Help to keep me honest

allybee101 wrote: »

Well done on your progress so far. With the new balance transfer CCs, make sure the physical card is out of sight and therefore out of mind so you're not tempted to spend on it. Put them in a sealed envelope at the back of a drawer, or wrap in a bag and freeze in a block of water in the freezer. You could even cut it up straightaway so it can't be used in a physical shop. When I last did a balance transfer 18 months ago I also shredded the PIN when it arrived so I didn't know what it was.

On the banana mountain - banana bread is delicious. Lots of recipes online for banana and nut, banana and chocolate etc so take your pick.
They also freeze very well.

Hi allybee,
Thanks, this is great advice, I will do this.

Good morning diary and all,
I have heard from Virgin Money that the money transfer has been approved so when this comes through I will pay off the Natwest Loan, haven’t heard back from them yet on the settlement amount which I believe will include at least 2 months interest, but let’s see. On other matters, I have a potential opportunity to earn a bit extra with a project at work, these opportunities come along from time to time, sounds promising, should be firmed up in the next few days. In the past we would spend money like this several times over in our minds, or I would justify spends to myself on the basis that, well that will be covered by this extra. Now my attitude is more that, if it happens, great the debt will go down faster, and if not, still the debt is going down anyway! Looking forward to this evening’s dance class!! DS has got a great opportunity playing in the band at a pantomime and tonight is his first performance night, so hoping that goes well for him.
Here are my DFW steps for today.
1. 1. Keep posting everyday on the small steps thread
2. 2. Resurrected a good suit from the back of wardrobe
3. 3. Find out more about a project opportunity to earn some extra money at work outside contract.
4. 4. Filled in YNAB
5. 5. Today will be a low spend day
Have a great day all!

Good morning diary and all,

I'm off to a conference today so on the train this morning,
So I am half way towards transferring all the debt to zero % with the loan already gone to a Virgin money card and the credit card will be a balance transfer to a Sainsbury credit card for which I received the letter yesterday so just need to post that off. Yesterday was a low spend day in the end. My dear OH had used up the banana mountain and made some banana and walnut cake which was really nice. The evening was pretty busy though with helping DS with his personal statement for his University application. On the money front, had a bit of a scare because the boiler was on the blink when I got in. The light was Amber and flashing. It seemed ok when I reset it but can't be sure yet. Hence the reason for the title of this post. Everything is going well so far on the money front, and this is usually just when something big comes along to laugh in the face of your puny efforts. You have saved a few £ here and there but along comes a massive bill to knock you off course. In the YNAB method they call this 'rolling with the punches'. Here's hoping we don't need a new boiler! I am off travelling today and tomorrow and in the past this has been an area of difficulty because you often end up spending. I find myself in more spend situations, ok only small amounts but it adds up. You can't always claim it back either.
Here are my small DFW steps for today:
1. Keep posting every day on the small steps thread
2. Remembered an expense I can claim
3. Resist temptation to spend whilst travelling on business for 2 days
4. Keep filling in YNAB
Keep safe out there y'all!

Ok, here I am back after a year away. And in that time I have made really slow progress, reducing total debt to £16,077. In the meantime, a few setbacks have occurred including some household appliances giving up the ghost , the cooker and the washing machine and both needing to be replaced. Then the roof leaking and requiring redecoration of three upstairs bedrooms, And the car having a couple of major problems. On a more positive note, I have really got to grips with YNAB and at least can say that we are living within our means (just!) hence the very slow downward progress on the debt. Other good news is that OH has started a new job which means we have a bit more coming in each month. My goal now is to build up a buffer that will give us the ability to ride out the inevitable financial shocks that come along. And in the meantime, pay down the debt at a rate of £450 per month, Aiming to post at some kind of regular rate here which was the original plan to keep me on track.

I decided to do the SOA to see the situation since my OH has recently started a full time job and this should allow us to get rid of this debt since we now should have more disposable income to throw at the debt. I know that there are areas on here that we could cut back, In fact, compared to many other posts and diaries I have read on MSE I feel more than embarrassed that we have ended up with the debt that we have. We do pay for a cleaner now, this is to give my OH some space so she can concentrate on the new job which is quite demanding and so we felt this would be a good investment. This is the first time we have done this and it is a luxury that perhaps is more than a bit of an indulgence when in debt, although it has made a real difference to us. There are other areas, for example, we have a hobby we share that costs us together £80 per month which I would prefer not to cut back on. Then we give our 19 year old son an allowance of £80 per month, he is on a year out, but struggling to get regular work. So more areas where we could cut back for sure. A useful exercise this since it challenges your thinking.

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 3
Number of children in household.........
Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 2375
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1900
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 4275

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 624
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 230
Electricity............................. 45
Gas..................................... 65
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 33
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 80
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 52
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 520
Clothing................................ 100
Petrol/diesel........................... 235
Road tax................................ 25
Car Insurance........................... 33
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 100
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 87
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 80
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 35
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 12
Buildings insurance..................... 8
Contents insurance...................... 8
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 20
Haircuts................................ 25
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 100
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Prescriptions........................... 20
Work related subscriptions.............. 26
Hobbies................................. 82
Cleaner................................. 60
Newspaper subscription.................. 21.67
Total monthly expenses.................. 2738.67


Assets
Cash.................................... 3160
House value (Gross)..................... 350000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 3000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 356160


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 87000....(624)......3
Total secured & HP debts...... 87000.....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Virgin.........................8299......80........0
Sainsbury......................7778......80........0
Total unsecured debts..........16077.....160.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 4,275
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,738.67
Available for debt repayments........... 1,536.33
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 160
Amount left after debt repayments....... 1,376.33


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