Adventure wanted, but first we must rid ourselves of debt

AdventureWanted · 10 January 2018 at 11:10PM

Yesterday I did a bank round down sending £9 to CC2 and 34p to the emergency fund. Today I’ve sent 36p to the emergency fund and the £130 dd for CC2 has come out.

Feel a bit meh about the debts at the moment. DH is still talking about the course he wants to go on and is pretty adamant that as long as he can get on it and it is the price/length of time he thinks that it is too good an opportunity to miss. I’ve set myself targets for this year in terms of debt reduction, but if he does the course I’m not sure they’ll be achievable at all :sad:

Had a get together with a friend today which was lovely, although stressful before she arrived as the house was messy. Spent 45 minutes manically tidying up and it still looked messy. Going to have to try harder to declutter the house and find a place for all our stuff. One of the biggest culprits is DHs paperwork. We don’t have an office and currently lack cupboard space to house it all, so it just stays in the corner of the dining room in boxes/bags taking up space. It would be lovely to be able to invite friends over without the manic clean beforehand!! I think I need to be more organised and try and spend a set amount of time each day doing a bit of tidying/decliuttering.

Anyway, enough feeling sorry for myself

Debts at 10/1/18
CC1 - £0
CC2 - £6,771
CC3 - £10,820
CC4 - £12,610

Total debt - £30,201

AdventureWanted · 12 January 2018 at 9:01PM

I’ve had 2 lots of cashback become available for payment so have transferred just over £11 to my bank account from top cashback and Quidco, which I’ve subsequently paid off CC2. Balance is now £6,760. Looking forward to the end of the month when this balance will be under £6,500.

DH has done another days extra work today and is planning on another in the early part of next week. That’ll take him to 4 extra days already this month. Hopefully he can average at least 2 for the rest of the year, as this will help us with the debt reduction.

I’m hoping to have a sort through of our finances again either tonight or tomorrow to figure out exactly where we stand with all our money, including the business. Need to take another look at our budget and see if there is anything we can do to reduce some categories. Our gas & electric dd is due to go down by £10 from next month, which will be good. Just need to make sure my meter readings are up to date and then do another comparison, as we had one of the money saving expert energy emails the other day saying we could save by switching.

One thing I have been rubbish at doing recently is meal planning. I really need to get back into the habit of doing this, as it really helped keep our food bill down. I think I’m going to try to make a couple more vegetarian dishes, as we most probably eat far too much meat. I had a look earlier at the jack Monroe website and found a recipe for 12 hour rich lentil Ragu which I thought sounded nice. They’d got it costed up at 29p, which I presume is a per person cost?! Im pretty good at cooking from scratch, but could do with varying the meals I make. Most of them have minced beef or sausages in! I have been slightly better recently at using a smaller portion of meat and upping the veggie content.

I’ve currently got our food budget set at £300 for 2 adults and 3 kids (DC1 eats the same amount as me, DC2 eats about half an adult portion and DC3 eats a small bowlful). The £300 budget includes nappies for DC3 and night time pull ups for DC2, as well as all toiletries. Not sure if this is a good price or if it can be cut by much, so will keep an eye on it and see if by eating more veggie meals the food bill decreases. At the moment we pay for the Tesco delivery saver and have our shopping delivered, but not sure whether when the prepaid period is up to cancel it and start going to Aldi instead. (We pop to Aldi every month to buy DC2s pull ups as they are so much cheaper compared to the branded ones). It’s certainly easier having the shopping delivered compared to taking all 3 DC to the supermarket, although a trip to Aldi hopefully wouldn’t be as costly as Tesco as they have less toys to tempt the DC!

AdventureWanted · 15 January 2018 at 4:46PM

Have made a couple of payments to CC2 since I last posted. So debt now looks like:
CC1 - £0
CC2 - £6,650
CC3 - £10,820
CC4 - £12,610

Total debt - £30,080

CC3’s dd is due to come out around the 21st which will take me into the £29ks. Really pleased that it will be under £30k by the end of the month.

No news on DHs course. Feel a bit in limbo about it, but have decided that there’s no point stressing about it at the moment.

DH has been trying really hard to work extra hours recently. This month he has worked 4 days extra so far and he’s said he’ll try and work at least 1 if not 2 more before the end of the month. It’s hard when he does work extra days as we don’t get to see him as much, but it will definitely help our finances lots.

Still haven’t got round to doing the meter readings and comparison. If it’s stopped raining I’ll head out in a second and do it whilst it’s still fresh in my mind..

jwil · 15 January 2018 at 5:12PM

So close to the £29ks!

It's hard about the course, but if it will benefit long term it's probably worth it. So frustrating though when things undermine debtbusting plans!

AdventureWanted · 17 January 2018 at 8:33AM

Thanks Jwil. The course will benefit long term as there will be a lot more job opportunities, but like you said it is so frustrating.

Today I have rounded down the bank accounts and sent £1.38 to the emergency fund (this is the pence round down from 2 accounts) and £5 to CC2.

Emergency fund is currently at £305.45. Have been putting £150 in a month for the last couple of months, so should get this past my desired £500 balance in March. Might then reduce the monthly payment and send the extra £50 to the cc.

Storm89 · 17 January 2018 at 10:36AM

I've not read this diary for a few days but just popped on to check and I really like the idea of rounding down the amounts on the bank accounts to allocate the payments elsewhere. Good luck on getting into the £29ks !

AdventureWanted · 18 January 2018 at 1:05PM

Blimey it was blowing a gale this morning. It knocked our bin over, which was fun at 7.30 in the morning picking up rubbish from the street

The power went off briefly early this morning, so was woken by the sound of other houses alarms going off. The kids both have Philips hue lightbulbs in their rooms, which are usually great, but an absolute pain in the backside when there is a powercut, as the lights came on at full brightness which woke the kids up (luckily it was after 6). Think I may rethink the lightbulbs they have in their rooms in the future.

The powercut in our area has meant that the kids swimming lessons have been cancelled, so I’ve just transferred the swimming lesson cost to CC2. Really getting close to the £29ks.

CC1 - £0
CC2 - £6,617
CC3 - £10,820
CC4 - £12,610

Total debt at 18/1/18 - £30,047

AdventureWanted · 18 January 2018 at 1:13PM

Just checked DHs business account and have managed to repay the £50 owed to us, so have just paid it off CC2. It was far too tempting being so close to the £29ks!!

Debt at 18/1/18
CC1 - £0
CC2 - £6,567
CC3 - £10,820
CC4 - £12,610

Total debt - £29,997 :j:j

Balance is still ridiculously high, but it’s now under £30k!! Hooray!! :beer:

AdventureWanted · 19 January 2018 at 9:11AM

Have had my daily check of my bank accounts and update of ynab. Have rounded down my account and sent 44p to the emergency fund, as well as £9 to CC2.

So far this month we have done pretty well in not spending lots of money on days out/coffee shops. Usually the kids & I meet a friend and her home ed kids every week either at a National Trust place or local soft play/junior farm, which although we have season tickets, always ends up with coffees and cakes. (Coffee shops are my biggest weakness!). Monday will be a big challenge for us, as DH, DC1&2 all have opticians appointments in the city, which means the temptation of coffee shops and just shops in general. DC2 has to have drops put in her eyes to have an in-depth check, as she is only just 5 & her first check up. DC1 has told her it hurts loads, so I’ve promised her a small treat if she’s a brave girl.

jwil · 19 January 2018 at 4:39PM

Well done :T :T :T

Adventure wanted, but first we must rid ourselves of debt

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