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JWPopps · 13 December 2016 at 8:03PM

Hello!

I'm fairly new to MSE and have become totally obsessed with reading everyone else's diaries, so I thought I'd do one of my own! Even if no one else ever reads it, I'm hoping it will be somewhere I can rant my rants and think my thoughts without a) boring my friends and family and b) embarrassing myself in front of friends and family!

I'm 26 (27 in March) and have had a bit of a slog to get to where I am today which I will likely go into later... basically, money has always been something other people have. So, while my debts might not seem huge, making the payments every month is stopping me from really appreciating how far I've come and how nice it is to be earning a relatively good wage.

The above paragraph sounds a bit up myself, actually. Oh well!

Debts:
Barclaycard: £1465.49 (19%)
Sainsburys card: £75 (0%)
Barclayloan: £6,673.36 (4.9%)
Overdraft: £485.09 (I get charges as well but not sure of the %)
Mortgage: £88,163.97 (34 years left on it, at 3.99%)

I'm not stressing about getting my mortgage paid off at the moment; it would be nice to be debt free and have a nice emergency fund, and maybe even a fun fund, and to be making mortgage overpayments.

Total debt I'm worried about then: £8,698.94

Goals for 2017:
Pay off Barclaycard and close
Get Sainsbury's card to 0 every month (i.e. use only for groceries)
Pay off overdraft
Get loan down to £3,500
Start an Emergency Fund
Start a Fun Fund
Start making mortgage OPs
Chill the heck out about my finances for the first time in 11 years!!

Seasidegal58 · 13 December 2016 at 10:02PM

Good luck with your journey!

Bobarella · 14 December 2016 at 12:04AM

Yes good luck to you.

JWPopps · 14 December 2016 at 12:36PM

Thank you both! I'm feeling very positive

JWPopps · 14 December 2016 at 2:46PM

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars owned.................... 0

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1560
Rent from Mum............................ 350
Total monthly income.................... 1910

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 397.98
Council tax............................. 113
Electricity............................. 25
Gas..................................... 25
Fuel for wood burner.......... 30
Water rates............................. 28
Telephone (land line)................... 18 (internet included)
Mobile phone............................ 35
TV Licence.............................. 12.12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0 (I use my OH's Netflix!)
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 300 (v. high, I'm hoping to get this down dramatically)
Clothing................................ 0 (I genuinely haven't bought new clothes in 10 months)
Petrol/diesel........................... 0 (don't drive)
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 135 (bus for work, travel to see OH)
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 25
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 28
Buildings insurance..................... 17.05 (includes contents)
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 37
Other insurance......................... 15.25 (boiler cover)
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 50
Haircuts................................ 0 (my friend's a hairdresser...)
Entertainment........................... 120
Holiday................................. 25
Emergency fund.......................... 125
Total monthly expenses.................. 1561.32

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 110000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 0
Other assets............................ 1000
Total Assets............................ 111000

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 89000....(397.9)....3.99
Total secured & HP debts...... 89000.....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Barclaycard....................1465......36........19
Sainsburys Card................75........5.........0
Barclayloan....................6700......150.2.....4.9
Total unsecured debts..........8240......191.2.....-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,910
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,561.32
Available for debt repayments........... 348.68
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 191.2
Amount left after debt repayments....... 157.48

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 111,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -89,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -8,240
Net Assets.............................. 13,760

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

I suspect the reason I don't recognise the figures above is because my overdraft facility isn't on here, because I've made a decision not to panic if I'm in my overdraft at the end of every month as long as my credit cards/loan are going down.

And with that in mind... this looks much better than I thought! Hurray, perhaps my goals are achievable! :beer:

Scott_Weiland_2 · 14 December 2016 at 6:23PM

good luck with your journey

Cheeseface · 14 December 2016 at 9:08PM

That doesn't look too bad at all. You get that debt right down quickly. Good luck, I've subbed!

JWPopps · 15 December 2016 at 2:01PM

Gosh, you're all such a lovely bunch!

I actually got in a bit of a funk with myself yesterday after doing my SOA, because I was thinking 'well, if I'm actually doing that well, how come there always seems to be so much more month than money?'

I suspect some wider financial context of why I'm here might answer that...

I left home at 16 for personal/family reasons. This was in hindsight a really, really good idea emotionally and for my relationships with various family members, but was also an absolute nightmare financially.

Good things happened, including spending some time living with a family friend who taught me to cook cheaply and to pay my bills before anything else, but then I ended up in a council flat and realised I wasn't even sure what bills I had to pay! For example, I assumed water was free, on the grounds that unlike electricity I'd never heard of someone's water being turned off.

It should be no surprise to anyone that by the time I was ready for university at 18 I had managed to get in some debt with the water company, NPower and the council. With NPower it was because they didn't send me a bill for a year and therefore I 'forgot' to keep chasing them for it and didn't pay them anything... teenage logic. The council debt was rent arrears, which I blame an ex-boyfriend for but actually I should have never told him he could move in, so the responsibility does indeed still lie with me there.

Anyway, University was an opportunity to ditch the council flat AND the boyfriend. Over those three years I slowly paid off my debts and I'm not quite sure why, but none of them ended up on my credit file so I was very lucky there. I was also by that stage terrified of debt in all its forms, so I shunned those massive overdrafts banks hand out to students like penny sweets, and instead took a £200 overdraft on the grounds that I was earning £200 a month minimum at the little shop I got a job in, so could always pay my overdraft off.

I obviously wasn't rich during this time, since it was a massive pain in the a**se to get the student loans company to believe my parents weren't financially supporting me, and also over the holiday periods I was technically homeless, so I did a fair bit of sofa-surfing and also took any jobs over summer that came with accommodation - Camp America, teaching English at a private summer school down south, a paid internship, that kind of thing.

After graduation I got a low-paid job and an expensive flat, followed by a slightly-less-low-paid job and a dirt cheap house, then a better job and a nice flat and eventually a job I love that pays well and a mortgage!

But somewhere along the line I also got a credit card. And the house I bought needed a new roof, so I got a loan for that.

Also, I developed a habit of just buying stuff I don't need - I think this is evidenced by my SOA. If I wasn't in the habit of buying stuff I don't need, I'd have loads of money in savings, but I don't.

So... over the next few days I think I'm going to have a really hard think about what I can and can't give up to be more financially savvy... thanks for all your support guys!!

Scott_Weiland_2 · 15 December 2016 at 6:17PM

Re your soa if it was me re it i would change 2 things

Firstly get that food bill down 300pm is high is that just you and your mum? 200-225 is more realistic

Second get registered with topcashback.co.uk and have a look at quotes for these things your pet insurance, boiler cover, builds cover and life insurance easily a 20-30 saving there amonth.

natsplatnat · 15 December 2016 at 6:45PM

Have look at the "de-motivator" to see what the annual cost of things you buy regularly is. That special coffee / magazine / cake each week can add up!

Also, a spending diary is great for highlighting where those pesky pounds go. It may be just a couple of quid (or less) here and there but it really does add up quickly. You only need to run it for a couple of weeks to see!

I also champion the weekly cash allowance.... yes, I give myself an allowance. This is for all the smaller, frivolous items. If it runs out, I can't buy anything. Having done this for many years, I now find I usually have a small surplus each week. I either roll this forward to the next week (and really go wild with an extra £2.75) or it goes in my change pot!

All the best on your journey - Nats x

Sun_Addict · 16 December 2016 at 12:09PM

Hi JWP, just come across your diary. Well done on getting yourself sorted so young. I wish MSE had been around when I was your age, I had 2 young children, a mortgage and very little money. Still not completely sorted now!

Some great advice been given already, good luck with your journey!

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