Flying out of debt (Hopefully!) One Fresian's adventures...*Now with SOA!*

mooomin

Hello

I think it's about time for me to start my own little DFW diary. I have read a few of the other ones and they seem to be good for getting your thoughts together about your spending, and receiving some pretty awesome advice.

I will be posting a SOA in the New Year - until I get paid at the end of January I don't know what my wages will be as I will be starting a new benefits scheme at work where I buy discounted shopping vouchers, so I am unsure as to what my take-home pay will be.

For the moment, until I get paid next week, here are my rough figures:

Debts

Barclaycard - original total £1,131.90 This is 0% until January 2009 and I am aiming to pay this off long before that! Current total is unavailable as the site is down for maintenance. I will edit with this shortly!

Overdraft - The day before I got paid in November, this was at £1,007 but I get paid on the 19th and it's currently at £695 with only a couple of bills to come out. I have money stashed for Christmas presents and food, so it shouldn't be more than around £795 by the end of the month, again, will update when I can.

Personal Loan - this is the big one. It's £6,973.73 and I have many years outstanding :mad:

Both the loan and the overdraft are at a rate of 6.9%. At present, I am taking part in the PAD challenge, and am using this for the Barclaycard. I am cutting bits off the overdraft as and when I can. I find it more satisfying to pay off the credit card with small amounts than the overdraft as it's easy to slip into bad spending habits again. I'm waiting for confirmation of a new savings account being set up, and shall make my PADs into this shortly as well to save up to pay off £50 of the overdraft at a time. I might lost out in pennies of interest, but I think it will work better for me.

Money at present

Until now, I have been getting some money from t'other half, who is at college at the moment. He isn't working and so this is now gone. I am hoping to be able to make my wages stretch for a while, and will know more by the time I am paid in January. I have budgeted enough to last us until then (Hopefully!)

Things I am going to be doing in the next few days:

• Making opening deposit to overdraft account
• Clean out house, including finding things for Ebay/Amazon/Gumtree. I know I have some fragrance sets that I should be able to Gumtree quickly before Christmas
• Looking in Tesco etc for some kind of reduced yumminess for Christmas Dinner - last year our dinner was £4 + veggies and was supremely tasty!
• Phoning Virgin Media to demand a better deal - we are paying way over the odds for our internet etc.
• Finding out when my mobile phone deal ends - I got a couple of calls in the last few days from someone from Orange who said that as a valued customer I could get 10% off my exising bill. I am going for more than that and hopfully a new phone I can sell on Ebay too!

Okies, time for this Fresian to get her beauty sleep.

Thanks for listening to the ramblings of a determined lady.

flying_fresian

mooomin

Holy cow (As it were)

I have added up my figures and I have total debts of £9112.63

That's a sobering thought for this time of night...:eek:

Airwolf1

Barclaycard - original total £1,131.90 This is 0% until January 2009 and I am aiming to pay this off long before that!


This isn't giving you long to clear it. It is 12/12/08 now!

mooomin

Airwolf1 wrote: »

Barclaycard - original total £1,131.90 This is 0% until January 2009 and I am aiming to pay this off long before that!


This isn't giving you long to clear it. It is 12/12/08 now!

Lalalalalaaaa...it's early morning and I meant 2010.

You spotted my deliberate mistake...:p

doodledo_2

Good luck with your diary.

I am loving your little cow he is so cool

[Deleted User]

Morning Fresian,

Good luck with your diary, you seem very determined and I'm sure you'll do well.

Tea
x

mooomin

Good morning all

I have been in and checked online banking and the Barclaycard is currently sitting at £1048.11, which means that I have cleared off £83.79 since my first statement. I also checked the interest-free period and it is until January 2010 :rotfl:

Since posting last night I have:

• Made my first deposit into the "Pay off the flipping overdraft" account. Just £1.50 but every little amount will help in the end.
• Made my PAD to Barclaycard - another £2 gone! If you haven't seen the PAD thread before it's found here http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1079175 (Sorry I don't know how to do the sexy links just the good old copy and paste ones!) and has been a godsend to me and probably what gave me my lightbulb moment in the first place!

Later on today I am going to start filling a box with things to put on Ebay etc and hopefully lose some clutter and make some cash to use as a little cushion while we're trying to find t'other half some work.

Right, time for coffee and to hunt for spare change for my Sealed Pot - the fight against my debts continues Ok, I only wanted an excuse to use the Jedi smiley

Have a good day all, thank Crunchie it's Friday.

flying_fresian

jo41

Hi Flying_Fresian,
Good luck with your diary, its a great idea!:T
Jo x

suzialwaysbroke

Just wanted to say thanks for making me laugh with your excellent little cows n jedi's, what a way to start a friday!

Oh & good luck with the debt clearing, but don't do it too quick as I want to see that little friesian again

Suzi xx

mooomin

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1050
Other income............................ 355
Total monthly income.................... 1405

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 309.96
Council tax............................. 120
Electricity............................. 87.5 This is gas and electric
Water rates............................. 0 Included with Council Tax
Telephone (land line)................... 55.95 Internet, phone and cable telly. Phoning about reducing this over the weekend!
Mobile phone............................ 33 Still in contract, up for renewal soon.
TV Licence.............................. 11.61
Groceries etc. ......................... 200 This is rough estimate for me, t'other half and the two kitties. We spent about £150 this month but did have help from my parents, so I think £200 is realistic at the moment.
Clothing................................ 10 I have a New Look card which I pay £10 to each month until it's in enough credit for me to buy what I need, anything else of an urgent nature comes from the groceries budget.
Other travel............................ 35 Bus pass
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0 Dental cover for me and t'other half comes from my salary
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 16.62 Pet insurance
Buildings insurance..................... 13.66 Buildings and contents
Other insurance......................... 36.71 Mortgage insurance which I need to review soon.
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 10 Paid monthly into a no-access account at the moment.
Haircuts................................ 0 My hairdresser quit hairdressing so I have quit getting my hair cut for a while!
Entertainment........................... 20
Holiday................................. 10 Paid into monthly with a friend so we can go to the 2012 Olympics. Non-negotiable!
Emergency fund.......................... 10
Parents (Debt).......................... 5
Total monthly expenses.................. 985.01


Assets
Cash.................................... 100 Current emergency fund
House value (Gross)..................... 100000
Shares and bonds........................ 200 Shares in my employer, can't cash them in for a few years as a) Share price has plummeted so it's not worth selling the ones I am entitled to b) Some aren't tax free for a couple of years

Total Assets............................ 100300


Secured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 49909....(309.96)...0
Total secured debts........... 49909.....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Overdraft......................1007......0.........6.9
Barclaycard....................1131.9....25........0
Personal Loan..................6973.73...129.......6.9
Total unsecured debts..........9112.63...154.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,405
Expenses (including secured debts)...... 985.01
Available for debt repayments........... 419.99
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 154
Surplus(deficit if negative)............ 265.99

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 100,300
Total Secured debt...................... -49,909
Total Unsecured debt.................... -9,112.63
Net Assets.............................. 41,278.37

Created using the SOA calculator at www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission.

mooomin

I thought it was a good idea to post my SOA even though my monthly wage will change soon.

A few things for me to think about -

• Yikes my Virgin Media bill is huge. Time to call them I think.
• Life insurance on the mortgage is pretty huge too - time for a review
• If I have £200+ spare every month where the heckfire is it?!

I have recently started doing the PAD thread, and have noticed that I have been able to pay off small amounts daily and I am beginning to realise how much money I fritter away on nothing...not good.

flying_fresian