Ecoelles journey to a debt free future

ecoelle

Hi all,

I have been on here for a few years now and seem to be a worse situation now than ever befor in my life. Just don't seem to be able to get my head around where the money goes and when the day will come where we will be able to just say 'yeah, ok we'll see you at the pub later' or 'yeah we are taking a little city break too, where are you off to we're going to Paris!' Yeah right:(

So just want to say hi and feel sorry for myself (just for a bit) Then i'm going to post my SOA, at which point i'm sure advice both productive and non will come forth (what i mean by that is that i'm sure i won't like some of it!) I'm also going to post the things i do each day, so that this doesn't become a diary of misery but also a positive thing for me to read back through and hopefully see where we have improved things as well as where things can still be improved. I'm off to make a coffee and then i'll be back to start the journey.

:j

ecoelle

ok here goes...checked my bank account last night, bearing in mind my partner got paid on the 28th and we are 250 od ALREADY! I get paid tomorrow, it's awkward as my partner gets paid on teh 28th of each month and then i get paid every 4 weeks so our pay never coincides and it makes it hard to budget. I've always tried so hard and due to some unfortunate circumstances in the last year we are now struggling. I'm so frustrated and feel like everyone of our friends is in such a better position money wise, don't get me wrong i don't belive that money is the be all and end all but sometimes, just sometimes, i wish i had a little bit more:)

Thought for the day
There's always enough to share

ecoelle

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

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................ 968
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1100
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2068

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 660
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 90
Electricity............................. 16
Gas..................................... 35
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 38
Telephone (land line)................... 22
Mobile phone............................ 30
TV Licence.............................. 12.13
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 10.5
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 160
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 20
Road tax................................ 11.33
Car Insurance........................... 38.75
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 15
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 30
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 10
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 22
Buildings insurance..................... 17
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 62
Other insurance......................... 20
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 10
Haircuts................................ 10
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1339.71


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 109000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 1900
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 110900


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 109000...(660)......5.39
Total secured & HP debts...... 109000....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Tesco .........................1315.35...38........0
Total unsecured debts..........1315.35...38........-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,068
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,339.71
Available for debt repayments........... 728.29
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 38
Amount left after debt repayments....... 690.29

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 110,900
Total HP & Secured debt................. -109,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -1,315.35
Net Assets.............................. 584.65

Created using the SOA calculator at https://www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using Firefox browser.

ecoelle

Ok guys...do your worst!

[Deleted User]

Hi Ecoelle

I'm afraid I am not a DFW expert, but was curious how you have
-£1900 savings? Also, thought my post might "bump" your thread so you might get some help.

Your SOA shows that you should have £690 available after debt repayments - is that right? If so, you should be well on the debt free road to recovery pretty soon, once you learn what you're spending this money on?

Good luck

HalloweenQueen

I think your SOA looks quite good as long as you are not in arrears with your bills.

Maybe transfer the £600.00 a month into a separate account that way it is separate from your bill money etc. You can then think about it before you spend it.

Queeni x

ecoelle

Thanks guys, i know it shows that we have money left over but there isn't any, i don't know where it is going:(

the -£1900 is money owed to ourselves, if you like, it's the money we had to spend out of savings to pay for a new car. It was supposed to be the money we were saving for our first baby, but then in May this year i was involved in a car accident where a drunk driver crashed into me at traffic lights and wrote the car off. I then had to buy a new car 8 weeks before the wedding to get us to our honeymoon in Scotland. We were driving to Edinburgh and so needed a reliable car. We looked into flying and then hiring a car rather than buying a new one but it worked out rediculously expensive.

I knwo by looking at this we should have loads of money left over but we don't.

So i have done a couple of things already
1. Stopped using the credit card, no more spending what we don't have

2. Stopped using the debit card to pay for things, we only use cash now, so i draw out £40 a week, hence the £160 grocery budget.

Not really sure waht else we have done but i'm hoping that i will see a difference this month in the balance on the bank account.

The Tesco card is 0% at the moment, so what i'm hoping is this.

The loan has to be paid by February 2011, this means paying £453 each month to get it done. Then i want to pay of the Tesco card, which i should be able to do by May 2011, so then should be able to start saving.

I am setting us a couple of goals

Feb 2011 Loan paid off in full

If we carry on saving and only using £40 a month then i think we should be able to pay £400 off the Tesco card each month so it should be paid by February also.

Will keep updating:)

ecoelle

Ok, so i'm a complete idiot, didn't put our loan on the first SOA...call me stupid!

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

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................ 968
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1100
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2068

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 658
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 90
Electricity............................. 16
Gas..................................... 35
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 38
Telephone (land line)................... 22
Mobile phone............................ 30
TV Licence.............................. 12.13
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 10.5
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 160
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 20
Road tax................................ 11.33
Car Insurance........................... 38.75
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 15
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 30
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 10
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 22
Buildings insurance..................... 17
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 62
Other insurance......................... 20
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 10
Haircuts................................ 10
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1337.71


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 109000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 1900
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 110900


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 109000...(658)......5.39
Total secured & HP debts...... 109000....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Tesco .........................1315.35...38........0
Coop Loan......................1643.23...455.......0
Total unsecured debts..........2958.58...493.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,068
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,337.71
Available for debt repayments........... 730.29
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 493
Amount left after debt repayments....... 237.29

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 110,900
Total HP & Secured debt................. -109,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -2,958.58
Net Assets.............................. -1,058.58

Created using the SOA calculator at www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using Firefox browser.

ecoelle

So i have joined the November grocery challenge in the hope that having it on my sig will encourage me to stick to it. I don't need to buy anything tomorrow and then i am off work again on Friday and i'm planning a food shopping trip. I have spent some time today taking stock of what food we have in the store cupboard and freezer so i'm going to do a menu for the next week and then i'll make a list of what i need to buy on Friday. I'm thinking of going to Aldi and Morrisons as they are close to each other and not too far away. I have allocated £40 per week for grocery shopping, this includes me, my husband and 2 cats. Well we'll see how it goes, i feel more positive that this will actually help in the long run, this morning i was feeling really down about it all but now i feel much better!

ecoelle

Hiya guys, i''m now relaxing after an 11 hour shift at work, why is it that people always seem to want a piece of you when you really just want to curl up in a ball

Well, i have had a no spend day today. I have £40 in the drawer for the weekly shop tomorrow, i'm planning on going to two shops, Aldi and Morrisons and hope to be able to get everything i need without going to town.

So will be updating my sig tomorrow to include my weekly food shop. Hope that we can manage without drawing anything else out of the bank until next Friday. I know what will be coming out of the bank in the next week so we should be fine now. I have been paid and so have moved the money for the loan payment into a different account so i don't spend it!

Anyway, off out now, and i'm visiting my friend who is trying to set up a new business venture so am going along for moral support, and a free glass of bubbly

ecoelle

Right, so been shopping and spent most of the weekly budget, but then i guess that's the point

So...
Morrisons £31.92
Lidl £3.50

So i have £4.52 left for the rest of the week, but shouldn't need to spend any of it as all the meals are planned, i have a menu board up in the kitchen and have also posted it below, just for fun

Fri
Off out to friends for Chilli and Jackets accompanied by fireworks
I have to take my own veggie chilli as i have allergies and can't always eat what others cook, but i have a pot of chilli ready made in the freezer so i'm popping that in a bag with a bottle of wine i've had in the fridge for ages, people buy it and we never drink it so i'm passing it forward!

Sat
Pasta bake with Falafel and Salad

Sun
Veggie quarter pounders with salad and savoury rice

Mon
Spaghetti Bolognaise with Salad

Tue
Veggie Chilli and jackets with salad

Wed
Stir fry with chilli and garlic served with rice noodles and sweetcorn fritters

Thu
Grab what you can night...both of us work odd hours on Thursday so we each just grab beans on toast, or soup, or something quick out of the freezer

Well i'm off now to have a little look see at other peoples posts

Thought for the day
There's always someone worse off than you