A Mummy to be's debt free diary!

carkeyz

Right here we go with the debt diary! Arrggh! Bit of background, me an my partner have lived together for over a year and have now unexpectedly found out we are expecting a mini us on 7 April 09. Aim now is to get as debt free as possible and then be able to cool payments down when our circumstances change when bump arrives therefore we have gone down the route of a DMP. Well here goes!

Current Debt

Blackhorse Finance - 2300
Welcome Finance - £3700
Vanquis - £100
Capital One - £500
Littlewoods - £370
Littlewoods Direct (yes they are different) - £350

Income

£1140 - My Wages
£1210 - DF Wages

Outgoings before DMP

£400 - Rent
£114 - Council Tax
£10 - Contents Insurance
£50 - Gas
£60 - Electric
£25 - BT
£50 - Tmobile
£70 - Vodafone
£50 - Sky
£12 - TV License
£33 - My Car Insurance
£30 - DF Car Insurance
£250 - Food
£200 - Cigs :S Hmmm
£150 - Xmas/emergency Fund
£150 - Baby Fund
£200 - Misc payments that come up e.g mags, hair cuts, petrol
£100 - Littlewoods
£50 - Littlewoods Direct
£110 - Black Horse
£110 - Welcome Finance
£20 - Vanquis
£30 - Capital One

Now although that leaves us with £76 on paper, it is never like that and espec with me going on crappy maternity pay we would never be able to make them commitments! I have sorted my DMP and my first payment goes to them on 14th Nov on my next pay day of £188.

New Budget

Incoming

£1140 - My Wages
£1210 - DF Wages

Outgoing

£400 - Rent
£114 - Council Tax
£10 - Contents Insurance
£50 - Gas
£60 - Electric
£25 - BT
£50 - Tmobile
£70 - Vodafone
£50 - Sky
£12 - TV License
£33 - My Car Insurance
£30 - DF Car Insurance
£250 - Food
£200 - Cigs :S Hmmm
£150 - Xmas/emergency Fund
£150 - Baby Fund
£200 - Misc payments that come up e.g mags, hair cuts, petrol
£188 - DMP Payment

Which leaves us with £308 unaccounted for which is a great amount to fall back on and be able to save for bump a month!

Well Ill keep you updated on how this goes lol!

Wish me luck and heres to being debt free by Dec 2012!!!!

Carla, Billy and Bump!!!! x

beanielou

Congratulations on the new arrival to be.
Your mobiles seem very high.
Can reduce them a bit?
Your Christmas/emmergancy fund seems high~could some of this go to your debts?

beanielou

Also keep a spending diary to see where that wopping £200 misc goes.

savingholmes

carkeyz wrote: »

Right here we go with the debt diary! Arrggh! Bit of background, me an my partner have lived together for over a year and have now unexpectedly found out we are expecting a mini us on 7 April 09. Aim now is to get as debt free as possible and then be able to cool payments down when our circumstances change when bump arrives therefore we have gone down the route of a DMP. Well here goes!

Current Debt

Blackhorse Finance - 2300
Welcome Finance - £3700
Vanquis - £100
Capital One - £500
Littlewoods - £370
Littlewoods Direct (yes they are different) - £350

Income

£1140 - My Wages
£1210 - DF Wages

Outgoings before DMP

£400 - Rent
£114 - Council Tax
£10 - Contents Insurance
£50 - Gas
£60 - Electric
£25 - BT
£50 - Tmobile
£70 - Vodafone
£50 - Sky
£12 - TV License
£33 - My Car Insurance
£30 - DF Car Insurance
£250 - Food
£200 - Cigs :S Hmmm
£150 - Xmas/emergency Fund
£150 - Baby Fund
£200 - Misc payments that come up e.g mags, hair cuts, petrol
£100 - Littlewoods
£50 - Littlewoods Direct
£110 - Black Horse
£110 - Welcome Finance
£20 - Vanquis
£30 - Capital One

Now although that leaves us with £76 on paper, it is never like that and espec with me going on crappy maternity pay we would never be able to make them commitments! I have sorted my DMP and my first payment goes to them on 14th Nov on my next pay day of £188.

New Budget

Incoming

£1140 - My Wages
£1210 - DF Wages

Outgoing

£400 - Rent
£114 - Council Tax
£10 - Contents Insurance
£50 - Gas
£60 - Electric
£25 - BT - See sky comment below
£50 - Tmobile - Very high mine is more like £10-15 payg - even if you are on a contract they often let you downgrade if you explain the circumstances. some phones you can sell with the contract...
£70 - Vodafone OH's is £10 or less payg
£50 - Sky - can you downgrade the package and get internet and phone thrown in - I've seen some people get that for more like £20 - swallow your pride and explain the circumstances. Getting the occasional DVD is cheaper than spending this each month...
£12 - TV License
£33 - My Car Insurance
£30 - DF Car Insurance
£250 - Food for how many people - try the old style board for ideas or the down shift challenge
£200 - Cigs :S Hmmm I think there is a smoking reduction thread as well as a quitting one - you need to seriously look at this - it won't be doing your bump a lot of good either
£150 - Xmas/emergency Fund This is important to have in your dmp but for the forum you need to split it down more and look at where it is going... can you increase your income using the £10 a day challenge or up your income board?
£150 - Baby Fund What is this for - is it to cover your bills during your maternity leave or is it to buy stuff for the baby? You can usually get a lot of stuff from freecycle for babies which could seriously reduce the required spend here.... Chances are you will get given stuff from other people anyway... Set a budget for things that you feel absolutely must be brand new, take advice from other recent parents on what stuff was worth the money, and what turned out to be a waste...
£200 - Misc payments that come up e.g mags, hair cuts, petrol You need to break this down for it to be any use..
£188 - DMP Payment

Which leaves us with £308 unaccounted for which is a great amount to fall back on and be able to save for bump a month!

Well Ill keep you updated on how this goes lol!

Wish me luck and heres to being debt free by Dec 2012!!!!

Carla, Billy and Bump!!!! x

good luck - I've made some suggestions up above. It would help if you use the statement of affairs version at makesenseofcards as it would help show whether you had missed anything and separate some of the big pots you've put money against into smaller categories...

LilacPixie

i'd have a serious look at the baby fund. Your due in April so 5 ish months away. Thats £750 between now and then presuming you have nothing saved already. I had a baby 4 months ago and i spend no where near that figure and that was buying new. Ii is our second baby so this time I know exaclty what was needed and what was a waste of money.

Cigs is a huge chunk of your joint income also. I don't know who it is that smokes of if its both of you but if you do ask you midwife about stopping Many health authorities are giving expectant mums food vouchers to stop smoking.Itwould makeyouhealthier be good for the bump and will have the added bonus of reducing your food spends.

I'm presuming your DMP is with one of the free charities????

carkeyz

Hello all!
I put off replying but I think that is a pride thing!

Right here goes:

I have tried to reduce Tmobile but am tied in at the mo, will keep trying though, DF phone with Vodafone, hmm has he been shouted at. I absoloutly couldnt believe it last month we paid £144 for his phone alone! He is under strict instructions not to use it, Im quite good I dont go over my mins or txts, then again on 50 quid a month who could! Sky does include the internet which is good, we have discussed this and am trying to get DF to agree to reducing the package but he just doesnt seem to understand debt and with bump coming along I am basically bricking it lol. I was going to get freeview, but we cant get it where we live. Food.. I am looking into bringing this down, I think its more us being lazy that anything else and ordering takeaways espec when we have both worked overtime and are exhausted but it just defeats the point in us working over time! Cigs I am honestly trying to cut down, I think for me I just dont feel pregnant yet - im only 16 weeks - I just feel a bit fat and we have both always been v heavy smokers - I have always tried to reduce the amount on paper, but why lie to myself! Xmas emergency fund is also our holiday find and for birthdays as well. I will bring it down but as we have only just started I want to get as much money in there as poss before I go on maternity cause it would just be my luck that my car would die or something! Baby fund isnt just for baby stuff it is also as I get 6 months paid maternity but have been offered 6 months after unpaid which I want to take so we are making sure we hav enough money in there to cover me for 6 extra months. I am going to do a spending diary cause the £200 missing a month I suspect is going on crappy mags and DVD's!

Love Carkeyz and Bump! x

carkeyz

Right, Just thought Id pop a note on as its pay day on Friday. I'm literally going to pay everything that I need to then and then what I'm left with Im left with.
This is the first month we are going to be doing our DMP so the first month we have had to live without credit.
God I'm a bit scared lol
Here goes
x

halight

Congratulations On your Bump. My wife gave birth to twins this summer:j :j
All the best and good luck:beer: :beer:

carkeyz

Right, I dont know where I have gone wrong but somehow I have lost £300 :S Out comes the paper work to work out where that went

Why is it that no matter how hard you try to stick to your budget and how good it looks on paper i can jus never get it right?

A bit off topic, had our 20 week scan today.... its a girl

x

Pips_Mum

carkeyz wrote: »

God I'm a bit scared lol
Here goes
x

Aaaaaahhhh a girl how lovely.
20Week scan is amazing, how much bigger she has got in 8 weeks is incredible.

I am 35 weeks pregnant and just started maternity leave got paid on Friday too and already £70 OVER overdraft. Thats with no "treats or extras" thats purely gas, electric, food and debt repayments. At least all my debt repayments have gone so I wont get charges but it has made me PANIC about when I am no longer getting full pay and how we are going to manage. I completely understand where you are coming from about being scared.:eek:

paybacktime2008

I would say....as a heavy smoker myself....that if there are two of you smoking your cigs are costing you way more than £200 a month.