Noodledoodle's road to riches

noodledoodle78

Hi Guys

After lingering in the background for a while and reading some of the other threads, you guys have given me the courage J to (attempt) to get my debts and spending under control.

At the moment I am working full time as is my OH and we always seem to have lots of week left at the end of our money! Our situation is spiraling out of control and causing nothing but arguments and stress. I ended up at the Doctor's last week and he has suggested anti-depressants. I am determined to get myself back on track, be positive and debt free sooner rather than later.

Have done the budgetty thing many times before and stuck to it for approximately 2 days. I’ve now decided to knuckle down and get on with it. The only person who is going to get me out of this mess is the same person that got me into it lol!

Anyhow, sorry for boring you all, got to go and re-jig my figures and I will be back later!

Noodledoodle:j

beanielou

Keep posting !

silvadebtfree

hiya, welcome...keep posting...ppl will tell you to do a Statement of affairs to see where your money comes in/goes out...very helpful. good luck!

noodledoodle78

Right guys, my little diary is filling up with my budget and spending.:T

Have been and done my weekly food shopping and managed to spend £65 for a week's shopping for me, my OH and DS 2.5. This also included some really lovely food for valentine's/ my birthday. What would have previously been a really good excuse for a spending spree has now been replaced as a really good excuse for some money saving!

I got some really good inspiration from some recipe websites for free and I have raided the cupboards and realised I can make a really scrummy chocolate souffle for a special dessert with ingredients I already had! I have splashed out a whole £3.50 on some sparkling rose (saving about £20 on champagne). I managed to bag some beef medallions that look like fillet steak for £4 instead of about £9 for the two. I am going to make my own gourmet chunky chips (saving £2.99). Total saving £32.50 - crazy!:j:j

Feeling really spurred on I have decided to stick the £32.50 on a £95 debt I have been avoiding with Moorcroft. Can't believe I am a third of the way there on one debt simply from being a little more thrifty.

noodledoodle78

SOA

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 1
Number of cars owned.................... 2

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1330
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1300
Benefits................................ 80
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2710

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 756
Secured loan repayments................. 200
Hire Purchase (HP) repayments........... 120
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 50
Electricity............................. 100
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 30
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 30
TV Licence.............................. 15
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 35
Internet Services....................... 35
Groceries etc. ......................... 300
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 250
Road tax................................ 25
Car Insurance........................... 75
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 606
Other child related expenses............ 22
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 25.99
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 2674.99


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 130000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 4000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 134000


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 124500...(756)......5.79
Secured Debt.................. 10000....(200)......17
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 0........(120)......0
Total secured & HP debts...... 134500....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Cap on.........................850.......40........0
CSA............................4500......20........0
Total unsecured debts..........5350......60........-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,710
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,674.99
Available for debt repayments........... 35.01
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 60
Amount short for making debt repayments. -24.99

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 134,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -134,500
Total Unsecured debt.................... -5,350
Net Assets.............................. -5,850

Other debts still to tackle
£95 Moorcroft
Orange mobile £350
Iqor £936
BT £175
OH Credit Card £400
Top Shop £150
Payday UK £500 - have offered them £50 a month but they are refusing to answer me by email - insisting that I speak to them!

I am sure there is more lurking somewhere but this is the bulk of it.

Smamfer

tv license
water
gas
emergency fund
petrol
etc etc

try doing it on this one to give you a better insight as to what you really spend
www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html

Good luck and keep posting look at the challenges and the diff threads going on .. trust me this site works miracles!

noodledoodle78

Thanks for that...

TV licence has been paid up front so no need to add.
Don't have gas and no water fees in Northern Ireland.
Petrol has been included above.
No emergency fund - but need to get in to a position where I have one, as seem to have an emmergency or crisis of sorts every week. In fact my luck has been so bad recently that I am seriously debating whether or not I should even get out of bed tomorrow being that it is Friday 13th

beanielou

ouch to your childcare

hypno06

hi, you say that you don't need to include your tv licence because it is already paid, but you DO need to include it, otherwise when it is next due, you won't have the money to pay for it because you won't have budgetted for it.

Just because it isn't due for a few months doesn't mean you don't need to account for it. How would you pay the £120 or so when it falls due if you don't have the money available in your monthly budget?

I know it is a pain, but an honest SOA is the only way to face the reality of the situation, otherwise you will think you are on track, only to face knockback after knockback, which will then lead you to be very demotivated.

savingholmes

noodledoodle78 wrote: »

SOA
Total monthly income.................... 2710

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 756
Secured loan repayments................. 200
Hire Purchase (HP) repayments........... 120
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 50
Electricity............................. 100 check on cashback sites if you can get this cheaper - if you can switch and save
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 30
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 30
TV Licence.............................. 15
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 35 personnally I have ditched this and moved to freeview get your favourite box sets for xmas or birthday instead. You may be able to negotiate a better deal by threatening to leave anyway - try and get this down to £20 if not prepared to dump and get them to provide your internet access within this cost too...
Internet Services....................... 35check on cashback sites if you can get this cheaper - if you can switch and save - can you move to talk talk or similar via cashback site and save money
Groceries etc. ......................... 300 - you should be able to make some savings here - try the grocery challenge on the old style board. if you input what you usually buy into mysupermarket.com (having joined free via ipoints and got cashback points) then they will suggest items you can "downshift" on to reduce your bill. They will also tell you whether Asda or tesco would be cheaper... For my average shop on a £70 bill at Asda, Tesco would be £90!!! I also found I was hiding lots of non-essential buying in with my supermarket shop - a spending diary or checking receipts would helps with this
Clothing................................ 0 You should probably allow £10 a month although you may be able to get some clothes via freecycle
Petrol/diesel........................... 250 ouch?
Road tax................................ 25
Car Insurance........................... 75 - go via cashback sites at renewal time and see if you can improve this eg quidco
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0 need to allow something - unless cars brand new?
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 606 ouch - can you get childcare vouchers through work - you can potentially get £243 tax free vouchers each - saving you £100 each per month in tax... Ask your employer... Can you do childcare swaps with someone else or change your hours to reduce this cost?
Other child related expenses............ 22 what are these?
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 25.99
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 2674.99


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 130000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 4000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 134000


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 124500...(756)......5.79 Can you get a cheaper mortgage deal?
Secured Debt.................. 10000....(200)......17
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 0........(120)......0
Total secured & HP debts...... 134500....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Cap on.........................850.......40........0
CSA............................4500......20........0
Total unsecured debts..........5350......60........-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,710
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,674.99
Available for debt repayments........... 35.01
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 60
Amount short for making debt repayments. -24.99

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 134,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -134,500
Total Unsecured debt.................... -5,350
Net Assets.............................. -5,850

Other debts still to tackle
£95 Moorcroft
Orange mobile £350
Iqor £936
BT £175
OH Credit Card £400
Top Shop £150
Payday UK £500 - have offered them £50 a month but they are refusing to answer me by email - insisting that I speak to them!

I am sure there is more lurking somewhere but this is the bulk of it.

Hope that is of some help - good luck! Well done for starting:T

noodledoodle78

Hi Guys

Thanks for your input - definitely some things to think about there.

The childcare of £606 is for fulltime hours based on £3.30 per hour. I already get the childcare vouchers of £243 from my wages.

I am stuck in a fixed mortgage deal for another 2.5 years - so no go with that.

With the electricity, my supplier is the only supplier for Northern Ireland, plus with the big arrears bill I wouldn't be able to go anywhere else even if that wasn't the case.

Other child costs are £22 - which is a kids soccer club he goes to once a week at £5. As I work full time and don't get a chance to socialise with him and other kids, that is our little treat together.

The petrol is £80 for me and £160 for my other half a month. He has to travel up to an hour each way for work each week depending on where he has to work.

Anyhow on a brighter note - feeling really positive about things and am determined to crack it this time.