Handbags & Gladrags – Confessions of a Recovering Spendaholic

Swinstie73 · 9 April 2009 at 2:41PM

Hi All,

After lurking on here and posting in other threads for a couple of months, I have decided to start my own diary in an attempt to both de-clutter my finances and my life! Reading other threads has kept me occupied and I have spent less recently, yeah!

I am 35 years old, single but in a long-term relationship with ‘The One’, have my own home (mortgaged) and have some manageable debt (will work on my SOA later). My LBM started in Oct 08, but you could say it really started 3 years ago when I decided to seek Counselling for something that happened when I was 17. I won’t go into the details but I believe this was my Defining Moment of when my spending got way out of control. This also lead to self-destructing behaviour as far as guys were concerned, throw in some horrible relationship problems and well the spending continued. The Counselling I received helped put my demons to rest and I’ve achieved so much in the last three years. :j

Anyway, going back to my DM, I wasn’t really in debt then and still lived at home, so should’ve had the world at my feet but on top of dealing with ‘stuff’ my Dad died when I was 19. I think this was when I really lost it and spent money like it was going out of fashion, cos hey life is too short! I have been up to £25K+ but have always managed to reduce it (only to build it up again), so this is my attempt at putting the rest of my spending demons to rest.

Fast-forward ten years and managed to buy my first house at age 29 with £1K in savings. Luckily my mortgage is tiny (currently at £31K which includes home-improvement money) but some of this was used to pay off past debt – you get the picture!

I am now in a Happy Place, have been with my OH for two years now and we have talked about ‘being geographically closer’ – we live 27 miles apart. Problem is, he has no debt, doesn’t even own a CC (I have 3 and a loan) and I would love us to live together with me being debt free and able to contribute equally. My job is somewhat secure but trying to clear my debts and save, ‘just incase the inevitable happens!

We have a ‘big’ holiday this year but most of that is covered with savings, which only really came about after receiving compensation money from an accident – I dread to think where my finances would be without this. Also used some of this to pay to debt.

Anyway, sorry for my post being so long, but just wanted to give you an idea of where my spending stems from. So my long-term goals are as follows:

1) Pay off credit cards and only keep one for essentials
2) Pay off loan (has three years to run, hoping to pay off early)
3) Keep up with savings
4) De-clutter house (incase OH moves in). House is tiny and I have so many shoes/bags/clothes/general cr*p, have already started clearing out for a boot sale – only made £16 at the last one and ended up buying stuff!
5) Lose some weight (not really overweight but cholesterol is quite high – 6.1) so can only help with that!
6) In general, continue to have a happy life, just without the debts.

I am posting this just now, but plan on starting with a vengeance on Tuesday 14th April, honest! Reason being it’s after Easter so I can cram as many eggs (chocolate of course) in before then, starting a detox diet and it’s exactly 18 weeks til holiday – yeehah!

Wish me luck! Plan on updating daily except on weekends as don’t have a home computer xx

epsilondraconis · 9 April 2009 at 3:37PM

Good luck - glad to hear you are in the right frame of mind to tackle everything.

Yes, post your SOA and you'll get lots of good advice.

helnag · 9 April 2009 at 3:46PM

Hi Swinstie

How's you?? Just to say well done and good luck!!! I will subscribe now maybe we can keep each other on our top of things.

Helen xx

Swinstie73 · 9 April 2009 at 3:52PM

Thanks epsilondraconis and helnag,

Been posting on other threads but scared to do my own - phew some replies, yeah!

I'm working on my SOA, or my version of it cos can't get hang of one on here, so will post it soon.

You keep up the good work too helnag xx

Swinstie73 · 9 April 2009 at 4:11PM

Right, this is pretty much it, my budget that I am trying to work to, really can't shave much more of it, but any help is appreciated:

Monthly Spend:
£195.00 Mortgage - £275 at the highest
£145.56 Personal Loan (used for car) – still has 36 payments to make
£75.00 Council Tax/Rates
£65.00 Gas/Electricity
£30.00 House Phone/Line Rental
£12.00 TV Licence
£18.00 Sky TV (basic package – no sports or movies)
£21.50 Gym (go to 3 classes a week so getting so saving loads)
£100.00 Savings (might half this after holiday)
£75.00 Food
£25.00 House Stuff i.e. window cleaning etc.
£75.00 Petrol
£40.00 Work
£25.00 Clothes
£15.00 Hair/Toiletries
£10.00 Mobile Top Up
£10.00 Road Tax
£10.00 Car Maintenance/MOT
£80.00 Entertainment
£35.00 Odds & Sods
£400.00 Credit Card Payments
£20.00 My Treat (saving up for either a new TV, or a laptop)
£1482.06

Annual Payments:
£150.00 House Insurance (approx)
£240.00 Car Insurance
£400.00 Xmas/Birthday Presents
£70.00 AA (the breakdown service)
£860.00 / 12 = £72

Grand Total: £1554.06

Take Home Pay: £1359.56 + Approx £40 - £50 Expenses per month

I have a deficit of around -£150 each month but have had money in the bank which has meant although over-spending each month, still in the black. Some of these figures are approx. as I could spend more or less on stuff like food/petrol etc.

Debt:
£5,240.16 Loan (6.4% APR)
£5,500.00 CC1 (16.9% APR – currently 0% til Dec 2009)
£510.00 CC2 (6.8% APR – for life of balance)
£140.00 CC3 (15.9% APR – currently 0% til June 2009)
£11390.16

I also pay £125/month into my work’s sharesave scheme but this will have a good return once it matures, so don’t want to stop this!

Forgot a wee £20.00 for a Catalogue - oops

benbenandme · 9 April 2009 at 5:56PM

Welcome to the boards Swinstie

I've added a few comments to your soa, good luck with your journey

Monthly Spend:
£195.00 Mortgage - £275 at the highest \
£145.56 Personal Loan (used for car) – still has 36 payments to make
£75.00 Council Tax/Rates does this include single person allowance?
£65.00 Gas/Electricity
£30.00 House Phone/Line Rental this is high, you could get this cheaper and it would include broadband, or maybe a deal to include your sky as well?
£12.00 TV Licence
£18.00 Sky TV (basic package – no sports or movies)
£21.50 Gym (go to 3 classes a week so getting so saving loads)
£100.00 Savings (might half this after holiday)
£75.00 Food well done, this is fab!
£25.00 House Stuff i.e. window cleaning etc. is this essential?
£75.00 Petrol
£40.00 Work what is this for?
£25.00 Clothes
£15.00 Hair/Toiletries
£10.00 Mobile Top Up
£10.00 Road Tax
£10.00 Car Maintenance/MOT
£80.00 Entertainment this is high
£35.00 Odds & Sods what is this for?
£400.00 Credit Card Payments
£20.00 My Treat (saving up for either a new TV, or a laptop)
£1482.06

Annual Payments:
£150.00 House Insurance (approx)
£240.00 Car Insurance
£400.00 Xmas/Birthday Presents
£70.00 AA (the breakdown service)
£860.00 / 12 = £72

Grand Total: £1554.06

Take Home Pay: £1359.56 + Approx £40 - £50 Expenses per month

I have a deficit of around -£150 each month but have had money in the bank which has meant although over-spending each month, still in the black. Some of these figures are approx. as I could spend more or less on stuff like food/petrol etc.

Debt:
£5,240.16 Loan (6.4% APR)
£5,500.00 CC1 (16.9% APR – currently 0% til Dec 2009)
£510.00 CC2 (6.8% APR – for life of balance)
£140.00 CC3 (15.9% APR – currently 0% til June 2009)
£11390.16

There are a few areas you could save a bit of money and probably not notice it too much, eg. enbtertainment / odds & sods / house essentials.

Could you increase your mortgage slightly to pay off any of your credit cards and therefore not have to pay the huge interest?

If your other half doesn't move in is there the possibility of getting a lodger? If he does move in then that may help your petrol bill and your entertainment bill as you can have cosy nights in, light a candle and save on the electricity too

Good luck

The_Golden_Goose · 9 April 2009 at 7:38PM

Swinstie has her own diary!! Hurrah.

I have subscribed and will check in regularly.

Personally, I find having a diary has made a difference.

Swinstie73 · 13 April 2009 at 7:23PM

Hi benbenandme and Golden Goose (wow that was confusing), lol!

First chance to log on and update - almost bought a laptop today just so I could post but forgot my credit card and think maybe that was a sign to save, save save then buy one!

Firstly, was going to start my saving diary tomorrow but have decided to do it retrospectively and list what I have done since Thursday (if only to make me realise where I've gone wrong).

Here goes: Spent £35 in Asda on Thursday, shower curtain and food. £35 gone on pub crawl/train fare/dinner on Friday, Saturday £15 on going out, £5 on food, Sunday £20 going out (oh why did it have to be Easter), £10 today on buffet lunch and £20 on petrol. So £140 gone in the space of 5 days (they were brill though, lol). Bring on the detox tomorrow where I should make savings cos cutting out alcohol (sob) and canteen food (sob, sob)!

Need to go back and look at your post ben - back in a mo!

Swinstie73 · 13 April 2009 at 7:42PM

Ok, now to my soa, council tax sadly already includes the single person allowance, so no joy there. Going to look into getting cheaper phone deal/broadband as want a laptop so will need this anyway. When I look at my bills, most of this is rental/charges, hardly anything on calls. Cheated a wee bit, food at £75 was actually £100 but split £25 for food at work, then increased this to £40 cos was spending loads. Going to put £100 for both and try and take sarnies to work at least a few days a week.

£25 for house stuff includes £2.50 every four weeks for windows but at least they are done, if it were up to me, I'd be unable to see out them, lol! The rest is for stuff like new plants, cleaning stuff etc., don't always spend this amount tho. Entertainment, gonna reduce this to £60 a month, as don't go out every weekend but sometimes spend more on one weekend. Do buy cheap cinema tickets so save loads there.

Odds & Sods, bascially misc stuff like magazines, lottery tickets (when I remember to buy one), but could cut this down too.

OH would be mad if I took in a lodger (only got a 1 bedroom house), don't know where they would sleep, ha!

Well thanks for the suggestions, will pop back daily with updates to keep me on track.

Oh, did manage to clean kitchen, make chicken chop suey for the freezer and have most dinners from freezer without spending too much more money. All in all, quite a productive weekend, even if did spend a bit too much.

Detox day tomorrow, so looking forward to it, not!

rupe34 · 13 April 2009 at 11:46PM

:T:THey Swinstie - how you doing brave one? I say brave, because you will be reading this on D-Day (detox of course) - and you are definately a braver woman than I!:T:T

Swinstie73 · 14 April 2009 at 9:00AM

Hey Rupe!,

Yeah Day 1 of de-tox, just about to fill up my 2 litre bottle of water to sup on in between sniffing food! Posted on Laura's new thread too, really hope Blondie is ok!

Not much else to report this morning so far so will catch up later x

Handbags & Gladrags – Confessions of a Recovering Spendaholic

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