Debt free and buy a house by 35

andymc29

It's pay day!

I've paid some money into my savings, ordered my new laptop (had to order it on my creditc ard, so must remember to pay that off ina few days, get's me purchase protection anyway).

Garden update: I've got tomatoes and potatoes appearing now!

andymc29

I know it sounds weird, but I sort of miss having a credit card balance to chip away at. All there is now is my laptop which I'll pay in a few days once it's appeared on my account.
Next big hurdle is saving up enough to be able to take out a 15k ZOPA loan to clear the natwest loan, this will probably be next month when I can do this, then I can start overpaying that loan everymonth and watching the numbers tumble. Might just overpay every three or four days, a week or more between payments feels like a long time.

My new personal lpatop should arrive todaty, so will be able to set it all up this weekend and use it for tracking debts among other things.

Have nearly finished unpacking everything at the parents house, but am finding there's just not enough room for everything, so it's time to be ruthless and throw out everything I don't use. Have already put half my DVD's aside for carbooting, a bag full of clothes for charity and am thinking what to do with everything else.

Cloudy456

Try the clothes on E Bay - not very charitable of me, but if you put even high street brands like Next on there a couple of quid for each thing adds up! And anything more expensive can be definitely worthwhile.

andymc29

The laptop appeared fully on my credit card account so I've made a payment today to clear it off.

My girlfriend was saying over the weekend that I should cut up my credit cards, but I've said I'd rather keep them handy incase of emergencies like the car braking down, as I don't have much in savings from trying to pay off debts. Might give a card to her for safe keeping. I have a natwest credit card, but that only has a limit of £300 so really isn't worth having.

the O2 pocket money card is working well, I used it a bit over the weekend for a few things. I did buy a new suit as I need it for work, and have a wedding to go to soon, that had to come out the current account as I didn't have enough pocket money put aside for it.

This week should be pretty cheap, just have a birthday present to buy for my brother, then going to visit him in Scotland this weekend. Am driving up there with the parents, so we're splitting the cost of fuel, the car gets over 60mpg so should be very cheap.

andymc29

I think using my O2 money card is starting to work mentally now. I went into waterstones at lunch and saw a book I wouldn't mind buying. But have to buy a present for my brother and pay for petrol to go visit him this weekend, along with other costs, so having £80 on my O2 card made me think no, and I left the book.

If that had been my current account card, I may have bought it, because there's noramlly hundreds in the current account that get's topped up by my wages every month, but the O2 card just gets topped up once a week, and not by a large amount either. so yes, good MSE moment there. Yesterday was a NSD and so has today been so far. Might go the gym tonight though, and that costs a few quid.

andymc29

Am now back at work from a long weekend away visting my brother.
He lives up in Fort William in Scotland, took 12 hours in total to drive there including stops, I shared the driving with my Dad as he was visting with my Mum too. Pretty cheap to get there too, it's a 1 litre car that gets good milage, so we all chipped in and it cost about £35 each in petrol to get there and back.
Had a good weekend and also didn't spend much either!!! Stuck to my pocket money strategy of using my 02 card, so have made it nearly half way through the month now and not really spent much, aside from the laptop which I'd already planned for and a new suit, which I hadn't planned for.

weirdly though, even knowing what I'm spending isn't helping much. I'm still scared of logging into my online banking. I just know the figures won't look as good as I hope. So I'm just sticking to my pocket money budget and letting everything else go out on it's own. Maybe next pay day will be when I can check it every day and not feel scared.

andymc29

Argh!!! Disaster!!!! I put some money in my savings account at the start of this month. Then bought some stuff, then got scared to check my current account, but was convinced I had enough to get through the month.

Until I went to buy petrol today that is. Card got declined, had to call my dad to get him to come pay for the petrol.

I've transferred some money from my savings to pay him back and get my account back into the black. I've got over a grand in the bank, but most of it unfortunately was in the savings account. Feel like a complete idiot and now will promise to check my accounts every day.......

Non-MSE Update:

I ran a 10k race yesterday morning. the St. Ives 10k. Didn't do brilliant but managed a respectable time of 54:59, would've been higher if I'd actually done some training for this one. Legs are aching now, which is worrying as I have Taekwondo training tonight.
On the plus side of my car activities yesterday, I did get the car cleaned really well, hoovered the inside out, and checked all the levels, the radiator fluid keeps going down, not really fast, but still have to keep an eye on it. Also had a tyre in bad need of inflating (helps fuel economy).


....thinking about this thing of being scared to check my bank account, I think it's because I know how much I can save per month in theory, but I know from past experience that you never really ever save that much, so I hate looking at the balance cause I know it's always going to be lower than I'd like it to be. I just hate the idea that getting out of debt will take longer than I want it to. It's really important to get out of debt, mainly to move on with my GF, she's very sensible with money and won't entertain the idea of us getting out own place until I'm debt free, and even then she wants me to have some savings behind me.
It's all very good her talking like that, but every sensible thing she says just makes things seem to take longer and longer to achieve.

I think we need some goals to work towards together, things to look forward too, otherwise my debts will feel like massive drag on our relationship. We're already thinking of visitng my brother up in Scotland in October, we'll fly up and rent a car, should be less than £400 each in total for a week. And we're going to sign up for a 10k race in October too, so lots of training runs together, mroe for her than me though as I'm not doing it for a good time, I'll be staying with her for the race and then runnign a half marathon myself a few weeks later.
We have talked about going to Australia together, that's obviously a post-DFD thing for me, and could be as soon as this time next year, depending how things go. Will need several thousand pounds for that I think.

andymc29

I just applied to open a cash ISA with my bank. I know I've got debts to pay off, but I want to feel like I'm taknig some steps towards having soem proper savings. I've looked into it, and I'll just put in £100 per month until I'm debt free, then increase it tot eh highest amount I can manage. the rate was 2% with my bank, not too bad, and with how much I'm putting in, not that important, it's more the principle of it.

Non MSE note: Didn't bother going taekwondo training last night, the monday night session is in Ely, I live in Huntingdon, so it's a 64 mile round trip, which is about eleven quid in petrol, then £4.25 for the session, so over £15 to train on a Monday, that's £60 per month!!! :eek: I do want to progress and get my black belt, but I need to keep an eye on costs like this, once I'm debt free then I can afford stuff like this, but right now I need to watch the pennies, especially when last month I bought a new suit, work shoes, and a laptop. All good purchases and needed, but still bite.

So this week then, had a NSD yesterday, NSD today so far and looks like Thursday will be my only day for spending anything. I do need to pay my Dad back for the petrol but that doesn't count as it's fuel.

I have a friend barbeque this Saturday, but that will only involve a bottle of Coke, so will already have the spare change for that, might even buy Tesco's own brand. Otherwise this weekend is mainly me going running, and getting my stuff ready for a car boot sale the following weekend. Will make next week comletely no spend days if I can, apart from one training session and possibly a bottle fo wine to share with the GF.

andymc29

thought I should upload my SOA as I've not done this yet:
Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 2275
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2275
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 200
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 0
Electricity............................. 0
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 35
TV Licence.............................. 0
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 0
Clothing................................ 100
Petrol/diesel........................... 150
Road tax................................ 10
Car Insurance........................... 45
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 30
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
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)...... 15
Haircuts................................ 10
Entertainment........................... 250
Holiday................................. 50
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 895

Assets
Cash.................................... 600
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 1500
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 2100

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Personal Loan 1................16702.....389.......16.6
Personal Loan 2................2180......155.......6.9
Total unsecured debts..........18882.....544.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,275
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 895
Available for debt repayments........... 1,380
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 544
Amount left after debt repayments....... 836
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 2,100
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -18,882
Net Assets.............................. -16,782
Created using the SOA calculator at www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using IE browser.

andymc29

Got a busy weekend ahead...

Have a friends bbq on Saturday, I'm not planning on drinking so won't be taking any boose, just some tesco's brand coke and maybe a few sausages (so good MSE move there)
then on Sunday I'm doing a car boot sale with my parents, they've got a tonne of stuff to sell off that's been taking up garage space for ages. I've got a load of DVD's and some old comuter stuff I could sell, if I make enough to cover the cost of meal out with the GF then I'll be happy.:p

Am going running tonight with my Dad, I've signed up for a half marathon in October so need to get training for it. running's great cause it's so much cheaper than other sports, so great if you're trying to save money, it also feels so much better than just sitting infront of the TV. You dread the run before you leave the house, but once you've done it you feel great.

Turns out two of my tomato plants are plum tomato's, getting really long tomato coming from them.:j