First day of rest of my life

Cialilerin

Hi,
I have been reading all the advice/tips etc on here over the last few months and have now decided to take control of my own finances instead of just worrying about my debts and letting them mount up.

I've decided to start a diary as a way of motivating myself and hopefully so I can see the debts decreasing over time - reading other people's stories has really given me hope.

To be honest, when I got married 13 years ago, I let my husband sort out the money while I brought up our family. We ran pubs, so he did the finances and I looked after the children - working while they were asleep. We had a few ups and downs financially along the way but we always 'managed'. About 7 years ago, when our 3rd child was 2, I decided to re-train and we left the pub trade, deciding that we could make better lives for the children. I took over more of the finances, as they were no longer tied into his job (when in pubs all the bills were paid by the brewerey!) My husband got a less well-paid job but was home more to help with the kids, as I was working and doing a degree. This started more debts, but we thought we'd sort these out when I qualified.

In 2006, I got my degree and began work full time, working for the government, on a good wage. We had a lot of debt at this time - probably about £25,000 but I knew we could pay these off without really affecting our lives too much.

In Nov 2007, I found out I was pregnant again - it wasn't planned but we were happy. Two weeks later, I started being sick and was diagnosed with hyperemesis and wasn't able to go back to work for 4 months. I was on full pay during this time. After our 4th little girl was born, I developed severe post-natal depression and while that's a whole new thread, it meant I was off work for another 10 months after my maternity leave finished, on full pay for 5 of those months and haly pay for the rest. While this obviously had a big impact on our finances, I started spending big - couldn't really leave the house as I was so ill, so bought a conservatory for £9,000, bought the lease on my house and got a new second hand car etc. My husband left all the finances to me.

I've been back at work for 14 months now and am doing ok, I am still receiving treatment for my mental health problems as they have now diagnosed that there may be other underlying issues.


Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1636.95
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1109.46
Other income............................ 783.19
Total monthly income.................... 3529.6

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 842.1
Council tax............................. 96
Electricity............................. 82
Gas..................................... 54
Water rates............................. 49.95
Telephone (land line)................... 20.45
Mobile phone............................ 47
TV Licence.............................. 11.95
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 23
Internet Services....................... 7.7
Groceries etc. ......................... 400
Clothing................................ 100
Petrol/diesel........................... 200
Road tax................................ 21
Car Insurance........................... 67.69
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 20
Car parking............................. 10
Childcare/nursery....................... 280
Other child related expenses............ 140
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 50
Buildings insurance..................... 15.02
Contents insurance...................... 18.05
Life assurance ......................... 67.64
Haircuts................................ 20
Entertainment........................... 50
Total monthly expenses.................. 2693.55


Secured & HP Debts[/b]
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 93061....(842.1)....1.5


Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
windows........................3441......43.18.....8.6
northern rock..................8073......155.2.....5.7
bank loan......................7068.77...186.3.....8.9
sofa...........................768.84....45.2......0
bank card........................6104......153.......20.9
bank card.......................600.......14........18.9
virgin.........................9892.51...25........0
mbna...........................7529......62........6.94
CITI...........................2153.09...48.44.....5.9
barclaycard....................3008.98...67.7......5.94
cap 1..........................425.......13.07.....6.73
Total unsecured debts..........49064.19..813.09....-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 3,529.6
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,693.55
Available for debt repayments........... 836.05
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 813.09

Amount left after debt repayments....... 22.96


OK, so there is a surplus after paying everything but I have to try and persuade my family that we need to stick to the budgets that I have set. I have not included holidays in my planner as there won't be any until I've cleared some debts.

We're going to declutter the house and sell everything we don't need. I'm then going to get more inspiration by reading more ideas on the other threads.

Thank you for your patience reading this. The calculator has predicted that with these figures and using my extra £22.96 to pay off debts, I can be debt free by Dec 2016. There's a light at the end of the tunnel.

Wish me luck x

Cialilerin

Signed up for the 150 no spending days this year and just done one - 149 to go.
Also just planned menus for next week and done shopping list accordingly! Just got to stick to it now.
If anyone has any hints or tips for reducing the spending, please let me know.

Cialilerin

Today I'm at home with the kids, the girls' schools are closed and the little one is poorly - took her to the Doctor AGAIN but he says it is just asthma so not much they can do except inhalers, which she won't take (she's only 2), problem is, she has had a temperature for a couple of days and isn't eating!
Anyway, must be getting into this money saving business cos all I can think of is how much xtra money keeping the heatin on will cost ;-)

So far we've been good, but husband will need motivation to remain a money-saver. Goinng to go and look for some stuff to sell on ebay now...

dawnybabes

Good luck, ave subscribed to follow your progress .....:-)

Cialilerin

I realised last night that I was becoming obsessed with money saving when my dh 'confessed' to spending 79p on a cup of tea and I was really angy. Told him to take a flask to work in future

However, I am realising that it is hard to budget when you are relying on someone else to economise as well. I have tried really hard to explain what I'm trying to do and in his defence, he did sit and sort out a spreadsheet for our spending diary BUT then he hasn't filled in any of his spending!!!!

Lapsed this morning and bought some Christmas decorations from Tesco - they were 75% off so only spent £10 but still feel guilty. (although I did go through TopCashBack ) I do intend to go to Boots on Wednesday for 75% sale and stock up on gifts for year - am determined not to buy anything for myself.

Going to list some stuff on ebay today so I'll see how we get on with that.

Cialilerin

Two weeks in (nearly)! My family are starting to join in - the kids are very enthusiatic and fill in all of dh spending (in a spread sheet that they made for me) every night, as soon as theyget home from school. Think dh is finally getting in to it as well and has started to take an interest!

Unfortunately, this week dh's mobile broke and so he had to get another one - we did try and get an old phone unlocked first - tried internet but couldn't get the code to work so took it to a shop and they said that because his sim is on 3, they don't work with other phones?? Anyway, he bought a cheap handset for £30 - would normally have thought nothing of spending £100 to get a handset with features he'd never use!

Then the heating went on my car - in this weather!!! Dh has tried to fix it himself but no joy so it's in the garage as we speak/type. Expenses that we hadn't predicted but guess that's life.

WE have gone through our spending list today and starting to see some changes - only £160 on groceries in 2 weeks, big jump cos before could have spent that in a week and then ended up throwing half the stuff out! Still trying to persuade dh thatthe kids don't need to have a constant supply of rubbish in the house - sweets, crisps etc. Think he enjoys it more than they do Have now said that I will buy one multi-bag of crisps a week (supermarket own brand naturally) and when they are gone they're gone - can use it as an excuse to be healthy as well.

Tomorrow is ebay free listing day so going to have a sort out today - we already have a couple of things that I didn't get chance to list last week cos I wasn't well.

As title says, only 5 years, 11 months and 2 weeks before I'm debt free but I hope I can shave some time off that now that we've started making changes. Feeling more postive now about my finances than I have for months.

lellybun

Well done, its great all the family are on board with your debt busting mission.

It is amazing the savings that can be made with groceries, there are just 3 in our family but I used to go to the supermarket every week and spend £70 - £80 and still need to do top ups at local shops for milk and bread and stuff. Now with the help of the Old Style board I meal plan and probably spend £40 a week with no food to throw away. That has made such a difference to our finances.

Good luck with your journey to being debt free, with all your enthusiasm I am sure you will be free in less that the 6 years!:j

Lellybun

Moneytroubles_2

Hiya, welcome to diary land! I joined this site in August last year, at the time I had red letters, phone calls, and just wanted to crawl under a stone, now everything is upto date! and I dont want to hide when I hear the postman coming down the drive!!

and I have just paid off my first debt this morning! good luck with your journey, you can def do it xxxx

ps, i would have shouted at my OH about the 79p tea too

LeeSouthEast

Sending "You can do it!" thoughts your way

Cialilerin

Just had garage bill - £30, much better than I thought and worth every penny for my hour in car in morning (school run and getting to work). Just in time for the milder spell!

planning_ahead_2

Hi

Saw your post on my newbie thread and popped over to have a read of your situation. Do you know we have scarily similar lives (albeit I am several years ahead of you, having been married for over 30 years now:eek: - yes we got married very young)

We also have four children (all grown up now), I also work for government, I was off work on extended sick leave for almost two years back in 2004 and was so grateful for the fantastic government sick pay levels (six months full and six months half pay)......and even our debt levels are similar. However, we have never run a pub;). Much of our current unsecured debt accrued during those two years of sick leave.....I spent loads on the internet (at least you have a conservatory to show for your spending....I can't honestly say what I bought:o). That was a long period of depression brought on by illness and spending seemed to lighten the depression (not an excuse but a realisation of what happened and why).

We now have grandchildren...who we adore...but the best bit is giving them back to their mums:rotfl:

I will follow your diary with interest and hopefully keep you company along the way to your goal. Good luck with your journey:beer: