My Journey

bevan840

Hello

Well, was having a look around the website and then realised that there was a place for diaries (Doh!) Luckily I hadn't really started my other post as a diary, just as a little 'Hello' post

Anyways, I'm aiming to be Debt Free by 2013 atleast! If I can do it before that would be amazing, in this time I want to pay off ALL my credit cards, I will then be closing my HSBC but keeping my ASDA as you get points to use on shopping at Christmas but will only use it if I have the money in my bank account to pay for it. I started off quite well using the ASDA card, whenever I spent on it I always put the money straight from bank onto the card. Then I got married and moved 400 miles!! So unfortunately, we needed to use the card to pay for the moving van (I didn't find out about that until a few weeks after moving up here and looking at the statement as OH used his card which is technically on my account, he only uses it now if I say ok to it). Things seem to be settling down a bit now which is why I've sat down and worked everything out (every penny!) although I still never seem to see any of it!

In my house it's me, OH if he's home as he's a long distance coach driver so I don't really get to see him very much (although it keeps the shopping down to a minimum!) If he's home on the weekend we'll have his 2 boys (6 & 8) We try and plan fun things to do with them but with the finances it isn't so easy. OH takes them to the parks and to play football when they start to get restless at home and they seem to eat everything in the house in just the 2 days they are with us! I have a Tesco Clubcard so will also try and start using Tesco's a bit to see if I can get some vouchers to go out.

Currently, I have 2 Credit Cards.
HSBC - £1641.92 (£2000 balance)
ASDA - £727.58 (£1000 Balance)
Personal Loan - £91.69 per month (Balance left £3484.22)
Home Learning College - £330
DFS Sofa - £31.55 per month (Balance left £1451.30)
Overdraft - £400 (Currently using £200)

After our wedding there was some money left over which was supposed to go towards a honeymoon, unfortunately when I moved the Job Centre couldnt(or wouldnt) give me JSA so we had to use the money left over while I was out of work. Our dream honeymoon would be Florida so we're aiming for that by 2012, 3-4 weeks, Disney, Discovery Quay, Swim with Dolphins (Me not OH, he doesn't want to but it's always been a dream of mine) We're hoping the £5k we would like to reach will cover everything as well as spending money while we're over there although it isn't cheap so we may have to have a look closer to the time how much we might need.

I also owe my parents money as well, I think I owe my Dad about £1500 and Mum atleast £2000 so hoping to pay some of that back at some point.

Anyways, this is the start of my journey, I've been looking through the Green Finger threads and I'm definitely tempted but the only problem for me is that the only veg we tend to eat is potatoes (Very fussy OH and one of the boys) Any idea's on how I can get them to eat any other veg would be Great!!! OH will eat potatoes, pea's and 1-2 carrot slices, Stepson will only eat mashed potato! (What he doesn't know is that his 'Magic Mash' has carrots, broccoli & cauliflower mashed in as well although he's starting to question why there are different colours in his mash )

Good Luck to all on this journey, hope we all get to where we want to be x

Jo_R_2

Good luck with your quest and well done on starting a sparkly new diary!

Have you done an SOA? I'm just redoing mine and it's amazing how things do change - in my case tax credits and child benefit. It might just be useful anyway to see it all down there if you haven't done it already, then post it on the main DFW board - people are just great for offering advice!

bevan840

Hi Jo_R.
I have done my SOA, that was the thread I was starting to use as my diary, until I found this board.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1613097

Your right, they came up with a lot of idea's and some of them I'm going to be using when the renewals time comes up Hope your ok

mooomin

Originally Posted by bevan840
Hi, I'm new (obviously :rolleyes:) It said for new people to complete this so I've done it and any idea's on how I can cut things would be greatly appreciated!

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household.........
Number of cars owned.................... 2
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 866
Partners monthly income after tax....... 987.24
Total monthly income.................... 1853.24

Monthly Expense Details

Rent.................................... 484.96
Council tax............................. 88
Electricity............................. 40
Gas..................................... 40
Water rates............................. 30
Telephone (land line)................... 30
Mobile phone............................ 70 I'm assuming this is for both of you - can it be reduced?
TV Licence.............................. 11.66
Groceries etc. ......................... 259.8 Can definitely be reduced!
Clothing................................ 20
Petrol/diesel........................... 194.85
Road tax................................ 29.17
Car Insurance........................... 96.25 - this seems high to me
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 10.25
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 20
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0 You NEED contents insurance if you're renting.
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 20
Haircuts................................ 0 No haircuts?
Entertainment........................... 0 Not even the odd cheeky half at the pub or night at the pictures?
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1594.94

Assets

Car(s).................................. 2500

Total Assets............................ 2500

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly.. .APR
HSBC...........................1500......50....... .17.9
ASDA...........................800.......25....... .16.9
Total unsecured debts..........2300......75........-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,853.24
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,594.94
Available for debt repayments........... 258.3
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 75
Amount left after debt repayments....... 183.3
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 2,500
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -2,300
Net Assets.............................. 200

Hi there,

I have added on a couple of comments and pinched your SOA from another board, hope that's ok.

You can definitely cut your groceries budget down - try looking at the Olf Style board. Also, do you feel like you have £180 spare each month? If not, start a Spending Diary and record every penny. It's amazing where it all goes!

Good luck

Jo_R_2

Just a couple of things from your SOA...

Groceries can definitely be reduced. We are a family of 5 (2 adults, 3 kids aged 5, 2 and baby) and I budget £200 a month for groceries which I find covers food plus household bits and bobs, plus top-ups midweek for fresh stuff. I may have to increase this slightly for baby bits but that might give you a guide. I found it helpful to check out what others were spending in similar situations to me - that is, for example someone who has a family and makes some of their own food. So a family who were terribly old-style and made absolutely everything from scratch and bought everything in bulk, their spending wouldn't be realistic for us, sort of thing.

When it comes to the pennies left over, the surplus, I have found that being TOTALLY honest and allocating money where you spend it helps you realise where everything is going. So, instead of initially putting what *I* thought OH should be (or shouldn't be!) spending on going out and smokes, we worked out what we did spend and put that in for starters, including stuff like a weekly takeaway and when he buys a four-pack of beer to have at home in the week iyswim?

Also I have put in amounts for stuff that I might not buy regularly, such as clothes, but it does mean that should we need to buy something, the money is there, and if not it carries over.

Keep up the momentum, you're doing really well!

bevan840

Hiya flying_fresian & Jo_R.
The phones are for both of us, I've only just started my husbands phone as he was spending too much on PAYG, I cant change the tariff on my phone till June as I didn't get it through Orange, I got it through Jag because they paid off my old contract, it was a deal going in Sept last year, they'd pay for your old contract and find you a better contract, which at the time was good, because me and my OH are always apart i needed all the minutes (and even went over 600 minutes some months! :eek:) The problem I have now though is that because I didn't do it through Orange I have to wait till I'm half way through the contract (started in Sept + 9 months = May/June) So I'll be ringing them at the end of May to see if I can drop down.

The groceries I'm working on Now that OH is away more the groceries should be going down as there is only me and 2 kittens to feed mon - fri, sometimes OH will be home at weekends sometimes not so all depends what his work is like wether we need more food at weekends.

Car insurance, I've just renewed OH's and mines up for renewal in June, I've swapped his already and will be swapping mine too, so by July we should only be paying £70(thats for 2 cars) a month.

Contents insurance, I need to speak to Landlord to find out when house was built so I can get it sorted, hopefully will be end of this week.

I haven't cut my hair since my sisters wedding in July last year, I cut my fringe myself but couldn't afford haircut and with trying to get used to a new routine I haven't had much spare time either.

Entertainment for me is a DVD at home, last time I went to the Cinema was Aug last year as OH took me to cheer me up after a friends funeral, I don't like pubs and dont drink alcohol (on medication). OH chooses to stay at home even though I keep telling him to go out! Although on weekends he likes to stay at home as we have his boys and weekends is the only time he can see them.

I am planning on starting a spending diary because I don't actually see that money, I'm hoping it is paying the overdraft off (managed 2 days last week of not being in it!!! ) But we've got his car tax this month so I'm not going to be able to stay out of it this month.

Any other idea's (from anyone) would be great, I want to save all the money I can so we can actually have a honeymoon :j

bevan840

Morning People. It's one of those days where you wake up and wish you could go back to sleep today!! Although logged on to do my 'daily clicks' and I now have £10.12 on MBM! Wow! I wasn't expecting it to track that quickly, maybe tomorrow I'll have a few pennys more
Been good so far, got a cheque from my Mum I 'need' to pay in today but don't think I'll get the chance, might see if I can slip out of work for 5 mins at some point although it was to pay for easter eggs as they aren't the easiest items to post! lol I've already bought the eggs I could just do with putting the money in to cover a little of the overdraft (received the cheque over a week ago)
Having a bad few days health wise, wish OH was home so I could get some rest but need to wait for the weekend.
Sorry for the moan
Sal

Jo_R_2

Where are you hoping to go on honeymoon bevan?

Me and OH are hoping to get married - don't know when/where yet! It's gonna be at least 2/3 years down the line I reckon so I like your idea of a honeymoon fund - though think mne would be an "entire wedding/reception/honeymoon " fund given our lack of savings and my debts at the mo!

bevan840

Jo_R wrote: »

Where are you hoping to go on honeymoon bevan?

Me and OH are hoping to get married - don't know when/where yet! It's gonna be at least 2/3 years down the line I reckon so I like your idea of a honeymoon fund - though think mne would be an "entire wedding/reception/honeymoon " fund given our lack of savings and my debts at the mo!

Hiya Jo_R
We would like to go to Orlando, Florida. I'm terrified of flying and only plan on going once so we decided we would go for our honeymoon (about 3-4yrs after wedding but never mind) I want to go everywhere! Disney, Discovery Cove, swim with Dolphins! He's been there once a few years ago.
The money I make from my Daily clicks will be topping up my monthly sum for our 'Honeymoon Account' If we'd had enough we would of gone after wedding but it isnt cheap. We would like somewhere 'nice' to stay, not excessively expensive but then not cheap either.
Good Luck with your plans I'll repeat what both me and my sister were told on our day's. 'Look around as much as possible, the day will go quicker than you think' And believe me it's true, both the Weddings went way too fast!
Sally

bevan840

*News Flash* I've just made £7 helping in the bar over the lunch rush Wahoo theres the start of honeymoon fund

bevan840

Morning Everyone
Hope your all ok.

List of things to do today:
1. Daily Scratch *Won £5!! :j*
2. Daily Clicks
3. Check online banking and input any changes on my Excel spreadsheet
4. Get a few bits after work (bread, cat food etc)

Cant think of anything else to add to my list today so I think I'll leave it at that.

Worked a little while in the bar where I work yesterday and got £7!! in tips :j My Gran saves all her coppers and gives them to me and my sister to count, half and then we get the money, gained £3 from that, so that's £10 into Honeymoon fund already :j Wahoo Florida here we come! lol