Sillyrabbit's facing-up-to-it-properly diary

sillyrabbit

Hi DFWs - I am a regular reader of MSE and always looking at deals etc but I decided today that I REALLY need to sort out my/our finances and see if we can kick these debts into touch.

I'm Helen, I'm 29, married to Finton (34) with 2 girls, aged 3 and 3.5 months. I look at my girls and think I HAVE to sort this out so they don't suffer from our bad management when they're older.

I've got to pop out and pick up my daughter from nursery now then I'll be back and hopefully get a SOA on here later - any tips for how to lay it out sensibly?

sillyrabbit

Hellooooo? *tumble weeds*

BEAT_THE_DEBT

Hello silly rabbit i am here.xx There is a link for an soa someone more savvy than me will post it soon i am sure.x

sillyrabbit

Ah good - I'll have a hunt then!

sillyrabbit

Bonus! Just got £25 in gift cards from Argos in the post from when we bought our new washing machine! Got to spend them by end May though - was thinking of keeping them as presents, but it also says "free giftcard" on the front LOL.

Think I will use them to get the girls some birthday or christmas presents, perhaps, then I can knock some money off the amount I have to save for that. Full SOA coming here shortly!

sillyrabbit

OK, here is my SOA as it stands at the moment, with as much info as I can gather together. I'm sure there's stuff missing, and I haven't account for the dentist, for example. Trouble is I'm on maternity leave, due back to work on 10th May but considering that I might have to go back a month early in order not to struggle with low pay for an extra month.

We have cut back a lot and this is the lowest we've got down to, without completely cancelling things like the TV or mobiles etc which would be last resort. I'm putting together an ebay box and going to get a load of stuff on there, including an old travel system that we used with my 3 year old, so we should make a little bit of dosh that way.

May even have to consider a 2nd job when I go back to work - main job is 9-5 monday to friday, and don't get overtime (just flexitime). I could however do something for a couple of evenings a week (say 8-11 or something) once hubby is home to be with the girls. Any suggestions? Waitressing is the thing that jumps out at me...

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 2
Number of cars owned.................... 3

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1400
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1190
Benefits................................ 293
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2883

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 461
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 96
Electricity............................. 76 - this is combined with gas and best deal I can get. Waiting to hear if monthly payments can go down as we're always in credit.
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 98.5 - YES, I know this is high! We're on a meter but didn't work out so switching back to normal. Will drop back down.
Telephone (land line)................... 33 - just reduced this down from £50. Combined with TV and BB.
Mobile phone............................ 35 - this is for x2 mobiles, 1 ends in april
TV Licence.............................. 11.61
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0 - see above
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 200 - guestimate - not done spending diary yet
Clothing................................ 10 - don't buy many clothes and like to bargain hunt! Mostly buy clothes for girls if need to.
Petrol/diesel........................... 140 - this is £80 for hubby's bike (can't be reduced) and £60 for my car, which I don't drive often if I can help it. Probably will be less than this.
Road tax................................ 38 - for 2 x cars and 1 x bike for 6 months
Car Insurance........................... 127 - for 3 vehicles, and best deals atm
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 40
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 433 - will increase end April when baby goes to nursery
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 10
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 30
Buildings insurance..................... 44 - ends april and will be shopping around
Contents insurance...................... 0 - combined with above
Life assurance ......................... 11.5
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 50 - a guess, not actually put aside but need to
Haircuts................................ 0 - hubby shaves his own head and I don't get my hair cut!! Need to though...!!
Entertainment........................... 50 - we don't do much, or go out (no cinema etc)
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 25 - not in place but needs to be, minimum amount
Total monthly expenses.................. 2019.61


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 120000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 4000
Other assets............................ 2000 - some of this I am looking to sell (gold coins and cello) but some not unless in dire straits
Total Assets............................ 126000


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 100783...(461)......3
Total secured & HP debts...... 100783....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Hitachi capital/DFS............720.......32.73.....0
HFC loan.......................8400......212.......18.32
HSBC loan......................6460......199.......0 - don't know rate atm, need to find out
Halifax overdraft..............2500......0.........0
HSBC overdraft.................1400......0.........0 - need to pay off ODs but not doing this yet
Mum (car loan).................4100......0.........0 - need to start paying this in June, possibly £50 a month ish to start with
Argos card.....................500.......0.........0 - interest/payment free until Feb 2011 - need to budget for payments each month to pay it off before APR kicks in
Total unsecured debts..........24080.....443.73....-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,883
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,019.61
Available for debt repayments........... 863.39
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 443.73
Amount left after debt repayments....... 419.66

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 126,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -100,783
Total Unsecured debt.................... -24,080
Net Assets.............................. 1,137

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

Situation looks ok at the moment, but the income I have stated is my *normal* one, when I am actually on mat pay (really blooming complicated and not actually sure what I'll be getting this month). We are paying £100 a week from hubby's wages into the DD account to try and cover the shortfall. This will then go to the nursery when baby no2 starts in April and I go back to work. We do however have a bit of cash sat in the account with the nursery so we'll be ok for that, and will be able to pay the first month minimum in advance as we're supposed to - hurrah!

We are at the limit of the OD with HSBC, and near the limit with Halifax. I've opened a new account with A&L (no OD!) and the DDs will be coming from there now, so that's where my salary will go. Hubby's wage pays the nursery fees, the shortfall of my pay (for the moment) and then whatever is left is what we have to "spend". Really, it's whatever we should be putting away/using for petrol/food etc.

I'll shut up now - ask me anything that's not clear and let me know what you think!

sillyrabbit

Oh, an update that I realised yesterday that we took out PPI on 3 loans back in 2003 (each loan a bit more to pay off the last!) so have today written to HSBC to request they pay it back as missold (had no idea what I was buying, tbh) so will see what that brings. Also wrote to Halifax finally with list of charges I'm requesting are paid back, which totals about £1300 and would be awesome if they coughed up!

Here's hoping, anyway.

Today's little things - £25 in argos gift cards and £20 next voucher (late Xmas pressie!) to go towards bday pressies for girls, I think.

sillyrabbit

Thought I would carry on (tell me to shut up LOL) and add today's spends - not got exact amounts to hand but will round up:

Costa - tea and mini muffins - £4 (or possibly £3?! we'll say £4)
Cash - £10 - this paid for some charity shop items e.g. kids' clothes/books and bus fare home (walked in to town, but couldn't face walking back with buggy!)
Tesco - £9 - bought spring onions, yogurts, strawberries, £1 mug for mum from kids for mother's day , and rice
Further charity shop stuff - £10 - more bits for the kids and a book for me (noticed it says Mills and Boon on the receipt which it certainly was NOT!!)
Post office - £2.28 - sending letters to HSBC and Halifax re PPI and reclaiming charges

I bought a book for me today (£2) but will be selling all but my absolute fave books on amazon/green met (not looked at that yet) as I will re-read my faves over and over and have had lots of them for years (only from 2 different authors!)...

OK, total spend for today - £36, rounding up to nearest pound. Ouch. That's bad!! Just goes to show it can easily add up when you don't watch it properly.

On the other hand I did pay in £200 in cheques from pet insurance claims today - stuck it in the HSBC but will move to halifax I think as they are now charging £1 a day for the OD. I think this works out more than the HSBC one, anyway! AND we're not going to be able to use a DD overdraft any more due to switching to A&L - will just be transferring over the money needed to pay the DDs.

In a way it would be so much easier being back at work and back on full pay! We'll see what nursery says, as I asked today if there is space for baby No2 to go into nursery 2 weeks earlier than she is booked to, and that way I can return a couple of weeks earlier than planned (got a trip to see family over easter and official date back is 26th April - have got some leave to use so was having the next 2 weeks A/L, may have to move this back!).

Someone reply and keep me company in my debt-wallowing LOL!

sillyrabbit

I'm due some cashback at the end of this month, and the end of March -

Feb:
£0.04
£0.01
£0.04
£0.04
£0.90
£0.20
£0.50
£50.50
£0.04
£0.04
£50.90
Total - £103.21

March:
£0.04
£52.00
£5.20
£7.64
Total - £64.88

All can go on the ODs hopefully.

sillyrabbit

Woop woop! Just won on the free bingo

Got £15 free to play, played a few 5p cards and now have £39.99 in the account! Deposited £5 in order to withdraw, and expecting £23.59 back in Halifax so that's £18.59 for free, with £26.40 still in the account! Not sure when/how I can withdraw the rest mind. May play a few more cards as i've got my £5 coming back anyway!

sillyrabbit

Today's update!

I was kept awake last night thinking about money, and decided today that I would do some shuffling to get us in the most sensible position. I've transferred my salary over to the A&L account ready for the DDs to come out from Monday - there is no OD on this account so will need to keep a close eye on it.

I've got 1 account with HSBC which is almost £1K OD, which is the limit - we used this for Christmas stupidly. The other account is where hubby's wages go weekly and is £221 OD. I've got £50 of charges coming out (great!) so I've transferred £370 from my salary into that account. When it appears I'll remove the OD and it gives us about £100 for the week. This covers some card payments I made yesterday too so should be reasonable.

Then from next week we should always be in credit in that account, and only have the OD in the other account, plus the one in Halifax to pay off. Both accounts that we use should therefore be in credit with no temptation!