Irishmanc's Debt free diary

irishmanc

Hi, there, long time lurker, 1st time poster.

Quick run down before my SOA. I'm 23, own my own 2 bed flat (well Bank of Ireland owns it), been working since I graduated in Nov 04. My BF stay over most nights.

Incommings:

£1485.98 (after tax and student loan) salary/month
£120 from OH for bills/month
£60/week for food shopping from OH

Total incoming = £1845.98

Out goings:

DDs:
£762.22 Mortgage (Interest only 5.62 % fixed for 2 years)
£32 Gas (Npower, recently switched from British Gas)
£17 Electricity (Npower)
£25 Water (£75 paid quaterly)
£25 Mobile (T-mobile contract finishes Jan, will close it)
£14 Mobile (3 mobile contract ends May, will change to PAYG)
£10.99 T.V License
£11.45 Contents Insurance (abbey)

£60/week on food
£30/week lunch/magazine/maybe movie

cards/loan payments:
£141.52 abbey (£6K loan)
£175.77 cahoot (£9K loan)
£30 Virgin card (£1500 outstanding)
£0 A&L cc (£4K @ 0% till July 2007)

dads payments:
£70 house insurance
£30 other house insurance

Total outgoings: £1704.65

Money leftover = £141.33

Although money is leftover in the technical sence, until now I never knew where it went. This month I have started a spending diary and have already spent £179 pounds with 10 days to go!

I am studying in my own time for my CIMA qualification (which my company won't pay for) and I had an exam last week (which I passed) which cost me £42 plus travelling cost.

Also, sorted out my spare (aka junk) room which needed some furniture so spent £95 on a bookcase, cupboard and dressing table (all 2nd hand). I want to rent out this room which hopefully won't be too hard as I have a university near by.

My main problem is my dad, who is currently in some financial difficulties and who relies on me for help. I am hoping to get £5K off him soon and cancel the £100 I pay towards his insurances. I'm hoping this will be sorted by Jan 1st!

This board and your stories have been an eye opener to me. I have £20.5K debt and i'm 23 with no savings and an interest free mortgage. I need to start paying back my debts so I can live the rest of my life debt free. If I keep spending on cards and loans I'll end up on my dad, 65 and relying on everyone else to get him out of his mess.

So here I begin my diary...

I've put some 60 books on greenmetropolis.com.
I've put some no-longer used modems (only have internet at work, which I walk to) on ebay.

I have however spent some £30 on movie tickets for me and my friends (they will give me the money back, just have to resit spending it on popcorn, a drink, some nachos with cheese and a packet of minstrels). We're watching Bond.

I've joint some websites to rent my room out, but I will put a card in the local post office window.

I've written to barclays to get my 6 years worth of charges back. I stupidly put the £10 in as cash not a cheque...Doh! you live and you learn. Not heard anything, and I live far away from what used to be my local bank. Tried to ring them to see if they got the letter to no avail. Will keep trying. Only been 14 days.

Bout to post off a letter asking for reimbursement of my travel costs from a recruitment agency. That should be about £20.

I think thats it for today. I feel so much better having written everything down. I now check my bank balances (one for dds, one for incoming money)
everyday and update my spending spreadsheet all the time!

Thanks for reading, and i'll keep you up-to-date on how I get along!

chocaholic110

Hi, there, you seem pretty clued up with what you are doing (though I'm sure some people cleverer than myself will be along shortly to advise you off other ways to cut back / make money) but just wanted to say welcome and well done for taking the first steps!

I can completely empathise with the situation with your Dad as I have the same situation with a family member of my own.

Also congrats on starting a debt diary - I find mine invaluable for looking back at progress made.

Looking forward to keeping reading it and seeing that debt amount go down.

SkintMonkey

Welcome, Irishmanc. As Choc said, this is a great site and you will be able to get lots of help and advice here. You have done a heck of a lot already and you should be proud of yourself for getting yourself organised.

I'll be keeping an eye on your thread, so don't forget to post with updates!

moozie_2

Hi there!

Welcome to the forum, hope you enjoy being here and keep us posted with your progress We are a nosy lot and like to see what everyone is up to.

You are doing the main thing I'd suggest which is the spending diary. I find it's my lifesaver as it has made me realise where my money went and it prevents me spending in a way as I don't want to type spending in it.

You are doing well and hope your issue with your dad resolved in January as planned.

Best of luck!

Mrs_Sparkle

Hi there,

You are doing well already but I would just say have a review of your food shopping. £60 a week for one person is astronomical- I feed 2 of us + 2 cats for £50 a week and some people on here would say I'm extravagant. Also your £30 a week for lunch/mags/movie should be cut right down- packed lunches would save you a fortune.

Well done for doing so much already- you're definitely on the right track. Look forward to reading more diary entries!

irishmanc

Hi there, thanks for the replies! I'm nosy too, thats why I love this place! Tee hee. I will try and fill you in with my sordid spending as often as possible.

Mrs Sparkle, the £60 a week shopping is for me and my BF who is at mine most of the week. But even so, I agree, it is a lot and we have decided we'll try and cut down by making a meal planner, starting today!

Also starting today is a weight loss challenge between my brother (36, lives in Chicago, HUGE) and myself. We have set ourselves 14 weeks to reach our individual targets (mine is to get doen from 10.5 stone to 9.5) with the winner getting a money can't buy prize (i'm going to babysit for him so he can have a romantic hol with his mrs), I havent decided on my prize yet.

Busy week! Wish me luck!

x

cathybird

hi irishmanc & welcome. my only thought is that perhaps the £30 per week for a magazine/lunch/movie could become less frequent, say fortnightly or monthly? your debts are reasonably steep - I started with about £16K and I was desperate to get rid of it as soon as possible, I cut out expenses like those right away

cathybird

hey!! just went to three stars! I was wondering when that was going to happen
(sorry Irishmanc - this is nothing to do with your post per se!!!)

irishmanc

Hello,
Not a good day yesterday. It was the 12th anniversary of my mums passing. Every year I try and do something nice on the day, in the past I have scanned some long forgotten pics and sent them to family, or treated some friends, or texted everyone to say go hug ur mum.

This year I sent out some thinking of you cards to friends who I haven't been able to see much this year (which cost be £7.99). If i was organised I would have made the cards myself.

I don't regret buying the stuff but I'm just so unorganised! I forget stuff and even if I have a list I procrastinate...GR! I don't know how to change.

Also, I'm a terrible spur of the moment shopper. I never plan to but things, I'll just be walking buy a shop and just go buy something to cheer myself up (never anything I need). And then after I feel so bad. Maybe I should start getting used to returning stuff.

And I haven't done very well on the weight loss challenge, had cheesy pasta for lunch, a mars bar and for desert after dinner I had ice-cream with hot chocolate sauce.

Need to get back on track! Bah! Someone slap me!

chevalier

you say that you are paying your dad £100 a months for insurances, £70 of this is for house insurance. This a HUGE amount it works out that you dad is paying £840 for house insurance. I am sure if you looked at one of the comparisong sites, your dad could be paying MUCH less than this a month. By way of example I put my insurance needs into a price comparison site. The results (and bear in mind this if for exactly the same amount of house and contents insurance) ranged from about £150 a year, to OVER £600 a year! So could you dad switch insurances, and therefore save you some money?

Also how about you getting him to come on here, maybe we could help him too?
best of luck
chev

irishmanc

Hey Chevalier...he he he he...getting my dad on here, made me chuckle. My dad is technically challenged, shall we say. My 10 year old nephew just taught him how to email. I love my dad. He he he he.

But you bring up a good point, I have never questioned his insurance. I will give him a tinkle later and ask him. That said, the £70 insurance will be ending this month as he is finally completing the sale of the property.

Thanks for the heads up!

x