S-i-d's 'I want to be (debt) free' diary!

Still-in-debt

Well, I have been threatening, sorry, promising to do this for some time now. So here goes..........

Hi, my name's S-i-d and I am in debt!!!
I am married ( sometimes happily!!), have three great children - daughter(18), son (17) and another son (10). Mustn't forget our lovely dog Elsa.

We first got into debt 9 years ago when we moved into our house. It is a housing association house and is great, apart from when we moved in we didn't have a kitchen!! Hubby had a well paid job, so we took out a loan to replace kitchen, carpet the house, new oven and a few other bits and pieces. The repayments were not too bad and not a problem. Then in 2003, I was hit with breast cancer. Had surgery, chemo and radiotherapy. The treatment made me VERY ill and I couldn't work. A week after my first chemo, my car was hit and written off (luckily, we were not in it at the time), I needed transport to and from the hospital so we upped our loan and got a new(to us) car.
Treatment finished, all was well apart from my job. I physically couldn't do some of it. My boss was great, but he was moved to another store and new boss was not so great:mad:. I had already dropped quite a few hours so had a drop in earnings, now I felt as if I had no choice but to leave. Luckily, I got another job almost immediately but even more reduced hours.
Then in 2005, I found out the cancer was back with a vengence!! Had double mastectomy and lots of horrible chemo. Again off work for 7 months. & months no work = no savings left = up loan again. Stupid of us I know, but could not see any other way ( had not found this site then).

Again things sorted themselves out to a degree (still having some pretty hefty treatment!), but money ok-ish.
UNTIL........May 2008, hubby made redundant:eek:.
Ok-ish payout. Hubby went to college to retrain....then recession really hit and he cannot find a job.
Now August 2009.....no job for hubby, I work part time (had 2 part time jobs until July), no money and a long road ahead of us.
I am fairly positive about dealing with our debts, but there are days when it seems un-do-able!
Going to take a deep breath now and will then post a soa.
Well done if you have read this far.........though I am writing the dairy mainly for myself so I can keep a track and hopefully look back in a few years and see how far I have come!!!!:beer:

S-i-d

Still-in-debt

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 3
Number of cars owned.................... 2

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 450
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 619
Other income............................ 120
Total monthly income.................... 1189

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 35 this is for our garage - the rest is covered by HB
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 2.2 rest covered by CT
Electricity............................. 65 High I know - working on it
Gas..................................... 35
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 30
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 30 for 2 phones
TV Licence.............................. 11.95
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 50 includes phone and internet
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 350 for 5 and a dog
Clothing................................ 5
Petrol/diesel........................... 80
Road tax................................ 10
Car Insurance........................... 25 for both cars
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 95 youngest son does Kung Fu and goes to a stage school (which is half scholership)
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 11.99
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 17.13
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 10
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 10
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 873.27

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 1000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 1000

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Loan...........................17604.....90........0 interst has been frozen for now.
Hakifax credit card............2647......80........7.5 I think - will double check
rent arears....................587.......130.......0
tax credit overpaymen..........950.......10........0
Total unsecured debts..........21788.....310.......-

Monthly Budget Summary[/b]
Total monthly income.................... 1,189
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 873.27
Available for debt repayments........... 315.73
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 310
Amount left after debt repayments....... 5.73

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 1,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -21,788
Net Assets.............................. -20,788
Created using the SOA calculator at www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using IE browser.

I will check back later.
Thanks for any help.
S-i-d

Still-in-debt

Morning all,
It is a lovely morning, the sun is shining and it is payday!!
Have been online to check our account and moved some money.
Now getting ready to walk the dog. Then need to get some food in!
Later I am taking youngest swimming with my sister and her 3 kids. We will take a picnic to eat by the river.
Will try to look in later.
S-i-d

BlueJeans_2

Hi SID

I seen that you started this (gargraves thread) and thought I would pop over for a read.

I find the dairy to be a great way of keeping focused, although the past few days I have been a tad naughty in updating.

Sorry to hear of your health problems and I hope things turn out ok.

Good luck with the debt busting. I've subscribed so will follow your progress.

Still-in-debt

Hi Bluejeans, thanks for coming. Updating my dairy shouldn't be a problem for now. It is when we go back to school I will find it harder!! I will do my best though, even if I only manage a couple of times a week.

We went swimming, it was very busy and there was a group of kids(teenagers) who were splashing each other and being pains! Still, we stayed in for about an hour and a half. Went next door to an island on the river, but it started to rain :mad:.So we had our picnic in the car! Kids thought it was great, we put the back seats down and they had plenty of room!

Think hubby and I need to go over our budget this evening. I have everything written down, right to the last penny, but he keeps spending outside of this Time to make it clearer!!!!!!!!

S-i-d

Primula

Hi there
Sorry to read about your health problems, hope that's all behind you now, you've really been through the mill.
Good luck in your debt free quest. You'll get lots of help on here. I'm no expert on the SoA's - lots of others are really good at it and hopefully they will come along soon. But your mobiles could be reduced perhaps? I have just joined O2 family - £7.50 per month (on PAYG - they just take it off your credit) gets you free unlimited calls and texts to another 4 nominated O2 numbers - all calls between your number and the 4 nominated are free between all of them IYSWIM - not explaining it very well, but that could be all your family sorted out. Also your groceries could be reduced, again I am just working on mine, but check out the OldStyle board and I bet you could cut £100 easily off this per month.

Also, 2 cars is quite an expense, could you perhaps manage with just the one?
Good luck, I'm going to subscribe so I will be popping back to say hello again!
P

Still-in-debt

Hi Primula, thanks for your comments. W e need to look into the phones abit more. Hubby has his on o2 contract, we both tend to use it - especially for getting hold of the kids!! Mine is a payg which normally has £5 top up a month and I get free evening and weekend texts for that.
Our grocery bill has been slashed alot already. We have cut down from about £160 a week to £80:T. I have tried to get it below that, but with 5 and a dog so far I can't!. My daughter is leaving home next month to go to uni, so I might be able to get it down a little bit then. To be honest though, she does not eat at home that much anyway!!

We have been talking about getting rid of one of the cars, but before the summer holidays we needed both. I had 2 jobs and only had 30 minutes between finishing one and starting the other, it would have taken me 45 mins to walk so needed transport. Hubby was doing a college course which was 15 miles from home. That has finished now, so we will need to think about it.

Thanks for the suggestions.
S-i-d

gargrave50

Well done SID,

Nice to read your diary and hear your story - I hope you are well. I've subscribed so will be giving a (helpful and friendly) kick up the backside as and when required

gargrave50

Meant to add, consider selling the other car quite seriously. If you own it, you could sell to get some funds, also the running costs (fuel, tax, insurance) would help you make some monthly savings. Add up how much the car you are considering selling is costing you, and decide if its worth it. If you sold it, could it free up funds to make a low full and final offer to one of your creditors to get rid?

Primula

Well done on reducing your shopping bill down so much already. That's great. I also struggle with the shopping, but I am getting much better. We cannot do everything overnight either can we?! I think you will find a difference with one less mouth to feed in the house. My daughter is at uni too and although obviously that in itself is a huge expense for us, our food bill did reduce a bit when she went.

Still-in-debt

Hi Gar, great to have you onboard........any kicks up the backside(helpful and friendly) are most welcome;)

Just as we had decided to sell hubby's car, our sons moped broke down yesterday!!!!:mad: It is the 4th time since October and every time it has been the same thing. The family clubbed together last year to buy it for him for his 16th birthday. It was great until October, now the drive belt keeps breaking:mad:. Warranty was for 6 months, the company don't want to know:mad: The mechanic (someone we know) has checked the bike over and cannot find any reason why this keeps happening. He is going to change a different part this time as well as the drive belt to see if that makes a difference. If it does sort the bike out, we are going to sell it asap!!!!
Son works 14 miles away from home, so we are doing a 56 mile trip to get him there and back:mad::mad:.
I am going to find a quiet, dark corner and have a cry!!

Be back later.
S-i-d