Adventure wanted, but first we must rid ourselves of debt

Went for a lovely long walk at the woods today with the DC, my mum & her dogs. The rain even stopped whilst we were there. DC1&2 & the dogs had loads of fun charging round the woods and finding large incredibly muddy puddles to walk through (kids) / lay in (dogs). My mum was desperately trying to avoid the lakes at the woods to stop the dogs getting too messy, so it was really funny when we rounded a corner to see one of them laying&then rolling in a rather small muddy puddle. Luckily for me we came in separate cars :rotfl:

Today has been another NSD. (9/15). :j
Managed to round down the bank account sending £6 to CC2. Tomorrow the dd for CC3 comes out, which will be good. CC3 is getting closer to being under £10k. Although saying that it will still take months as the dd is only £120.

Need to do a food inventory for both freezer & cupboards this week so I can plan meals for the rest of the month. Need to get some more milk & bread very soon, as took last ones from freezer today. I've been thinking about our food shop recently and might try and do one Tesco shop a month for things I can't get at Aldi and bulky items, then do a weekly Aldi shop with DH on his day off. Not 100% sure whether this will end up being money saving (additional fuel driving there, plus having to shop with DH& the DC, rather than me ordering online by myself) but would like to give it a go for a bit and compare shops. Need to look at when my delivery saver subscription runs out at Tesco, as I may as well start it from then.

Today has been another NSD, taking me to 10 this month. Hopefully next month I can beat this. Food shopping has been atrocious this month. Really need to try harder next month.

Yesterday I paid £5 to CC2 and 39p to the emergency fund.

Had a long discussion with DH last night about our finances, future plans and his course. Still haven't finished our discussion, so hopefully we will come to a final decision about the course by the end of next week.

The problem is that I really want to reduce the debts as much as possible this year. DH and I would love to move house in a year or so. Which although we have a very good LTV ratio (about 45%), the debts we have and the fact that DH is self employed would hinder us increasing the mortgage. Fingers crossed the debt will be a lot lower by the end of the year and not such eye watering figures.

Tuesday is pay day, so I am looking forward to making my final debt payments for the month and doing my month end round up.

Thanks Jwil and pauper1.

The snow was quite deep yesterday which was good fun for me and the DC. DH managed to get to work ok, as he leaves early (6.30ish) so the roads were still snowy. His work closed early yesterday, which is a relief as he could travel home before the temperature dropped. DH is fed up though as he lost out on 5 hours work, but he can always go extra hours another day to make it up.

There hasn't been any more snow today, but the roads are pretty awful in places. The kids climbing and swimming lessons for the day have been cancelled, which is a relief (I hate driving when it's icy). Will get a refund of about £6 from climbing at some point, and haven't had to pay the £28 for the swimming lessons. Once I found out it was cancelled I transferred the £28 to CC2. Really hoping tomorrow's tennis lessons are cancelled, as can't see the roads improving that much and it is always nice to get a bit of money back!!

In other news... DH has decided to do the course. I have had so many discussions with him about it, but ultimately we have different opinions regarding debt. He doesn't see a difference between borrowing now and paying it back later compared to saving for 6 months and then paying for it. I can understand why he wants to do it, as it will mean career progression and the course is local (usually they would involve being away for the 6 weeks) so he will save money on hotels and see us everyday for a bit, also his work are allowing him to come into work for a few hours every evening after the course, so he'll earn some money. I've kind of come to terms with it, although as it is ultimately a business debt i won't be adding it to my debt figures. I'm just going to carry on and try and reduce the debts as much as possible.

I need to be a lot better with money this month, mainly on food shops. Our fuel bill was higher last month as we had a 10p off a litre voucher and filled the car up completely, whereas I usually only put £40 in. Hopefully the fuel will be less this month, especially as I haven't driven to all the groups this week. I am still unsure how on earth I managed to spend so much on food last month, especially as our freezer is fairly empty. I really need to get more organised and actually start meal planning and not just thinking about doing it! When DH starts the course at the beginning of April I won't have any business money to rely on if the budget gets too tight, so really need to be very disciplined.