£7k in 7 months...I hope!

jtr2803

Hi all,

If you have just stumbled across my thread then you may wish you never had, for this is going to be an exceptionally long first post! Why not go and make yourself a cup of tea, grab some biscuits (preferably of the chocolate variety) and settle down for a bit? :rotfl:I am going to try and break this down into bite size chunks to avoid reader overload and hopefully things will make more sense as I have some odd circumstances. This whole post may end up reading something like a GCSE science answer but I will be impressed if it does as I can assure it's some years since I did GCSE science!

About Me:

I am Jody/Jo/J/Wiggle but have also been called some things I won't repeat . I am 28 and live with my lovely OH, we have been together for two years next month but actually met in April 2007, it took far too long for us to get together due to his circumstances (that's another long story) and we didn't speak for a year before fate somehow decided we should just get on with it and voila...we became a couple .

I fell pregnant at 18, got married at 19 and was living back with my mum at age 20 - obviously there is more to it then that but let's make a long story short for once! I then spent four and a half years with a complete moron (that's the nicest way of putting it) who did some awful things, destroyed my confidence, got himself into 50K of debt and managed to drag me down with him. Fortunately we split up in August 2006. That same year I had been working at a local DVLA office for three odd years when I got a call out of the blue from an agency I had forgotten I even registered with asking me if I would be interested in a trainee accountant job? I had previously worked in accounts and had started some formal accountancy training so they thought I fitted the bill. I agreed to go for an interview and was subsequently offered the job :T. Upside was that the company would pay for my accountancy training and I would be able to work my way up as the job was within their Head Office. Downside was it meant an initial £2k paycut from my current salary and also travelling costs as it was a 40 minute drive and I was able to walk to my current job.

After some real soul searching and believing that I had a real opportunity to better my life I took the job. I already knew that I was in some serious financial trouble, I had a £15k car on finance that I should never have got, I had a couple of loans that were got to spend on modified cars and credit cards that I had literally just bought 'stuff' with - I had no physical assets to show for the thousands that I had spent . Some of the money had gone to my then boyfriend as he had been made redundant and was in serious money trouble, he eventually went to Payplan who advised him to go for an IVA, I didnt know the extent of his debt until that point (£50k). Knowing I was about to take the paycut I approcahed payplan and I have to say they were great at getting me on board with a DMP and writing to all of my creditors - this was all going on as I started my new job so I really was turning over a new leaf. Then me and the Ex split up - HOORAH :j.

OH and I got our own rented place last March but my daughter wanted to stay with her nan which was difficult as it wasn't what I wanted but it would be unfair of me to make her move. My mum has always childminded my daughter and works at her school so they spend a huge amount of time together and they are as close as mother and daughter so I can understand why she didn't want to leave.

I keep Marine Fish - it's an expensive hobby but I love it, I always wanted to be a marine biologist so this fits in well with that and that's the reason I learnt to dive!

My Personality

I think that this part is important as I think the type of person you are makes a big impact on how you see your debt and how you treat it so I shall summarise some of my traits below:

• I am generous - I like to make sure everyone is thoroughly spoilt at Christmas and birthdays - bound to account for a significant part of my debt.
• I am obsessive - I can find something I like and then be consumed by it so quickly before the bubble bursts and I lose interest.
• I am impulsive - If I want something, I want it and I will get it whatever the cost (hence the debt) and I generally want in NOW.
• I am competitive - along the lines of keeping up with the Jones', I always want to have the best holidays/cars (not always possible now but accounts for part of debt)
• I have low self confidence - suffered with Psoriasis all my life so tried to boost my confidence by having nice clothes/fast car etc.
• I am ambitious - I want to have a nice house, I want to go to nice places and do well in life.
• I am impatient - ties in with many of the above, I have good ideas and good plans but when they don't come to fruition quickly I lose hope and give up - goes for saving/losing weight etc.
• I am disorganised - I make lists and know what I need to do but never get round to doing it!

My Financial Position

Ok, so debt at start of my DMP was a smidge over £17k plus the car on finance (by this point I had already got rid of the £15k car and got a £5k one so the term and amount of finance was much less). I originally started paying £186.09 a month and have slowly increased that to my current payment of £234.50 although Payplan are trying to contact me for my annual review so I guess I need to increase it a little again. My current outstanding balance is: £7,377.08 and I have a proposed DFD of January 2013.

The very sad and frustrating part is that on so many occasions I have been so close to being able to pay large chunks or all of my debt off but I have been weak and ended up using the money for other things. I am lucky to have recieved some generous year end bonuses (I mean a few thousand) and I've just used them for surviving month to month because I can't keep a reign on my spending, I've been to Cuba and Egypt when I should have paid off debts and the rest has gone on things like car maintenance/insurance/tax etc and god knows where else! Fortuntately I haven't got myself into any further debt because I can't and the DMP has been working well. I have managed to make some progress other than increasing the monthly payments - I paid off a small debt that Cabot were dealing with in March, so that has come off the outstanding balance. I have also stopped myself from trying to have the best of everything and have managed to almost halve my phone contract which should allow me to increase the payment to Payplan.

This brings me on to my next topic:

Goals & Plans

I want to pay off my debt this year so I can start 2011 debt free. I also really want to get married, sounds odd because we aren't engaged yet but have banded around 2012 as a possibility but there is no way I can even afford to consider it at the moment and I wouldn't want to get married with debt hanging over my head anyway. I want to take my daughter on a lovely holiday somewhere nice, I have booked Centre Parcs for 4 days next year which is a start but I would love to take her to Orlando or something similar. I want to lose about 3 stone, my weight has been creeping up for some time and I am not happy with it. I also NEED to stop smoking to get the health benefit and financial benefit. I want to spend more time with my daughter and have more money for fun days out - something really lacking at the moment. I want to travel more - New York, Maldives, Cuba again, maybe Mexico.

The question is how am I going to do all of this and in such a short space of time? Well.............currently I do the free daily scratchie, I do surveys with VO which I normally take in Amazon Vouchers for birthdays and Xmas, I collect mine and OH's small change (have about £20) at the moment, I put 50p's in my thrift box towards Car tax and Xmas but I have ebayed almost everything of any value . I also did a lot of mystery shopping last year but I found the amount of time it took hard work and I am still studying as I have 2 exams next month and another 9 to go after that which must take priority.

If I can get proper control of my spending, make the most of meal planning and other small things I should be able to put a tidy amount of money away each month, it wont be a huge amount but it is do-able, I also get a year end bonus although how much it will be is unknown at the moment as our company is going through some tough times. I have calculated that if I up my payment to Payplan to £244.50 a month my balance at the end of this year will be around £5,665.58. A large chunk of this is with Cabot and they have already offered me a good deal for early settlement so the balance can be reduced in light of this. Unfortunately the other two big debts are with Egg and they may not take a reduced offer! A big key to this is the year end bonus but as I wont know until Nov/Dec what this is I need to get my act togther to try and have enough set aside that it may still be possible to clear it all.

I NEED YOUR HELP! I need to be kept on the straight and narrow and I have read so many diaries (Dinah93, Taxi, Hypno, InaPickle, Karen30) that I may not have posted on but you have all been an inspiration and I know it can be done, I just need to the willpower and organisation to stick to it.

This will be a lot to take in for a first post but I am hoping that anyone reading may feel like they 'know' me and understand my situation somewhat and what I am trying to achieve. I will post an SOA and some analysis of my spending shortly for advice and review but I know it will be a hard road...fingers crossed.

Thanks for reading

Jody

hypno06

Well, first things first, I had no biscuits so read your post whilst scoffing a white magnum......hope that's allowed. Tough if not

Obviously, you are on the right path, and the debt is coming down nicely but it seems as though you lack a bit of focus along the way at times. I would def suggest not only posting on your own diary, but post on some others too - engage in the DFW life and you will automatically find yourself more focused on what you are doing, even if you are on someone else's diary!

Well, it has worked for me, anyway!

Enjoy the ride

jtr2803

Hi Hypno, thanks for popping in! The white magnum is most definately allowed but I am insanely jealous as I know just how good they are! :rotfl:

I totally agree on the lack of focus, I think it's part of my impatience, I want to see a result almost instantly even when I know it's a marathon and not a sprint which is my biggest downfall. I am trying to remind myself that I might only need to do it for the best part of seven months which isn't a long time and if it means I can start next year debt free then it would be worth it a million times over.

I will try and get myself involved in some other diaries, I just find sometimes that they move so fast I lose track quickly if I can't get on everyday but will make a concerted effort .

Just about to do the SOA for posting and the shocking analysis of my last month's spending.............be afraid............be very afraid!

jtr2803

OK as I said earlier here is my SOA, I will make some notes on it to help explain things but here is a quick rundown.

OH and I live together but due to my financial circumstances the tenancy agreement is in his name, due to my debt we do not have a joint bank account, we simply worked out a rough amount for our household bills and I pay £400 into his account every month and I pay for the TV/Broadband Phone and TV Licence as well. We then go halves on food shopping. He then pays from his bank - Rent, Council Tax, Electric etc.

Just to note our rent is £635 a month and out council tax is a whopping £144 a month (our 2 bed flat is band D!).

Here is my SOA:

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household.........
Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1541.66
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1541.66

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 400
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 0
Electricity............................. 0
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 20
TV Licence.............................. 12.72
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 41 This is phone/TV/Internet
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 100 Um, we eat a lot and spend this each!
Clothing................................ 0 Can't remember last time I bought clothes
Petrol/diesel........................... 100 No public transport to my place of work
Road tax................................ 0 Always comes out of year end bonus
Car Insurance........................... 30.35
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0 Have never budgeted for this!
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 350 To pay for everything for daughter.
Other child related expenses............ 15 Long term trust fund for daughter.
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0 I paid this annually in March
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0 Bought as and when
Haircuts................................ 0 OH paid for my birthday but I don't get it done regularly
Entertainment........................... 0 We rarely go out (honest)
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1069.07


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 1200
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 1200

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Payplan........................7377.08...234.5.....0
Total unsecured debts..........7377.08...234.5.....-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,541.66
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,069.07
Available for debt repayments........... 472.59
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 234.5
Amount left after debt repayments....... 238.09

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 1,200
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -7,377.08
Net Assets.............................. -6,177.08

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

So that is basically it, my notes on the SOA are in red to try and clear up any confusion.

jtr2803

Ok so looking at the above things don't look too bad. Obviously the £350 I give my mum is a huge figure but I don't think it can change, my mum is also on a DMP and she is there for Lauren constantly - takes her to school, picks her up, has her in the holidays, buys majority of her clothes, buys her food, pays for afterschool clubs etc so I don't think I want to try and jeopardise her being able to do this.

I have thought about cancelling the endowment savings plan for my daughter, I am paying £15 a month for a term of 15 odd years but with the economy it isn't doing very well, it would earn more in a high street savings account or ISA! My mum has said to cancel it and use the money towards my debt as Lauren doesn't want for anything and hopefully by the time she is 21 (which is when the plan is due to mature) my situation will be as such that money wont be an issue so I can still give her a monetary gift but the idea of doing this makes me feel bad.

When I knew I was going to post this diary I started looking at my spending over the last two months to get an idea of where the money was going and where I could cut back. This month I earnt an additional £300 from selling things but I have £0 in the bank - it's all gone!! So I am trying to figure out where............

In the last month I have spent this:

£96.09 on present stockpiling - it's OH birthday next month, my mums in July, my daughters in August and my brothers in September EEK! This all came from the grabbit board and is toiletries, computer games etc.

£164.56 on fish related items - salt, filter material, food and an LED light. This is all pretty uncommon stuff to buy and apart from the food will last quite a while.

£71 on 'other' items - Postage for ebay stuff, a takeaway etc etc.

There is obviously spends I can't account for that have been paid for cash - I am so lax at keeping a record of this, even when I try! I tend to pick up treats when I get petrol or buy chocolate at work and I know all the little things add up. MUST, MUST, MUST start a proper spending diary from upcoming payday.

Some pressing issues are a) I have a rotten cold and am almost totally deaf and am bunged up with snot, very attractive! b) my car is overdue a service by about two months and I know it really needs doing c) I have a balance to pay of £125 on the centre parcs trip which is due in Nov so I need to factor this in.

On a more positive note we have had a lovely afternoon at a pub on the river, it was gorgeously sunny and OH paid for all my drinks so it was totally free and hopefully some sun and fresh air will help shift this cold!

jtr2803

Well my hoping for the sun = cold going was well and truly blown away today when I woke up at 7am with a pounding head and wheezing my little socks off :mad:, I am pretty sure I felt worse today then I did yesterday. Just hoping I feel better tomorrow as I am on the last day of a 3 day law revision course and it needs to sink in! It also sounds like OH is getting the start of it which is bad news as he is the designated chef and I really need to start evening exam revision which will be harder if I have to cook as well (and obviously I don't want him to be ill because I love him - thought I should add that!)

Decided to paint my nails a lovely hot iridescent pink today, up until three years ago I bit my nails constantly so to have nails to paint is quite a feat in itself :T. I'm not very good at it thought and normally spend double the time it took to paint my nails trying to clean the polish off my hands/face/clothing :eek: I might even get some of those sticky transfer patterns, I used to get tips and designs done profesionally but it costs quite a bit to maintain them and where I always have my hands in the fish tank they only used to last a week and I couldn't afford to keep it up but I do like having nice nails, it's about the only 'girlie' bit of me there is!

Have planned to visit Asda for food shopping on Tuesday which is when I get paid, rather than doing my usual just go and browse I have written a vert definitive list of what we want and need which should help keep the cost down providing I don't get tempted by lots of offers while I am there. I normally shop at tesco but I had a look on my supermarket last night and typed in a few of the items I needed and it looked as though Asda might be cheaper. I haven't done a set meal plan as such but I have made sure there is enough and a big enough variety of dinner options for about ten days. OH offered to give me £60 so I could get a big shop but I don't think we should need to if I stick to the list. I think we waste quite a bit of fridge food but we do tend to use everything in the freezer.

On a positive note I counted my change and I had £20 in a mixture of 20p's, 10p's and 5p's and I am sure I have about another £10 in coppers but I am not going to change it up yet for fear of spending it, it can stay in it's small denomination state until I have paid the centreparcs trip off or I need to pay it off - whichever comes sooner! Not sure if I mentioned in one of my longgggg earlier posts but the trip is also a Christmas present for my daughter and my mum if she can get the time off work which means I wont have so much to fork out for come December. :j

Want_to_be_free

I am sold.:hello:
I will be reading your diary regularly- we are pretty much similar in mind hence see my diary; as long as yours and calculations are to the last penny...I can see the accountancy training is coming handy here.

Good luck , I am looking forward to your next post

jtr2803

Hi WTBF, thanks for saying hello! I have just read your diary and am about to pop over with some hugs and possible advice

The Accountany training does come in handy although maybe I could have done with it about 4 years earlier to have saved me from this situation all together!! On the rare occasions I have to speak to my creditors now and they ask what I do I almost want to lie as I am sure I have heard them snigger in the background

I also noted you are South East, I am too although I realised it doesn't actually say that on my info!

OH is definately coming down with what I have got, he has the sore throat and is sneezing - DOH!

jtr2803

Well wasn't it a scorcher today! FINALLY finished the law revision course but have some serious study to do - need to memorise cases that set judicial precedent, eek! It was probably one of the most interesting I have done though so I hope I can pass

Today wasn't very MSE at all, I managed to get OH to drop me off just by the college but popped into the shop to pick up 10 ciggies, a bottle of Lucozade (I really needed the energy) and a cereal bar for break time snack. I hadn't bought any cigs over the weekend so buying 10 today isn't too bad I guess......... Then for lunch I was hoping to meet my boss, who was also on a course so went to the bar/restaurant next door to the study place where he said he would join me, £6.45 for a panini and a coke! :eek: It was good and came with free chips but that was a tenner gone already!

OH has full blown snot fest and get very tetchy when he is ill. Didn't help today that he was stuck in the van driving around and it has no air con so he got hot and bothered too. He was good enough to pick me up after college though to save my poorly chest the excitement of the mile long hill home. En route to home we stopped to get some pop as we are totally out so I end up buying 2 lots of Lemonade, a Snickers (for him), a choc orange bar for me and paracetamol and some tobacco for us both. I can't remember how much it came to but it must have been about £6.50 again so that's almost £20 GONE! Now I see why the spending diaries help so much, it is so easy to spend without thinking.

Fortunately this was out of £40 that my mum kindly gave me for no apparent reason last friday, bless. Still have the £20 note and back to work tomorrow which will help with small spending. I will have to buy lunch at work tomorrow as I'm not going food shopping until tomorrow night (and it's going to be a big one!) but that will be £2 for lunch and a pudding. Also have my little note pad ready for the spending diary, a whole 19p from Asda in true MSE style. :T

On a serperate note I am struggling with my little fish tank, I normally run it at 25/26 degrees but with this heat it has gone up to 29 which is a bit worrying as a lot of corals don't tolerate big temperature changes. I have put some ice cubes in a sealed Lucozade bottle (the one I bought earlier ) and floated it in the tank for now but I will change some water later with new stuff that's been mixing in the spare room - it will be a few degrees cooler so that might help.

J

jtr2803

Well OH settled down to watch the match so I played domestic goddess for about 20 minutes which is the about the longest period of time that I can hold an interest in chores! Two lots of washing up done, dry washing seperated and put away, another load of washing done and on dryer, hob cleaned off and a million empty pill packets binned :T

Completely forgot that I had intended to go to the bank and up my Payplan DD today so will have to try and squeeze that in during the week although I did get 20p on the daily scratchie today :rotfl:I currently have over £100 in various stages of tracking/payment with Quidco but I have no idea when I will get it.

Just re written the shopping list putting everything into sections based on where they are in the aisles - very sad but might help me avoid temptation! Will be impressed if the shopping comes in at under the £60 mark but I will update tomorrow.

Decided to change my sky DD date last week as it was coming out the day before payday which is always a bit risky but they said it wouldnt change till next month, this was fine as it basically meant not paying for a month due to the change in dates but it was due to come out today and the money is still sitting in my account, hmmmm?

jtr2803

Good morning to anyone who is reading :j

Had my first proper nights sleep in over a week last night which I desperately needed although the cold is still lingering! Had a big of a 'deflated' evening as I was pondering the buying a house, wanting a new car (that will probably change to needing a new car within two years) and just quite how we were going to manage it all so I surprised I slept! Was convinced the car needed petrol first thing this morning but it didn't, my daily journey costs about £5 so that knocks a few pounds off what I need to spend this month already :rotfl:

First day back in the office today and desk in covered with bits of paper and the voicemail light on the phone is flashing - oh the joy!

On a brigther note - PAYDAY! Although I did notice that my pay is about £5 less than on my SOA, oops . Just about to go and do the scratchy for today.

Have fun!