determined to be debtfree!

abba1772

thought i would return the favour and see how you're getting on x

with the rent money being backdated, would you be able not to dip into it if it's sitting in your bank for that long...i would personally plough it into whatever debts you have but obv keep some aside for your birthday x

debtfreewannabe321

Thanks for stopping by Little boots :T

And Abba, hello! :j yep your right i wouldn't just dip into it i would most likely find 2 thousand pounds worth of 'useful' stuff to buy ...as soon as the DMP is set up i will ring and say i want to make an overpayment, and they can then divide it between creditors for me although i think i may keep back one hundred to buy myself a pair of GHD's that i have been promising myself since my last birthday and me nor hubby had money to buy them ...and i can say it's from him to me for valentines/birthday and our anniversary (in march) and when he gets home he is getting a bonus from work, and although we will be buying a lastminute.com holiday for us all (we haven't all been together since september now) the rest of the money can go on the DMP towards paying off our debt

As for today, I am doing nothing so i guess i could count this as a NSD ?? (i've only just worked out what that meant lol i am not very good at all these acronym's used :cool:) well when I say nothing that doesn't include the 3 lots of washing, making lunch & dinner & putting away a whole weeks worth of washing and seeing if there is anything i can sell on fb or ebay I hope everyone has a good day

abba1772

wow September that's a long time, I was married to a solider for 10 years and he did 7 tours in that time so understand about not seeing your loved one that often x so understand the holiday x

sending the money away to your creditors and getting your debt paid off is a good idea but totally agree with keeping some back to treat yourself otherwise you'll get to the point of why bother iykwim x

debtfreewannabe321

Yeah it's a 6 month tour he is doing At least when he gets back the DMP should have kicked in and we wont be in the situation we were in , i hope that he will stick to budget though as the last time i set a budget he got a bee in his bonnet about how much he had to spend and the fact he wasn't allowed to freely spend on credit cards *sigh*

This will be our first holiday as a family of 5 as well the last one we had was ...in fact we haven't had one together in years! The last holiday was me and the kids on a sun holiday to a caravan park and it was awful we were freezing cold the entire time. I'm definitely a bit of a sun seeker so can't wait for this holiday need to budget for 3 extra passports too though!

debtfreewannabe321

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 3
Number of cars owned.................... 1
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1350
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 632.08
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1982.08
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 217.3
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 0
Electricity............................. 30
Gas..................................... 40
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 30
Mobile phone............................ 30
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 48
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 300
Clothing................................ 25
Petrol/diesel........................... 150
Road tax................................ 99 It's due on monday so no chance to work this into a smaller amount and budget...but will be doing this from march!
Car Insurance........................... 36 This includes breakdown
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 5
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
school fees............................. 120
Other child related expenses............ 40 Kids don't go to nursery so this is for swimming once a week, and playgroups
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 45.5 this is for the whole family, hubby needs the highest level at the mo but this will come down after april
Other insurance......................... 40 for 2 life/savings policies, have enquired about finishing them early but i will be penalised and as i only havea few yrs left on each need to work this into the budget
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 25 It is my birthday this month and i am going out for lunch with friends (this includes me and 3 kids)
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1292.8

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

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 115......(217.3)....0
Total secured & HP debts...... 115.......-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
aqua (DH)......................1500......50........37
barclaycard (DH)...............2139......50........29
capital one (mine).............460.......16........34.9
santander o/d..................650.......50........0
catalogues various.............1055......59........0
barclays mine..................4100......80........0
santander (dh).................1333......40........20
Vanquis (DH)...................200.......15........59
vanquis (mine).................319.......15........41
Total unsecured debts..........11756.....375.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,982.08
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,292.8
Available for debt repayments........... 689.28
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 375
Amount left after debt repayments....... 314.28
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 0
Total HP & Secured debt................. -115
Total Unsecured debt.................... -11,756
Net Assets.............................. -11,871
Created using the SOA calculator at www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using IE browser.

debtfreewannabe321

That is my SOA above, wondered if anyone had ideas on how to reduce anything? I am doing a more detailed budget tomorrow on weekly shopping as this seems to be my downfall! I will go to the supermarket and return with just what is on my list and no extra! lol

debtfreewannabe321

I have just done a meal planner for the week, cant remember the last time i did one of these! probably when i bought my slow cooker and it was only because i had a new recipe book lol.

I did an online shop so i couldn't be tempted by my downfalls (sweets, toys, dvd's the home section & clothes....basically every aisle )

I found a voucher in my purse that was about to run out for £10 off :j and stuck to my shopping list....I STILL managed to spend £58 (although this is without the special offers going on and the £10 off..and is plus delivery) so it should come to around £45...it's down loads on my £90/100 shop a week BUT i still feel it could come down more just need to work out where maybe?! AND...this shop is just for me a 2 yr old and a 1 yr old?!

have gathered all the stuff together and put in an envelope for the CCCS am going to send tomorrow, have also got all the creditors letters together (aside from our current account) and am going to send those. Not going to send the current account one until the last of the DD's have come out (next week) and i have transferred any extra left over from payday into my new account. I have already set up DD's to my new account active from march so it is slowly coming together

another lazy day today, just going to tweak the budget for the month, want to make sure we don't go short as my car tax is due tomorrow also!

Deeperblue

Hi DFW :wave:

Just had a quick look at your SOA and the things that stood out to me were:
Mortgage is really low, is it interest only? Is there a plan to pay off the rest?
Land line seems high, we spend £15 odd and it's unlimited evening and weekends.
Sky is high. Not sure if this is somewhere you'd want to cut back.
Food, you know about.

Everything else seems ok as long as you've compared insurances, utilities etc.

I don't know anything at all about CCCS or debt management agencies etc so I'll be interested to hear how things go for you

~ D.B. ~

lvm

Hey! Great diary and well done for trying to get your debt sorted out.

One thing I didn't notice on your SOA was income from renting out your property. Is the mortgage you mentioned for the property you rent out or is it your own? Or does rent balance out mortgage.

As you've had a lot of problems with your tenants it sounds like your property management company isn't doing that great a job for you and I'm guessing you're paying them a hefty fee for their services.

Why not either manage the property yourself so you can properly vet your prospective tenants or research the management companies who guarantee rental? You might find they're a bit more expensive but then maybe it's worth the extra cost. They will probably have a much better process for new tenants too to avoid non-payment.

Good luck on your debt free misson! x

debtfreewannabe321

Morning

We pay seperately for the rent where we live & council tax & water (plus the rent) are already taken from hubby's wages before we see it so i haven't included those in the SOA, The mortgage is interest only i bought it in the housing boom....which of course was shortly followed by the housing crash (argh big mistake) so i rent it out- well it's empty at the mo....for around 500 a month and then the management get their hands on around 130 for their services -which i have to say aren't brilliant but where the house is situated they are the only ones around i checked- and i can't do it myself as it is literally the other side of the country...I am south and house is in wales! so i have to rely on them...BUT saying that when i get paid by tenants after paying mortgage i am still left with around 130 spare so still positive....

The landline is including internet but i agree it is still high :eek:...may have to call them and make sure i am on the right package!

Sky i tried to reduce but they told me there was a fine or something as we are still in the contract time

Hmmm oh and the mortgage we obviously don't have the right credit history to change it yet to repayment. my new plan is to try and save alongside paying the DMP and put into savings and when our credit is good enough change to repayment (and put hubby on mortgage as it's in my name only atm) and use the savings to put towards paying off the balance.

This morning i am off to the post office to send all the creditors letters, feel quite nervous really not sure why?! also have all the info for CCCS to send them to get started on the DMP and i only have 2 direct debits to change to new bank all the pay and chb and ctc is done just need to wait for it to all kick in now! Then off to play group and then waiting for my shopping to arrive- this is a novelty for me lol i always always go out on pay day to get the shopping. But i am determined to stick to this budget and save & pay off debts as quick as possible. The CCCS have told me i should be debt free in 3 yrs 10 months but i want to do it quicker so we can start saving again

thanks for popping by and i hope to see you both soon :T x