Debt Free by 40 - let the countdown begin!!!!

seahorsey · 31 August 2018 at 6:25AM

Yesterday's positive steps......

1. Logged back into MSE :T
2. Negotiated better deal on breakdown cover
3. Cancelled dog insurance
Total saving approx £300 per year

Extra day off with the little one today. Unfortunately he's a bit under the weather so we won't be doing anything to exciting. Quick trip into town for nappies and then home for a quiet afternoon.

Really need to get ebaying and clearing stuff out. Need to raise £300 for OH cars service and MOT. All extra pennies will go towards the list of bills between now and the end of the year. It'd be great to pay them off with extra income rather than juggling - we'll see how it goes x

pidge04 · 31 August 2018 at 6:36AM

Yesterday I did spreadsheets for the next 6 months so I could see my predicted incomings and outgoings for each month. Would that be helpful for you in terms of budgeting for the 5 week months?

enthusiasticsaver · 31 August 2018 at 2:11PM

I think Pidge has a good idea in that doing an annual spreadsheet recording highs and lows would be useful in terms of annual bills and to pinpoint the longer months in terms of paydates etc. We do that for car mot and service/insurance dates and you might find it useful to put down animal costs like vaccinations etc. From the sound of it though you need to save more as well as bring the debt down. Tricky to get the balance right to start with but your pet costs and having 2 cars will impact considerably on your budget.

Knocking impulse buying on the head will also help. Taking the time to think about if you really need something before buying and researching the cheapest way of buying it has really stopped me first of all cluttering up our house and has saved a fortune as often after thinking about it for a day or so I have decided I already have something which does the same job.

seahorsey · 4 September 2018 at 5:38AM

Thanks pidge and enthusiasticsaver. The spreadsheet is something I definately need to do. At the minute I have a monthly one to track ins and outs but I'm keep getting caught out by longer months etc.

Hopefully, this weekend I have my OH onboard to do a car boot sale!!! The fact that he actually suggested it is a massive achievement in itself! So hopefully we can declutter a few bits and make some £££ at the same time. This week will mainly be spent getting ready for it. Checked the weather forecast and all looks good :j

Sold a bundle of DS outgrown clothes on fb yesterday and an eBay item, so £16 in total. Would like to raise at least £200 this month towards the MOT & service, so £16 / £200 so far...

The spending diary is proving to be an eye opener - for example a post pay day trip into town for nappies, petfood and household stuff (homebargains) for the month ended up costing £55 :eek: nothing extravagant but its stuff that doesn't really fit the current budget if that makes sense. I guess in theory the it should come out of the food shop budget. Looking forward to going back through it all at the end of the month and using it to set a realistic budgeting system for us.

My countdown to Christmas has officially started too :rotfl: I love Christmas but it does stress me out :rotfl: Having a toddler that's fully aware of it now is also going to make it interesting as all pressies will need to be bought and wrapped without him knowing. Definitely need to be more organised this year. Need to make a list of pressies left to buy and my task for this week is to get a list of Christmassy activities and cheap trips so that I can start putting money aside now to cover them. The majority of shopping is already done, just immediate family left to sort.

Have a great day x

GlendaSugarbean · 4 September 2018 at 8:54AM

August was an expensive month for us too. I love autumn as it always feels like a fresh start. Once you have a month or two of tracked expenses you'll have a much better idea of what your budget will look like. Remember to be realistic about savings, especially with Xmas looming :eek:

seahorsey · 6 September 2018 at 3:50PM

I'm exactly the same with regards to Autumn. Love this time of year! Love the feeling of closing the curtains, shutting the world out and getting cosy in your own four walls.

Had a couple more eBay and fb sales, so currently sitting at £40.32 / £200. I've listed aload more stuff to so hopefully some more will sell.

The spending diary is going well in the sense that I'm writing everything down. Already I'm beginning to identify my key weaknesses. Drinks and snacks on the go is a big one. Since payday (1 week ago today!) I've spent nearly £18 on drinks and snacks either at work or on the go. This doesn't include meals :eek: I am going to start taking my water bottle everywhere! Thats an absolutely ridiculous amount. Aim for next week is to drive this down to less than £5.

I

seahorsey · 6 September 2018 at 3:58PM

Yay - another eBay sale! £49.32 / £200. A quarter of the way through the month and a quarter of the way to target :j

System · 7 September 2018 at 3:53PM

Hi Seahorsey, I've been buying myself and the kids nice drinks and snacks in bulk and then I take them with me. I always take my water bottle out to avoid buying bottled water but sometimes water just isn't good enough. Just throwing a suggestion out there for you. Could be an option to avoid spending money on drinks and snacks.

Willing2Learn · 7 September 2018 at 4:10PM

seahorsey wrote: »

The spending diary is going well in the sense that I'm writing everything down. Already I'm beginning to identify my key weaknesses. Drinks and snacks on the go is a big one. Since payday (1 week ago today!) I've spent nearly £18 on drinks and snacks either at work or on the go. This doesn't include meals :eek: I am going to start taking my water bottle everywhere! Thats an absolutely ridiculous amount. Aim for next week is to drive this down to less than £5.

I'm another one who is guilty of overspending on snacks and lattes. A spending diary sure helps to identify those weaknesses. Well done on setting a new weekly target!

seahorsey · 8 September 2018 at 7:05AM

It's amazing how quickly they add up isn't it? Debtfreedreams - I'm really good with packing snacks and drinks for little one - just not myself! I will buy a multipack of cans if they're on offer but I find I get through them so quickly! Maybe I need to charge myself 40p a time - it'll make me think twice as I pop one open on a 10 minute car journey and the proceeds will pay for the next lot :think:

Sales now at £60 / £200 - ticking over nicely. Still planning on the carboot tomorrow although not convinced it'll go ahead as the weather isn't looking too promising - we'll see.

Added incentive to get rid of this debt - I need to do something about my work situation. Since having DS I've returned to work 3 days. However over the last year with changes in the department I've found myself back doing my old 5 day role in 3 days. If anything the workloads increased so I'm actually expected to do more in 3 days than I was in 5 days in my pre mat leave days. It's not sustainable either physically or mentally and it's really dragging me down. Something needs to give, but unfortunately well paid part time work is rare round here and can't afford to take a pay cut at the minute so need to keep plugging away at getting things paid off. Slave to the wage for the time being.........

In more positive news OH announced he'll be getting a slight pay rise next month. Not sure how much this will equate to but even £20 a month will be very welcome!

Tasks for today
1. Post eBay
2. Run
3. Sort for car boot
4. Food shopping

Debt Free by 40 - let the countdown begin!!!!

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