Debt support thread #2

[Nerfmother]

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

I feel more like me with this name

Mum2Fergus - also plimsoles and a draw string bag for pe kit.

Cheaper at primary school as logo'd stuff not compulsory. I would say £100 is fine.

Can i ask, is there anyone here with young teens who have packed lunch at school? If so what do you put in to keep cost down but fill them up, School dinners are too expensive.

I really have to stop the top up shops, they are making me go way over budget!

Kazza, I do bagel and cream cheese bunch of grapes, brunch bar.
Friends have according to dd - sandwich, crisps, cakes.
Seems to be top heavy on the sandwich- big sandwich nothing much else. Baguette, panini type thing.

Kazza, I do a sandwich, bag of crisps, brunch bar, grapes and a juice. All from Aldi. Same every day as he is a fussy eater and I know if I deviate from what he likes it'll go in the bin. Bananas are good as break time snack, but he is off them at the moment. Usually make my own bread on a timer overnight so it does breakfast (warm) and then his lunch, so quite thick slices to fill him up.

Ds1 has hot lunches at school and it's £40 a month :(
Ds2 and dh have packed lunch - salad for dh and usual for ds2 - fruit, sandwiches, biscuit.
Ds2 needed the following for secondary school:
Logo polo shirts x 3
Logo sweatshirts x2
Black trousers x2
Socks and pants
School Shoes
PE shorts, socks, joggers, rugby shirt, trunks, trainers and football boots
Apron for design
Water bottle
Rucksack
PE bag
Scientific calculator
Stationary/rough books
Coat
And then between him starting and the Xmas hols we paid out £80 for trips/school fund/charity days/photos/panto etc
It never seems to end!!
His coat should last another year - he has just had to have new trousers and the others were too small so hopefully they will last for part of the next school year.....

What are brunch bars?

Those breakfast kind of bars. The Aldi ones in my cupboard are called "fruit & grain" and come in strawberry or apple flavour. Both DS have them at break.

Like cereal bars? I'll have a look for them.

dd usually has a roll with salami, cherry tomatoes, cake bar, crisps;, juice.

Kind of fake cereal bars but really really nice. 'Brunch' - tesco do a version.

Great, I'll be at Aldi Tuesday, I'll have a look for them then.

Hello all I have been following this and the previous thread for the past week and would like to join if I may? Myself and my dh started a DMP last June and it has been a struggle. It has put a huge strain on our relationship. We have cc debts and loans totalling nearly £50k!!! We have a mortgage and are wondering if the best option would be to sell up and use equity to pay off debts or to keep mortgage (we have approx nearly £50k in equity and have about 15yrs left to pay mortgage) Thanks

mummybeans welcome! It depends on your income - if you can knock out the debt in less than 2 years by living very frugally etc I'd keep the house, but if it will take substantially longer than that then probably I'd sell.

DH and I have postponed our budget/financial reckoning until tomorrow as he will be paid by the department which owe him overtime and freelance money then (we hope )

Can't wait to see all the debt numbers going down!!

Frugal win: made an old pair of jeans into shorts for my school trip abroad by cutting them and turning them up, they're identical to pairs in Next/Topshop and cost me nada

Means my min payment was 168 so this month my min payment will be different x

kazza
my kids are 13 and 15
in their lunch boxes they get
a single slice of bread deli sandwich and a large portion of fruit
that is all
because
DS starts the day with a humungous bowl of cereal
DD has stopped growing
we have a big sit down family supper every every evening
I do not "do" snacks or any sort of processed foods - they are killingly expensive for nasty calories
most Fridays they get a Kinder bar
drink is a 500 ml bottle of tap water - I refuse to pay for juice any more

TalkinPeace you rock.

That is all.

Unfortunately dd barely eats breakfast but is hungry at lunchtime.

Hello mummy beans. We owe a similar amount, and are interest free so worse as not paying capital. We were going to sell then made headway. Do your sums - at first after costs of moving we were going to be paying a similar level of mortgage on a smaller house with less equity and less paid off the debt.

Missannersley - I wish I could do that to my jeans, but unfortunately I always put my bum through them before I get the chance

Kazza, my DS1 didn't eat breakfast either. But he'll eat the breakfast bar things on the way to school so they've been a lifesaver. Kids really must eat something in the morning or their learning capacity is non existent (speaking as a teacher...)

Really though, teenagers shouldn't go to school until 10 or 11 am and then work later in the day. I have no idea why we insist on starting at 8.30. There was some research recently about exactly that and when I read it, it explained why teens don't eat before school, so I bought a kettle for my form room the very next day and we have tea and biscuits most mornings and they all contribute. My form is mixed years so 11 years olds up to 18 year olds and I cannot tell you how much that kettle has done for bonding in my form! But most importantly, it makes us discuss breakfast and I berate (gently) those who haven't eaten and encourage them to bring something for form time if they don't feel they can eat before they leave home, and now most leave form having had something. And it has had an obvious and direct impact on their behaviour (less behaviour logs across all form members) and so must have had an impact on their learning and progress.

Sorry, a bit off topic but I have seen how important breakfast is to teens, even if it is just a piece of fruit. And I am not a breakfast fan either but I now practise what I preach! I am lucky my school lets us "do what works" with our form time, I know not all schools would allow it!

Hello MummyBeans, and welcome! I'm no expert but if it was me I'd look to make the DMP repayments more manageable ie reduce outgoings and try to up incoming. How long is your DMP for?

Lots of food for thought in anticipation of DS starting primary in August ... have had a look at some prices and think 100pounds is a reasonable budget for uniform, shoes, etc (and will do my best to avoid all the 'branded' gear at the upcoming parents induction!). One thing I hadn't thought of to budget fully however was his lunch, bless him! He will be in breakfast club so breakfast is paid for as part of that, will need to see what the lunch options are during our visit. In the meantime, Im going to look out for a recipe for snack/brunch bars as DP has started taking them in his lunchbox too - will let you know if I come across any really nice (and easy!) ones! Time to bore you with my end of month update ... move along if you're not interested lol ...

So during the month, we had to replace DPs car or face a(nother) huge bill, so we opted for the former and got a replacement for 3.5k. I funded 1k of this from pulling together what money we could (including 300 from sale of DP old car, household spending coming in under budget, and a couple of FB sales and my emergency fund). The remaining 2.5k I funded by way of an overdraft - not ideal but cheaper than a CC or finance ...

So, on the numbers front (and primarily thanks to an annual bonus) I have:-

• paid 642.27 to CC1, balance to pay is ZERO and account has been CLOSED - WOOHOO!!
• replenished my emergency fund with 500
• repaid 500 off the overdraft

GOALS

• repay and close CC1 - done!
• repay overdraft reducing limit as I pay into it (2000 still to repay) - this is my new focus and will throw every spare penny I have at it. Goal is to repay in full by June
• repay interest free CC2 and CC3 which are on minimum payments currently (balances 3594 and 5189 respectively)
• repay Personal Loan (balance now 7420)
• repay Mortgage (balance now 89582)

I've had a payrise of a princely 0.75% which is effective from April however I've also lost my non contributory final salary pension, so need to look at paying into a pension fund from April too ...

Since joining the thread I have repaid 2% of my overall total start debt (or 84% not including mortgage) - same as February but bearing in mind the increased debt due to car situation.

Onwards and upwards!

Just had debt discussion/budget meeting with DH.

So good to see the numbers going down!! I should have a surplus to clear CC2 on April 24 (payday is April 25 and I am too nervous just to clear it now as I don't want to end up spending on the cards again!)

DH is finally getting the OT and freelance money, he got first chunk today and now that it is going through payroll he should get the rest over April and May, phew.

CC1: £4692 £4595

CC2: £3781 £3675

Car hire purchase: £3764 £3272

DH Old Student Overdraft: £1940

CC3: £1692 £462.54

CC4: £1405.49 £0 GONE

Total: 17,274.95 £13,944.54

clear CC3

I wish I had the money to clear CC2, ha!

Mum2Fergus our DMP is for 9 years with Stepchange. Seems like a life sentence! . I work part-time (four days a week) dh works full time and we have a ds aged 14 and dd 11. I feel really down as they will probably left home by the time we get out of this mess!

mummybeans could you go full time? Or get a second job? We've only really seen a difference since DH picked up overtime/freelance stuff, and I have signed up for exam marking in May/June and summer school teaching in July/August which is forecast to really help although obviously as it is seasonal I haven't got the money yet!

But with the summer school in particular it will be a good lump sum off whatever card we are snowballing by August.