Right, lets sort this mess!!

bigbeff

Hi,

I have been battling my debt now for a few months and although it has gone down, it keeps going back up a bit! Very annoying, every time I pay something off another bill comes in....so I have decided to try and keep a debt free diary to keep me motivated and would like your advice. Unfortunately a couple of years ago I decided I would help out a friend who I thought I could trust was in a servere financial situation (NEVER AGAIN) He has since disappeared and I can't contact him, leaving me with a higher debt than I would have had otherwise. Rubbish I know....I have learnt NEVER lend money to anyone. Anyway, with that and my love of expensive holidays and the fact I bought a house a couple of years ago and needed furniture means my total debt is about £3500. Ok....so first things, here is a statement of affairs

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................ 1515
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1515

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 612
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 95
Electricity............................. 21
Gas..................................... 21
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 10.5
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 25
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 25
Groceries etc. ......................... 80
Clothing................................ 30
Petrol/diesel........................... 45
Road tax................................ 10
Car Insurance........................... 25
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 10
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 75 My boyfriend lives in brighton so this is unavoidable train costs.
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 4
Contents insurance...................... 4
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 30
Haircuts................................ 30
Entertainment........................... 100
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1264.5


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 135000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 500
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 135500


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 129000...(612)......5.55
Total secured & HP debts...... 129000....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
HSBC...........................750.......15........19.9
Nationwide.....................2150......65........0
Mum and Dad....................500.......0.........0
Total unsecured debts..........3400......80........-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,515
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,264.5
Available for debt repayments........... 250.5
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 80
Amount left after debt repayments....... 170.5

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 135,500
Total HP & Secured debt................. -129,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -3,300
Net Assets.............................. 3,200

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

I would be open to suggestions....know I could probably get landline/internet cheaper, these are currently combined. Thank you all in advance

tiny_courageous

Congratulations on New Diary!

Your SOA looks pretty streamlined already, well done, especially on groceries. Do you actually find that you have £170 left each month? If not, keep a spending diary to see where it goes.

In terms of travel to Brighton, have you looked at splitting ticket or booking in advance?

bigbeff

I have a railcard - I did look at ticket splitting and have found a way of saving £6 for a return so far (just limits the trains I can go on!)

I don't generally have £170 left (I pay that amount off my CC and then spend it again!!) so I am going to keep a spending diary. My credit card does go down a bit each month, but not as much as I would like. I am just looking for any hints on how to improve.

BEAT_THE_DEBT

Hi love the title sounds so determined good luck and i will be reading.x

Moneytroubles_2

Hiya, just wanted to say hello and wish you luck in your bebt free journey! xx

linz

Could you ring up your mobile network and change to a cheaper deal ?

beanielou

Happy shiney new diary
Keep posting.

EssexHebridean

Welcome aboard!

One question on your SOA - you say you have a car, yet you take the train to Brighton? Would it not be cheaper to drive?

savingholmes

welcome to diaryland. I think the secret formula for you could be trying the Make £10 a day challenge - and trying to create some extra income... worked for me!

The spendingdiary sounds a really good idea too

bigbeff

EssexHebridean wrote: »

Welcome aboard!

One question on your SOA - you say you have a car, yet you take the train to Brighton? Would it not be cheaper to drive?

No, a tank of petrol is very similar to the train ticket and my boyfriend lives right in the centre so parking is absolutely horrendous!! Plus it means I have a couple of hours to do some marking on the train - trust me I have looked into it!

bigbeff

savingholmes wrote: »

welcome to diaryland. I think the secret formula for you could be trying the Make £10 a day challenge - and trying to create some extra income... worked for me!

The spendingdiary sounds a really good idea too

Sounds like an idea, tell me how do you do that? It seems an awful lot to make a day extra!! I sold a book on greenmetropolis today, so after posting, that is £2.24 extra!!