Taking control of your finances

Money, money, money

If you're anything like me you won't be the best with money. I've tried time and time again to 'be good' when it comes to controlling my spending and to try and get something into savings. Having started a job in the debt advice sector it's made me really analyse our spending habits as a family and basically has been a huge wake up call about how bad we are with money. Not only did we have no savings we'd also been overspending each month and piling it on credit cards. So after a mooch around the net and stumbling across Mr Money Mustache (seriously love this guy!) I'd found my latest obsession - sorting out our money situation.

So we've gone all guns blazing on trying to pay off this debt we've got hanging around like a bad smell. Looking at our spending habits over a couple of months was a SHOCKER! I recommend you all go do this (but be prepared to be horrified!). We certainly were when we realised aside from our mortgage our biggest outgoing was on food and eating out, spending a few hundred pounds each month on restaurants and coffee. Ouch. The easiest way I found to do this was to split our spending into main headings such as food, transport, eating out, clothes.... and working through our bank statements total up the spending for each category.

Time for a kick up the bum

The first logical step was to start out by doing a budget that included all the essentials that we have to pay for:

Essentials:
Mortgage
Building & contents insurance
Landline & internet
Food
Mobile phones
Pet insurance
TV licence
Council tax
Car insurance
Fuel
Car Insurance
Mr H's car HP - this ones a bummer, it's not something I wanted him to get in the first place but he's tied into it now so we just got to suck it up and pay it
Little H's sports clubs - most of these double us a childcare now that I'm working

Then we added in a couple of things that although we're essential, we really didn;t want to get rid of completely:

Non essential:
£50 a month allowance for social/entertainment costs
Little H's pocket money - he has to do jobs for this and only gets it on the agreement he puts half into his savings account
Clothing - we haven't set an amount for this but realistically things need replacing now and again like little H needing new school shoes this month. All non essential clothing costs have gone though, we're making do with what we have.

Next up I opened us a joint bank account that we have all our bills going out of and then use a 0% cashback credit card to do all the food shopping which we then pay off in full on payday.
So on pay day I transfer most of our wages from our accounts into the joint account. The only money we leave in our single accounts is fuel money Mr H, and a little in my account to cover pocket money and sports clubs. Anything left over after this goes on paying the debts off and some goes into our savings account for things we know we have coming up like birthdays, Christmas, & school trips.

Our first steps to being debt free

It's been a couple of months and so far things are going great. We've paid off nearly £3,000 in debt and saved just over £1,000 (this may seem strange but we're off to New York next month as we'd already booked and paid for it before deciding to go on a spending freeze).

At this rate we're hoping to be debt free in the next 6-8 months and then we can really ramp up the saving. I'll keep you posted.

Are you good with money or do you find it hard to control your spending?

Claire x

Love that #5

Totally in love with these.

Hello Merch

Vans are the comfiest ever. I totally need to add these to my collection.

Vans

I can't decide which of these I love the most.

Mokuyobi Threads

Ha ha this made me chuckle.

Miss Harry

Cats and sprinkles? Yes please!

I like CATS

Enough to brighten up the dullest of days.

Rocket Dog

Hunting for an outfit for a wedding and this little beauty pops up.

Rock N Roll Bride for Crown & Glory

Hope you guys have a great weekend xxx

Love that #4

Monkey it to me. How ace would these look on a night ride and anything that makes you more visible on your bike gets the thumbs up from me.

MonkeyLectric

Without keeping my ears covered up half the year I get instant earache. I've got a fluff lined headband similar to this cute one that I wear all winter. Great for keeping your ears covered without your head getting too hot.

Fat Face

Amazing tape for space lovers.

Fox & Star

I really should wear more yellow and more skirts

H & M

Ooh I have a thing for pretty bikes. Meet the Bobbin Birdie. 

Bobbin Bicycles

Hope you guys have a great weekend xxx

Love that #3

Oooh yes please Father Christmas!

Curious Owl

I'm totally obsessed with bees and this clutch is totally on my wish list.

Cire

Woah I totally could do with this planner. If you're like me and like to hand write things then this is a definite.

Fox & Star

Dinosaur, check. Bicycle, check. T-shirt, check.

Dark cycle clothing

Knitting envy. I can't knit for toffee and I love these. I'd totally get the bright pink one.

Plexida

Simply the cutest. I have a bear by Katy and I'm a huge fan. 

Katy Pillinger Designs

Hope you guys have a fab weekend x

Hump day hankering!

Well it's that time of the week folks and here's what I'm a hankering for......

A PONCHO!!

Otto London

You might think I'm crazy (and for the most part you'd be right!) but lately my mind has been on preparing for a change in this gorgeous weather. When it's hot I quite like riding in the rain and don't always cover up but getting wet in cooler weather in no fun at all.

Cyclechic

Lets face it, this is the UK and we're already well over our allocated week of nice weather for the year so something has got to give and I'm guessing it's going to be those rain clouds lurking up above. My good old North Face jacket has done me proud for the past 7 years but it's starting to fall apart sadly so will have to be kept for just mountain biking.

Bobbin Bicycles

I've not tried a poncho, unless you count the one I wore at Disney when I was eight, and I'm thinking it might be the way to go this autumn.  I like to wear bright clothes when I'm biking, especially in the winter so something like the yellow Otto London one would be a great choice.

I'm still yet to find something weatherproof for my bottom half that I'm happy with so that search continues. I hate waterproof trousers with a passion! All that poofyness and rustling? Give me a pair of shorts and wet legs any day :)