The journey starts here - don't stop believing

**Kat**_2

Hi,

I am 25, married with a 2 1/2 year old son. I will attach a SOA when I find out what our exact balances are for our debt - it's a lot (including mortgage which is loads).

I want to be debt free by 40. That, I know, is a much longer time than most of you but by debt free I also mean mortgage free - our unsecured debts I want gone within 2 years.

I first got into debt at 18. I bought a car with a loan and found my bank "kindly" applied an overdraft to my account, upped my loan and gave me a credit card, all of which I should have declined but unfortunately I didn't.

I ended up having to go into a DMP (with Harrington Brooks so they took some of the ££) as I couldn't afford the repayments. Knowing the damage these do to your credit score, I thought I was being wise by paying this off with a combo of a futher advance on the mortgage and another unsecured loan with my current bank. This, however, means I am back to square one.

I would never go into another DMP as I work for a law firm (in a debt recovery team!!!) and although I don't do the legal work, I understand the process and do not want to be in that situation again.

I have read a lot of other diaries and have been totally inspired by the people on here. I have already compiled a list of all toiletires in the house which we will use up before buying more, am planning on growing my own veg next year (I have a decent sized garden), hubby and I want to quit smoking (again :rotfl:) and have started hunting for the pennies to add to a tin which we will pay against our debt on a monthly basis.

I currently have a full time AND a part time job. We can't lower our outgoings (as such) other than the shopping spend and the "I don't know where our spare money goes" issues as we already did that before deciding I needed a second job. We have agreed to keep all receipts and a diary of what we spend over the next week so we can see where our money goes. We are also planning on drawing the cash out of our account on pay day (calculated after DDs) and having a daily value we can spend. If we don't spend it, rather than carrying it over to the next day, we will put it in the debt pot. I am also hoping that we can do that excluding my second job pay which can then go directly against the debt.

Our biggest problem is we have to spend £503 a month on childcare (Cardiff is PRICEY) and there is no cheaper alternative. That is 1/2 my full time job wage so it's no wonder we are struggling.

Any suggestions would be great (prob easier when I have done the SOA) as we really want to nail this one.

**Kat**_2

PS how do you put a link to your diary on your sig?

pennywisepoundstupid

Just want to say goodluck and well done for posting.

When you have attached a SOA people will be able to give you some excellent advice.
Also when is your son 3 as you will be entitled to 15 hours free child care then.
Old style board is good for ways of slashing grocery spends etc, could you go through your food cupboards and see if you can make meals from what you have in.

**Kat**_2

Thank you pennywisepoundstupid (great name). I need to find out if we can take advantage of that as hubby and I both work in main jobs 9-5 and the school our son could go to is around 1/2 hr away from where we work and we wouldn't have anyone to take him, pick up and then drop into his private nursery. I will look into it to see if there is a provision for this as we are most definately not the only people in this dilema!

juliejim

You should be able to offset it against your private nursery fees rather than having to put him in school.

**Kat**_2

If we could that would be fantastic!

beanielou

Just wanted to say welcome to MSE & happy shiney new diary.
Keep posting!

**Kat**_2

Finally bit the bullet and found out what our debt total is. Wasn't as scary as I thought, nor did barclays (as I thought they would) shout, scream and demand their money. I need to complete an SOA now and post it up for some un-biased thoughts and some ideas to slash expenditure to pay that debt off.

**Kat**_2

I can't figure out how to get the link to do my SOA. Could someone please point me in the right direction.

Thanks

**Kat**_2

This week, hubby and I are keeping track of our spending to see where we are going wrong. Over the past two days I have spent:

Parking Monday - £4.00
Lunch Monday - £2.38 (Sandwich, can of pop, apple slices and chewing gum)
Thorntons Choc - £0.99
Loaf of Bread - £1.00
Baked Beans - £0.48 (we wanted a quick dinner)
Ciggies - £5.35 (not good)
Tuesday lunch - £3.05 (sandwich, ham and cheese croissant, apple slices, can of pop)
Parking Tuesday - £4.00

Totalling £21.25. This doesn't even include what hubby has spent - no wonder we don't know where our money goes!

Action plan to reduce daily spend:

- Park in cheaper car park (there is one for £3.50, we have to drive in when family have our son rather than nursery but it means we spend the parking money rather than £40 each day so massive saving regardless)

- Take in a packed lunch. Tesco does a meal deal for £2 which is what I get but I always end up buying the extras. I can make a sandwich and take an apple in with me for much less and drink office squash!

- We are planning to move to rollies rather than shop bought ciggies with an aim to quit from there.

- Stop going to Thorntons to see what offers are on, not only better for the purse but better for the waistline!

I will keep posting my spends (and hubby's too when I get it out of him) as I think sheer embarrassment alone will keep me on track!

**Kat**_2

Ok so got list from hubby:

Monday:

Cigs am - £2.72
Cola - £1.00
Sandwich and Pot Noodle - £2.50
Bounty - £0.50
Cigs pm - £2.72

Tue:

Painkillers - £2.00
Cola - £1.00
Cigs - £5.72
Chips/Burger - £2.65

I forgot I also spent £0.50 on the "lady machine" at work and £1 on guess the bear name (for Barnardos so good cause).

That means we have spent in total £43.56. That is RIDICULOUS I am so ashamed

£16.51 was on cigs which are BAD, £8 on parking (unavoidable) which means we practically threw away £19.05. HELP!