The Big One -My debt-free by 30 journey

SilkCutSilver

Hi,

This is actually a lot scarier than it looks!

I have been lurking around on these forums for a year or so and found a huge amount of inspiration and advice from the people here. Reading some of the recent diaries has made me consider starting my own to really focus me on the task in hand and stay on the straight and narrow with you guys to keep an eye on me.

So..the task (should I choose to accept) is to try and finally get debt free by the time I am 30 (16 months from now).

Most of my debt was built up after I graduated university - i had a full time job and a full student loan during uni so was bizarrely well off for student, I also had a bad experience with Abbey taking away my student overdraft suddenly and passing it to Westcot, which scared me silly and made me fear all forms of debt for a couple of years. (If only that had lasted).

Post uni I continued to work in a relatively low paid job but now had 'grownups' expenses like an entire flat to myself to rent. Add into the mix a dodgy relationship which to cut a long story short left me with a massive credit card bill and not a lot else, a couple of ill advised card transfers, an expensive Masters degree and (when I finally got a decent salary) a couple of overdrafts handed to me on a plate...you know the rest.

Luckily I now have my dream job and it pays far and above what my old one did but I'm still suffering the effects of being so bad with money for so long. I used to hope I would be debt free by 25 but by reading these boards I have realised that doesn't just happen by itself -hence now being nearly 29 and in the same boat. I have paid off a fair amount of my debt over the last year (mostly due to a lucky windfall and not my own graft) and started to re-train myself to behave where the pennies are concerned.

My remaining debt stands as in my signature and I am determined to pay it all off by my 30th birthday. Help, advice, general shouting and support are all welcome, plus I think this wil keep me motivated to see in black and white all the small DFW things I am doing each day to contribute to D-Day.

Thanks for reading if anyone is there!

SC

SilkCutSilver

Oh I almost forgot. Some DFW things I have done this week so far:

• Switched my phone line rental to Sky as part of the broadband package (saving £6 a month on BT)
• Paid an additional £30 off my capital one card as I got some money I wasn't expecting
• Paid £100 from Quidco off my overdraft
• Booked my train tickets for work through Quidco (68p earned!)
• Booked flights for a trip home at the weekend on my BA points (earned from work) -saving £62 on the price of the train

:T

SilkCutSilver

Oops not doing so well on the LOSING on pounds. Just bought a sandwich and a piece of cake for the train journey back to London. I'm convincing myself it's my tea...

Fire_Fox

Welcome to diaryland!! Do I take it from your username that you smoke?

LittleBoots

Heya

Nice new diary
I've just had some choc. Oops
Diet tomorrow!!!
Look forward to hearing how u get on

SilkCutSilver

FireFox - I am a bit of an on off smoker but it's a user name I used to have a while ago - thought |I would resurrect it (lack of imagination me?). Thanks for the welcome - hoping this will keep me motivated!

LittleBoots - thanks, the cake was good and according to the Tesco healthy living tracker I am still under my points for the day - I'm sure it lies but who am I to argue?

More good news tonight - my flatmate is going to pay exactly half of the rent from September onwards - currently I pay a bit more. That gives me an extra £100 for the debt fund per month. Yay!

SilkCutSilver

Oops - bad day for not spending but good day for diet - bought sushi for lunch!Grrr. .....why does it seem like it's one or the other at the moment??

SilkCutSilver

Afternoon,

Not a bad MS weekend for me. Staying with the BF's parents so no food or alcohol costs (except the bottle of sparkle we bought them as a gift to say thinks - on offer in ASDA though :rolleyes:). Also accidentally wandered into New Look on Saturday afternoon and came out with new clothes -luckily I needed new jeans and underwear (the dreaded diet isn't working and I needed a 14 :eek:) so I wasn't feeling too guilty about my little splurge.

This week will be tougher - I usually work out of London most of the week which means I get all my expenses paid and my lunch is usually covered by my daily allowance. This week I'm only away one day and on a course in central London for the rest of the week. This means train tickets every day and lunches..grrrr. still I can't really complain as it's paid for by work and something I have wanted to learn about for a while.

Annoyingly I miscalculated the flatmates rent so I will actually have an extra £50 for the DFW fund -but hey - every little helps right?

In that vein I'm off to nose around for some tips on cheap portable lunches and scour other people's diaries for some DFW things to do this week.

I'm planning to post my SOA as soon as I get chance so tips would be appreciated!

SilkCutSilver

After a shocking MS week last week (proximity to Oxford Street on my course and buying train tickets ruined me last week), I think it's time I took some advice from the experts. As you can see from below I on paper have plenty of funds remaining at the end of each month to add to the debt fund, however at this exact moment I have £5 in my purse, £8 in my account and am owed £36 from my flatmate. That's it -nothing left over! Any tips greatly appreciated.


Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 1 - (I live with my flatmate but this is just for me so I have said 1)
Number of children in household.........
Number of cars owned....................
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 2300
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2300

Monthly Expense Details

Rent.................................... 700 - soon to be 650 in September
Council tax............................. 43 Half with flatmate
Electricity............................. 60 Half with flatmate but also including arrears from last year as Eon calculated our bill wrongly for the entire year and we had an ongoing dispute. Currently paying £60 monthly for dual fuel between flatmate and I. The rest is arrears which I pay with the old flatmate (complex i know!)

Gas..................................... Inc in elec - dual fuel see above
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 14
Telephone (land line)................... 0 included in SKY
Mobile phone............................ 30 This may soon be 0 as I now have a company mobile
TV Licence.............................. 5.5
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 33 Full sky package plus broadband and phone - flatmate insists on Sports and Movies
Internet Services....................... 40 Mobile broadband stick I use when travelling for work - I also got a 'free' laptop with the deal so really this pays for my personal laptop
Groceries etc. ......................... 100 incuding eating out as I am away 3-4 nights a week
Clothing................................ 50 Not sure how much exactly so I put down the amount I spent this month
Petrol/diesel........................... 0
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 116
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
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)...... 20
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 100
Holiday................................. 100
Emergency fund.......................... 30
Total monthly expenses.................. 1441.5

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
MINT...........................5700......150.......17
Capital One....................260.......13........14
Overdraft......................1300......100.......0
Next...........................460.......50.........0
Total unsecured debts..........7720......313.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,300
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,491.5
Available for debt repayments........... 858.5
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 313
Amount left after debt repayments....... 595.5
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 0
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -7,720
Net Assets.............................. -7,720


Created using the SOA calculator at makesenseofcards.com
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using IE browser.

dottyanne

hi why does your flatmate only pay £50 towards rent ? or do they pay a set amount and you distribute as you see fit?

SilkCutSilver

Sorry should have been clearer - my flatmate pays £600 a month and I pay £700 - soon it will be exactly half and half. My old flatmate instilled this system (I have a slightly larger room and she totally played me), now I have a new one he thinks this is daft and wants to pay exactly half.