Must Try Harder

dancingwedger

I’ve been lurking on this site for years. I even joined back in December 08, created myself a wee signature and did nothing except nosy at other people’s posts/situations. I created a budget planner, started to pay off my credit cards and then really lost my way. In fact I went a full 360 and am pretty much worse off than way back then despite telling myself I was sorting stuff out.

My signature back in Dec 08 read, ‘debt free and business owner wannabe, present debt: 4057.61, debt free date May 2009. I just about wet myself today when I read it, what a cracking job of doing absolutely nothing about my financial situation. In a year and a half of apparently trying i've actually increased my debt.:mad:

I think I kid myself on, I live a pretty good life, I live in a big house with my long term partner and my dog, have been on two amazing holidays this year already, own a car, eat out (occasionally) and afford my lifestyle but none of it within my actual budget. I’m not a stupid girl, I earn a decent amount of money but with such an emphasis on trying to get rid of what c/c debt I have, I pay too much onto the cards and therefore leave myself short at the end of the month with no option but to spend on them again. Smart huh!

So this post is just to introduce myself I suppose. To try and stop pretending I’m coping, coz I’m not really. A couple of the challenges I’ve tried and still trying are the £2 coin challenge, not buying any products until I’ve used the ones I’ve got, grown your own veg (won’t really come to fruition until next year) and batch cooking/lunches.
So as my high school teacher would say, ‘must try harder’ and hopefully by being a bit more involved I’ll be able to make a bit of a dent in these annoying figures.

Looking forward to meeting more of you……

looktothefuture

Welcome back dancingwedger! Stick up your SOA and lets begin!

I signed up 3 months after you in the same year with £12931 debt... and am very proud to say my sig now tells a much different tale!

trixiepix

A bit like yourself i lurked for a while then hooked up with a diary just this week, so far everyone has been amazing and i'm truly excited about shaking my c/c debts (not quite sure how i can get excited about not spending, i think i must have been struck by lightening on Monday when the weather was rubbish)

Anyway, welcome and good luck!

xx

looktothefuture

Trix... scarily my other nickname on forums is TrixiePixie! Are you my twin? LOL!

dancingwedger

Thanks all, you guys really don't hang around do you. Got a wee lump in my throat when I saw I had had a couple of messages already. Must be getting soft in my old age. I have a question about those SOA things.....i live a share financial responsibilities for our house and all associated costs but we still very much have our own bank accs and own money if you get what I mean....so do I just fill in the SOA for my half of the costs and half of the value of the assets etc....not sure if this makes sense?

looktothefuture

I did mine with only my share of the outgoings in our house (was pretty easy because I pay for pretty much everything!) but they do say that you should do a shared SOA with all associated costs to get a clearer picture.

It's purely up to you though.

dancingwedger

I think i've done this right. I've included my partners bits and bobs but none of the debt is his. He's actually really good with money....i was hoping his gift would rub off on me at some point...here's hoping!



Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1440
Partners monthly income after tax....... 2360
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 3800

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 668
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 156
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 156
Electricity............................. 48.5
Gas..................................... 48.5
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 28.64
Mobile phone............................ 25
TV Licence.............................. 12.12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 150
Clothing................................ 50
Petrol/diesel........................... 80
Road tax................................ 20
Car Insurance........................... 20.55
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 20
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 30
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 30
Buildings insurance..................... 25.85
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 10.24
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 20
Haircuts................................ 30
Entertainment........................... 100
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1729.4


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 175000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 1500
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 176500


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 123640...(668)......4.9
Secured Debt.................. 7461.....(156)......0
Total secured & HP debts...... 131101....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Halifax c/c....................4000......0.........6.9
Tesco c/c......................465.74....45........16.9
Goldfish c/c...................1006.28...98........16.9
Total unsecured debts..........5472.02...143.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 3,800
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,729.4
Available for debt repayments........... 2,070.6
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 143
Amount left after debt repayments....... 1,927.6

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 176,500
Total HP & Secured debt................. -131,101
Total Unsecured debt.................... -5,472.02
Net Assets.............................. 39,926.98


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persian_star

Hi dancingwedger!

Being in debt sucks, eh? Can I be cheeky and ask, as your partner earns more than you, do you share the bills equally? If you do, they will be able to afford a more expensive lifestyle, so no wonder you're struggling to keep up. Maybe sit down and have a chat about your need to cut back for a while, because while they're enjoying life, you're struggling (I'm not meaning to sound like your partner is being mean, but maybe just doesn't realise you can't afford everything they can?)

With the cc's, I had the same issue, I would overspend paying off my CC debt each month, then have to use them to keep up with living expenses, so I can totally empathise. What really helped me was putting together a spreadsheet of every tiny incoming and outgoing amount, so i knew exactly what I could afford each month, and linked it to another sheet with my results from here: http://www.whatsthecost.com/snowball.aspx which gave me a reasonable timescale for how long it would take me to clear my debts without getting into more along the way. It's tough, don't get me wrong, but when I started back in October my hubby and I had 25K of debt, and by really working at it and cutting out all unnecessary spending, as you can see from my sig, we're getting there, and it's so exciting to watch that debt disappear!

Best of luck, you can do it

isy1011

Im confused. Where is the £1927 surplus going then? You say you are paying off cc's then leaving yourself short. Paying this amount you would have them paid off in 3 months.

Does that mean then that you havent got tabs on your spending and really you havent got that amount left at all. In which case you need a spending diary.

podperson

Since your soa shows a big surplus are you actually seeing this, or since you and your partner have separate bank accounts is it mainly his money? Is he aware of your debts and if so is he prepared to help you out - as if the surplus is correct then with both of you on it then you could get clear relatively fast.

romylou_2

Hi Dancing wedger, I think you are very brave. I really want to tackle my debts and do keep a spreadsheet on my computer which is very helpful. These dreaded CC's are like a noose around my neck that I just can't get rid of. When I got married 2 years ago and we bought a house together, I vowed to have no credit card debts - or debts of any kind for that matter within a year. How wrong I was!!! I think im doomed when it comes to being debt free. I had no idea how difficult it would be. Now I know!! haha.