Hoping To Be Stylishly Debt Free - SC's Diary

SC01

Hi everyone, I'm a longtime lurker here but feel that I need to keep a diary here to help me get over that last hurdle in order to finally be debt free!

First a bit of background. When I went to uni, I racked up a lot of debt during my first year mainly on having a good time and clothes and shoes (my weakness!). Thanks to the best bank manager ever and a lot of hard work, I pulled myself out of my overdraft and managed to operate debt free for about 6 months. Life was good until a few things happened all at once (bad breakup, lost friendships and lost job) that sent me over the edge into depression and the debt piled up again. It got so bad I was evicted from my flat and ended up having to move back home.

I managed to sort myself out again but again slipped into depression and some bad spending habits and added credit cards to the overdraft. To top it off, I bought a house and had a baby all in the space of a year! Another breakup later, a financially draining relationship and I find myself where I am now.

Basically I 'allowed' my credit cards to go to DCAs so I could negotiate with them and the interest would be frozen. I've now negotiated payments for the two cards which is affordable - sure it'll take longer to pay off but at least I'm not worrying about being able to make the monthly payments. I also negotiated a reduced settlement for my old Barclays account (I bank with A&L at the moment) and am currently negotiating final payment of a graduate loan with them.

I feel on top of things after a lot of stress but I need some support for the next year or so it'll take to pay everything off. In addition I'm now helping OH sort out his debts so we can start saving for our wedding and he's fully on board and raring to go!

So. Here I am! Thank you for reading my rambling and any support and advice you can give me and I hope I can do the same for you! Through my lurking, I've learnt so much and felt like I've had 'silent' support - now I want to give something back!

lucielle

Can you post your SOA and the clever chaps can have a look and see if we can save you some money?
L

SC01

Sure - I think I've stripped everything back as far as possible but I'm sure there's always savings to be had!

Income:
Wages - £1197
Tax credits - £700
Child benefit - £75

Total - £1972

Outgoing
Mortgage - £500
Nursery - £537
Council tax - £66
Gas - £71 (this includes paying back some arrears due to estimated bills)
Electric £71 (same as gas)
Water - £21
TV licence - £12
Sky - £40 (includes phone and internet)
Mobile - £25
Groceries - circa £170 (this is for 2 adults, one toddler and a cat)

Total - £1488

Secured loan
Mortgage - this is joint with my ex (DD's dad) currently at £103k

Unsecured payments
A&L loan - £173
Barclays - £198
HSBC cc - £100
Mint - £25

Total £496

This leaves me with a shortfall of £12 a month. I do though work a 2nd job which pays cash every week and averages at £45-55 a week. I put half of what I make into my account to make up the shortfall and use the rest as my cash for the week which goes towards all of life's little bits.

I've not included OH's wages but we are in the process of moving in together and sorting out our finances jointly. My mum's always taught me though to make sure you're sorted yourself before you take on anyone else!

Flipc

Hi,

Well done for facing up to debt and wanting to pay it off, I hope you are feeling a little less stressed about it all now. I hope you don't think it's cheeky of me to post on your thread but I am currently making a documentary for BBC 1xtra about young people and how we deal with money and Over spending. I would love to chat to you about facing up to your money issues especially because you said you over spent at Uni etc. This programme is looking to give advice and to help young listeners not make the same mistakees and is no way judgemental. It can also all be kept completly anonymous.

If you would be prepared to have a chat with me please call me on 02074531610 and I will call you straight back or drop me an email at [EMAIL="flip.cardigan@unique.com"]flip.cardigan@unique.com[/EMAIL]

Many thanks for your time.

Best of luck with it all

Flip

SC01

Hoped to have a NSD yesterday but had to get potatoes for dinner and post a few letters.

Having a quick tea break at work while it's quiet. Working tonight as well - hoping it won't be too busy! DD has her first dance lesson tomorrow - her dad's mum is paying for them and has bought all her shoes and outfits for it. Personally I still think she's a bit too young to be doing it but she's very excited about it so can't deny her that - especially as I'm not paying for it lol!

Hope everyone is having a good day and looking forward to the weekend. :j

CAFCGirl

Potatoes and letters are not the worst it could be!

I think you're doing really well to get on top of things, for your family and yourself.

Your electricity and gas are high but as u say there are some arrears here, can you get in contact with the companies and find out when these arrears will be paid back? At least that way you'll know when you will have some extra to pay off the debts etc.

Your food bill can come down a bit, check out the old style board for some tips.
If you shop online you can save some extra money by not being tempted by all those end of aisle bargains, and you can often find a free delivery code.

If your OH moves in with you, will your benefits be affected? I dont know how benefits work to be honest.
Mortgage - you said this is with EX, does he pay anything toward it, or maintainence etc?

Just a few questions from me but I think you're doing really well, and you should be really proud of yourself xx Take care and I look forward to hearing more from you xx

SC01

Thanks CAFC.

I'll contact the dreaded British Gas tomorrow and find out about the arrears - I'm getting better at making sure everything is turned off and the heating is kept low and on for as short as possible!

I pay the bulk of the mortgage and my ex pays the remainder and all the insurance etc instead of maintenance. We managed to come to a fairly amicable arrangement where we go halves on anything that needs doing to the house and he buys big or expensive items for DD. We're hoping to sell it when the fixed rate runs out in Oct 2010 though.

I do food shopping online already - it averages at £140 a month. I added the extra £30 for things like milk. I've started a meal plan though so hopefully I can bring it down further!

Oh and the benefits will change but together we'll still be better off. DD starts school next September anyway so childcare costs should come right down.

CAFCGirl

Hi SC,
Am joining you in trying to control heating/electric. Try to go for as long as possible with the lights off, got energy saving bulbs, we're lucky we've not had to turn the heating on yet, benefitting from the flats on either side of us having theirs on! LOL

Glad to hear things wont be tighter with your OH moving in. When he does what will be be contributing to the household.
You said your food shop is for 2 adults, dd and a dog but I didnt think ur OH had moved in just yet? Sorry if I've not read that properly just yet.

Have you been onto whatsthecost.com. If you put all ur debts into the snowball calculator it will tell you how long it will take to pay everything off, and you can play around with the amount you pay each month. Sometimes its good to have a specific date with the end in sight.

I'm just trying to get started with meal planning, seems to be one thing in terms of organisation that I just cant master!

SC01

Hope everyone had a good weekend!

DD absolutely loved her first dance lesson which was good. Gives me a spare couple of hours to do housework (groan!) which will be appreciated! As well as ploughing away at the debt, I'm getting into the 'Flylady' habits - it's working so far, feel really positive about everything.

OH goes on tour with his band on Saturday so we've had to spend a bit of money on that - new drum skins, sticks and petrol money. The only plus side to it is that I'll be able to cut right down on the food bill! Oh and hopefully they'll get lots more fans and in my wildest dreams, get spotted by an A&R scout!

CAFC - I spoke to BG on Saturday and I have 2 months left to pay back the arrears then the payments will go down to £45 each and I'll be looking to switch to someone cheaper. I'm lucky enough to have an open fire in the front room and that does a great job of heating the whole house enough for the evenings when it starts getting colder. I'm lucky enough to be able to get wood and coal from my 2nd job at the pub for it in place of staff drinks!

CAFCGirl

Hi hun!

Glad your DD enjoyed her dance lesson. Once you're well into fly lady, you might end up with a few hours to yourself!

That'll be a good saving for you in 2 months then, is your electricity the same? Always worth finding out, means light at the end of the tunnel etc.
I'd love an open fire... we've got really rubbish heaters in the rooms here, 1 per room and they do nothing to heat our flat, I might have to invest in some big knits!

Theres a thread on OS Board about a grocery challenge if thats something you'd be up for, especially while OH is on tour (is he anything I'd have heard of?!).... could be a fun motivating tool for you.

Take care xx

SC01

Woohoo! I had a NSD today! It felt so good I'm hoping to have as many as possible between now and the end of the month.

Just done an hour of cleaning - it's so much more fun when I put on my most ridiculous heels, turn the music up and dance my way through it! I must look a right sight though!

CAFC - I'll have a look at that. Set myself the task of eating the contents of the freezer - it badly needs defrosting but there seems to be so much in there! I do freeze nearly everything if I can - my one paranoia is food going off! His band is called Skam - they do proper old skool rock!

Hope everyone is ok!