Debt support thread #2

[Nerfmother]

Here we are! Can't be bothered to think of an exciting title, sorry

Kinky! Online book day fotos! Good god.

I know!! Added cruelty after being forced to dress up.

Kinky do you pay into the TP scheme? If so then it's fairly safe I think

Yep, Miss. I hope so - I'm not very trusting. I also am totally clueless about how old I will need to be to retire. I'm focusing on getting rid of the debt then sorting this stuff out. Am 34, so AGES to go until I retire given we'll probably have to work into our 70s. Scary.

That's not the main reason I'm striking, BTW. Most of my reasons aren't financial ones. I am scared for education as a teacher and as a parent. That's why I will strike. Scary stuff is happening.

Anyway, my fun thing for this evening is trying to scrape the last of my WBD make-up off and not eat any biscuits after photo-related horror earlier. If I stop eating rubbish, will save me some pennies, so it's all good.

Hello all, sorry haven't caught up much this week. Dh is still away with his school and it has been manic here. I never realised how many journeys to/from clubs we do between us! Poor dd has had to have several late night this week in order to pick up ds and she's feeling it now. They have been so good this week despite missing their daddy so I have promised to take them out to Pizza Hut for tea tomorrow. It's a bit blase but I have a voucher that means one of dc can eat free and I figured it is about the cheapest place I can do. I really think they deserve it and sometimes you just have to say sod it don't you!
Other than that I have had a very cheap week this week. I always spend less when I am on my own. The house is massively tidier too!
We have no plans for the weekend. I guess dh will need to catch up on some sleep so we'll probably have a quiet one. We have Smurfs 2 to watch borrowed from a friend so we may bake some treats and watch that.

It's my tenth wedding anniversary today and we are celebrating by...
Dh staying overnight at a charity do, and I've bought myself a caramel ice cream and a trashy magazine. Mum dropped a bottle of wine round earlier.
Frugal or what!

Hi alec4 - I'm thinking if borrowing DVDs again. A friend and I used to swap them all the time. Might start it up again.

Kinky - I agree it is not about finances or even about me personally, it's about what is happening to the profession and to our kids. Gove is a total maniac. I always strike and get annoyed at others who "can't afford it" (from teachers in families with two professional wages and several holidays a year) - school gets shut to the students and they have an easy day catching up with marking. So annoying

Anyway, I just ordered A Girl Called Jack's cookbook using a £5 Amazon voucher I had been saving (got it for doing a survey) - maybe I can save my days lost wages by following her recipes in April! Got the print version - as much as I love my kindle I still want my recipe book in print. Went via Amazon but used the book people who were cheaper so total cost to me £2.27

kinky ishe
the thing with the pension is that your rights to date will be protected (even if they were never affordable, but they will)
if the pensions are not brought into affordability, the kids you are teaching who become teachers will get no pension at all because its an unfunded scheme and you can only keep on kicking the can down the road for so long

but yes, Gove is an utter arse.
I've been in trouble for picking fights with his wife on education threads

Awww happy anniversay Nerf and well done for the frugal celebration .

puffy did you book a skiing holiday?

Thanks. Am watching Rhod Gilbert alone and drinking Pepsi. Whoop.
On a good note we are, touch wood, on track to keep the debt down this month. I am absolutely determined to feel safe one day.

Happy Anniversary Nerf, sounds like a great celebration to me.
I've just booked my car in for its MOT on Saturday so fingers crossed it passes without incident.
I had a phonecall earlier from a local Sports Centre to say dd has finally got a place at gymnastics. She has had her name down for ages and has been desperate to start. Tbh I could do without the expense but ds does loads of clubs and dd has never really wanted to do anything before apart from Rainbows. We have tried encouraging her but she really worries about staying at things on her own. We had to grab the bull by the horns when she asked to go so we'll swallow up the expense somehow. I have no idea how much it costs, I forgot to ask, but it can't be that bad -I hope!

Nerf, you have hit the nail on the head there: I am absolutely determined to feel safe one day. That's exactly it for me too. It's not, oh I can get the debt down so I can go out and get a better... (Though I might move ) It's more that I am always worried we have so little security. We have no choice but to work, and that was the same when DD was ill.

Burma done that so many times! You just get what everyone wants, pop down for top ups, think, just one little takeaway... It really adds up. My challenge for myself is to stay out of the supermarkets.

Talkin I'll admit, pensions are just something that happens to me that I don't really understand. I have to opt in, so there's never been a time when I've been forced to look into them. All I know is more goes in for less return and I really don't expect to see retirement. I wouldn't ask for a grossly unfair pension deal in comparison with what everyone else gets; it is something that has been thrust upon me. I do feel totally at the whim of the government with it all hence the lack of trust. It is something DH and I have sworn to look at properly once the debt id down a bit. He has bits of pensions all over the place and currently pays into nothing. I bet you are shaking your head and sighing reading this!!

Love the DVD swap idea alec. I'm going to instigate that one.

Talkin when I say more goes in for less return, I mean contributions keep going up, but we've been told the deal we are getting at the other end is going down. I realise it is still far better than many others get, from what I'm told! I'm shockingly in the dark about these things.

It was me Burma!
I know what you mean wrt ocado. And then the top ups during the week means £120 a week on food at least.
We live in a village and there is only a co op (which I like but so expensive) so dh is off to asda in the next town tomorrow.
My aim is to get the food bill down to £400 a month.
Dh has a works pension and lays a ludicrous amount into it each month but I don't have one. Bit late now @ nearly 42!

I am no pensions expert, especially not teacher/public sector pensions so will not attempt to have an opinion! I have so many friends trying to get out of teaching ATM though, so I don't envy the teachers on here at all.

DH and I are spending less this month by dint of only having one card in use (credit card, as we know we need to spend more than we earn till about June), which means we can only spend on alternate days at the most. Think I might continue this when we're back to using a debit card, and stick the rest in the freezer - removes any temptation to nip out to the shops! Only outgoings this week have been fuel, food and some posting for my other business.

Woohoo, eBay bids up to a whopping £11.19.

Everything seems very depressing sometimes doesn't it? At least I feel like dh understands now that we need to get some of debts paid of. We had a little chat about it. The thing is when tomorrow comes I need to ration our petrol allowance and I'm really not sure how this is going to go down. It is lovely to go out as a family as the weekend but we can't afford £30 every time at the moment.

And it's hard on the dcs too, mine do two things each which adds up and then that isn't even counting petrol to get them there and back and extras like cub camp ( 2 x £50 )

I am going to have to be very tight with our money in order to make our budget work. I feel mean already . . .

2whippets getting the 'family fun' budget down to a sensible level has probably been the biggest challenge for DH (and therefore me) since we started being more frugal. He was down with the theory, but actually resisting treating the DCs to ice cream/lunch/the zoo when it came to it was really hard for him. He is great now though, and last month was down to £135 (excluding petrol) from an average of about £300! Keep focusing on what you'll gain long term, not what you'll lose short term.

We have cancelled all clubs except two. No after school clubs at all, swimming lessons for the ones that can't swim, but cancelled drama and that has saved 600 per year.
Going to do subscriptions to comics for birthdays this year for the dcs, and no parties. If I don't share that we need to cut back they won't understand why we don't say yes to stuff we used to.
Kids are great; board games, garden, moonlight walk with torches, scaring ourselves silly, and I feel less stressed.

Agree with getting the DCs on board - mine are only 6 and 3 and the eldest loves coming up with money saving plans and completely gets that if we do something involving spending money it means not doing something else. Youngest likes going round turning lights off

Whip me into shape someone . Need new clothes desperately and keep filling then emptying baskets. Have resisted so far, thanks to a quick look at ynab! Will finish work and then make a list of outfits for the next few days instead.

Another sin - we had a takeaway last night. (£100 week budget only a fiver over as a result though. Next week's budget is now £95.)
And a potential sin - taking DPs out for lunch on Sun. Will put on credit card so it shouldn't affect this month's budget (most living expenses go here and are paid off in full each month - cut off date is today, so Sun's expenditure will be taken in April). They want to babysit so DH and I can go out; he thinks I'm miserable as I'd rather not spend the money!

Good: DP's bonus confirmed. Will be thrown at debt ignores holidays and aforementioned shopping baskets.

Unsure: am working on three projects atm and the dates keep slipping and changing. Need to earn at least enough this month to cover April's nursery bill. Sigh. I have a spreadsheet tracking this...

THeMoneyOne
Nobody needs new clothes.
They WANT new clothes : an entirely different thing.

If you have an item of clothing that has worn out and you do not have an equivalent anywhere in your cupboard, go to the charity shop and buy that item.

This evening, before a friday ( yes, we even have them on the weight loss threads as well )
Get ALL of your clothes out of your cupboards and drawers, spread them on the bed and sort out what you do and do not wear.
Can stuff be altered?
Can you divide up suits to make mixed separates?
then for every replacement piece of clothing you decide is required, two are gone.

thanks talkin. I know that really. TBH, I own 2 pairs of jeans, 1 pair of cords, 1 casual dress, 1 formal dress, 3 Tshirts and 3 L-sleeve tops, so there's not too much to play with. And I do want more. But that will be my treat when I'm debt-free.

themoneyone how is the spreadsheet of nursery funds looking at the moment? It was such a massive decision for us to get rid of childcare and accept my much lower earning potential until the DCs are all at school/nursery. Is it an option to consider? And sympathies on the clothes - I have to have some clothing budget and have counted it in YNAB. I appreciate TIP's advice is the soundest, but I know full well I will go on a massive splurge if I don't buy anything for months. I have decided to buy one decent item a month (at the end of the month), and that item has to be sacrificed if I need anything sensible like pants or my jeans wear out etc, which is why I leave it till the end of the month.