Yet another DFW!! 21 months and counting!!

KPR11

Dear all,

I have been fighting my debt problems for a while now, some would say rather successfully (I have gone from c£19,000 to £8,500 in just over 2 years), but I feel like I was taking a step back and my debts have started to increase in the last couple of months as opposed to decreasing so have decided to have another lightbulb moment and see if I can stop from plunging into another spiral of debt.

This is my SOA:

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1250
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1250
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 350
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 50
Electricity............................. 50
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 20
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 15
TV Licence.............................. 0
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 15
Groceries etc. ......................... 70
Clothing................................ 15
Petrol/diesel........................... 0
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 120
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)...... 10
Haircuts................................ 15
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 20
OD Interest............................. 15
Total monthly expenses.................. 775

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
PR.............................3500......350.......6
CA.............................4000......50........4
OD.............................1000......50........15.9
Total unsecured debts..........8500......450.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,250
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 775
Available for debt repayments........... 475
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 450
Amount left after debt repayments....... 25
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 0
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -8,500
Net Assets.............................. -8,500
Created using the SOA calculator at makesenseofcards
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using IE browser.

With a bit of ranting on here and your help, I am sure I will be able to apply the brakes and actually be debt free soon.

I have set myself an overall target of being debt free by Dec 2011 but feel that I need short term targets so that I can see progress being made so I have broken it down in to 2 stages, clear half my debt by the end of 2010 and another half by the end of 2011.

My first target will be reducing my OD to nil asap as I am paying around £20 a month just on interest which I could be using to tackle my other debts or treat myself!

I also want to be in a position where I have some savings for the rainy day so I have joined £365 in 365 days which seems manageable as I have a surplus of £25 a month and I am sure I can pinch another £5 from somewhere or the other. (I know some would argue that I should be using it towards paying of my OD considering the interest I am paying on it, but surely one needs something to fall back on? Maybe I will save it on a daily basis and then at the end of every month use it to pay off my OD?!)

All your suggestion, advice and help will be much appreciated.

Thank you for reading!

KPR11

Hi all,

Time for a quick update on my progress since I posted my SOA about a month. In a way I feel sad to be writing this at this time of the night on a friday as maybe I should be out there enjoying myself or something like that!! My housemate invited me to a houseparty that he is going to but I politely declined cause I didn't want to spend money buying a bottle of wine for the host and on cabs etc oh well!!

My progress then: a bit of a mixed first month to be honest, I will start with what has let me down and then hopefully end on a happy note which will give me the motivation to keep moving forward.

Our quarterly electric bill came to a whooping £270 quid just under what I had accounted for. TBH, I was hoping to save some more money on it but I will settle for the extra £15.

I have been disappointed with how much I have spent on groceries, I have been slightly over budget c£10.

On a more positive note, I have made real progress. A combination of a spending diary, trying to save a £1 a day and PAD has helped me a lot and the results speak for themselves.

For starters I didn't have to renew my bus pass so I used that money (£50) towards paying off my OD.

I also used the money I "saved" (or rather over-budgetted) on the electric bill (£15) towards the OD as well.

I have not spent a single penny on clothes (£15) or presents (£10) or hair cut so far, am going to leave it for a week or two longer to see if it makes a real difference per say. If I do have to go then I have found a place for a tenner so still saving at least £5. And finally I didn't top up my phone (£15) this month so made a saving there.

I also have started putting aside £20 as emergency fund.

All in all, with a real effort to cut down I have managed to save £47 and pay off an extra £98 towards my OD (combined of £145). With sheer luck and a lot of cutting back I have managed to save / pay off an extra £120 in a month.

I don't think next month will be quite as good as this since I will have to pay for my bus pass though I will try to walk as often as I can. I will also have to have a hair cut (unless I want to get my P45) and phone will need topping up but I an hoping savings will be made.

I have made a lot of progress with your help and I would like to thank you for it (particularly folks on £365/365 and PAD)!!

Thanks for reading this!!

Herewego

Well done great news so far its nice to see the figures coming down and like you i am sat here on a friday night although I did stop at a friends for coffee on the way back from shopping. Dont you think this money saving gets quite addictive and I cant wait to save for something and then pay cash for it and know I owe nobody but I have a couple of years yet until that will happen

KPR11

Hi herewego,

You are right it is addictive but it can be very annoying as well since I find myself questioning virtually everything I buy even if it is bear essentials!! I spent 10 mins cursing sainsburys and their likes for being expensive cause i spent a tenner on things like bread and milk!!!

I am sure it's a phase which will pass!!

You are making a fair bit of progress yourself!!

Have a great weekend bud!!

psychopathbabble

Don't feel too sad staying in on a Friday night... you did an excellent job of keepi ng me entertained! :rotfl:

I don't have any feedback for your soa, useless woman I know , only thing I would have commented on was groceries... but I have no right to tell you to lower it as I have no doubt I end up spending more than I budget for.... I get a little messy with my weekly spend and my grocery budget every now and then

KPR11

psychopathbabble wrote: »

Don't feel too sad staying in on a Friday night... you did an excellent job of keepi ng me entertained! :rotfl:

I don't have any feedback for your soa, useless woman I know , only thing I would have commented on was groceries... but I have no right to tell you to lower it as I have no doubt I end up spending more than I budget for.... I get a little messy with my weekly spend and my grocery budget every now and then

Thanks Psycho! You have been great entertainment yourself!

Food (or rather junk food) is my only vice atm!! But my budget / soa is a work in progress so we will see how I am doing in a couple of months!

KPR11

Seems like my financial prudence has been short lived to an extent!! My housemate and couple of my friends invited me for to go out and get a full breakfast and me being me I went out there and bought myself breakfast for £4.50!! That is over and on top of the starbucks coffee i got for £3.05!! :mad:

I know I need to have a life but I have spent £30 on just dining out and coffee etc in the last couple of weeks!! £30 that i can ill afford at the moment!! :mad::mad:

I am not impressed with myself!! :mad:

Apologies for the rant!! Hope everyone is doing well!!

psychopathbabble

Clamber back on the wagon and try again tomorrow!

I'm always getting dragged into temptation by a certain friend and I can't seem to say no.... this week its going to the cinema (my fault as i can't miss going to see alice in wonderland!:o) and now she wants to go get pizza beforehand as she has vouchers 2 4 £12 which is still £6! I must say NO NO NO!

Stay resistant... don't beat yourself up about it though

KPR11

psychopathbabble wrote: »

Clamber back on the wagon and try again tomorrow!

I'm always getting dragged into temptation by a certain friend and I can't seem to say no.... this week its going to the cinema (my fault as i can't miss going to see alice in wonderland!:o) and now she wants to go get pizza beforehand as she has vouchers 2 4 £12 which is still £6! I must say NO NO NO!

Stay resistant... don't beat yourself up about it though

I am trying as hard as I can. The plan is to go for Alice in Wonderland in 3D, very tempting to go considering it will only cost me £1 if they go to cineworld as I have an unlimited there (gift from my dear gf). However, I have said I need to go back to revising.

The two dinners were kind of unavoidable, one of the was with a friend from my time back in Africa - I randomly bumped in to her at a bank (hadn't seen her for 6 years or so) and she suggested dinner and I just couldn't say no!!

The other was my friends b'day and she insisted on going out for a meal!!


I can't say no, i know i need to!! and the only way left is beating myself up!!

are you taking advantage of the orange wed (2 for 1)?

psychopathbabble

KPR11 wrote: »

I am trying as hard as I can. The plan is to go for Alice in Wonderland in 3D, very tempting to go considering it will only cost me £1 if they go to cineworld as I have an unlimited there (gift from my dear gf). However, I have said I need to go back to revising.

The two dinners were kind of unavoidable, one of the was with a friend from my time back in Africa - I randomly bumped in to her at a bank (hadn't seen her for 6 years or so) and she suggested dinner and I just couldn't say no!!

The other was my friends b'day and she insisted on going out for a meal!!


I can't say no, i know i need to!! and the only way left is beating myself up!!

are you taking advantage of the orange wed (2 for 1)?

I had the same problem... peoples birthdays etc and it's awful if you say no. So don't worry too much about them... at least it waas £30ish. I had 2 birthdays and a hen night which ended up costing me probably near £100 as they were in Brighton, London and Maidstone!

Unfortunately not 241 weds as I go on holiday Weds morning and because I'm an impatient person, it's got to be tomorrow or tuesday. It's cheaper on tuesday at the local cinema but it won't be 3D. I do have an NUS extra card though so it'll be a teeny bit cheaper for me

KPR11

psychopathbabble wrote: »

I had the same problem... peoples birthdays etc and it's awful if you say no. So don't worry too much about them... at least it waas £30ish. I had 2 birthdays and a hen night which ended up costing me probably near £100 as they were in Brighton, London and Maidstone!

Unfortunately not 241 weds as I go on holiday Weds morning and because I'm an impatient person, it's got to be tomorrow or tuesday. It's cheaper on tuesday at the local cinema but it won't be 3D. I do have an NUS extra card though so it'll be a teeny bit cheaper for me

You bet! Do you come down to London a lot? Where abouts in Herts are you? (if you don't mind me asking)

Holiday sounds fun!! NUS always make a difference! You could always suggest grabbing one of those massive asda pizzas (i absolutely love it) and having it at home!!