Getting it together...one £ at a time!

Homegrown0 · 26 October 2018 at 11:08PM

Still feeling rough - spent the whole day being ill or sleeping. But on the plus side, I haven't eaten anything or spent anything. Every cloud...

Hoping I feel a bit better tomorrow, although my plans will be changing so I can take it easy. Poor husband has to shoulder most of the busyness.

abba1772 · 27 October 2018 at 3:13PM

Hope you feel better soon xx

Homegrown0 · 20 November 2018 at 3:01PM

Oh my goodness, it's been almost a month since I've updated my diary. It's been a busy time!

The last three weeks have seen:
1. Infection in my gum
2. Wisdom tooth removal and recovery
3. 3-day work trip
4. Further infection in my gum
5. Trans-Atlantic work trip (5 days)

I feel like I've just managed to get back into the swing of things this week!

Money
It has been a rather expensive month... Christmas shopping is in full swing and we've just needed to replenish bigger things in the house (like washing powder etc) and I just feel like our money has disappeared.

We also have our car service next week (£219...:eek:) and still some more Christmas shopping to finish so it's not really going to ease up any time soon! We also have 6 family birthdays in December, as well as my son's birthday (for which he's having a party) so that'll need to be factored in.

Thankfully my husband has just been paid for a bit of overtime that he did last which is covering the spending shortfall so far. We had put £200 into the savings account this month so that'll cover the car service. Must get better at planning for these things, but i'd much rather have a pot to cover this for next year.

I've just done some reconciliation of spreadsheets and our big debt payment has come out so i'll put together my end of November round up and see what December may bring.

Life
Life is so busy right now - looking at my calendar for the next 6 weeks just makes me want to weep! I just need to get myself more organised and look a bit ahead instead of stumbling through our busy times.

Thankfully I don't have any more work travel for the year so that's one less thing to worry about.

Days until pay day: 9
Days until finishing up for Christmas: 31
Work days left: 23

Today
In the spirit of trying to be more organised, i've prepped the veg to make a pot of soup later (chicken noodle) and done three washings (hung up one so far and about to do the other two). Trying to make the most of the time i get up from my desk - go to the loo, put the dishes away; go to make a coffee, empty the washing machine and reload while the kettle boils. I can't be like this every day but today it seems manageable.

Also called up to book in my service and instead of being without my car for the whole day and making drop offs/ pick ups for the kids hard, i've agreed to bring it to the garage for 1030am and i'll wait (which means they prioritise it) and i can work from the office there as they have wifi and a coffee machine. That's all I need!

Homegrown0 · 20 November 2018 at 3:13PM

Balances and paid amounts
Loan: £7,369.74 / £15,792.30 (£8,422.56 paid off - 53% paid)
CC1: £4,504.97 / £4,804.97 (started from scratch in July 18) £300 or 6.3% paid off
CC2: £4,071.14 / £5,031.14 (£960 paid off - 19% paid)

Total: £15,945.85 / £25,619.44 (£9,682.56 paid off, 38% paid)

Good things:

38% of total debt paid off
I'm into the £15ks total debt (by the skin of my teeth...)
By the end of the year, we'll have paid off over £10k of debt and just over 40%

Not so good things

Yet another expensive month and it's not going to get any easier... :mad:
Christmas funds more or less evaporated on paying it in... I have about £200 left, but still more than £200 worth of gifts to buy. Any excess spends will need to come from our spending budget or from the clothes/ gifts pot. As i mentioned in my last post, I have 6 family birthdays and my son's birthday party to cover too.

Savings pots
I think its fair to say that savings pots are virtually non-existent!

Christmas fund: £PAID OUT - back to the drawing board to start saying this for 2019.
Credit union savings: £119
General savings: £200 currently and £300 to be added from husband's extra work (but £219 for service)
Gifts/ clothes fund: £0

enthusiasticsaver · 20 November 2018 at 3:26PM

£10k off the debt or 40% is great. Are you aiming for mid 2020 as DFD?

doingitanyway · 20 November 2018 at 5:18PM

The gum infection sounds tough especially as it was reoccurring. I have had that before and it isn't nice. Then the antibiotics take it out of you so I do feel for you.

You had a flu/cold thing not that long before.
Are you looking after yourself.
I know you work hard but it sounds like you've been a bit rundown?

You are doing well on the debt and you balance debt repayment with enjoying life too and that is important.

Homegrown0 · 21 November 2018 at 2:27PM

Thanks enthusiastic! Yes, aim was for early 2020 but it's now looking more like mid-2020 but i'll see where it takes us. I've not been overpaying as much as I'd like this year, but I'm not too worried about it. Hoping that 2019 will be a better year in terms of overpaying.

We are getting rid of the debt to get ourselves into more debt (ironically) but getting rid of this will put us in a better position to do the remodeling in the house that is so needed and will enable us to pay it off quicker.

Homegrown0 · 21 November 2018 at 2:32PM

doingitanyway wrote: »

The gum infection sounds tough especially as it was reoccurring. I have had that before and it isn't nice. Then the antibiotics take it out of you so I do feel for you.

You had a flu/cold thing not that long before.
Are you looking after yourself.
I know you work hard but it sounds like you've been a bit rundown?

You are doing well on the debt and you balance debt repayment with enjoying life too and that is important.

You've hit the nail on the head there - I've not really been looking after myself, although there's not an area in particular that I've been neglecting. Just working a lot, travelling a lot then feeling the mum guilt for being away working so much and compensating by shoving myself to the back of the Q. My eating hasn't been great lately and exercising has taken a back seat so will need to get that back on track.

Balancing debt repayment with enjoying life is essential for us. We spent the best part of 5 years struggling to make ends meet with two lots of mat leave close together followed immediately by a £1.5k per month childcare bill. It's only in the last 18 months or so that I moved jobs which led to a much better salary, and my eldest went to school which eased up the childcare. I feel like now things are a bit easier, we are paying down the debt at a good rate (£630p/m ish) but still enjoying precious family time and holidays. This year was holiday-tastic but next year, we are planning one family summer holiday.

We'll get there - just need to keep juggling in the mean time!

Homegrown0 · 21 November 2018 at 2:36PM

I did a big order on Amazon earlier which covers off almost all of the rest of the kids' christmas as well as my two nephews. Spends all came out of my Christmas fund from the Credit union savings. I have a few items to get at the weekend (for my son's birthday) and a couple of birthdays to sort for December then I think i'm almost done!

Hoping to make our own Christmas cards again this year with the kids. Think i'll look on Pinterest for some inspiration. I'm pretty sure the kids will be keen to help.

December is just looking chaotic! :eek: I'm burying my head in the sand about it all to be honest...

Homegrown0 · 21 November 2018 at 4:31PM

Made some chicken noodle soup last night and had some right now - it was delicious actually

I've written out my list for the boys' Christmas (i.e what I have bought and what i still need to get) as well as what I still need to buy for others. It's not looking too painful actually and the 'clothes and gifts' budget for December will at least cover the birthdays I hope. At least I feel a bit more organised!

Got a bacon, chicken and leek pasta bake on the cards for tonight's dinner so will need to get onto that in the next hour. In the mean time, i must get more work done!!

Getting it together...one £ at a time!

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