughter money for a big purchase that she'll be repaying.  As it's on our CC I'll include it, it's all on 0% and our portion will be cleared out of DHs bonus in Feb which is why we've ignored it.  We've cleared £200 already, £2k of the £3.3k is DDs.
• The car loan is an ongoing battle as I'd like to get rid of it, the car is worth £25k so we'd get some cash out of it and save ourselves £300+ a month.  DH still needs convincing sadly...

As mentioned above, he gets a bonus in Feb.  I don't include it in our budget as it's variable, over the last 5 years it's been £6-12k after deductions... he reckons £8-9k this year, but that is pure guesswork.  When he gets it, we'd clear any remaining debt on PP and CC, top up EF and put any remaining in pots for Xmas and holidays for '23.  
Our plan this year is to save monthly sums for Xmas and holidays, so that his '24 bonus is 'spare'.... that would be a feat for us  

savingholmes

Would be a huge achievement if you manage it. 

lucielle

That all sounds doable. 

L

Humdinger1

@ohdearhowdidthathappen we went down to 1 car a year ago.  However, my DH is over 60 so has a very useful free bus pass. We do also both work from home and like walking.  Is your DH really on board with clearing debt as 25k is one h*ll of a sum! Could you even get a much smaller runaround or is it the running costs you're thinking of? Loving your diary Humdinger xx

ohdearhowdidthathappen

savingholmes said:

Would be a huge achievement if you manage it. 

It would... although we seem to be better at planning than doing