Take 2, a shopaholics diary

shoppingobsessed2020

still no news but thats not a bad thing, been stressful here with personal stuff going on but not reaching for the card so thats a good thing.

i dont know what i want to do in how to tackle this debt.  a large chunk is on interest free which is good.  we have approx 3.5K stashed (I say approx as i need to raid the car account to pay for service this week) and that 3.5K is a month bare bones living expenses which is good.  its in multiple pots at the moment, but there as ready funds should we need them and we havent had funds in savings in years!

I just dont know what to do.  do i stash funds and keep the pots and slush fund building - slush fund is my plan for emergency fund to eventually have 6 months expenses in there, pots are my sinking funds for various things.  or do i raid the slush fund, keep the pots and throw money at the debt?  

my initial thoughts for the next 3 months at least are to keep funding the pots and then anything spare stash in the slush fund.  i think i would like 3 or 4 months of bare bones funds in the slush fund before i start paying debt, i know thats actually alot and really i could clear a huge chunk of debt with that money, but i dont know what the best way to go is.  obviously no debt is better but with a slight risk of loosing his job i think i need the security of that slush fund.  

its hard as 14K is 4 months of living expenses, but thats a third of the new loan cleared or the virgin card and a chunk of my mbna cleared, im debating it, i do think that i cant make any decisions regarding debt minimums until mid september so i can gauge what we have stashed and how confident we are in his lordship continuing with this company.  i do think the positive signs are there, but i think waiting until he is home, had his leave and has joined his next ship is the better option, so i will go quiet, but i will be beavering away in the background selling a few little bits and clearing out since i cant make any big decisions at this point in time.

GeorgianaCavendish

In your situation right now, I would be inclined to set credit card repayments just above minimum (by a small amount, like £1 - £5) and keep as much cash on hand as possible in case the worse does happen with your OH’s job. 

Once you have a firm answer either way, you can reassess and change the strategy back to tackling the debt. 

It’s a great idea to declutter and sell what you can, and keep an eye on whether there is anything you can trim from the budget or economise on as well. 

I hope that the next few months aren’t too stressful and that you get a good result with OH’s job. I know it’s hard, but try not to stress too much about the debt - right now as long as you are keeping your head above water and not adding to the debt, then you are doing the right thing. 

alt80

Some considerations - How long are your cards interest free for? and how quickly would you anticipate your husband would find another job? What I'm really getting at is do you have long before the interest free becomes interest baring and if so how likely are you to get a decent balance transfer and are there employers queuing around the block for your hubby or is it likely he will be without a job for a significant amount of time? 

shoppingobsessed2020

thanks both, 

its hard to say about finding a new job as its how long is a bit of string.  in reality he can go to an agency and do day labour but be subject to tax and national insurance but at least its funds coming in if he struggles to find anything quickly.  day rates would bring in approx 100 a day after day and national insurance.  the issue with finding a new company is he is VERY expensive compared to other nationalities, but he has an excellent reputation in the industry, it just come down to salary.  headhunters do keep reaching out to him but he hasnt taken any of their offers yet as it is generally for a lower salary.  he keeps them sweet though he isnt rude to them, he always takes time to return their calls and emails so hasnt burned any bridges that way.

i also need to keep in mind that he accrues holiday when he is on ship which is what pays his wages when he is not on ship as he doesn't get traditional holiday pay.  basically he has 11K stashed for holiday pay at the end of june and for every month that he is away another 6K gets added to his holiday pay in addition to what he gets paid.  so if he isnt home till mid august there will be approx 20K holiday pay owed and if they do end up getting rid of him thats paid out in cash to him so the situation isnt as dire as it initially looks.

my mbna is interest free till october/november time and the virgin card is interest free till this time next year so we have got breathing room.

im still inclined to stash money away as i havent heard anything yet, no news is good news in my eyes, and once he joins his next ship then i will look to raiding the slush fund to pay a huge chunk off my mbna card before it starts accruing interest.  i can also request that he cash in leave and get a chunk paid out to him, i prefer him not to do that, but he has done in in the past a few years back during covid when his leave built to ridiculous levels.  

havent really dont much on the decluttering front, been focused more on the tidying front and have been eating up the freezers this past week.  should make it to the start of the summer holidays before i need to do a proper grocery shop and i will then do a huge freezer shop once they are empty and top them up again.

this week we are having lasagne plus leftovers for 4 x freezer portions, steak & king prawns, lobster as we found some lobster tails in the freezer so thats friday night tea, tortellini, a raid the fridge/freezer night, bangers and mash and we also have the wedding this weekend.  everything apart from tortellini will be from the freezer, the tortellini i bought this week when i popped to the supermarket to get the sandwich stuff for packed lunches next week.  i know its a bit of a rich menu this week but thats what you get when you promise the 11yr old he can choose the menu as a reward well done for an excellent end of year school report.  last weeks menu looked like bangers and mash, chicken dippers and chips, chicken keivs and veg type meals not the expensive meals of this coming week.  

a very busy week but thankfully once its over we are then chilling ready for the end of primary school and moving onto secondary school.  i need to sort transport for that, there is no school bus running this year due to cost, so he will have to go on the service bus but they are doing £1 child tickets so it will cost £10 a week, when the school bus was running this past year it was costing my friends £85 a month per child so its a huge saving.

shoppingobsessed2020

back with an update, has been another weird month but he is home!

job is secure for now, but less time at home as i dont fully understand why but its to do with transferring companies within the company.  different legal entities but not loosing job for now.

the downside is, he has gone and booked us all a trip to london next week so thats money coming out the slush fund and not going to debt.  thats going to be an easy 2K on 5 days away for the 3 of us between transport, hotel, theatre tickets, meals etc.  He has booked a premier inn so that is a concession to the usual hotel he likes to stay at when we have gone in the past.  the plus side i have talked him out of buying a new car!  jag suv was on the hit list - we cant afford a £900 a month payment for that, not at the moment, and in all honesty even if we could id rather have a bigger house for an extra £900 a month in mortgage payments.

i still havent paid anything off the debt bar the minimums, im stacking cash in slush funds, my credit card is clear bar the grocery shops for this month.

once i have a fixed answer and he has gone back to sea then i will look at raiding the various funds to pay off my mbna card as that is the 0% rate that is finishing first.  we have a decent amount stashed for now, i can cover 2-3 months worth of basic expenses with what we have stashed for now.  2 months when i raid to pay for london.

GeorgianaCavendish

Good news that his job is secure and that you can focus on the debt repayment again. It is a good idea to have an emergency fund but make sure you aren't keeping more than necessary of that consolidation loan money back. The repayments must be starting soon (if not already?) and you don't want to end up having increased the debt by not using it all to pay off. 
Good that you diverted your OH away from the Jag, the last thing you need is another £900 a month on your repayments!

I guess there's nothing you can do about the London trip now, but is there a way that he can run plans past you before booking in the future? It seems a shame if you are doing all the hard work with juggling repayments etc and then you suddenly have to find another 2K from the budget to cover it.

Can you post another SOA? 

dawnybabes

Could he cash a few days leave in to cover London ?