Operation Sort Stuff Out

Smilerwoman

Hi moneysavers,

I've just rejoined MSE after a few months hiatus - the reasons are in the post in Debt Free Wannabe board (as a new user, I'm not allowed to use links).

I'm feeling a bit fragile about this, particularly because I was doing so well prior to leaving MSE. But, I've decided that my debt isn't going to go away unless I DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT.:T

In fact, this is part of a radical overhaul of my entire life. I've spent most of the last year moaning and in a general mood of boo. :mad: But now I'm taking charge, taking control and Operation Sort Stuff Out is thoroughly underway.

Right, so here's the financial situation: I'm £4,736 in debt. This is made up of £3,836 on a 0% interest Barclaycard, £200 on an interest free student overdraft, £300 on a Natwest credit card and £400 loan. This was for a car, and I'm getting it down slowly but surely. I'm currently just servicing all these debts at the minute, but I want to get rid of them forever.

So what am I going to do about it?

Well, as Operation Sort Stuff Out gathers momentum, I'll be able to think a bit clearer. A lot of it is connected to my rather rubbish job, which I've now decided I hate after a year and a half of loving it and a year and a half of feeling rather indifferent. I'm on a proper mission to get a new job, but it's taking rather longer than I expected. I'll go into that later.

Financially though, I need to sort this out. When I was on MSE the first time, I was doing really really well. I was averaging about 10-13 NSD a month. I sold most of my stuff on ebay and Amazon and I was really making some inroads. I noticed how much rubbish I was spending and I really cut it down. Things were good. So naturally, I want to get back on that bandwagon.

I've also got the problem of having more debt but significantly less money than before. I moved house (an extra £100 a month), I lost perks at work, due to the 'credit crunch' (£50 a month). My boss also brought in a new rule that we weren't allowed to do any extra freelance work (I was making about £100 every couple of months, and that went a long way towards sorting it out).

So, that's where I am. I desperately want to sort this out. I really know I can do it, but am after any advice at all that people have to help me out.

Operation Sort Stuff Out starts today.:j

Smilerwoman

OK, so I redid 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................ 1100
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1100

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 300
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 60
Electricity............................. 15
Gas..................................... 15
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 15
Telephone (land line)................... 5
Mobile phone............................ 20
TV Licence.............................. 5
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 25
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 100
Clothing................................ 10
Petrol/diesel........................... 20
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 35
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 60
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 5
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 10
Haircuts................................ 20
Entertainment........................... 50
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 770


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 600
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 600

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Barclaycard....................3836......88........0
Overdraft......................200.......0.........0
Natwest........................300.......15........10
Total unsecured debts..........4336......103.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,100
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 770
Available for debt repayments........... 330
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 103
Amount left after debt repayments....... 227

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 600
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -4,336
Net Assets.............................. -3,736

Created using the SOA calculator at MakeSenseOfCards
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using Firefox browser.

A couple of things I want to clarify. My MOT is probably going to cost around £300, in September, though I haven't included that.

I could probably trim money off my grocery bill - I like to eat well - and my entertainment budget. We've had a lot of redundancies in work (who hasn't) so I've been spending A LOT on leaving presents/parties. Also, I couldn't separate it, but we pay £60 a month to Virgin for the phone, the telly and the interweb. Split between me and my other half, it's £30.

So I suppose it's beans on toast from now on, with no XL telly package, and soft drinks at leaving dos! :beer:

Primula

Welcome back to the world of MSE and good luck!

Smilerwoman

I'm listening to Monty Python this morning and trying to do what they tell me - looking on the bright side! :j

Yesterday was my first day back on the money saving wagon, and I had a no spend day. I'm aiming for another one today, as long as I've got enough stuff in for tea.

Operation Sort Stuff Out (I might trademark that ) was really prompted, not by my financial situation, but by the rest of my life. I'm having a really tough time at the minute in my job. The long and short of it is that I'm sort of suffering from bullying. It's pretty difficult.

I have a brilliant education, and lots of great qualifications, but I always wanted to go into this particular field - my whole teenage life was dedicated to it. So anyway, I trained, did really well and now am stuck in this job. It's difficult to get out of - 1)I've got specialist training that doesn't look like I can do much else 2) Obviously I've got transferable skills, particularly in other industries, but admin jobs and other careers that I could do are saturated by the amount of people out of work, so I'm not getting much of a look in.

Having said that, I am getting interviews and repeatedly get down to the last 2 or 3 candidates. So, it's not great.

I'm still on the job hunt, but lately I've been thinking about retraining, getting a totally different qualification. Naturally, that costs money, so I'm not really sure that's what I want to do. But it made me think about the situation I'm in and I've decided I'm going to DO something about the debt I'm in. Yay.

Sorry to be so boring and to spill my guts here, but I'm hoping that I can stay motivated to get rid of all my debt and to sort out my life.

mummytogirls

Hi Smilerwoman, well done on getting back on the wagon :T.

You will be debt free in no time at all :j

beanielou

The first step on your journey to debt freedom

Smilerwoman

Day three of being a debt-buster is now underway.

Monday and Tuesday were no spend days, which I'm really pleased with, and I'm hoping for one tomorrow as well. Had to spend a little bit on shopping today, but I'm ok with that.

Found out that I get my small inflationary pay rise this month, backdated to April, which means I should expect around £100 extra, woo. That'll help me out a lot.

Secondly, I had a bit of a clear out last night and found a scratchcard with £1 winnings on it! I took it down to the shop this morning and rather than just get another one, or play the Lotto with it, I decided to keep the £1. It's going in my holiday jar.

Also, I found a really really old cheque book from an account I had when I first went to university. I called up the bank, and realised I had £1.43 left in it. Woo again.

It sounds silly, but when I thought I had no more chance of getting any more money, suddenly three things happen where I find there is more money eg the scratchcard, the pay rise and the cheque book.

Of course, two of those are ridiculously small, but I'm taking it as a triumph.

However, I went to the JobCentre today. What a vile vile place. The woman on the desk was so rude. Basically, if you aren't out of work, they won't do anything to help you.

Still, lots of positives to take from the last few days. Let's hope today can continue that trend.

Smilerwoman

Positive positive. That's how I'm trying to train myself to think.

Aiming for my third no spend day this week today - spent a bit yesterday, but it was in my budget. Still, probably could've done without the bottle of wine .

Still getting incredibly peed off applying for jobs. Going to go on the jobs board to see if anyone has any tips. Got rejected for three jobs this morning. That's challenging my good mood.

But I'm trying to remain positive and remember why the hell I'm doing this. :j

Smilerwoman

Some good music has got me dancing round feeling good today! :beer:

Spent a bit this morning, but after 3 NSD this week, I'm feeling good and I'm under-budget (did not think that would happen!)

Usually Friday night is our takeaway night, so rather than spending a fortune at the chippy, I bought one of those Chinese takeaway things from Tesco. £6 for two main meals, which I thought was quite good. Probably not a massive saving, but I feel it's not too bad. Plus I still have some wine left from Weds, so that'll cheer up my Friday night.

Hopefully I can come in under budget this weekend (big Tesco food shop tomorrow). We've been trying to trim it down anyway, but this week we're out of washing powder, so eek. Still, I'll down-brand and we've got some coppers to cash in on those machines you see in supermarkets. Hopefully that'll be a couple of quid off.

Tell you what though, am I glad it's Friday!!!!

Smilerwoman

Hello debt-busters,

I'm doing ok today. Having a nice cheap lunch, having been to Tesco and spent just £1 over my budget.

Got loads of good offers in Tesco, and lots of reduced items too. I down-branded and actually got lots more than I needed to, but it's stuff that'll last, like shower gel etc etc.

And got the three-for-£10 on the meat. We probably will only use two, but we'll freeze the chicken and have it next week (chicken soup afterwards as well). So lots of things to feel chirpy about.

I'm feeling a little bit annoyed with myself though, for not staying on the wagon. I sort of can't help wondering how much I could have paid off my debt and saved for that holiday if I'd actually been sensible.

I suppose it's made it even harder to readjust, to thinking about what to put in my trolley. I'm really peeved with myself actually. :mad:

Smilerwoman

Operation Sort Stuff Out is doing ok so far.

Today I'm aiming for a NSD, and if it works out, it'll be number 4 this week. I'm v excited and hopeful.

Last night, for tea we had reduced price sausages, mash from potatoes which were about to go off, and cranberry gravy from a jar of cranberry sauce I had in the cupboard.

So often, I forget to use up ingredients that I already have, so that I either waste them and have to throw them out, or buy more stuff. So I'm training myself to think creatively.

Today's plan, aside from all the boring housework, is to do an inventory of the cupboards and the freezer, to see what's in there. Hopefully, I'll find stuff I forgot I had, and won't need to spend extras when I need cupboard type stuff.

Also, the second arm of Operation Sort Stuff Out is going ok too. I've decided not to apply for as many admin jobs and apply instead for jobs that match my skill base. The market is saturated, and I'm going to struggle, but I think I've realised what I have to do.

It's not easy though. Not easy at all.