Determined to be Debt Free before 2018!!!!

Nelmer

I have followed In My Dreams diary for quite a while and find her determination and everyone's support so motivating I decided to start my own diary and stop procrastinating!

Our debt is made up as follows:
Natwest Credit Card £1,350.92 (£160 owed by MIL)
Barclaycard £960.41 (£50 reclaimable from the vet)
Unsecured loan £65,392.02 (Long story, only way out last year when in a VERY sticky situation)
Overdraft £1,018.61
Vodafone bill £80.00 (currently in dispute)
TOTAL £68,801.96

I need to go back over all our outgoings to ensure we have the best deals on all our bills. The target for the year is to pay off £17,000, that is the monthly payments to the loan, clearing the credit cards, overdraft and vodafone bill.

IMD kindly sent me her budgeting spreadsheet and I've populated that so hopefully that will keep me on the right track for the budgeting. I need to now get on with the cash raising.

Any hints, tips, advice or general bum kicking as I go along will be gratefully appreciated!

Kayleighpea

Hi Nelmer, just wanted to pop in and say hi and good luck with dealing with your debt! :T I am only just starting out with it really but am already finding that even the smallest changes I make are having a big impact so no matter how trivial something may seem, just remember it all adds up! I will be following your diary with interest

starnac

hi nelmer, have you thought about posting a SOA so you can get advice on where to cut back?

good luck on clearing £17k this year

turfy6

Just popping in to say good luck, youve made the right start its so motivating on here. Wish I was that motivated when it comes to losing weight.:rotfl:

Nelmer

turfy6 wrote: »

Wish I was that motivated when it comes to losing weight.:rotfl:

Hi turfy, I'm finding the menu/food planning is helping with my weight loss.....well week 1 it did! I have started including celery/carrot stick for a snack and an apple and yoghurt instead of resorting to the choc machine at work and I lost 2lb's last week....

Thank you to you all for your comments. I will be posting my SOA later once I have it all updated and complete.

I have been loosely following FlyLady since the new year and today have had a small break through. I have finally set up a control journal and it works! I've made a list of everything in our chest freezer and in our 2 larder type cupboards and then planned our meals around that for the next month. Shopped for all items for the meal (except fresh fruit) and spent £250. We should now only need fresh fruit and veg between now and the end of March. Watch this space!!!

I have a few items finishing on ebay soon so off to keep an eye on those and see how much can be made to pay off the debts!

hypno06

Glad to see you have started a new diary Nelmer, I am sure it will help you get where you want to be!

Nelmer

hypno06 wrote: »

Glad to see you have started a new diary Nelmer, I am sure it will help you get where you want to be!

Thanks Hypno, you and IMD are so inspirational with your focus and determination I figured it was time I was as well!!!

BEAT_THE_DEBT

Hi Nelmer good luck imd is indeed an inspiration!!x

Nelmer

I am so behind with the threads on here, missed the bodyshop glitch......could have done with that for MIL for mothers day. Lesson to be learn't....check the grabbit board more often:D:D

Nelmer

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 4
Number of children in household.........
Number of cars owned.................... 2

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1924.6
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1371.65
Benefits................................ 14.92
Other income............................ 5
Total monthly income.................... 3316.17

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 551.9
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 136
Electricity............................. 57
Gas..................................... 42
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 42.77
Telephone (land line)................... 14
Mobile phone............................ 61
TV Licence.............................. 12.12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 21
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 450
Clothing................................ 50
Petrol/diesel........................... 150
Road tax................................ 27.92
Car Insurance........................... 21.8
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 28.33
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 45
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 31.06
Buildings insurance..................... 10
Contents insurance...................... 13.75
Life assurance ......................... 47.47
Other insurance......................... 1.99
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 25
Haircuts................................ 20
Entertainment........................... 100
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 145
Total monthly expenses.................. 2105.11


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 180000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 14000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 194000


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 80000....(551.9)....0
Total secured & HP debts...... 80000.....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Loan...........................65000.....833.......0
Halifax CC.....................960.......50........0
Natwest CC.....................1350......100.......0
Total unsecured debts..........67310.....983.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 3,316.17
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,105.11
Available for debt repayments........... 1,211.06
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 983
Amount left after debt repayments....... 228.06

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 194,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -80,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -67,310
Net Assets.............................. 46,690

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

So, I've created a statement of affairs. We are currently sorting out our mortgage, which will take a while as we have a shared ownership house and they need to know the ins and outs of a donkey's backside!!!!

Any comments/observations welcomed

I've been listing items on ebay, about 6 at a time, and made £21 last week and about £40 this evening (tbc) so hopefully £60 to pay off one of the cards soon.

I also managed to secure some casual work near to home and worked 8 hours yesterday which should earn me about £35 after tax at the end of the month. once it all hits the account and is paid off the debt I can update my total :T

WorkingHardDFW

Well done on posting and facing upto your debt that is the hardest bit.

My biggest piece of advice was to start/keep a spending diary. This is conjunction with the budget is the biggest thing which helped to getting towards being DF. For us the spending diary helped me really understand how and what we were spending our money on. Regular reviews of the spending diary and budget helped us to keep on track.

It is amazing when you you write (or in my case type into my spreadsheet) every penny down that you spend that you realise that what and how much you are spending on. Pre LBM the difference between what we thought we were spending and what we were actually spending was the DEBT.

I hope that this helps. Keep posting and best of luck on your DF journey.