Squirrel's Smiley, Smart and Solvent Diary

redsquirrel80

Hello, well I've decided to have another go at diary-land, spurred on by finally grabbing all the letters that have been piling up over the last couple of months and doing something about them I was really on top of my debt repayments last year but have let things slip a bit lately, so have had to do a few emails/ letters to say erm, yes I am going to carry on paying you!

Bit about me for those who don't know me.. I'm female, late 20s, work full time, live on my own but in a fairly new but very lovely relationship. Did all the usual daft things to get into debt, got cards at 18, got loans to pay them off, ran them up again.. blah blah blah. Have one CCJ through being stupid and ignoring one of the DCAs hoping they'd go away. Have negotiated no interest and very low payments with them all so the plan is to stick with that at the moment and save any extra I've got left at the end of the month so I can hopefully make some F&F offers at some point. I have realised that I struggled with it all before as I didn't leave myself with much 'spare' and really resented that, so I feel I'm more likely to stick with it this way.

I have been a bit daft with spending over the last few months, mainly clothes, but I really shouldn't need anything for the rest of the year (assuming that my winter jumpers fit when it gets cold!). I think I am pretty good at finding bargains though, and always keep an eye on the freebies board etc so while I'm not quite living a champagne lifestyle on a lemonade budget (love that phrase) I'm not doing too badly!

OK, SOA time...

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of children in household.........
Number of cars owned....................

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1073
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1073

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 500 (includes gas, electricity, water)
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 76.74
Electricity............................. 0
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 30 (contract, includes internet, no landline)
TV Licence.............................. 25 (newly set up DD)
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 50 (estimate, quite often fed by OH!)
Clothing................................ 0 (see above, trying not to spend for rest of year)
Petrol/diesel........................... 0
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0 (normally walk to work so no regular travel spend)
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0 (free eye tests via work, glasses once a year, use online shops, last pair were £25!)
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0 (erm, yes I should get this)
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0 (see below)
Haircuts................................ 0 (do it myself )
Entertainment........................... 0 (see below)
Holiday................................. 0 (see below)
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 681.74


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
Loan...........................4740......20........0
Card 1.........................1501.83...20........0
Card 2.........................2612.16...20........0 (DCA have agreed to credit account with 30% of payments made, so actually £26 a month coming off the total).
Moorcroft 1....................146.16....10........0
Moorcroft 2....................445.......20........0
Total unsecured debts..........9445.15...90........-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,073
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 681.74
Available for debt repayments........... 391.26
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 90
Amount left after debt repayments....... 301.26

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 0
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -9,445.15
Net Assets.............................. -9,445.15

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

Not included anything for presents, holidays, etc as I tend to just deal with them as they come along out of my 'spare' money, holidays are as cheap as possible (Ryanair is my friend) and quite a lot of presents are bought using vouchers from survey sites.

Sooo, that's the money stuff - that would be the solvent bit then! As for the rest of the title, I have a constant struggle with my own negative attitude to everything, sure I was born a pessimist - and I am really trying to fight that. I know I'm not fulfilling my full potential when it comes to things like work, and a lot of that is down to a lack of self-confidence... if anyone knows where I can buy a load of that cheap, preferably via a cashback site, please let me know!

And the smart bit? That comes from a discussion on the DFW daily thread last week about making an effort with clothes etc. I can be a bit lazy with all that, despite having lots of what I think are quite nice clothes, so am making a conscious effort to erm, make an effort every day (unless I'm just slobbing about the house on my own), as it really does make me feel better and more like facing the world - ties in with the confidence thing I guess.

OK, I will stop rambling now and get some work done, but hello to anyone who stops by to visit the newly determined me - all advice, support and gentle kicks up the bum welcome :hello:

shell_girl

Hi Red!
I've seen you on the daily chat so thought I'd visit your diary :j
You definitely sound very determined to make changes which is most of the battle I think.
Good luck and I'll look forward to reading your diary

Shell

hypno06

hello newly determined you.....:D

becky_rtw

Hi Red,

I know you deal with presents 'as and when' but can you put say £10 a month into an account rather than having to find it from the surplus?? Would make it easy to manage (I know pot, kettle and black but )

Welcome to diaryland!

redsquirrel80

Hi Shell :hello:

hypno06 wrote: »

hello newly determined you.....:D

Hello stranger!

becky_rtw wrote: »

Hi Red,

I know you deal with presents 'as and when' but can you put say £10 a month into an account rather than having to find it from the surplus?? Would make it easy to manage (I know pot, kettle and black but )

Welcome to diaryland!

Yep, that might be a good idea, definitely worth thinking about.

Thought I should copy my to-do list from the chat earlier today:

-Email OU re extending date for sending back registration form - done
-Email pensions people with updated contact details after they sent me a letter about bouncing email address - done
-Set up new Direct Debit for TV License - done
-Cancel a magazine subscription - done
-Add up current debts.. eurgh.. and write to DCAs re payments as I've got a bit off track with it all - done apart from one, need paperwork which I forgot
-Fill in forms at work to request permission to do training courses - can't do till tomorrow as need to ask boss about some stuff

So list for tomorrow so far:
-Get training forms filled in
-Contact remaining DCA
-Post a couple of letters and parcels

Tonight is cinema (Orange Wednesday :j) and tea courtesy of either OH's freezer or Waitrose free kebab voucher (or some combination of the two ).

(Land_of)_Maz

hey hey hey! welcome to Diaryland!! it's lovely here!!

i don't really do money advice (yet another pot kettle black!) but i can comment on the smart part of your heading and say that i know you are always a fashionable kooky frugal fashionista!

Look forward to hearing more about this elusive bloke in this diary... you don't mention him nearly enough in the daily chat!!

spud30

Happy new diary Squizz xxx

redsquirrel80

Thanks Spud. Ooh Maz, you haven't seen me on a bad day :rotfl: Hmmm, I might mention him now and then Just enjoying things going smoothly at the moment, there's the odd bit of uncertainty as it's early days, but I've got no complaints, moans, dilemmas so far.. oh how things have changed!

redsquirrel80

Day two in the Red Squirrel house....

Bit tired this morning, had a really good night which cost me nowt Good film, good food, good cuddles.. definitely good on the smiley side. On the smart side, I'm not doing too badly, didn't go home last night but was prepared for that with spare stuff!

Get paid tomorrow and have about £50 left from this month, so I guess under the new plan I should save that.. erm, except I only have a savings account with a bank who I owe money too so I think I should maybe open another one, if I can. I do have two current accounts, but am planning to transfer everything to one of them and pay off the overdraft on the other, so can't really use one of those. Can't do remaining DCA stuff today as not been home for paperwork so will spend my time trying to sort that out instead.

List for today:
-Get training forms filled in
-Post a couple of letters and parcels
-Have a look at savings accounts
-Do some surveys, have neglected these lately

Have a nice day :hello:

redsquirrel80

Oh this is weird, I don't really 'believe' in horoscopes etc, but I do read them for some reason! I got this today...

Today's New Moon is the beginning of an astrological month. These effects are not just good for today, but for the entire time until the next New Moon. For you, Capricorn, the cosmogram today features the New Moon in the Eighth House. This position shows an emphasis on joint finances, whether with a marriage or business partner. It can also include tax matters, legacies and unearned wealth - money gained through insurance, wills, trusts and the like. Today is is likely that issues concerning joint finances will be important to you, but it is more important to make changes regarding health care, fitness and nutrition. It is a good time to re-organize generally, though, and work to increase savings.

:eek: :rotfl:

(Land_of)_Maz

redsquirrel80 wrote: »

Oh this is weird, I don't really 'believe' in horoscopes etc, but I do read them for some reason! I got this today...

Today's New Moon is the beginning of an astrological month. These effects are not just good for today, but for the entire time until the next New Moon. For you, Capricorn, the cosmogram today features the New Moon in the Eighth House. This position shows an emphasis on joint finances, whether with a marriage or business partner. It can also include tax matters, legacies and unearned wealth - money gained through insurance, wills, trusts and the like. Today is is likely that issues concerning joint finances will be important to you, but it is more important to make changes regarding health care, fitness and nutrition. It is a good time to re-organize generally, though, and work to increase savings.

:eek: :rotfl:

spooooky!!!!!!!!