The DFW Diary of a Mogchops!!

mogchops

Goooooood Morning!!!!!!

Updates!! Below is my original statement, with changes so far/or about to be changed in red. Spent ages working things out last night, & have finally got somewhere I think!!


Incoming

DH Salary £1900
My salary £800
Child benefit £130

Total Incoming £2830

Outgoing

Mortgage £512
Council Tax (last yr was £98, not got this yr yet, will estimate) £108
Gas & Elec £129
Water £21
Virgin Media (Broadband & TV) £31.87 Added landline phone to include w/end/eve calls will now be £45
TV Licence £11.95
Life insurance £25.74
Buildings/Contents ins £16
Car insurance £19.75
Car Tax £15
Phone (landline) £20 Now gone as with Virgin
Phone (mobile) £25 Contracted till July but have got more mins for same price
Sickness/redundancy ins £37.41
Pet insurance £4
Vet (monthly to cover annual jabs, worming/fleas etc) £10
Child trust fund £10
Childrens savings acc £20
Grocery shopping £250
Petrol £60
Beer £120
Tobacco £25
Brownies £10
Ballet £20

Total: £1501.72 £1494.85

Loans & Credit Cards

Nat West loan, £25,000, taken out Nov 08, over 7 years 10.4 % APR: £414.00
AA loan, £10,000 taken out August 06, over 7 years (cant find paperwork to check APR) : £150
GMAC (car loan) £5,000 taken out Jan 08, over 3 years 12.7% APR, £159.72.

MBNA credit card, £1900 owing (£2000 limit) 1.8% monthly APR - currently paying £40
Tesco credit card, £5200 owing (£5250 limit) (cant find APR) currently paying £150

(Also have a Nat West credit card which is clear, with £4000 credit limit)
We can balance transfer to the NW CC interest free for 6 months. So going to xfer the MBNA balance & clear that, and £2k of the Tesco card balance, & then close the MBNA acc & reduce limit on Tesco card as it goes down.


Total loans & cards £913.72

Incoming £2830 less outgoing £2415.44 £2408.57 =£414.56??!!!! £421.43

We are going to put £200/month in a separate account which will cover car tax, hairdresser, xmas/bdays & hol spends. Anything remaining will be thrown at the credit cards. Will continue with spending diary & monitor everything, & work on getting the grocery budget down!! :j :j

Am still in such a positive mood about this, its great!

rubyslipper

Hi mogchops!

I'm a total newbie here therefore don't have any gems of wisdom to impart but I wanted to say I LOVE your honesty in facing up to the day to day habits all of us (very much including me) can slip into. I have only been properly active on this site this week and already I feel so much more positive! Have subscribed to your thread and I look forward to keeping up with how you're doing! :j

Good luck!

Ruby xxxx

mogchops

rubyslipper wrote: »

Hi mogchops!

I'm a total newbie here therefore don't have any gems of wisdom to impart but I wanted to say I LOVE your honesty in facing up to the day to day habits all of us (very much including me) can slip into. I have only been properly active on this site this week and already I feel so much more positive! Have subscribed to your thread and I look forward to keeping up with how you're doing! :j

Good luck!

Ruby xxxx

aww...thank you so much!!

I've decided that honesty is the way forward from now as far as debt is concerned!! No more pretending it will go away - it wont - so am DEALING WITH IT!!

Am in such a good mood this morning, been doing housework whilst singing along to the radio!! Its fab!!

angelpye

mogchops wrote: »

aww...thank you so much!!

I've decided that honesty is the way forward from now as far as debt is concerned!! No more pretending it will go away - it wont - so am DEALING WITH IT!!

Am in such a good mood this morning, been doing housework whilst singing along to the radio!! Its fab!!

Sounds like you're off to a great start! I have a budget that says I should be mcuh better off but it doesn't work out that way. I know I spend the odd £2, £5, £10 without noticing and that they all add up. I am thinking slowly but surely wins the race and have started with little cut backs and trying to reprogramme my mind. I ask myself now whether or not I need it and whether or not i can truely afford it - this has got easier as my enviromental / social consciousness has got stronger. Also I tell myself what i could have or do with the money if I didnt spend it on this - going away in a couple of weeks using money I usually just flitter!

I know my attitude probably isn't very MSE - but baby steps. Thanks for sharing your imperfections - hope you don't mind me sharing mine back!

BTW subscribing to your thread too!

rubyslipper

angelpye wrote: »

Sounds like you're off to a great start! I have a budget that says I should be mcuh better off but it doesn't work out that way. I know I spend the odd £2, £5, £10 without noticing and that they all add up. I am thinking slowly but surely wins the race and have started with little cut backs and trying to reprogramme my mind. I ask myself now whether or not I need it and whether or not i can truely afford it - this has got easier as my enviromental / social consciousness has got stronger. Also I tell myself what i could have or do with the money if I didnt spend it on this - going away in a couple of weeks using money I usually just flitter!

I know my attitude probably isn't very MSE - but baby steps. Thanks for sharing your imperfections - hope you don't mind me sharing mine back!

BTW subscribing to your thread too!

I've definitely found my 'problem area' (apart from my thighs!) to be the little things. £2 for a coffee, £5 for lunch, £7 for random stuff from Tesco Metro for dinner, drawing £20 out 'just to have' then realising between Vogue, cigarettes and a glass of wine after work it's disappeared and it's only Tuesday! I am determined to do the same as you, angelpye and ask myself if I really need something. I hope in time, this will just happen automatically! :j

TurnaroundSue

That is 'Sir' Martin's mantra - do you need it, want it and can you afford it!! Ask yourselves those 3 little things and hopefully you should soon discover what are 'wants' and what are 'needs'. Surprising how little we actually need, but how much we really want!!!

Dex

HI Mogchops,

Just wanted to stop by and say good luck, i've just read through your thread and it sounds as though you are on the right path, Im very chuffed as for the first time in months(honestly for as long as I can remember) I will not be struggling at the end of the month, as all my ddebits are paid, I have food and petrol and baccy

I was the same, it was all the trips to the co-op and buying magazines and lots of other nice to haves that just had all my money disappearing

Good Luck

Lovella

Good Luck Mogchops, it's amazing how something as simple as just writing it down can have such a positive effect, isn't it? We'll all be checking in to see what you're up to!

WelshSaver

Well done mogchops, you have done really well getting your SOA down already.

Sounds like you are happier because you are now in control of your finances. I am not sure if you already do it, but I have found the 'make £10 a day challenge' really useful as it gives me more motivation. I am then going to use the money made to pay off more of my debts.

I am looking forward to how you get on and will pop in from time to time to see how you are getting on. Good luck.

fatbelly

mogchops wrote: »

We can balance transfer to the NW CC interest free for 6 months. So going to xfer the MBNA balance & clear that, and £2k of the Tesco card balance, & then close the MBNA acc & reduce limit on Tesco card as it goes down.

When I transferred the balance out of my MBNA card, they phoned me within a couple of days to offer me a 0% deal. As they do super balance transfers, I opted to transfer the credit limit into my current account and then into an interest-bearing account. You might want to use an MBNA deal to sort out some of the remaining Tesco balance (all of it if they also up the credit limit)