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IA's 'Does my bum look big in this Debt?' Diary

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... and so it begins.... part II of our epic DFW journey that began waaaaaay back (lol) in October 2006. We've come such a long way from then and my old diary (located here) was getting so long I decided to start afresh and begin the next stage of our journey.

Firstly a little background for anyone who hasn't read my old diary or went blind trying to read it all...

My name is Sarah. :hello: I am 22, and married to my wonderful (and ever so patient) husband Steve, who's 28. We live in South Staffordshire with our 2 daughters Ashli, who's 2 and Kaitlyn who's nearly 6 months. Ste works full time as a customer accounts analyst (or somethingposh like that) and I am a full time stay at home mum/housewife/lazy ar*se and am in the process of becoming a childminder (If Ofsted ever get off their ar*ses :rolleyes:)

We don't have a lot of money, and we don't really have alot of debt compared so some... but we've worked bloody hard to get our debt down since october and make sure we didn't go totally under. We started our journey with about 11k worth of debt. We've now got this down to £7598 through budgeting, cutting our outgoings down, selling everything that wasn't tied down on ebay and basically living a pretty frugal lifestyle. Had we not found MSE I dread to think where we'd be now..........

Here's our SOA as of 17th July 2007
Income -
Ste wages - £941
Tax credits - £102 every weds/£408 on an average 4 weds month
Child benefit - £120.80 4 weekly

Average monthly income - £1469.80

Outgoings

Rent - £296.55
Council tax - £104
Water £17.18
Gas/electric - £55
Phone/internet/line rental/calls - £39ish
Car insurance - £33.78
Ste 02 mobile/calls - £35ish (up for renewal in Sept)
Sar 02 mobile - £6 for line rental (up for renewal in Sept)
House insurance - £4.47
Food - £50 p/w £200 average month
Petrol - £10 p/w £40 average month
Ste personal spending - £20 a week £80 average month
Sar personal spending - £10 a week £40 average month
(The personal budget pay for everything we need such as treats, my phone top up, beer, going out etc.)
Savings £12 a week if we can manage it + child benefit = 168.80 average
month

= average monthly outgoings £1109.78


Debt
Welcome Car finance 24.1% - £160.50 a month til oct 2010 (39 payments left £6259.50 owed)
Barclaycard 19.9% - Min payment £21 a month (£873.99 owed)
Egg 0% til June 08 - min payment £14.50 a month (£464.75 owed)

= £196 a month debt repayments


Total monthly outgoings £1305.78

Difference +/- = £164.02

Our 'budget' works like this. Basically ste wages are paid into a seperate acccount out of which all the DD's are paid. As our DD's only come to about £810 anything extra from Ste's wages is saved in a savings account. Our child benefit and tax credits are paid into another bank account which is our 'living account'. We have weekly budgets and live off our weekly tax credits. It's broken down like this...
£102 tax credits...
£50 food
£10 petrol
£10 Sarah
£20 Ste
£12 saved

The child benefit is automatically saved along with any extra income from ebay etc. and all savings go towards debt/emergencies/mot etc. Usually the money goes straight on debt but anyone who's read our last diary will know we're rather prone to 'nasty suprises' plus our MOT and car tax are up soon so once we're in the clear and have enough to pay off debt then that's when we'll pay it off. Our next debt target is the Barclaycard, followed by Egg and then the car loan... :eek:

Anyway, I'll stop rambling on.. I'm sure you'll read enough of my random posts in the coming months in my new diary...


Happy part II!
Total 'Failed Business' Debt £29,043
Que sera, sera. <3
«134567476

Comments

  • b7ydance.gif hope this debt diary was as fab as the last ia... good luck debt busting :D
  • Snaggles
    Snaggles Posts: 19,503 Forumite
    Hurray!!! :T

    Hope part two is as funny, entertaining, heart-stopping and moving as part one.....happy new thread IA!! :beer:
    "I wasn't wrong, I just wasn't right enough."
    :smileyhea
    9780007258925
  • hypno06
    hypno06 Posts: 32,296 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    Love the title!!
    Successful women can still have their feet on the ground. They just wear better shoes. (Maud Van de Venne)
    Life begins at the end of your comfort zone (Neale Donald Walsch)
  • oops_a_daisy
    oops_a_daisy Posts: 2,460 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture Name Dropper Combo Breaker Debt-free and Proud!
    Good luck on part 2 of your debt free journey and well done on everything you have achieved so far :T
    :cool: Official DFW Nerd Club Member #37 Debt free Feb 07 :cool:
  • jo1972
    jo1972 Posts: 8,901 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    Oh well typical, I only just started reading your original debt diary at the weekend and you've closed it! I will keep reading it as you are an inspiration to all on here and I've already gleaned a couple of tips from you :)
    DFW Nerd no. 496 - Proud to be dealing with my debts!!
  • immoral_angeluk
    immoral_angeluk Posts: 24,506 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    jo1972 wrote: »
    Oh well typical, I only just started reading your original debt diary at the weekend and you've closed it! I will keep reading it as you are an inspiration to all on here and I've already gleaned a couple of tips from you :)
    LOL sorry!!!
    Total 'Failed Business' Debt £29,043
    Que sera, sera. <3
  • Welcome IA - looking forward to my daily dose of life in the IA household + more piccies please - need to make this place look like home!
    IDA
    x
    I stopped smoking 25th June 2007
    STILL Never complacent but confident
    My debt is GOING DOWN!!!!
  • nickelodeon
    nickelodeon Posts: 144 Forumite
    Ohh IA your diary only has one page, it feels so bizarre!! Looking forward to Part II!

    Sooo glad to see Ste's citi gone! Congratulations!
    Debts in April 07 = £12,547.61 Debts in Aug 08 = £0
    I'm debt free! Woohoo!
    DFW Member # 476 Proud To Be Dealing With My Debts!
  • cat4772
    cat4772 Posts: 2,467 Forumite
    IA,

    Look what happens when I don't sign in for a couple of days:

    1 - you pay off citi :j :j :j :j :j
    2 - you decide that's an auspicious time to start a part 2 thread.

    I wonder what'll happen when I'm away for a couple of weeks:D ???

    Congratulations hun.

    Cat.x
    DFW Nerd Club #545 Dealing With Our Debt
    :onever attribute anything to malice which can be adequately explained by stupidity, [paranoia or ignorance] - ZTD&[cat]
    :othe thing about unwritten laws is that everyone has to agree to them before they can work - *louise*

    March GC £113.53 / £325
  • immoral_angeluk
    immoral_angeluk Posts: 24,506 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    Welcome IA - looking forward to my daily dose of life in the IA household + more piccies please - need to make this place look like home!
    IDA
    x
    let me see what I can find.
    Total 'Failed Business' Debt £29,043
    Que sera, sera. <3
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