Tackling the effects of 2009

Stephy13

Managed two laps of the local sports field without stopping this afternoon felt great actually. Once im debt free I will be wobble free and be able to buy a bikini.... well thats the aim:rotfl:

Did the home insurance renewal through onepoll and got £70 cashback :j
Will do pet insurance in a week or so as its not quite up for renewal but the quote i got today is loads cheaper than we've been paying and £10 cashback.

Will take a look at that article about the water meter thanks karmacat, don't want to end up paying more!!!

Haven't done half the things on my list but never mind ill get up earlier tomorrow and do the bathroom and the ironing.

Early night me thinks.

Night night all x

Stephy13

No running yesterday as the running club uses the sports field on a wednesday and you have to pay!!! so 30 mins on the wii fit instead. Very mse of me.

Have stuck to my meal plan all week albeit in a different order than I planned but we've had all the meals I planned. However I have no clue what to have tonight.

I have some fishfingers So.... fish fingers potato wedges peas and sweetcorn does that sound nice? I'm not going to give in and get a takeaway like i usually would.
Corned beef and pickle sandwich today for lunch mmmm.

Loan of mum and dad is in the bank have just paid £1500 off my halifax card:j will pay the oddments on Saturday with whats left over from my wages. (I get paid in cash very old fashioned boss) Have transfered £500 to the joint credit card. OH informed me that the APR on the joint card is not 15% as i thought but 13.9% so we are paying off his finance from his van onto the card then it is being advertised for sale. The sale of that will settle that card in full and should have enough to get him a smaller van just have to pay off mum and dad but with the saving each month with no finance and credit cards to pay that shouldnt take to long so hopefully DFD should be June/July time if not before hopefully. Then I can move on to my next challenge making overpayments on the mortgage. This site has given me so much help with how I deal with my finances its quite remarkable really in such a short amount of time.

~b~_4

Dinner sounds yummy! :T

Well done on the wii fit too, very disciplined and very mse!

Stephy13

Thanks ~b~ might chuck together some garlic mayo to go with the wedges for tea to add some flavour, low fat mayo though. I have a stone to lose to get to my ideal weight and need to tone up, ready for my imaginary holiday I'm having in the maldives (aka camping in wales with oh and the dog!!! if im lucky.

Karmacat

Stephy13 wrote: »

No running yesterday as the running club uses the sports field on a wednesday and you have to pay!!! so 30 mins on the wii fit instead. Very mse of me.

Absolutely!

Have stuck to my meal plan all week albeit in a different order than I planned but we've had all the meals I planned.

I'm sure that doesn't matter - there was a discussion on moving points around each day on Hypno's thread.
However I have no clue what to have tonight.

I have some fishfingers So.... fish fingers potato wedges peas and sweetcorn does that sound nice? I'm not going to give in and get a takeaway like i usually would.
Corned beef and pickle sandwich today for lunch mmmm.

Both sound lovely - corned beef is one of the things I miss sometimes, as a vegetarian

Loan of mum and dad is in the bank have just paid £1500 off my halifax card:j will pay the oddments on Saturday with whats left over from my wages. (I get paid in cash very old fashioned boss) Have transfered £500 to the joint credit card. OH informed me that the APR on the joint card is not 15% as i thought but 13.9% so we are paying off his finance from his van onto the card then it is being advertised for sale. The sale of that will settle that card in full and should have enough to get him a smaller van just have to pay off mum and dad but with the saving each month with no finance and credit cards to pay that shouldnt take to long so hopefully DFD should be June/July time if not before hopefully. Then I can move on to my next challenge making overpayments on the mortgage. This site has given me so much help with how I deal with my finances its quite remarkable really in such a short amount of time.

Fantastic! You sound really confident about moving the money around, well done!

Now ... back to my original question have you done an soa?

~b~_4

Yumm you're making me hungry!

And I don't know about the imaginary holiday - but the real one sounds fantastic. :T The maldives are probably over-rated anyway.

Stephy13

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars owned.................... 2

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1072
Partners monthly income after tax....... 600
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1672

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 688
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 96
Electricity............................. 25
Gas..................................... 20
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 28
Telephone (land line)................... 25
Mobile phone............................ 0
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 120
Clothing................................ 10
Petrol/diesel........................... 10 Only my car as OH business pays for
Road tax................................ 12 his motoring costs
Car Insurance........................... 24
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 5
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 5
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 7
Buildings insurance..................... 7
Contents insurance...................... 7
Life assurance ......................... 25
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 50
Total monthly expenses.................. 1176


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 139000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 0
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 139000


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 120000...(688)......4.1
Total secured & HP debts...... 120000....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Bank of Mum and Dad............2000......100.......0
Credit Card....................5000......200.......13.9
Total unsecured debts..........7000......300.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,672
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,176
Available for debt repayments........... 496
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 300
Amount left after debt repayments....... 196

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 139,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -120,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -7,000
Net Assets.............................. 12,000

Created using the SOA calculator at https://www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using other browser.


Don't think i've missed anything this time but please feel free to comment if I have.

Karmacat

Okay, thats really good, Stephy! On looking through it, it looks pretty well pared down. These are just what comes up in going through it:
- are there any benefits you're entitled to, or reductions in council tax etc?
- 4.1% on the mortgage is better than some, but is there any way some percentage points can be shaved?
- what about getting a lodger in, depending on where you live it could even be somebody who just wants a crashpad Monday to Friday?
- grocery looks really good to me - you have vet insurance, does the petfood come out of grocery money?
- life insurance ... is that covering the mortgage?

I really can't see anything where I can use this smiley :eek::eek::eek: so, you're doing brilliantly :rotfl:


Okay, now you have £196 left over, according to the budget. Do you actually have that left over or not? The thing to do (erm,whether you have it left over or not, sorry, I'm a bit knackered and getting things out of order,maybe ) is to start a spending diary. Just for a couple of weeks, even, but just some paper stapled together, or a little notebook. In it, you write down everything that you spend - what we find is that spends are quite a bit different from budget. For instance, you've got zero for entertainment - but maybe you rent a dvd once a month? What budget does that come out of? Its to highlight that kind of thing - you have more knowledge of what you're actually spending on, and so you potentially have more control.

And the other thing to do is look at boosting your income. I can see from your sig that you've started - you're doing amazon, aren't you? Surveys, mystery shopping, amazon sales, Tesco points, nectar points, mucking about with boots points too - anything to either bring money in, or make the money you have stretch further. For instance, I bought 2 x No 7 gubbins for my sister, they were each £7.50, but for each one I used a £5 off voucher, so I got a shop price of £15 and actually spent £5. Sorry if I'm teaching you to suck eggs here, but there are so many ways to pull in a couple of hundred pounds a month, with a bit of practice, and thats a big percentage of your income.... check out the Up Your Income board.

Good on you!

Stephy13

Morning!!!

- Not entitled to any benefits under 25 so not eligible apparently!
- House is only a two bed with the second room is a cupboard really. Plus this is OH office.
- Pet food!!! ooopppss missed that one that is £10 a month
- Life insurance is critical illness as well and covers the mortgage.

The £176 left over i will overpay onto the card/loan to mum and dad with whats been left over before thats what i've been doing. Some times OH plays rugby for the local club thats £5 per play but its a bit hit and miss when they get a game. I dont go out at all anymore have had some confindence issues so stay at home as much as I can with my dog. I read a lot but I grab a £1 book from asda every now and then.

I use onepoll cashback and get daily clicks thats how I got the amazon voucher but this month im opting for money instead. I'll look at boots points good idea thanks Karmacat.

Karmacat

You might also want to look at bingoport - I'm not sure right now, but you used to be able to get amazon vouchers, for posting not just for playing - you have to play bingo with the points that you get for posting, and you can only post ten times a day - but if you leave it running in the background while you're doing your clicks, its okay. When I did it, you didn't need to deposit any money, and I don't *think* thats changed.