general wafflings of a debt free wannabe!

needstochange_2

Ive decided to start a new diary on here as i was terrible at posting on my old one and i feel a new lease of life when it comes to debt busting!must be the new year effect

I have racked up a £4866.06 on my dreaded Barclaycard and since Christmas ive got back into my horrible reserve on my current account to the tune of £150. Also our joint account is in the reserve at £120 (and we get charged £22 every 5 days for this!!!!)
so my plan of attack is....

• make the cash in my purse (£15) last until payday (only tues so this is doable) and DO NOT withdraw any more from the joint account!
• after work 2nite set up a budget spreadsheet to stick to
• after payday transfer as much as i can to the joint account
• then by feb payday i want to have cleared my reserve and the majority of the joint account reserve
• then from march to august (when my 0% runs out ) pay as much as possible to the credit card. to do this im going to cut down on food and silly spends, ebay, do surveys, get as much overtime as poss, meal plan, and ... get digging in the garden and plant out my veg!
• im hoping then by august 2011 i will have both bank accounts in credit and i want to have reduced the Barclaycard to at least £4000

phew.
feels good to see it written down here anyway.

the good things that i've done so far today is..

• bought my own lunch to work and i will not be going to the shop at lunchtime!
• paid the last £2.05 in my current account to the BC- every little helps!
• planned meals from now until tuesday when i get paid- using all the stuff i already had in the cupboards/freezer

anyone who read my last diary might remember that i hadnt told my husband about the debt id racked up- wel i did tell him, and then he told me that he had also racked up £7500 on CCs. so after much chatting we have decided that in 2011 we will clear as much debt as poss, i do not like the thought of the £12k debt we have between us, esp as its not even including his car finance loan - we need to look at this over the weekend as not sure how long we've got left to pay
well this has turned into rather a lonnnnnnnnng post, sorry!
any ideas/tips would be much appreciated... esp ones in relation to cheaply entertaining two boys under 3 at the weekend!

needstochange_2

argh i just got emailed from next with my bill due on the 13th feb £46.47 thats the last thing i need! grr silly christmas spending!

shy2011

Hi NTC
Well done on putting a plan of action in to place. It really helps when you know what your going to do to tackle the debt. Its also great that you and hubby have been honest and are ready to tackle it together. I feel like all i think about at the moment is debt and im hoping to be debt free by the end of the year.
Good Luck
Shy x

needstochange_2

thanks shy2011, good luck with your debt busting!
well its been a good day for me, didnt spend any money all day and hoping to just spend a little tmr taking my two boys out somewhere- we all need some fresh air after a busy week at work

donotpassgo_2

Morning NTC, Have a wonderful day with your boys hope you get to the seaside. How do I subscribe to your thread?

needstochange_2

hello all,
had a very good weekend spends wise, only spent £5 all weekend and have had some lovely outings with my boys! payday tmr yippeee!! although its all already earmarked for debt busting im still looking forward to having the bank balance in credit for once!
have been good today too- only spent 30p and that was on some ibuprofen for me- think ive caught the bug that my eldest son has had for the last few days it sucks
had a lovely tea of beef stew and even got leftovers that im going to make into pasties for tmr night very mse i think!
im off to look at my spreadsheets to work out what payments need to go where tmr, followed by a hot chocolate yummy!

ps donotpassgo- i think that u go2 thread tools at the top of here n choose subscribe!

needstochange_2

havent been on here all week and my bank balance is feeling the strain! must log on at least every other day!!!!!
i have paid all my bills and paid a chunk into our joint ac, filled the car up with petrol and got food for the weekend and im left with £250 thats to last until the 8th when i get a top up wage of approx £120- and i still havent paid my cc this month so.....
ive got £370 income, minus the £125 a month payment i want to make to the cc (the minimum is £100) and the £50 to next card
leaves me with £195 for the whole month for food, petrol, gonna be tough the way my boys are getting through food at the moment!!
if i can stick to £40 a week for food and try to use the car as little as possible i should be ok...just about
depressing when its only been 3 days since payday and im already struggling..........

needstochange_2

just a short note as i want to check my ive added my signature correctly!
made my friday payment to the credit card as promised only £3.05 to round down the cc figures, but it all adds up and this month im concentrating on the overdrafts anyway.
a good nsd day for me today, been working hard to take my mind off of spending any money at lunchtime!
off to do some meal plans for the week, going to try and use my new slow cooker that i got for xmas. any recipe tips would be appreciated as i havent got a CLUE!!

needstochange_2

well i have used my slow cooker twice in two days now love it!
did a veggie soup for mine and hubbys lunches for the week- all with stuff i already had lurking in the fridge, and then yesterday did a moroccan chickpea stew which was delish and i have enough for a second portion to freeze hubby is complaining about the lack of meat in his meals for the last few days- tough luck is what i say! leftover homemade pasties made from leftover beef stew 2nite, yum! im getting into the swing of this grocery cut down
had good & bad weekend money wise- spend £40 shopping on saturday on clothes- but they were things me 7 the boys really neeeded and i did get an awful lot for that money! then a nsd on sunday to make up for it
also put a load of stuff on ebay- made £8 so far, thats all going into the joint account - desperate to keep it out of the reserve for as long as possible this month to minimise the charges.
still waiting on £15 voucher from toluna and £15 from ipsos for surverys- theyre taking ages!!!!has anyone else had this trouble?

needstochange_2

things are going ok at the moment, ive realised that its the 2nd week after payday when i always seem to be tempted by spending!! ive got £80 left for the rest of the month, and the car is getting very low on petrol argh.
on a positive ive got a few things on ebay that should make around £170, and im planning to split half between the joint account and my own account to keep them going until next payday
just cant wait to be rid of this debt, seems like ages away tho

needstochange_2

decided to post an soa to see if anyone has any suggestions?
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.................... 2
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 590
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 130
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 720
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 0
Electricity............................. 0
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 35
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 10
TV Licence.............................. 0
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 260
Clothing................................ 20
Petrol/diesel........................... 90
Road tax................................ 10
Car Insurance........................... 30
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 10
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 13
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 20
Haircuts................................ 20
Entertainment........................... 50
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 568

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 1200
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 1200

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
barclaycard....................4800......105.......14
Total unsecured debts..........4800......105.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 720
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 568
Available for debt repayments........... 152
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 105
Amount left after debt repayments....... 47
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 1,200
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -4,800
Net Assets.............................. -3,600
Created using the SOA calculator at www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using IE browser.

i have only done this on my personal income and expenditure, my husband pays the rent and majority of bills. no expenditure for car maintenance as hubby is a mechanic!
any suggestions to cut down would be great