Getting back in the game....

EatsGlitter

I've been really naughty..... not as naughty as I have been in the past... but pretty naughty nonetheless.

I started off, in November 2008 with around £9k worth of debt. This was split between an overdraft that had spiralled out of control and a single credit card. Being only 23 years old at the time and never having a "proper" job this was... understandably quite a shock/LBM in my life.

So now it's two years down the line and I've managed to get my overdraft down from £3k to £2k (woohoo! Not massive but considering the amount of charges I've paid astonishing!) and my credit card down from way over its limit, at around £5k down to just over £2.1k now. This was thanks massively to claiming back my PPI which I did with the help of this site and reading other people's stories.

Amazingly... somehow? I've managed to keep my sanity to this point. It's not been easy but I'm getting there.

See the thing is I've hit a bit of a bump in the road. I've all of a sudden despite everything that is good in my life been struck down with depression and am signed off work at the moment.

I'm going to a new job soon and I'm feeling really excited and positive about that but I'm taking this bit of downtime to sort everything out as I'll have a new salary and my initial "sorting out things" SOA is now irrelevant.

So here is my SOA
Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1172.85
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0 -We're keeping this separate for now
Total monthly income.................... 1172.85[/b]

Monthly Expense Details
Rent.................................... 0 - OH pays this as it's about a fiver a week
Mobile phone............................ 20 This is a 12 month contract which I never go over my minutes.
Clothing................................ 50 Rough estimate. Most of the time I never buy anything but then once/twice a year I'll get quite a bit
Other travel............................ 145 This is £65 for train and the rest is driving lessons. About to take my test
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 7.20
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 50 Spread over the year
Haircuts................................ 5 Spread over the year
Entertainment........................... 150 We go out quite a bit as we live with my OH's dad and we don't get a massive amount of privacy so we like to do things like eat out etc. We use tonnes of vouchers and he shoulders a lot of the cost
Emergency fund.......................... 100 This usually gets chucked at bills though
Total monthly expenses.................. 527.2


Assets
None LOL

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Credit Card....................2141.74...50........0.48
Overdraft......................1978......100.......17
Bike Scheme....................300.......0.........0
Council Tax Deficit............535.......0.........0
Total unsecured debts..........4954.74...150.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,172.85
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 527.2
Available for debt repayments........... 645.65
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 150
Amount left after debt repayments....... 495.65

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 0
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -4,954.74
Net Assets.............................. -4,954.74

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


I know I could be spending more on my debts which I fully intend to do. I need to budget a bit better as I do have a tendency to spend now and then realise I'm broke later.

In regards to the bike. I went through the cycle scheme at work without thinking I would be leaving soon. It was £600 in total before tax and I've paid about half of it off. I owe around £300 odd but as I haven't got another payday now they will apparently send me a letter RE: this. Not sure how much I am going to pay off.

The council tax thing is an old debt I'm in dispute about however I want to do "worst case scenario" SOA rather than ignoring it.

So...my plan is to basically be a bit more frugal. Spend less on "stuff", fix my abhorrent credit score (I think it was 300 last time I checked :S) and get all my debts cleared. I have a wedding to save up for and a house to get soon (thank god OH is good with money!) and I would like to get things back to a nice even playing field.


Thanks for reading

KPR11

Hi EG,

Do you really have £500 spare every month?

I previously thought I had a lot of spare cash but it wasn't the case as it was getting spent somewhere or the other so I started making a note of everything I spent my money on/

If this sounds a bit like you then you might want to consider using a spending diary - could be old fashioned (a small notebook and a pen) or could do it online (http://www.spendingdiary.com/) or alternatively, you can download Microsoft Money for free.- to keep track of your money.

Secondly, you might want to throw every spare penny (including the emergency fund savings) towards the credit card as it is costing you a fortune.

You should be able to clear off your credit card in 3 months if you really have £500 surplus every month and if you can trim off your clothes and presents spend by £25; and entertainment by £50 for a couple of months.

Good luck