Time to get this started

LittleBoots

Hi Everyone

Well I have been an MSE lurker for a very looong time :A and have so far found it very helpful. However the past year has seen my salary drop by about £5k yet I didnt change any of my spending habits. My credit card is red hot and I now owe over £3500 on it. I dont have much left after I pay my mortgage and bills but this doesnt seem to register in my head and the debt continues to grow.

So here I am, finally got my LBM and ready to pay off this debt and hopefully get some savings in the bank.

I will post my SOA then going to have a closer look at the challenges and the OS board.

I CAN DO THIS!!!

LittleBoots

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars owned.................... 0
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1320
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1320
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 569
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 107
Electricity............................. 49
Gas..................................... 89
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 10
Mobile phone............................ 20
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 19.5
Internet Services....................... 7.5
Groceries etc. ......................... 200
Clothing................................ 100
Petrol/diesel........................... 0
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 60
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 9
Buildings insurance..................... 9
Contents insurance...................... 9
Life assurance ......................... 5
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 50
Haircuts................................ 60
Entertainment........................... 150
Holiday................................. 100
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1635

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 85000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 0
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 85000

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 85863.8..(569)......6.04
Total secured & HP debts...... 85863.8...-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Overdraft......................2000......0.........9
Barclaycard....................3435......0.........0
Total unsecured debts..........5435......0.........-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,320
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,635
Available for debt repayments........... -315
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 0
Amount short for making debt repayments. -315
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 85,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -85,863.8
Total Unsecured debt.................... -5,435
Net Assets.............................. -6,298.8
Created using the SOA calculator at
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using IE browser.



I know I spend too much on taxis/clothes/magazines but thought I'd best be honest with myself. Going to start a spending diary from tomorrow to check where all my 'spare' pennies go .

Fire_Fox

Welcome to MSE and welcome to diaryland! There is loads of wiggle room on your SoA so never fear, we can get you back on track. :T

Gas and electricity are a huge amount for one person - are you in arrears? Again £200 is double what I'd expect for one person's groceries. Lots of money going on clothing, haircuts, socialising and a holiday - perhaps you could leave your cash, credit and debit cards at home except for when absolutely essential?

Magazines ... loads of three for £1 offers on these boards, or you can get subscriptions with Tesco Clubcard points, or use a cashback site to sign up for a subscription and then cancel. I have five favourites (two journals and three magazines) on subscription as it's half the cover price AND stops me going into WHSmith and buying other rubbish!!

LittleBoots

Thank-You so much for your reply FireFox

I know I have the potential to save a good bit everymonth but think I have to keep this journal otherwise I'll just keep spending and ignoring the problem.

I have decided to aim for a NSD today and what an eye opener!!! Already! I was out in town and it just felt automatic for me to pop into the shop for juice/crisps/maazines - none of which I need. Luckily I hadnt brought any money with me but it just shows how easily I can throw money away without actually realising!


Update 3pm - What do you do to pass time on a NSD?????

Fire_Fox

Congratulations on your first official no-spend and for leaving your money at home!

What do you do?? You spend all day on MSE of course!! :rotfl: You can chit chat on the DFW daily chat thread or in the Moneysaving Arms, learn how to 'Up Your Income' or do matched betting, meal plan and Flylady with the Old Stylers, read the Boots Grabbit or Magazine Offers threads on the Grabbit board, print off discount vouchers from the main website ...

Basically start attacking your SoA one item at a time. No spend is out of bounds, barring rent and council tax EVERYTHING can be bought for less or cut back on. You need to get addicted to the buzz of moneysaving.

Lemon_Tree

hi and welcome to the diaries. Another thing you can do is play with spreadsheets to calculate when you're DFD is going to be and how to bring it closer or check your account balances endlessly, which i something i seem to do. Oh and have a look at daily scratchcards, they'll take up a couple of minutes each day. honestly welcome to the boards and to the debt free challenge,

Shoe_Gal

Hi and welcome

You sound like my twin on the magazine front but slowly but surely I am beating the habit :eek: I have Red on subscription for 12 months with Nectar points, She 12 issues for £12 - now I just need to overcome my weekly Closer fix :rotfl::rotfl:

LittleBoots

Thanks Everyone

Well my first NSD went fine :A but today I have to head to Aldi to get some fruit veg in. Had a good look at the threads on freezing foods yesterday and this is something Im going to try. Gonna make all my sandwiches for work and pop them in the freezer. Funny how I never thought about freezing vegetables, I'll be saving so much waste

As for the magazines, well I found a massive pile of them the other day and was shocked about how much I'd spent on them (rough guesstimate well over £100) :eek:. Have to ignore the glossy covers and the promises to help you lose half a stone in a week :rolleyes:.

Also slightly addicted to putting every penny I find into my piggy bank and am iving the PAD challenge a go.

Heres to a good day for everyone

Shoe_Gal

Good luck today

LittleBoots

Hello

So I am still making my way through all the diaries and hints and tips on this brilliant forum. Keeps me away from buying things I dont need on ebay

So I have set some mini goals, nothing too taxing for now

• Check net banking every 1-2 days as able
• Make a payment a day, even if only a few pence
• Provide accurate gas/elec meter readings once a week to hopefully reduce my bills
• Make sandwiches for work this week (freeze). Also take juice to avoid the costly vending machine
• Look out for freezable reduced items (although try to avoid buying super calorific choc cake just cos its 50p)
• LESS TAXIS
• Put more effort into looking for new, better paid job
• De-clutter and sell sell sell

Also want to lose about a stone in weight, not exactly sure what I weigh right now but will check tomorrow :eek:

edinburgher

Hey LittleBoots

Where (roughly) in Scotland do you live? Your Council Tax seems very high for a property worth £85k! Are you paying back arrears? Think you should double check the band/council and look to have it re-assessed.

Also, if you're in one of the big cities there's really no excuse for taking taxis more than 1-2 times a month at most (harsh but true).

Without trying to sound mean - it seems to me that your DFW plans are maybe running away with you. It's all well and good to throw in some NSD, but have you given any more thought to your SOA and basics like that? You are living wildly outside your means and a few days off shopping and buying magazines isn't going to fix that £5,500 hole in your finances.

A few obvious things stand out from your SOA:

Electricity............................. 49 (this is really high for one person - do you have arrears? If not, you should switch and fast!)
Gas..................................... 89 (same here)
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 19.5 (Realistically you should cancel this - you have -£300+ a month and can't afford it)
Groceries etc. ......................... 200 (This is double what it should be. Food is considerably cheaper in Scotland than down South and this is what my gf and I spend combined in London for a month!)
Clothing................................ 100 (You can't afford this!)
Haircuts................................ 60 (This is really high - most women I know get their hair done once every 6-8 weeks. You can easily half this and still get a good cut/highlights)
Entertainment........................... 150 (This is again far too high! You could half this with a few less trips into town at the weekend!)
Holiday................................. 100 (You can't afford to save this when you have negative income. I'd stop this saving until you have your debts under control).

From these points alone there's easily £400+/mth that can be shaved off what you're currently spending.

Best of luck reining things in, but I think you might need to come up with some more active plans for reducing your debts The fact that you're here is a great start. Also, your wage isn't bad at all - a few fairly painless lifestyle changes could no doubt see you debt free in a year or so if you're willing to cut back a little.