No Money, thats No Good! 25 October 2010 at 4:53PM in Debt free diaries 343 replies 19.5K views

.NoMoney.

I have read a large number of other peoples debt free diaries, looking for inspiration and motivation to start tackling the £19,100 of debt that I have managed to accumulate over the last 7 years and after many "I will start it tomorrow" moments I decided that I will start it, and that started over the weekend.

So, I sat down and worked out how much debt we owed and that figure above is the truth laid bare - it doesn't seem that much in comparison to others on here but to me it's a hell of a lot and one that needs to be reduced as quickly as possible.

I plan to update this on a daily basis, and hope that you guys will help me to keep motivated - today I started the long path to freedom by signing up to regular overtime at work (that nearly knocked my boss for 6) and hopefully the additional £170 per month will help make good headway into what we owe.

At the moment I don't have time to post my COA as due to pick the children up shortly, but to give you an insight, after I have paid the essentials (mortgage and insurances), loan repayments and minimum payments on the Credit Cards I am left with £100 per month. My wife (only works part time due to child care and health issues) pays all the household bills and food.

I shall try and update again tomorrow - oh, and for day 1 of the save and don't spend I only spent 20p (even managed to make my own lunch to take to work!).

saorsie

Hi .NoMoney. - and welcome to diaryland.

Well done on facing up to your challenge and starting out on your debtfree journey. £100 per month left after minimum payments is a good start and once you've posted your SOA, (it would be helpful to do a joint one with your wife to show the full situation) I'm sure there will be lots of helpful suggestions about the best way to squeeze those budgets and wrestle that 19K into submission.

Just out of interest - what did you spend 20p on today?! (yeah for taking in lunch btw - very MSE!) :money:

-s-

.NoMoney.

Saorsie - Thanks for the reply, in response to your question the 20p was for my paper. I decided that if I got one at lunch time and then sat at work to read it I wouldn't be walking around the town looking at things that scream "BUY ME". So probably 20p well spent.

It is ideal having £100 spare after all bills are paid but I do need to spend some of that surviving during the month - I am attempting to budget £10 a week maximum so there should be some left over at the end of the month to throw at one of the Credit Cards.

On to today - I have checked my bank (pay day Thursday) and the last of my bills have gone (AA Loan £93 and Phone Bill £35) and there is still £112 left this month, although that is spoken for as have a heavy £180 payment for the car that is due in 2-weeks so that will go some way to cushioning the blow.

Lunch has been made and therefore I am on for another 20p spend today!

.NoMoney.

My SOA as required:

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 2
Number of cars owned.................... 1
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1250
Partners monthly income after tax....... 600
Benefits................................ 220
Other income............................ 170
Total monthly income.................... 2240
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 613
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 121
Electricity............................. 30
Gas..................................... 35
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 50
Telephone (land line)................... 15
Mobile phone............................ 60
TV Licence.............................. 15
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 35
Internet Services....................... 20
Groceries etc. ......................... 150
Clothing................................ 10
Petrol/diesel........................... 20
Road tax................................ 10
Car Insurance........................... 40
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 10
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 25
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 12
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 50
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 10
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 10
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1341

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 135000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 3250
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 138250

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 118000...(613)......5.9
Total secured & HP debts...... 118000....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Capital One....................1000......50........29.9
Argos Card.....................1500......55........29.9
Barclaycard....................2800......65........0
Car Loan.......................2400......94........0
Natwest Overdraft..............2000......0.........0
Halifax Overdraft..............1000......0.........0
Loan to Mum....................5000......160.......0
AA Loan........................1500......93........0
Natwest Card...................1500......35........0
Halifax Card...................2800......45........0
Total unsecured debts..........21500.....597.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,240
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,341
Available for debt repayments........... 899
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 597
Amount left after debt repayments....... 302
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 138,250
Total HP & Secured debt................. -118,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -21,500
Net Assets.............................. -1,250
Created using the SOA calculator at www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using IE browser.

The above takes into consideration my newly signed up £170 month overtime - so that won't actually take affect until next month.

.NoMoney.

A mixed lunch for me today - all was going well, managed to pop out of the office to get some fresh air and get the paper - a 20p spend and then returned to the office to eat the lunch I made this morning.

Then the wife phoned "I've found a horrible damp patch in the bedroom - it looks like we might have a leak in the roof!" - so, a quick call to the Insurers and they are going to arrange for a Surveyor to come out and tell us if the damage is something we can claim for or if they are going to allege wear and tear. They better not do that. If it's claimable then that's £150 excess if it isn't who knows what the damage will be!

.NoMoney.

Seems a lack of interest here - never mind.

Yesterday turned out to be a little more expensive than I hoped, I guess with it being half term and the weather being horrible being able to entertain the children without spend is made all that more difficult.

Ended up meeting up with my brother and his little one before taking a trip to the local shopping centre (it's his little ones birthday soon so went hunting for presents) didn't buy anything for him though.

Ended up buying a lunch as the lunch I packed to bring with us to save cash ended up getting ruined as my daughter decided that she would put her juice cup back in the bag without closing the lid - outcome - orange squashed flavoured sandwiches - not good.

Still, pay day today so hopefully some money will be left over once I have paid all the bills and minimum payments (best part of my money saving organising I have got all my bills coming out on pay day meaning I know exactly whats left after today has passed).

.NoMoney.

Pay has been and gone and all outgoing payments have been made leaving me with just shy of £200 to last me until the same time next month - I am going to try and keep the spend to a minimum and put whatever is left to good work against one of the Credit Cards.

Managed to complete a total NSD yesterday as nabbed a copy of the paper off a colleague after he had finished reading it and work organised a late night so food was provided.

Today I have picked up an x-box game for my brothers Christmas present (I had vouchers given to me on my birthday so didn't actually have to spend anything which is a bonus).

Also received an email for an Egg Card, 0% balance transfer until December 2011 and 17.9% apr so I applied for one (wasn't holding out much hope) and was accepted (on the above terms) with a £4,000 credit limit so will be transferring my Barclaycard (£2,800) and Capital One Card (£900) to it once it arrives and cutting those 2 up. Both those cards had APR's over 29%...RESULT!

elantan

that is a fantastic result ... it will help you get those bills down in quick time .... had a look at your soa ... now i am not very good at taking these things apart as i reckon everyone has their own things that are important to them and what they cant do without ... but and its a big but ... have a wee look at the o.s board they are good at helping people cut back on their shopping ... yours isnt too bad £150 a month but you could maybe save another £50 off of that and that might help get rid of those bills faster

have you looked at snowballing yet?

.NoMoney.

elantan wrote: »

that is a fantastic result ... it will help you get those bills down in quick time .... had a look at your soa ... now i am not very good at taking these things apart as i reckon everyone has their own things that are important to them and what they cant do without ... but and its a big but ... have a wee look at the o.s board they are good at helping people cut back on their shopping ... yours isnt too bad £150 a month but you could maybe save another £50 off of that and that might help get rid of those bills faster

have you looked at snowballing yet?

Thanks for your response - I have looked at snowballing and it hasn't been too kind, although that might change thanks to Egg. I have tried to reduce the food spend - but that does include nappies etc for a young baby so quite difficult.

**Kat**_2

Hi, I have a young son in nappies so I know what you mean. We have managed to cut our spend from what you posted down to less than £80 (so far) for the month. It will prob reach the £100 mark by the end of the month but I am hoping it won't go any higher. We did it by being inventive, writing a list and sticking to it and down branding some items (no kellogs cerial/heinz beans etc). The only thing we won't debrand is the nappies as I know for a fact it's a false economy (our son leaks out of anything other than pampers active fit).

I haven't looked at snowballing yet as I think it will tell me I will be in debt of some sort forever and I refuse to believe that. I am just trying to save money to pay off my horrible bank reserve and will go from there. Just try and overpay (even if it's by pence - look at Woo Woo's diary for inspiration) of those high rate cards and you will be on your way

pennywisepoundstupid

Well done on getting the egg card thats a real result.