A space for my thoughts - tackling debt once and for all!

Cara_

I hope you are still feeling positive and enjoying the long weekend.

Debtfree2026

Cara_ said:

I hope you are still feeling positive and enjoying the long weekend.

Hi @Cara_ !! It's been a busy couple of weeks! My sister got married on Wednesday so we went to Somerset for a few days which was lovely! Then went to a friends yesterday for her annual Easter Egg Hunt which was good fun.  Cooking a roast today and going for a walk to look at some baby lambs (the irony is not lost on me).  The girls are back to school on Tuesday, so I'll be back at work then and hopefully get back into the swing of things!

I have still been doing my online banking everyday and logging everything onto my spreadsheet - I do love having that routine!  I have stretched the grocery budget to the absolute max this month - I guess as the girls have been off school for three weeks and I've been having to prepare their lunches (they normally have school dinners!) and the snack requests have been endless!! Fruit that would normally last a week has been gone in a couple of days! 

But I only used £24 from the entertainment pot this holiday! And that was for the inflatables at the local park last week.  £152 from the extra-curricular pot for one week at a theatre school, which I don't think is bad for both of them for a full week.   You may recall that I mentioned at the start of the last term how its a huge expense to pay for the girls extra-curricular clubs in one go, and so I have been saving monthly into a separate pot.  So I was able to pay all the girls clubs for Summer Term as soon as the invoices came in which was such a great feeling!  Obviously its the last term of the school year so next lot won't be due until August, so I'll continue to save monthly into that pot.

I'm running payroll next week - it'll be the first month after giving staff their April payrise, plus they are getting their bonuses and most of them have done overtime this month, so a hefty month for salaries!  All well deserved though - they work hard for us.

Right - now I need to get on with the day!  Have a lovely Easter! 

LzzyIsGod

Sounds like a full on Easter holidays but lovely too. Good work on the saving for clubs front - it soon mounts up when the invoices come at once.

Debtfree2026

Morning!  I have been continuing with my daily routine - checking the bank accounts in the morning and reconciling against my spreadsheet.  

This has been a very successful start to the month as bonuses have been paid!  

We have two holidays booked for this year - Cornwall and Lapland.  I had paid deposits on both and have now settled the remaining balances.  I booked and paid in advance for my daughters surf lessons through saving in my extracurricular pot, so we I'm feeling very positive financially about that holiday.  Last year we had put it all on a credit card, so it feels great to have paid for it outright!

Lapland; this is a very expensive holiday.  We are both aware that this is a once in a lifetime holiday but to be honest, if I hadn't booked it before my light blub moment I think I would have saved for longer.  I paid the deposit last February on my credit card.  The balance is due in September but we had the funds to pay for it now - thanks to our bonus.

I've got £1,000 saved into the emergency fund now as well, which is a good feeling.

I did struggle with the concept of having emergency savings whilst I have debt - just in terms of wanting to pay the debt off quicker.  But at the end of the day it gives us a buffer if we need it, the debt is on 0% interest and I'm making well above the minimum repayments as it is.  

Home insurance is due for renewal this month - the amount of years that I had it on autorenewal and paid so much more than I needed to. Such a waste of money!  So I've been following all the tips on here and have found a policy for £210 a year, which fits our criteria.  If I had just done the autorenewal it would have been £388 a year, so a big saving.  

Hope everyone has lovely plans for the long weekend - my husband is away for work so it's the usual swimming lessons for the children tomorrow and then the eldest is off to a sleepover.  A lazy Monday is planned, although will try and get some house/garden work done if we can!  Thanks for reading!

dawnybabes

That’s brilliant news you’ve managed to cover the holidays 😁

Debtfree2026

Another thing I forgot to mention - because I did my home insurance renewal through confused.com (as recommended on MSE!) I got a £20 Sainsburys gift card and a free coffee from Greggs every month for the next 12 months! So feeling very smug and money saving on that front!

OhLookAnotherNewStart

I've just read your whole diary start to finish and it's so inspiring!
You're balancing living your life (with small kids!) and paying off your debt and it's so nice to see. I'm in a bit of a !!!!!! situation this month but you've really inspired me to start doing pots from payday this month and moving forward!

Debtfree2026

OhLookAnotherNewStart said:

I've just read your whole diary start to finish and it's so inspiring!
You're balancing living your life (with small kids!) and paying off your debt and it's so nice to see. I'm in a bit of a !!!!!! situation this month but you've really inspired me to start doing pots from payday this month and moving forward!

Hi!  Thank you so much!  I find it so helpful as a way of expressing myself- it isn't always easy to discuss finances in 'real life' is it?  The pots have really been so so helpful to me - I regret not doing this sooner but I honestly had my head buried in the sand and had no clue about all the things I could do to help myself.  I love reading everyone's diaries on here, it is so encouraging and inspirational!

OhLookAnotherNewStart

I'm definitely looking at doing it for next month. I want to start organising it now but then I feel like I'll have nothing to look forward to hahah! 

Sarahwithlove

I hope your dad let's you sit down and help him with his finances. Sounds like he could do with it and hopefully he would then he able to repay you at a more affordable monthly amount for him.