Tips for staying focussed

FunLovinCriminal

kimwp said:

FunLovinCriminal said:

ManyWays said:

when does the loan payments to a relative end and how much do your £100 a month savings add up to? 

Owe £10,000 currently paid back £3200
Have £600 in savings, £100 more in august

To clarify, do you still owe your relative £10k or do you now owe them £6,800?

They asked for the whole 10k back when we had it, so we have set up a savings account, paying £170 a month into it, it has a balance of £3200, so I suppose we owe £6800. It earns £8 a month interest, and we are on course to pay it back by dec 2027

13thlegion

In a past life I sold mobile phones for a leading retailer. Forget the s25. Not worth it. Even budget phones these days will out perform your S8 and you will notice a quality difference in the camera. If you want a Samsung the A ranges are good. I'm personally a fan of the pixels as they have fewer apps crammed on them. Gsmarena will show you specs side by side. The mobile phone tool on money saving expert is excellent. Also check if you employer can beat any deals.

You sound like me at the start of my journey. What I needed to do was get a clear understanding of everything. How much you owe. How much you need, how much you want.

Learning to understand where our money goes takes a little time. Nobody gets a budget right 1st or even 3rd time.

The statement of affairs (SOA) is great for doing 2 jobs. Seeing what you have spent in the past and planning what you want to spend in the future.

Use 6 to 12 months of statements to work out a past one for an average month. Average your grocery spend and other bills. Be brutal be honest. It's not fun but does help. For things that don't come up every month (Xmas, kids birthdays, holidays, car repairs, new washing machine etc) find out what you do spend on them in a year and divide by 12. This gives you a monthly figure for what they are costing you. This task will give you an accurate picture of where the money goes.

Next do an SOA to plan the next month. Look at what you actually spend, and take out anything you don't need. Make sure it covers all bills and essentials like food. Next add in those monthly averages for irregular spends. You do need to save that and put it aside each month. Then look at your debt minimums. Then with whatever you have left over decide where you will 'spend' it. So putting it in a savings account is spending it because you have used it for something. Or maybe you decide you need a little more entertainment. This is fine if you can afford it. Or save for the holiday. Or increase payments towards the debts. Up to you but the plan is to give every £ a job to do before it comes in.

The first few months things will derail the plans. There will be things you missed off, or didn't anticipate, or life will throw a curve ball. That's ok. Just change the plan for the following month with the new knowledge on board.

If you want to share your SOAs on here then you will get some helpful comments on the details. You don't have to, the choice is yours, and the option is there.

ButterCheese

Forget the latest phone.  I pay £19/month for unlimited calls and data which included a google pixel 7a.  It does everything anyone could want.  If the camera is not good enough in terms of zoom or whatever then get a used compact camera. 

In our experience, our older kids don't even remember holidays they had when they were 12.  Maybe go to spain in October half term when it's cheaper.  Or a summer holiday, find an air B&B in this country.  Self catering, cheap days out to the beach etc.  Or can you find a new job?  NHS pay very well if you can get in; you probably have transferable skills.  Even if you go in at admin level, you start at 25k, going up to 27k after a couple of years, and you can apply for a higher job pretty much after every couple of years.

We (people) tend to go with what we know and what we are familiar with.  Sometimes to make any positive change we have to change habits and lifestyle. It's difficult, but that's life.  And sometimes you have to be content with what you've got, and not compare yourself with what other people have.  You only have a smallish debt and a mortgage, so you are doing better than you may think. 

FunLovinCriminal

Thanks everyone for the advice.
I also switch focus to being mortgage free. Got £35,000 left on a 5yr fixed. 2yrs left on it with an interest of 1.89%
I lose focus and switch attention and achieve nothing

kimwp

I think kids that age will remember and benefit from experiencing a different culture, but it can be done pretty cheaply eg a sun (the paper) holiday in a self-catering static caravan park. Learning a bit of the language to speak to the locals, seeing different foods on the supermarket, taking trains and buses in a foreign country is all fab experience for a child that age.

FunLovinCriminal

Thanks all, comsidering a 2nd hand pixel 8 for the handset. Put the rest of money in the pot for holiday/renovation/mortgage.
I will look at the soa, for some reason it wasnt loading on my phone.