Escapism's debt free diary

escapism

Hi all,

I know I am a newbie here but have been a lurker for about a year now Posted my SOA on main board earlier today - my main problem is that OH and myself are both guilty of burying our heads in the sand with regards to the debts, so much so that we are currently only making one minimum payment per month of £12.75 yet we have debts of £7877....

Well anyways, all that will change, my LBM has happened and I am determined to rein in the finances. I was made redundant in Feb but have a new job starting next week and, as you will see from my SOA, it will leave us a fair amount left over to play about with in regards to clearing the debts. I am aiming to have them cleared as soon as possible as I would like to start saving for a deposit for a house. I honestly think the idea of starting a diary is a fantastic one as it will motivate me to keep on track.

Thinking about it, I have felt depressed about our financial situation for months and I am so pleased that (due to the support on this board) I am able to finally start to tackle it

My first wage will be paid at the end of June so this month I am concentrating on organising my payments and setting up a shiny new bank account to pay bills out of - I actually feel excited about it all - is that normal?? :rotfl:

SOA to follow, thanks to all on this board, if it weren't for your courage, I probably would never have faced up to this!

xx

escapism

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....................
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1204
Partners monthly income after tax....... 862
Benefits................................ 368
Other income............................ 160
Total monthly income.................... 2594
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 500
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 98
Electricity............................. 40
Gas..................................... 20
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 25
Telephone (land line)................... 10
Mobile phone............................ 40
TV Licence.............................. 22
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 36
Internet Services....................... 5
Groceries etc. ......................... 200
Clothing................................ 50
Petrol/diesel........................... 0
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 203
Childcare/nursery....................... 560
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 30
Haircuts................................ 20
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 100
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1959

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

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Credit card....................240.......12.75.....0
Credit card....................380.......0.........0
Loan...........................3600......0.........0
CCJ............................468.......0.........0
Littlewoods....................688.......0.........0
Orange.........................201.......0.........0
Next...........................230.......0.........0
Creche debt....................870.......0.........0
Council Tax....................1200......0.........0
Total unsecured debts..........7877......12.75.....-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,594
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,959
Available for debt repayments........... 635
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 12.75
Amount left after debt repayments....... 622.25
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 0
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -7,877
Net Assets.............................. -7,877

SueP19

Hiya Escapism, welcome to the diary board

Sorry I had to cut and run on your other post, at work you know, tut tut !!
Your first diary entry so echo's how I felt last week, when I joined.............................in control, no longer alone.
Just wanted to wish you luck XXX

escapism

SueP19 wrote: »

Hiya Escapism, welcome to the diary board

Sorry I had to cut and run on your other post, at work you know, tut tut !!
Your first diary entry so echo's how I felt last week, when I joined.............................in control, no longer alone.
Just wanted to wish you luck XXX

Thank you for your kind comments Sue You're right, I do feel more in control since I admitted to the debts.

Had a good nights sleep last night for the first time in ages, when OH got home from work last night we had a long chat and he is fully prepared to make the cutbacks we need to make to have the debt shifted in 12 months. So that's the direction this diary is going to take, I am going to chronicle my attempts to clear my debts over the next 12 months

Current priorities for us are to set up payment arrangements with all creditors - have sorted Next and my credit card, first payments due at the end of the month on those. Arranged as follows:

Next: £40 at end of June, £20 per month every month until cleared
Credit Card (1): £90 at end of June, £20 per month until cleared

Am writing to Cap One today on behalf of OH asking them to freeze interest and set up a payment arrangement with them, offering £30 per month...

Also posting a letter to Welcome Finance asking for a statement of account and going to try and broker a deal with them to clear off the loan before it gets any higher

While chatting to OH, he 'owned up' to a few extra debts that I didn't know about so will be updating SOA in a min, looks like we have more to pay than first thought.

Obviously aside from the monthly arrangements, I am going to prioritise clearing the council tax (which I found out last night has been referred to bailiffs :eek:) and the CCJ.

I probably should have been angry with OH for not telling me but tbh I am just glad that I now have a full picture of the mess we are in and can deal with it all accordingly...

Right, am going to update SOA and signature and get on with stuff

Have a good day all

escapism

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Credit card....................240.......12.75.....0
Credit card....................380.......0.........0
Loan...........................3600......0.........0
CCJ............................468.......0.........0
Littlewoods....................688.......0.........0
Orange.........................201.......0.........0
Next...........................230.......0.........0
Creche debt....................870.......0.........0
Council Tax....................1200......0.........0
NPower........................980.......0.........0
Course fees..................2000.....0.........0
Old rent account............1200....0.........0
United Utilities...............300.....0..........0
Total unsecured debts..........12357......12.75.....-

MissKJ

Well done escapism, it is importanat to work together, you will both feel more relaxed about it if you are open and honest. It is hard changing things on your own.

Raini

Good Morning Escapism and welcome to diary land! :j Well done on facing up to your debt & getting a plan together for clearing it!! :beer: I get exciting about dealing with my debt too & I can't wait for paydays so I can pay more off!! Wishing you luck & I'll keep popping in to see how you're getting on!

sillybillyme

Hi Escapism, well done on starting a diary, i found it quite scary as i did not know how much debt i had until i filled in the soa and i found out i had just over £12000 too. :rolleyes:

i will pop back and keep track ofyour diary and see how you are getting on.

sillybillyme.

xxx

Lemon_Tree

wellcome to the boards and well done for taking the plunge and tackling your debts head on. And although you may have found out about more debts it's a good thing that you and your OH are tackling this together. You'll certainly be able to make a lot of head roads into the debt with the £600 plus you should have available at the end of each month. I'm assuming (which i know you shouldn't do) that you've put your debt interest rates at 0 as you don't know what they are, if this is the case then you need to find this out as this will determine the order/priority with which you put any overpayments (if possible) after the priority debts eg council tax etc.
Take a look at the Old Style board as your grocery bill could be cut i'm sure which would free up more money to help you clear debts. A spending diary would also be a good idea, they are a real shock sometimes when you see what you're actually spending things on and even start to make you think before you spend as you have to write it all down.

Anyway good luck and i'm sure you'll be sorted in no time at all, you've certainly started with the right attitude.

SueP19

Hiya, I bet that felt really good to sit and talk and be open

Its funny but you me and Sillybillyme are all at the same level of debt, I too will watch your diary
You are doing really well and just so you know the feeling of control doesn't go, not even when you are dealing with cr*py phone calls

escapism

Morning

Todays plan is to sit down and have a good sort through of 4 big boxes of paperwork that have been piling up for the last 4 years :eek: Dread to think what am going to find! It should at least help me to clarify some of the interest rates, although I found out that the next catalogue is apparently on some kind of interest free deal until August so will be looking to get that cleared before then and avoid any nasty additional charges

Letter went to Welcome yesterday asking them to freeze interest - not holding breath tho after reading another thread on here...

Still feeling positive, OH said last night he feels better too which is good, he is going to have a look at his credit report on the free trial thingy at weekend so we can see if there is anything he has forgotten :rolleyes:

Bad news is that I went to see DS's nursery (where he has to go for 3 months before starting school) yesterday and signed all paperwork, confirmed charges etc. It will be £150 per week for him to attend full time, payable weekly :mad: This might be a bit of a struggle for the first few weeks as I don't get paid until the end of June.... Have to work out a way around that as my rent is also diue in three weeks and they won't budge on the payment date :mad:

All that aside, I know come the end of June we will be in a better position going into next month so we just have to survive until then

Have a good day all, will let you know later what the boxes uncover :rolleyes:

xx