Forever home fund (Take 2)

optimistic-mummy · 17 September 2014 at 10:17PM

Thankyou for your reply.

Its so hard to know what to do for the best sometimes hopefully its not just a young age thing ..

After talking to partner think I will start splitting any spare money 50/50 and see where we are at in the new year

I've still got lots to sell. But nothing is shifting lately although I don't think its just us as I have seen a lot of people on the fb groups I'm on are saying the same.

Off to get some washing sorted and get an early night will be sorting the accounts out tomorrow so will update then.

Oh well I remember (this is going to start sounding like such a depressing thread) our printer stopped working tonight and with us both being in education and me studying at home (it was hardly used before) it couldn't of happened at a worse time. Something else that we need to replace. Oh well that's life. Hopefully things will start looking up for us soon

Night all will update again tomorrow

Hello to all reading by the way and thank you for all the replies so far

optimistic-mummy · 17 September 2014 at 10:20PM

On the up side we have received a £90 cheque from the gas from overpayments and our fortnightly payment plan has reduced from £26 to £17

Pushkin · 18 September 2014 at 8:55AM

Hi - just wanted to say I too think it's amazing you are so financially in control while in your twenties. I am in my 40's and only now getting this level of control and still learning and making mistakes. When I think of the waste and unnecessary expenses we incurred over the years I could cry!

So without meaning to sound patronising I think you are extremely switched on and although it may seem c**p at times it's kind of a positive that you know the exact situation rather than just burying your head in the sand (like we did).

Good luck - it sounds like in a few months you will have your debts cleared and an emergency pot all of which will provide more choices and even more control.

optimistic-mummy · 18 September 2014 at 10:08AM

hi everyone hope you are all well.

thankyou for your reply pushkin, its my dads doing i follow him. ive always been like it right from when i started earning pocket money as a child

the problem is we have big dreams i know i can make them all happen if i keep focused but if i dont i know we will be looking back in years to come kicking ourselves. we are still young enough (i believe) to change our lives for the better. which education wise we are in the process of doing. and financially trying to aswell.

DP wants to set up his own buisness in the future which without money wont happen
we want to get married .. and although alot of people say its a waste of money i want the wedding of my dreams because i wont be renewing my vows to do it how we would of liked to etc and i dont plan on ever re-marrying. but we are in no rush and i have a plan to get my dream wedding at a fraction of the cost
we also want to buy a house at some point and hoping if we can build up enough of a pot so that we arnt paying huge repayments

my degree is just the start to get my dreams regarding career rolling

altho we have all these plans ... it wouldnt be the end of the world if we didnt achieve them but we would rather try and be able to say we tried than never try and never know

we are young enough to change it all so why not ? whats the worst that can happen

optimistic-mummy · 18 September 2014 at 10:11AM

financial update :

debt
credit card £900
catalogue
£292 interest free period ends 7/11/14
£175 interest free period ends 2/06/15

savings pot £100 :T

the debt should be less but £360 for an exhaust. things LO needed for school that we wernt told about and stuff DP needed for college that they didnt tell us about until he started has increased it

optimistic-mummy · 21 September 2014 at 1:51AM

so i have a plan (after evaluating everything i think this will work better for us) ... so i can gain better control over our finances. providing i can get DP to stick to it ... we should be debt free in 30 weeks or less and have abit more savings and hopefully be able to get the kids main xmas presents without having to use the cc or catologue which means we will be on our way and one step closer before april 2015 of achieving our dreams.

i still have loads of stuff to sell which will help.

over the next 30 weeks the aim is : (by 30th april 2015)

be debt free
have £500 in savings
and xmas & the kids birthdays paid for with no debt (this would be a first for a good few years)

between now and xmas i will split the money 50/50 and in the new year will put some money aside each week for xmas/birthdays. which will mean the money left over can go on the debt. (depending on how much is in the savings post by then

hoping to have a few NSD's this week. and will get as much as possible sold and put up for 'a rainy day'

off to bed now will post again tomorrow night all

eta

first thing Monday i am going to get a pocket diary purely and simply to write down all expenses each week/day so i know where we are as well as using the envelope system

optimistic-mummy · 21 September 2014 at 2:01AM

xmas presents so far : (person and budget in bold)

father in law £30
watch - RRP £50 i paid £20

DS2 £50 + main present of £150
vtech book RRP £15.99 I paid £4.30
leapfrog alphabet thing RRP £14.99 I paid £5.30
megablocks piano RRP £29.99 I PAID £9.99
Hippo toy £16.99 i paid £4.99

DS1 £100 + main present £200
Monsters university throw RRP £12.99 i paid £4.50
arena RRP £29.99 i paid £1.99
arena monsters x4 TOTAL RRP £39.96 i paid £3.96 IN TOTAL
gun RRP £29.99 i paid £1.99
magic tricks RRP £20 I PAID £4.99
GARAGE RRP £29.99 I PAID £4.99
Lightening mcqueen car and plane RRP £49.99 i paid £19.99

Partner £100
dad £30
brother £30
grandmother £10
present off kids £0 (a jewellery set which was a gift i received but have never used)
nana £10
mother in law £30

total RRP £340.87p spent so far £86.99p

gallygirl · 21 September 2014 at 9:26AM

Am going to confuse you a bit more

. There is no point having emergency savings when you have interest bearing debt. What rate will you be paying when the interest free periods end? You would be better concentrating on the debts and saying yourself as much interest as you can. Credit cards can be used if there is an emergency, rather than keeping debt so you can build up a little fund.

Good luck - as others have said, you've very switched on :T.

optimistic-mummy · 21 September 2014 at 2:03PM

Thank you Gally girl. That was my original plan as it seemed to make more sense. Will maybe have a smaller amount in savings for now so I can try and brake the cycle when unexpected things uccure. Instead of adding back to the debt ? Or just clear the debt and then start saving the second option makes more sense so will go with that and see what happens

On the upside. I have a printer and installed it all myself including the WiFi thing :T

optimistic-mummy · 21 September 2014 at 3:38PM

so how the next few weeks will work (our trial run and if it works this is how it will continue) every other thursday i will withdraw the money for the fortnight leaving enough in the bank for the months direct debits. our direct debits are around £50 a fortnight

income : £723
- £50 direct debits £673

envelope 1
electric £30
gas £17
water £18
tv licence £12
total £77

envelope 2
xmas/birthdays £40
total £40

envelope 3
bike £20
clothes £20
other £60
total £100

envelope 4
food/formula/toiletries/cleaning etc £140
petrol £40
tobbacco £20
total £200

total after direct debits £417 (+ £50 for direct debits £467)

difference £256

£206 for debt £50 for savings account

result by the 1st of January

amount towards debt £1442
amount in savings £350

with 10 weeks till the beginning for December we should also have £200 towards Xmas any extra money made selling our unwanted/no longer needed stuff will also go towards Xmas

our total debt currently stands at £1337

now that looks a better picture

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Forever home fund (Take 2)

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