Bridezillas plan to rule her debts!

bridezilla_2

We are skint, brassic, no cash, what ever i call it it means the same. My LBM was yesterday when I looked at my account on line and I am £24 over my overdraft. I have some money coming in over the next few days but if i dont spend a penny this month (and we have a hungry teenager at home and a 21 year old Uni student who has come back temporarily to fill herself up) i will still be £100 in the red. Hubby is not as bad but he regularly hits his limit too...and i dont think this month will be any different.

So what have i done so far?

1. Looked at the last three months statements and have highlighted where we are spending
2. Got Hubby to make a spreadsheet to help (he is a bloke...my experience is that telling them they spend too much on rubbish just gets ignored...letting them "find out" by putting it all into the computer is a great way)
3. Talked about what we are going to do about it
   
4. Identified what we are spending on and when.
5. Cancelled non essentials like NT
   
6. Made some rules.
7. Made a plan
8. Not slept

So what are we spending it all on?

1. Hubby is a lorry driver and can spend between £5 and £10 a day on butties, chocolate and coffee
2. I am always popping to the local co op for milk...and i come home with a paper, magazine and/or chocolate
3. Bargain Booze is at the end of the street....that is £9 a week on two bottles of plonk at the weekend (just found out the local BB has gone bump...bloke did a runner with the weeks takings so its closed...excellent)
   
4. We are happy hosts and we have people round for great meals...and wine...etc
5. The damn credit cards esp the Elephant called HSBC!!!!!:eek:

So how are we going to sort his mess out?

The Rules/plan

1. £30 each per week for coffee for Hubby and milk and bread for me
2. Sandwiches taken for work/college
3. Phone now on PAYG...to be paid out of £30
4. ALL Co Op purchases to be sanctioned by me and paid out of my £30
5. No M&S food!
6. No Waitrose
7. Walk if possible
8. Hubby to get coffee from trailers instead of services except MOTO where he gets vouchers when he fills up
9. No chocolate
   
10. Teenager to turn TV off when not using
11. Turn off lights and standby
12. Re assess budget 1st weekend after payday
13. Keep talking about it
14. Make a weekly menu and shop for it
    
15. Pay off small amount cards first...gives incentive...and then use what we save to pay off the Elephant.

So there we are....day one of BRIDEZILLAS PLAN TO RULE HER DEBTS hear her roar!

Raini

Morning, Hello & Welcome Bridezilla :hello:

Sounds like you've got a great plan & are very determined. Wishing you luck & I'll be popping back! Well done you! :T

fabfuture

Hi Bridezilla, glad to read that you're taking control - and excel spreadsheet is excellent. Have you done a budget (with haircuts, Christmas, annual insurance premiums etc)? If you have that and could post online, possibly others could make suggestions as to what seems to make sense and what doesn't.

I haven't done that, but have looked a lot at what others are spending on food (for instance) and managed to bring my grocery spending down to far less than I would in isolation.

Do you have any kind of goal - even a short-term once such as paying off the Debenhams or A&L card? Sometimes that can be an incentive.

bridezilla_2

Goal is to
1. be in the black at the end of a month
2. pay off small cards
3. use that money to pay off bigger card
4. use that money to pay off the elephant

hope to do this in 4 years..........................hahahahahah.

bridezilla_2

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.................... 1Number Of motor bikes....................1
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1474
Partners monthly income after tax....... 464.6
Benefits................................ 314.32
Other income............................ 371.97
Total monthly income.................... 2624.89

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 371
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 109
Electricity............................. 44
Gas..................................... 44
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 26.25
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 50
TV Licence.............................. 11.95
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 85
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 200
Clothing................................ 50
Petrol/diesel........................... 50
Road tax................................ 10
Car Insurance........................... 20
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 15
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 7.8
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 25
Contents insurance...................... 10.59
Life assurance ......................... 22
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 20
Haircuts................................ 5
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 100
Cash spending money @£30 a week each.... 240
Union Subs.............................. 10
Bike maintenance........................ 10
Bike tax................................ 5.42
Bike Insurance.......................... 12.75
Total monthly expenses.................. 1554.76


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 140000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 1200
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 141200


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 49800....(371)......4.43
Total secured & HP debts...... 49800.....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Debenhams card.................134.92....10........16.46
A & L card.....................151.......25........18.3
Natwest card...................2652......70........20.8
A & L Loan.....................7830......217.9.....7.7
HSBC card......................9580......260.......28.9
Total unsecured debts..........20347.92..582.9.....-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,624.89
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,554.76
Available for debt repayments........... 1,070.13
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 582.9
Amount left after debt repayments....... 487.23

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 141,200
Total HP & Secured debt................. -49,800
Total Unsecured debt.................... -20,347.92
Net Assets.............................. 71,052.08

Created using the SOA calculator at ........
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using Firefox browser.

webitha

all that stands out for me is £200 a month on shopping, i spend that for 5 of us, inc cleaning stuff, shampoo bog roll etc, and we eat meat every day and with fresh veg an fresh fruit everyday, have you an aldi/netto/lidl near you as their stuff really nice and quite cheap.

also £50 every month on clothes???? can you lay off this for a biit???
also go down a package on your sky or even get rid and just watch the freeview channels instead????
buildings/contents can be got cheaper too, espesh if you get it through a cashback site i.e quidco ditto for the life insurance

anyway enough of my ramblings, the real clever ones will be here soon, welcome and i shall watch your thread to see how you get along

Raini

Wow Webitha! £200 a month for 5 - that's got to be really good hasn't it? Or maybe I'm just not very :money: (been looking for a way to use that one!)

Hi Bridezilla, only thing I have to add is do you really need £100 a month for emergencies at the moment? Could you not through that at your debts? Also, do really have that much left over at the end of the month if not a spending diary might be really helpful.
Well done for posing your SOA! :T

webitha

yeah i know it comes with a lot of practice and having too, eg i just made an 8 litre pot of butternut squash soup that does us all dinners for a month, for about £2, recipe is from here
also i buy in bulk, netto got 5 litre comfort softner £3.99 and 90 washes ariel with fabreeze £12.99, etc i will buy them even tho i got loads as they dont come around very often.



ooops sorry for hijacking your thread brde, but if you ever need hints or tips on the shopping front pm me, or even better live on the OS board i know i do

kissjenn

Just popped in the wish you the best of luck. It's a scarey moment when you first add it all up...so congratulations on the first step.

And the old style board is amazing...they can make a chicken last forever.



We were guilty of do a huge shopping every week and happily binning half of it the following week to make room for the next load. Not good :eek::eek:

bridezilla_2

What have i done now?

1. written a menu for the next week and done a shopping list based on that
2. started to look through clutter and box up to take to car boot in a couple of weeks time
3. got hubby to agree to come on a look see to the car boot this sunday....neither of us have been to one before- will take NO MONEY!
4. taken on board what lovely folk have said on here and am going to amend my SOA as its not accurate...will update it when i have an accurate amount spent on food and i dont put £100 amonth away for contingencies...i just thought i should! Also i dont spend £50 on clothes....i thought i would sound like a real tramp if i didnt put clothes down...i cant rememer the last time i bought anything!
5. we have a plan to get rid of our credit cards by over paying the small ones so they disappear quickly then using what we were paying to over pay the next largest etc....should be 3 years or so.
6. i have started a spending diary

so there you are....small steps...

will keep you informed

love M x

Karen_30

Wishing you lots of luck on your journey!- you'll find your goals and aims change and adapt as you go along but stick at it and you'll get there. Main thing is you are doing something about it, I sometimes think thats half the battle.

Have subscribed so will pop back and see how you are doing x