Another Debt Free Diary :)

ElizabethJH

Ok, so been a bit of a weird weekend. Had a bit of panic on Friday Night - ex came around and calmed me down and had an early night. I think it's just the idea that he doesn't care that starts it off. Little things like no kisses at end of texts or just him getting on and forgetting about me. I can cope with it all but I don't want to be alone feeling like this. I can't cope with the idea that the last year was a waste of time. I can learn from it if I believe that we were good together and that we just weren't suited. But straight out him not liking me anymore makes me feel sick.

Anyhow I'm trying to concentrate on positive, went round my parents Saturday Afternoon, walked the dog, got ready. Postive being I've gone back down to being skinny, don't want to lose anymore weight now - but am getting my appetite back. Went out with girls, spent a £10 and that was it for the day. Then Sunday had my parents round for Mom's birthday meal - had a talk and I've accepted £2K from them to pay off the credit cards. I'll pay them back about £300 a month instead of the £600 I was trying for at the moment. It doesn't mean I'll be well off as any extra money needs to get my overdraft down. But it's taken the pressure off me, feel like I can breath a bit easier. Still need to pay about £400 next month and then all my debt will be to my Mom and Dad.

I know how lucky I am, but think I'm in the right frame of mind to accept this now. My job has got better recently (though I'm being threatened with redundancy) I've got closer with friends who've helped me these past weeks and now my money problems are more under control.

I feel a lot more free being single as well, not working around someone else. My ex never knew what he was doing so I felt like if I made plans I was taking control of the weekend and never giving him space to choose his own things to do. I always felt disappointed that we didnt spend enough time together as well, but didn't want to give up working to rectify it! Well I've got my time back now, just too late for him

Right positive thinking anyhow, as I seem to constantly go off the point at the moment!! No more interest to nasty Credit cards at the end of next month! ?

ElizabethJH

Think I need to do a new SOA!!

ElizabethJH

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars owned.................... 0
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1180
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1180
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured loan repayments................. 0
Hire Purchase (HP) repayments........... 0
Rent.................................... 270
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 70
Electricity............................. 22
Gas..................................... 35
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 36
Telephone (land line)................... 10
Mobile phone............................ 35
TV Licence.............................. 11
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 11
Groceries etc. ......................... 80
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 0
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 50
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 10
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Gym..................................... 32.5
Total monthly expenses.................. 672.50
Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 0
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 0
No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts
Unsecured Debts
Mom & Dad......................2874.......330........0
Overdraft......................1500......10....... .0
Total unsecured debts..........4374.....340.......-
Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,180
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 672.50
Available for debt repayments........... 507.50
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 340
Amount left after debt repayments....... 167.50

So this will start in April time. £167.50 a month = £41.87 a week to spend on entertainment and presents and clothes. Plus any money I have from extra work can go on my overdraft!? as well as left over food shopping money!

I still need to be as careful at not wasting money as before as I can then get my overdraft down as well then. Looks like I'm going to be around here for another 9 months at least

retrocircles

Glad to hear you'll be sticking around! Even though it means you won't be paying off your debt as fast.

How nice of your parents to lend you the money. I used to have the same option but Bank Of Mum is officially closed since she had her house renovated. *Tut.

It's good to hear hear you're feeling at least a little better!

Lemon_Tree

glad to hear an upbeat tone, and well done on the revised SOA, i think sometimes we all need to update our as we change things but generally don't as we get stuck in a rutt.
Parents are wonderful aren't they, i'm lucky i've a loan with the bank of mum and dad, so no more interest, though i plan on sneaking in a few extra payments at the end to say thank you.

ElizabethJH

Yes my parents are great

It stops the worry about paying off fast because of interest adding up, I'll still be paying it off pretty fast but it won't affect my life to the degree it has done, still i'll be out of debt by the end of this year which is still a good target and I'll be hoping for more refunds from credit card charges and hopefully one of these days bank charges so I think if I'm careful my overdraft could be gone by then too!!

Glad I'm feeling more upbeat too Think I'm going to take my parents out for a nice expensive meal at the end of all this!!

natsplatnat

Hi!!

Great news on 'the bank of mum and dad!' Bless them - parents are great aren't they? Am so pleased that their loan means that you should be cleared by the end of the year!!

Getting my OD down has actually been relatively easy!! There have been ups and downs as I get paid weekly (some weeks I pay out more than I have earnt!!) and DD's are monthly. I started knocking off £40 a week to get my balance down, but then I realised that if I just stick to my guns and only spend the £60 a week that I withdraw it would come down of its own accord (sometimes knocking £40 off just made the bad weeks worse!) Its strange when I look at my spreadsheet. Once I reach a positive balance at the end of April, as long as I don't go mad (and nothing bad crops up!) then I will stay in the black.... and the balance seems to increase quite rapidly!! So it can be done and I wish you all the very best!!!

ps, I'm with you on the bank charges.... "please give them back to us!!"

ElizabethJH

Well come April I'll have £40 a week to spend on entertainment, clothes etc. All my other bills are taken into account, so if I stick to that and try and spend less if at all possible then the overdraft should come down fairly quickly - I'm expecting some kind of bonus in this months pay that should help towards it as well!

I feel like maybe I'm cheating a bit doing it so slowly when I could in fact get it down a lot quicker if I hassled work for more shifts etc. but I won't turn down the shifts if I'm offered them and I will try and underspend on my budget to get the overdraft down quicker. I just won't be so obsessive as I was being. I think I needed to do it for a few months to really change my frame of mind and sort everything out, but now hopefully I can go back a little to my old self, but always with mse in the back of my mind

phillipsdj

Hi Elizabeth, congratulations on accepting the loan from your parents. I know you said it feels a bit like cheating but at least only paying back £300/month will take some stress away from you - which can only be a good thing!:D

I did something similar the other week, although in different circumstances, and I can vouch for just what a difference it has made to our lives.

Keep up the hard work, you are doing amazingly!

ElizabethJH

Thanks - it will take the stress away, and I'm amazed at how positive I'm feeling about it all already!! I'm going to have £60 a week to spend including food bills and I really can't see myself spending that much, I'm going to steer clear of new clothes, still keep my food bills down to the very minimum, and weirdly it's only going to be about 3 extra months I'll spend paying off the debt, so I think for the stress factor this is definitely the right way for me!! I'm still going to do my questionnaires and things to get a bit of extra cash where I am, but 2nd job is not the priority it was beforehand!!

I'm feeling much more confident already, feel like I've been stuck in a rut these last months and I've come out and realised that I have some many possibilities for my future and I don't need to rush to get settled or be totally sensible. As I've said before I think I needed these last few months to really get my head into the right place. To say no to the things I can't afford and to be honest with people about the position I'm in. I'm a very up and down person, but I can take the downs, because they always make me appreciate the up's more!! Really looking forward to this cheque clearing and being able to phone MBMA and pay off that card, then the rest is going to be thrown at Barclays. Will still have about £300 to pay which I will do out of my March Pay Slip and then that'll be it!!

I feel like even coming through this break up I've been more in control then ever before. My normal reaction would have been to have gone out every night, bought new clothes, holidays, all the things that I thought made me happy. But instead I've spent more time with my friends and family and feel like I've become closer with them, I've not turned to alcohol which has meant no more depressing hangovers that make me feel even worse. I think it's knowing I've got through a time when I've been really down - and got through it sensibly that's made me able to accept the money!!

Now if this feels good - wait until December when the debt'll be gone