my 'getting back on track with life' diary

Missbookworm

Hello,

A little about me:
Im new to moneysavingexpert-my friend recommended the site and I cant believe I havent found this sooner!
I live in the wonderful sunny (most of the time) southwest england with my hubby and two children (aged 4 and 2) so life is pretty hectic. I work part time so bring in a little money but hubby is the main earner. I have a CC that I have stupidly ran up to the tune of approx £4600 (i will check this later) that i really need to get paid off so that we can start saving for the deposit on a house (renting at the moment).
Decided to keep this diary for myself more than anything, so that I can keep track of what im spending/ saving and generally to get stuff off my chest! any suggestions would be much appreciated tho.
I currently pay £125 a month off the credit card (more than the minimum) but at this rate its going to take years.
Realistically i could afford to up this direct debit to £160, which im off to do after this! need to try and make extra income too to throw at this debt, would be nice to have it paid off asap.

Hovel_lady

Hello and welcome!
A spending diary is really helpful. Post on here or use a notebook.
If you put your SoA (statement of affairs) on here I'm sure we'll have some ideas for you to save money.
The OS (Old Style) board is well worth a visit.
Good luck xx

Lemon_Tree

hi and welcome to the boards, you'll get loads of fab ideas here and lots of people willing to help you achieved your goal of debt freedom.

Callisto

Welcome to MSE, like most of us here, it will become your second home!

To save money I would suggest:

Keep a spending diary.

Do a weekly/monthly meal plan (according to how often you go food shopping) and then just buy what you need to make these meals. Also saves time in the evening as you don't have to think about what to cook, just refer to your list.

There are also loads of challenges to get involved with on the forum for paying off debts/selling on Ebay/saving money. I am keeping my clothes spending below £150 for the year with the Crazy clothes challenge (hopefully!)

jwil

Good luck with the debtbusting, you are in the right place!

Missbookworm

Hi everyone, thanks for the posts! not had chance to log in all weekend and been pretty pants moenywise tbh just feel like im always skint and getting nowhere fast!!
ho hum.
did really well last week, only spent £1 from sun-fri and then went food shopping fri pm n couldnt stop spending from there. spent £35 on food fri night, then antoher £20ish on more food that we didnt need over the weekend and went for a coffee yesterday morning and spent £7- all money i dont have and should be being frugal until payday (mon.) crap.
anyway, enough of feeling sorry for myself! im working overtime tonight so thats a positive! and going to photograph some stuff to put on ebay tonight to go towards our holiday fund. going to do an soa now and post it on here to shame myself into action!!!

Missbookworm

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................ 610
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1500
Benefits................................ 170
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2280
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 168
Rent.................................... 495
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 112
Electricity............................. 80
Gas..................................... 40
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 78
Telephone (land line)................... 10
Mobile phone............................ 40
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 25
Internet Services....................... 10
Groceries etc. ......................... 240
Clothing................................ 20
Petrol/diesel........................... 200
Road tax................................ 20
Car Insurance........................... 60
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 20
Car parking............................. 10
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 30
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 13
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 12
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 30
Haircuts................................ 10
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 40
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1775

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 6000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 6000

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 0........(0)........0
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 0........(168)......0
Total secured & HP debts...... 0.........-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
hubby dmp......................0.........140.......0
cc.............................0.........125.......0
Total unsecured debts..........0.........265.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,280
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,775
Available for debt repayments........... 505
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 265
Amount left after debt repayments....... 240
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 6,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -0
Net Assets.............................. 6,000

Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using IE browser.[/i]

bugslet

Different things work for different people. I can never manage more than one no spend day in a week. I love chocolate ( pointless buying a pack once a week, ahem:o), so I buy a bar most days. So long as I plan for it, then I think I've budgeted. If I try to be super strict then I go well off piste and buy a bag of crisps, a magazine.... you get the picture.:p Maybe if you budget a few small treats in the week, it might be cheaper than being good all week and losing the plot on the last day?

Good luck however you approach it!

TotallyInzane

Missbookworm wrote: »

did really well last week, only spent £1 from sun-fri and then went food shopping fri pm n couldnt stop spending from there. spent £35 on food fri night, then antoher £20ish on more food that we didnt need over the weekend and went for a coffee yesterday morning and spent £7- all money i dont have and should be being frugal until payday (mon.)

Welcome Missbookworm

I'm just like you, that I'll get caught up in the moment either food shopping or socialising with friends & spend money which afterwards I regret.

However I've found if you keep a daily spending record as part of your diary, it soon makes you realise what your spending your money on & most importantly (I think anyway) make you question if you really want an item before you buy it! :j

I look forward to reading your future posts & successes

Missbookworm

Thanks for all the ideas and suggestions!
Im going to start trying to log on here everyday and record my spending- if its written down ill be more likely to account for it i suppose! well not spent any money today so thats a good start late shift at work and then hubby organising dinner so should be a nsd!horaay

Missbookworm

Well, its not been too bad over the last few days, didnt spend any money at all on weds
then yesterday just a few bits of food to last the weekend - spent £9
hoping for another nsd today as im working till 6, just need to avoid the corner shop at lunchtime!! ive got a lunch with me and a book so should be fine. my downfall is def spending in my lunchbreak- just the odd magazine/ coffee/ cold drink or whatever and it soon mounts up. must stick to the packed lunch and free tea and coffee at work!!
hoping for a very cheap weekend as its payday on monday- will have to brainstorm some free things to do with the children! the car is desperately low on petrol and i have a work appointment to drive to today so might have to use the last £5 in my account to top it up, dont want to break down!!
I was thinking of using the piggybanking tecnique this month- do any of you use it and find it works? I was going to draw out in cash the food/petrol etc spending budget and keep in separate envelopes- i think my problem is i see the bank balance at like £1500 and think 'spend spend spend!' but really it is already alloacted! any suggestions?