This is it, my LBM - The Aftermath!!

rc01

I've said this before many times, but now it is absolutely the case that I WILL become debt free and in charge of my finances.

What's different this time? Well, we've had some pretty close things over the last couple of months and its given me and hubby a wake up call. I've been registered on here for a bit and have been soaking up some of the suggestions, and ideas, so its been more of a gradual LBM!

We are surviving, just - but it won't last if action isn't taken.

I love my Snowball, so that currently says we'll be debt free in April 2014 - but we are determined to beat that by a long way!

Not much more to say today, have a headache after going through the budget planner, so I'll be spending the evening pondering over that and looking at ways to change things. I'm also registered with a number of online survey companies after reading about them here, but have today been reading about other ways of earning extra income, so I'll be reading more about that tonight. I'm now also a PADder!!

A bit of a boring start to my diary, but things can only look up from here right!?

Rebecca

Wol2

Congratulations rc and welcome to the diaries board.

Not a boring start at all............no diary ever is.....it's a public (as well as private) commitment to our LBM and our intention to stop the trend and take action
Well done, Good luck in your journey and here's to you being debt free before 2014 - I'm sure you can do it :T :T .

xxx
Wol2
xxx

Keeping_Positive

Hello

Good luck on shaving loads off your DFD. Im aiming for 2012 even though the calculator says otherwise.

I find my diary great for recording things better written down than whiring through my head.

Look forward to seeing your progress

rc01

Thanks to both of you

I blog for my business, so I feel sort of at home with recording it all like this! Like you said Wol2, a public & private way of moving forward.

I'm not completely comfortable with putting all the figures up here, but I definitely want to chart my process and keeping it somewhere public will hopefully keep me on track!

beanielou

Keep posting !

rc01

Well, I haven't been posting have I! Really must try harder.

I'm doing well with managing my snowball on WTC, but today it's really depressing me. I have one credit card which has an APR of 27.9 which is horrible. I paid off £150 min payment and was charged about £120 interest. I'm fed up with it. I've been doing the payment a day thing, and transferring any extra that I can, but i really don't feel like it's doing any good.

When I started this in March, I definitely had my LBM, and made my snowball the focus of all my attention. What I've realised today, is that I haven't done an SOA, and I don't do any sort of budgeting or tracking of spending. I'm ashamed to admit it, but I work in accounts so have no excuse.

So, project for this weekend - SOA and some sort of spreadsheet for tracking spending. I used to use Microsoft Money and it really suited me and how I work best, but have just searched online for it and it doesn't seem to be available anywhere and I don't know why??

jayss

Well done with making the effort. PAD is a great way to get things moving.
Is there no chance of transferring that balance to another lower rate card?

Its not forever and you WILL do it.

rc01

Thanks Jayss, I've tried to get a new card or loan, but I've been rejected because I already have a high amount of credit - I don't want more credit, just cheaper credit!

I made an additional payment today though for £6.80! The guy behind the counter is getting fed up of me now I think! I asked for some more payment slips today, and he told me they don't give them out any more because they want people to pay via their current account - I pointed out I don't have a current account there and had no other way to make cash payments. He very begrudgingly gave me some slips, so top customer service from HSBC as usual :rotfl:

Tomorrow is SOA day, so may need to rant a bit on here tomorrow - just warning you all!

cocalls

Hello there
Have you tried ringing up HSBC to try and lower their interest i have a card there and the interest is 9.9% if you dont ask you dont get good luck!

rc01

So, here it is and it's just as frightening as I thought it would be.


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................ 1127
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1100
Benefits................................ 123.5
Other income............................ 500
Total monthly income.................... 2850.5
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 581.5
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 128.25
Electricity............................. 20
Gas..................................... 25
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 34.27
Telephone (land line)................... 35
Mobile phone............................ 50
TV Licence.............................. 10.14
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 220
Clothing................................ 20
Petrol/diesel........................... 160
Road tax................................ 15.85
Car Insurance........................... 48
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 20
Car parking............................. 40
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 347
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 5
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 15.88
Contents insurance...................... 10
Life assurance ......................... 18.84
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 10
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 40
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Cash.................................... 60
Total monthly expenses.................. 1914.73

Assets
Cash.................................... 500
House value (Gross)..................... 215000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 16000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 231500

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 144000...(581.5)....0
Total secured & HP debts...... 144000....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
HSBC Gold Card.................6617......175.......27.9
Asda Credit Card...............1500......55........0
Northern Rock Card.............9972......198.......18.2
Loan...........................16702.....298.2.....0
Nat West Loan..................1147......192.......2.5
Sainsbury Loan.................16500.....330.......7
Northern Rock Loan.............7800......165.3.....7.7
Tesco Card.....................2000......65........0
Total unsecured debts..........62238.....1478.5....-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,850.5
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,914.73
Available for debt repayments........... 935.77
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 1,478.5
Amount short for making debt repayments. -542.73
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 231,500
Total HP & Secured debt................. -144,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -62,238
Net Assets.............................. 25,262
Created using the SOA calculator at www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using IE browser.

A couple of things to note, this is a joint SOA as I'm married. My OH has been out of work for 6 months or so, which has made our debt go up! He now has a job with first pay day at the end of the month so I have included his new wage.

Go on then, hit me with it

Pippilongstocking

Well done.......................xxx