Learning to budget to make future adventures happen

debtfreeoneday · 29 April 2017 at 6:32AM

That's great news, well done you!

enthusiasticsaver · 29 April 2017 at 7:38AM

Good news on you clearing loan. Well done and it now means your money is your own to spend as you wish rather than paying for things that happened ages ago.

We have just come back from our cottage holiday in Surrey with our daughters, son in law and 18 month old granddaughter. We were going to do Legoland but decided our granddaughter was too young to appreciate it at the moment so did a more MSE trip to local petting zoo with large soft play area. Legoland will be left for another 2 or 3 years.

We also have a centre Parcs trip booked for June for the whole family (12 of us). Great for four different generations including my elderly mum and stepdad who can't do the activities but likes seeing family as we live 250 miles from them. All paid for with our adventure fund (or holiday fund).

Since we retired we have upped it (we save £500 per month) and this year it paid for my Dominican Republic trip in February with my sister, our cottage holiday last week , centre Parcs in June and an autumn treat for my husband and I is a week in Rhodes.

crunch_time · 29 April 2017 at 7:48AM

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

Good news on you clearing loan. Well done and it now means your money is your own to spend as you wish rather than paying for things that happened ages ago.

We have just come back from our cottage holiday in Surrey with our daughters, son in law and 18 month old granddaughter. We were going to do Legoland but decided our granddaughter was too young to appreciate it at the moment so did a more MSE trip to local petting zoo with large soft play area. Legoland will be left for another 2 or 3 years.

We also have a centre Parcs trip booked for June for the whole family (12 of us). Great for four different generations including my elderly mum and stepdad who can't do the activities but likes seeing family as we live 250 miles from them. All paid for with our adventure fund (or holiday fund).

Since we retired we have upped it (we save £500 per month) and this year it paid for my Dominican Republic trip in February with my sister, our cottage holiday last week , centre Parcs in June and an autumn treat for my husband and I is a week in Rhodes.

Thanks enthusiasticsaver! Love centre parcs. We went about two years ago and spent a lot of time waiting for dd who was about seven months old at the time to finish napping or feeding so this time it's going to be awesome. We are excited as we can do so much more now as a family now she is older.

My plan is to save £500 a month for adventures. A much bigger budget than my one for 'stuff.'

Crunchy x

crunch_time · 1 May 2017 at 1:32PM

Afternoon all!

Currently sitting with the husband at a local soft play while the kids play. Husband is ill with a cold and I have a bad back son it was the best thing to do to entertain the kids so we could have a rest! Ha ha!! I've never done this sort of thing before because of dd needing support in the play bit but now she is 2.5 and can handle it herself I feel I will be doing this more often - husband has been reading whilst I have been plotting and scheming!!!

I have enjoyed reflecting about being loan free for the last few days. I regally thought I would feel content enough with the remaining debt to let it run and chuck bits and bobs at it occasionally. The truth is I now feel I'm not and I really want to just get rid. It should only take a few more months. Husband is onboard. Let's just get this done and dusted!!!!

Right - must formulate a plan!!

Crunchy xx

crunch_time · 1 May 2017 at 9:20PM

Evening all!

I'm back with a plan as I'm determined to get This SMASHED once and for all.

My plan is to clear it by 1st August 2017. What worked before was having a clear deadline.

I'm going to aim to

- have NSD's throughout the working week
- shop at Aldi to keep costs down
- Plan lots of parks/walks and picnics at the weekends to keep things cheap and cheerful.
- not buy anymore books until i have read the ones I have (i have at least 5 unread ones that can keep my entertained.)
- stop having people around here for dinner as it costs us lots of money.
- one bottle of wine per week.
- being more mindful of the resources that we have already and be creative with them - food, art supplies, books, places to go on our doorstep etc.

Looking forward to this final little chapter and I think its going to be a great experience in setting us up for whats next.

Crunchy xx

crunch_time · 3 May 2017 at 8:06PM

Evening diary!
Childcare bill in - childcare vouchers and over budgeting meant I only had to pay £16.81. So I have shuffled £300 over to the sains credit card. Debt down to £2800 and total paid up to 77%!!

Very good start to the new plan.

Now I have to wait until husband gets paid again so 3 weeks to go!!

Crunchy xx

JoJoC · 3 May 2017 at 9:00PM

I love seeing a plan made! Looks like you've got an achievable target and steps in place to achieve it. Well done!

Wow to thst childcare bill... Differs slightly from my £1,386 per month... Wow! Glad it enabled you to overpay the debt though! On track already!

crunch_time · 5 May 2017 at 2:05PM

Afternoon diary

So yesterday, something told me 'go on - just have a quick browse on right move. You haven't for a while.' So I did. And I found a house that in paper is perfect for us space wise. And it's in our village so no need to move schools. And it's just been reduced! It looks like it would need some work like new kitchen and bathrooms, carpets and maybe a wall knocking through here and there. We have booked to see it next week and also going to ours to get valued.

Very exciting. I can totally see us living there - from the photos at least anyway ha ha!!

Wish us luck!!

Crunchy xx

kirtsypoos · 5 May 2017 at 2:22PM

How exciting Crunchy!! Hope the viewing goes well

crunch_time · 9 May 2017 at 5:24PM

Afternoon diary!

Ha ha! I'm laughing at myself and my optimism! The house was a total dump! More than just new bathrooms, kitchen and carpets. It basically needed gutting. Such a shame as such a lovely space and it has such potential. There is no way we could live in it and do it up gradually. At least it's an exercise in what we don't want (and can't afford)!

We have had our house valued at £10k more than we thought. Of course it's all relative as it depends on what people will pay.

Anyway, I'm glad we viewed it and I got it out of my system. Very glad that we are staying put for the time being and focusing on debt free ness!

On that front - no more ground to be made just yet! Just plodding on with trying to stick to budget.

Everything heading in the right direction xx

We

Learning to budget to make future adventures happen

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