Dear Diary

MeenaM · 5 November 2017 at 7:01PM

Day 1 ....and we're off! so here is my list of income outgoings and debts, I have not included my husband's as for the moment I am concentrating on getting rid of my own debt ,

so I have filled this in and copied here

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 2
Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1300
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 222
Other income............................ 137
Total monthly income.................... 1659

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 0
Electricity............................. 0
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 71
TV Licence.............................. 14
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 150
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 50
Road tax................................ 15
Car Insurance........................... 19
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 20
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 86
Childcare/nursery....................... 100
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 8.6
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 19
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 8.78
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 20
Haircuts................................ 15
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
kids swimming........................... 14.5
kids dancin............................. 16.67
kids saving............................. 50
national trust.......................... 9.55
joint account........................... 400
Total monthly expenses.................. 1087.1

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 1500
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 1500

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly.. .APR
next...........................117.......6........ .29.9
aa.............................860.......25....... .19
barclays.......................4812......110...... .19
sainsburys.....................425.......10....... .18
virgin.........................4130......41.8..... .18
Total unsecured debts..........10344.....192.8.....-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,659
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,087.1
Available for debt repayments........... 571.9
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 192.8
Amount left after debt repayments....... 379.1

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 1,500
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -10,344
Net Assets.............................. -8,844

Created using the SOA calculator at https://www.stoozing.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using other browser.

I really want to figure out the best way of paying off the credit card debts , the AA is 0% until 13 December 2017 , The Sainsburys is 0 % until 20 Februrary 2018 and the Barclays is 0% until 1 April 2019

Next- £117
AA- £860
Sainsburys £425
Barclays £4800
Virgin £4138

total £10340
Atm I am paying £280 towards the credit card debts
** DH debt total £17,000 **
Took on extra hours so income increased to £1780 per month and DH had raise in Jan 2019 so £2,500
I need help with either snowballing or high interest first , when the credit cards revert to interest charged they wil be about 22.5 %

any help , advice or encouragement will be greatly appreciated :j

doingitanyway · 5 November 2017 at 7:33PM

Someone much smarter than me will be along with debt advice but I just wanted today well done. It took me ages to start a diary but I ma so glad I did. Stick with it and you will get rid of your debt

MeenaM · 5 November 2017 at 8:00PM

Thank you Doingitanyway!

I also will add that I am switiching banks with the B account and getting £250 in a few months and I have switched to a sim only deal for my phone so the phone will decreased by £25 in December and i intend to put that towards the debt

enthusiasticsaver · 5 November 2017 at 8:26PM

It looks like your next account is the most expensive so you should pay that off and ideally close the account. They are notoriously expensive. Then tackle the AA credit card, Sainsbury's and Barclays in that order. You may have a few months interest to pay on both the AA and Sainsbury's but as the balances are relatively low I would not worry about moving them. Put your £250 towards the AA card and just pay minimum on Barclays.

So November pay £117 to Next, minimums to Barclays and Sainsbury's and rest to AA. December pay minimums again on Sainsbury's and Barclays and the rest of the £280 plus hopefully bank switching fee to AA. I think you should then be able to clear AA in January and then tackle Sainsbury's. Close the credit cards down as you repay them. You don't need four credit cards.

enthusiasticsaver · 5 November 2017 at 8:35PM

If you use your £250 bonus and put £305 each month towards the debt once the phone deal changes then I think you should clear all your debt within 20 months so around July 2019.

MeenaM · 5 November 2017 at 9:35PM

Thanks Enthusiastic , I needed that clarity , I was getting mixed up about the various snowballing etc but that makes sense and i will follow what you have suggested

MeenaM · 7 November 2017 at 5:45PM

I have now put my information into a snowball calculator and will pay off the higher interest first i have also added one of DH's debts as it is in my name although was to pay off a debt he had so it will be added and i have worked out we can pay it off quicker by using the snowball method , i know what i am doing now and printed off the calculation for what i need to pay , i will be able to pay this off in 22 months all being well. I will have a cash injection in April 2018 so will use that for the debts and means i can stick to the 22 months goal .

It has given me a headache working it all out but i think i finally understand it

i just want to get on with it now and am looking forward to the next pay day so i can start!

DebtFreeFrog · 8 November 2017 at 5:45PM

Hi Meena

Good Luck! I'll be following this diary!

I think personally I would focus on the Next Account first as I'm guessing its the highest interest and quite a low amount so it will feel good when its paid off and gone.

beanielou · 8 November 2017 at 6:49PM

Another vote for Next first.
Anything you can sell to help you along?

MeenaM · 10 November 2017 at 10:05PM

Thank you so much for the comments , yes I am def going to go for the Next first .

I have three items on eBay but no interest yet I also have some dvds and books I can sell

I have a hair appointment booked in for next week with the colour it comes to £60 but I can’t do without that it’s a hairdresser I trust and it will be a pick me up especially as I have been feeling a bit overwhelmed today , also had to buy £9 tracksuit for daughter for school I hadn’t budgeted for this month will be tight

I am also doing surveys for YouGov I’ve got 450 points so far need 5000 for a £50 pay out

The other thing is we had a break in last month to one of our sheds and items taken the insurance excess is going to be £150

Thanks for the support

MeenaM · 11 November 2017 at 12:30PM

I popped into Asda today as I needed to drop off a prescription so thought while i was there i would get the bread and bread rolls we needed, i would usually shop at Aldi and avoid anywhere else if poss, so i got the Asda bread which was good at 39p however i needed to wait for the prescription and not having a bag my daughter wanted to hold the bread, got home and the bread was no where to be found seems she had left it on a chair in the pharmacy area ! it's rankled with me but what can you do , DH is getting another one on his way back from work.

Dear Diary

Comments

Categories

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free