HP is on the UP!

humblepii

Ok. Having hovered around the edges for a few weeks, I'm biting the bullet and starting this diary to keep me on the straight and narrow.

I'm going to come clean from the off and say that I have just over £4k on cards and more than that in savings. BUT for these reasons I do not want to pay off the cards with the savings:

1. The savings are actually an inheritance from my grandfather, and I feel quite emotionally attached to them.

2. These savings were a lot more than they are now. They've dwindled for various reasons (lost job, end of marriage) but one reason is that some have been used to pay off cards before, which was far too easy, and the cards just got ran up again. I need to STOP, AND COMMIT TO MAKING A LIFESTYLE CHANGE NOW. Or, before I know it, the cycle will repeat again (run up cards, pay them off) until there's nothing left.

3. All debt is on 0% BT cards, so I'm not losing out by doing this.

So, my challenge is to have this £4k debt shifted by the time I turn 29 next May. How? By cutting back to a realistic way of living. I should add that it was a £5k debt (see my signature) at my LBM (has been much higher than that previously, too :eek:) and since then I have already managed to clear a reasonable amount by cutting back and doing some juggling.

The reward? When I turn 29, debt-free, I still have my precious few £k savings as the beginnings of a house deposit (I live in London, so that won't go very far, but still...!) Live with my lovely OH, no kids and the world is our oyster.

Ok. Watch me GO!

tootallulah

Hello, your reasoning makes perfect sense to me. Good luck in paying off your cards, and hanging on to your savings.

Sessie

Hi and welcome!!

I joined quite recently, having been a long time lurker and picked up so many great ideas for cutting back and making my money stretch further from the posts on this Board.

I have a diary where you can see I've put quite a lot of them in action (*end shameless plug*) if you can be bothered to read my long rambling musings.

I totalled things up last night and I reckon I've saved about £300 plus just in the last few weeks by changing my habits - you are SO right that THAT is what you need to do. It is quite a culture shock at first but already it's becoming a habit ... to the point I actually resent spending money sometimes!!

You will find so much support on this Board (and many of the others, I go to Old Style and the Groceries/Shopping boards too for tips and info on which shops are doing deals on what) so there's nothing stopping you!!

I will indeed watch you GO!

x

humblepii

Thanks TT and Sessie for your replies and encouragement. It's so nice to hear that my reasoning is sound - being SO crap with money, it makes a really nice change to hear that I'm finally on the right track!

Sessie, love the plug - I'm going to look up your diary now. And I know what you mean about begrudging spending money. I've got three things to post from eBay at lunchtime today and even though I know the buyers have paid for the postage, it's still going to sting to have to hand over the cash at the PO. Mad, isn't it? :rotfl:

Am also sending off my old mobile phone for some cashback while I'm there. I'm only getting £5.10 for it and the 'old me' would've thought it wasn't worth the hassle... Now, I'll be excited waiting for my cheque to arrive!

humblepii

Wow. This is a pretty interesting exercise.

I should clarify that OH has never had a CC so debt repayment is all me, though he accepts that we need to get a bit smarter with our spending. We aren't financially linked but share household payments (rent, bills, council tax), obviously.

Found it difficult to average out to annual stuff, such as presents/holiday/etc - something I intend to get better at by budgeting. I certainly don't have £100s left over at the end of the month! Though am very pleased to announce that I don't expect to drop into my overdraft at the end of this month, my first full one in 'the new regime' :T

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars owned.................... 0
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1673
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1460
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 100
Total monthly income.................... 3233

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 950 – :eek: A one bed flat in central London
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 100
Electricity............................. 40
Gas..................................... 40

Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 45

Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ £110
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 22
Groceries etc. ......................... 480 – :eek::eek::eek:No Aldi/Lidl/etc accessible but no excuse – includes bought lunches and coffees daily for both of us. Know this needs to come down
Clothing................................ 100 – My OH, who is not MSEing at full tilt yet. I’ve cut this out for now
Petrol/diesel........................... 0
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 262 – Weekly TFL travelcards for London tubes/buses, plus train fares to see each of our families twice-ish a year (extortionate!!))
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 143.50 – Includes weekly sessions with a private therapist that I need to keep up right now
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 7.50
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 40
Haircuts................................ 45
Entertainment........................... 150
Holiday................................. 50
Emergency fund.......................... 0 – Know this is bad but temporary while I concentrate on paying off CCs, have savings (see below) for absolute emergencies
Total monthly expenses.................. 2579

Assets
Cash....................................9000
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 0
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 9000

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

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly.. .APR
Halifax CC.................1210.....250.......0 (BT)
Virgin CC.................2900.....50.......0 (BT)
Total unsecured debts..........4110.....300.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 3,233
Expenses (including HP & secured debts) 2,579
Available for debt repayments........... 654
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 300
Amount short for making debt repayments +354
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 9000
Total HP & Secured debt................. 0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -4110
Net Assets.............................. 4890

Should add that the minumum payment on my cards is around the £70 mark but I always allocate £300, as it's what I feel I can manage. Used to spread evenly but decided paying off the one with the smaller balance sooner would make me really happy! :cool:

jwil

Hi humblepii, well done with what you've done so far. I can understand not wanting to use the inheritance for your debt payments.

I think you can probably see for yourself the obvious things on your SOA which can be cut back - namely groceries which you should be able to halve fairly easily - even without going to the likes of aldi/lidl etc. Your mobile is quite high, can this be cut back at all? Also your travel costs, could you perhaps get a monthly/annual pass? With the trains to your families, can you book well in advance to get cheaper tickets, or even try buying a number of tickets for the journey (there is an article somewhere on here about it) where you can get cheaper tickets. For example, if I was travelling Exeter to Manchester, instead of buying a ticket all the way, it might work out cheaper to buy one from Exeter to Bristol, Bristol to Birmingham and Birmingham to Manchester - but still travelling on the same train all the way.

It might be worth starting a spending diary to see how much you are spending if you are not seeing what you've supposedly got left each month.

Good luck with it!

humblepii

Hi jwil, thanks for your input - I really appreciate it. I feel a bit sick everytime I look at that grocery figure (suppose if it puts me off my food it will be a good thing! :rotfl:)

The irony is that we spend it all on eating 'well'. My OH is a gymgoer and quite strict about his diet. But he's away for work at the min so I am commiting carbicide with a cheap dinner of jacket potato and beans and plotting becoming DF.

Longer term travelcards is an obvious and brilliant idea, as is booking travel further in advance (love the multiple ticket trick! Thank you!) I have a feeling that becoming DF is going to have a LOT to do with organisation...

I see that you keep a diary too - am coming to have a read now to see if I can pinch anymore tips! :beer:

humblepii

Oh, and as for mobile, that's non-negotiable, unfort. We're both locked into new iphone contracts. So that's another one to be worked around.

Priority 1: Groceries
Priority 2: Travel
Priority 3: Getting back on an even keel asap so I can stop seeing the therapist and free up that £140pm for CCs!

humblepii

Does anyone else feel a bit of dread about the Bank Holiday weekend now they've had their LBM? All my friends/OH always want to 'make the most of them' = £££££.

I'm getting mine off to a good start, though. OH is still away and I was supposed to have lunch with a friend, then have another friend over for dinner and drinks, but lunch friend cancelled on me because she's sick and dinner friend has to work now. So instead of looking like this:

£15 - lunch for two at Starbucks or similar (lunch friend is unemployed, so I would've wanted to pay )
+
£25 - takeaway plus x2 bottles of wine
______________
£40

...It now looks like this:

£2 - Tesco meal deal lunch
+
£0 - dinner of potatoes and beans again, all store cupboard
+
£3 - cheap bottle of red wine so I can have a glass or two anyway in front of a DVD (it IS the start of the long weekend, after all )
______________
£5

:j:j:j

humblepii

BAH! I picked up a family-sized bar of chocolate that was on the counter at the shop as I bought my wine. I'm such a sucker for that stuff :wall:

Oh, well. TGIF!

jwil

I definitely agree with you about other people always wanting to do 'stuff' - I've moaned about it a lot on my diary too

Hope you are having a good weekend anyway, and enjoy that big bar of chocolate!