RMR's running away from debt diary

runmichellerun

Well I've been reading everyone elses diaries for nearly a year now and, as I have finished my Christmas shopping for this year, thought I'd start afresh with my own diary.

So, here's my SOA:

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1300
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1300
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured loan repayments................. 0
Rent.................................... 600
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 0
Electricity............................. 0
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 25
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 100
Clothing................................ 20
Petrol/diesel........................... 40
Road tax................................ 10
Car Insurance........................... 32
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 10
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
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)...... 20
Haircuts................................ 15
Entertainment........................... 40
Holiday................................. 50
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 984

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 5000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 5000

No Secured Debt
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Natwest Loan...................10146.....225.......8.9
Mint Credit Card...............500.......10........0
Dad Loan.......................222.......0.........0
Total unsecured debts..........10868.....235.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,300
Expenses (including secured debts)...... 984
Available for debt repayments........... 316
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 235
Surplus(deficit if negative)............ 81
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 5,000
Total Secured debt...................... -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -10,868
Net Assets.............................. -5,868
Created using the SOA calculator at www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission.

I don't have any utility bills/council tax included in my soa as they're included in my rent.

I've also set up Esavings accounts with Natwest for various things I need to save up for every year: Car, Holiday, Presents and I have set aside a certain amount each month for these.

I will also be completing several challenges, including:

- Enter at least 1 competition every day, on top of entering pigsback comps every day
- Any £2 coin I receive goes into a sealed tin which I already have
- Buy any online shopping through quidco / pigsback
- Payment a Day (even if it's only £1)

I will edit as and when I think of more challenges. I will not complete surveys as I tried that and I nearly went out of my brain with them. I'm very impatient so they don't suit me, and I need to do things that will motivate me rather than make me give up.

However, any other ideas are very gratefully received.

Right, so this begins once Christmas is out of the way as I have exams and parties etc that will be taking up brain space in the meantime. I shall update as and when I get breakthroughs or bad moments.

RMR.x

Bowski_1011

Hi RMR... I shall look forward to reading your diary. Sound's like you're doing all the right things.

Hope you enjoy your parties over the festive season, and good luck with your exams :beer:

sarahb123_3

Hi Michelle, I love reading people's dairies, so I will be popping in to read up!

Good luck with everything, can't help with the SOA am not very good at those, am sure some much more knowledgable peeps will be along shortly. Re the challenges have you looked at the make £10 a day challenge? I don't do it every month but it's quite motivating to do it once in a while.

hypno06

You seem very focused already - good luck and I am sure you will get a lot of support from these boards.

runmichellerun

Thank you everyone

Yes, i have tried the £10 challenge earlier in the year and did very well out of it - especially the B!ngo. That's how my CC debt has got down from what it has. I must look at it again in January.

runmichellerun

Right, so I got paid today. Obviously Christmas is almost out of the way, so I have a few more ideas to save money:

1) Put £35 away each month to cover my car insurance/MOT/Tax payments as they come up
2) Put £15 away each month to cover Christmas next year
3) Put £40 away each month for a holiday (if I need to, this is the fund I will dip into in emergencies)
4) I will pay £100 a month to my Credit Card and have asked for money for Christmas so almost all of that will be going towards my CC. The sooner it's paid off, the better off I will be each month
5) I will NOT buy magazines in the shop as from now. This is a real weakness of mine, but I have asked for a few magazine subscriptions for Christmas so that will have to keep me going
6) I will think very very carefully before buying anything I truly do not need - no matter how down I'm feeling

Any other ideas anyone?

RMR.x

bank_of_slate

Hi michelle and good luck with your diary!
I also save my £2 and £1 coins in sealed tins that have to be opened with a can opener!

What about keeping a little notebook spending diary so you can also keep a track of all the tiny spends that go unnoticed - a coffee here, a magazine there, the odd sandwich etc.
...Linda xx

runmichellerun

bank_of_slate wrote: »

Hi michelle and good luck with your diary!
I also save my £2 and £1 coins in sealed tins that have to be opened with a can opener!

What about keeping a little notebook spending diary so you can also keep a track of all the tiny spends that go unnoticed - a coffee here, a magazine there, the odd sandwich etc.
...Linda xx

Thank you. I think a spending diary is a really good idea. It will probably shock me looking at what I spend on silly little things every month.

runmichellerun

WOOHOO! Just won a competition! Casino Royale on DVD. Love that film too!

runmichellerun

Well, it was a successful Christmas for me. I got £120 in cash so have decided to put £80 on my credit card and spend the extra £40 on something nice. I have yet to brave the sales (hate crowds) so will probably go in on monday to see what's left

In the new year I'm going to go mad selling ebay stuff and see if I can get a bit more to pay off my CC. I'm so desperate to get rid of it. Everytime I get close to paying it off there seems to be something else I need to get/buy/pay off. This time I'm really going to try though.

I've been going mad with entering (free) competitions so fingers crossed I win things I can sell off on ebay. I have won Casino Royale but really like that film so may not sell it. I have sold a fitness dvd on play.com and got about £8 for it which I'm chuffed about

Right, I'm off to give my place a spring clean. I want to walk in on new years day and have a sparkly clean, decluttered house.

Happy New Year to anyone reading this. Here's to clearing clutter and debt in 2009!! :beer:

runmichellerun

Paid the £80 off my CC, and am doing the £10 a day in January challenge, which will all go towards my CC too. I have also had a moment of madness and decided to join the challenge to spend only £100 on clothes in 2009. I'm not one for fashion anyway, and have loads of clothes bursting out of my wardrobe, so there's absolutely no reason why I can't do this.

Sold a couple of things on play and amazon, and have about £7 coming from quidco.

I am so desperate to get rid of my CC now. It's at such a low amount compared to this time last year, but the last few hundred are causing me grief. I have done the sensible thing and given the card to my mum to hide, so I cannot spend on it no matter what (unless dire emergencies happen - at mums discretion, so I suppose running out of wine won't count?)

I haven't bought a magazine yet either. But it is only the 3rd of January.

Currently I'm very motivated to be debt free, although my friends keep asking me out for different things (pool, cinema) which although are lovely, all add up in price. Going to have to learn to say no.

Happy new year to anyone reading this, and let's hope 2009 makes a massive dent in all our debts!