My Diary to save a little,live a little and pay off a lot!

ButterflyBee

Today is a bit of an eye opener. I will have to re-do and stick to my budget very carefully..... But the good news is MY 19yr old has a full time job hoping to start soon so I am delighted about that.

I have transferred as much of my small credit card debt to the 6.9% lifle of with Barclaycard and will need to free up some cash to pay down the bigger amount that needs to be settled ASAP.

September will be the Bench mark for the next year!

ButterflyBee

I am on such a tight budget that today I am feeling pretty bleak with the possibility of getting out of debt. I know it will get better but just feels like a mammoth task.

There is always something that needs to be bought and I am so tired of saying no to my children the loves of my life!

September has already proven the need to change everything again. This time my budget will have to include luxuaries or what is the point in working and not living.
Time to re do the budget again.

ButterflyBee

Dear Diary,
Today I feel like giving up. Will need to give up cello lessons for daughter which is such a shame. all I want is the best for children but this will need to be cut, no wonder single parent families have a almost 0% chance of progress. There is just no way out unless I stay in debt.

Sigh!.......:(

Emthemist

Hi ButterflyBee,

I hope you haven't given up, although a little concerned as you haven't posted for a while. Only a month ago you had a plan, perhaps you just need to revisit and amend the plan, and that will get you back on track?

What about posting an up to date SOA to see if there's anything the wonderful MSE-ers can come up with to help.

Stick in!

Em

ButterflyBee

Hi Em,
Thanks for the reply. Sometimes it gets lonely in the world of debt.

I took your advise and relooked at my Budget but thisnk the best way forward is to stop stressing and try to cope as best as possible without loosing to much hope. I will post below just incase some one comes up with a valid point but my biggest problem is the drop in my household income and not making adequate allowances.

Done what I can for now.
Fixed energy, transferred as much as possible to 6.9%, paid all school costs and family loan back.

This is the budget for the next year.

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Monthly Income Details
Income from Employment (after tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,680.00
Income from Self Employment (before tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
State Pension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Private Pension / Annuity Payout. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Benefits (Inc. Child Benefit/Tax Credits & Income Support). . . . . . . . . . . 284.95
Income From Savings & Investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Gifts From Family / Friends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220.00
Monthly Expense Details
In Your Home
Mobile Phone(s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40.00
TV Licence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.22
Internet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
Home Phone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18.97
Cleaning Products/Cleaner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Garden Maintenance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Household Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Oil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Electricity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30.00
Gas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30.00
Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56.00
Council Tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110.00
Overdraft Cost. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Bank Account Fee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
Home Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mortgage/Rent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 914.00
Plumbing/Boiler Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mortgage Life Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mortgage Payment Protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Life Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Food and Household Shopping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260.00
Drinks for Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Motoring & Public Transport
Petrol/Diesel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108.33
Parking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Car Tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.50
Car Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.00
Car Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17.50
Rail/Bus/Taxi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26.00
Breakdown Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Debt Repayments
Credit Card Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333.33
Hire Purchase Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Personal Loan Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Car Loan Repayments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Savings & Investments
Pension Payments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Buying Shares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mini Cash ISAs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Lump Sum Saving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Regular Saving. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.00
Family
Pet Food. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School Trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33.33
School Meals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Pocket Money. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25.00
Nappies/Baby Extras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Laundry/Dry Cleaning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Children's Travel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Baby Sitting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Childcare/Play Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Pet Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Travel Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Entertainment
Satellite/Digital TV. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
Family Days Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45.00
Cinema/Theatre Trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Books/Music/Films/Computers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Big Days Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Shopping for Fun. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Pet Costs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Hobbies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
IT/Computing (eg Anti-virus etc). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
DVD Rental. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Drinking Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Eating Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30.00
Clothes, Health & Beauty
Complimentary Therapies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Optical Bills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Haircuts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.67
Dentistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Beauty Treatments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Healthcare Cashplans. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Dental Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Private Medical Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Fitness/Sports/Gym. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42.00
Work Clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
New Children's Clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33.33
New Clothes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33.33
Education & Courses
University Tuition Fees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School Fees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Your Courses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Music lessons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45.00
Big One Offs
Funeral Expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Wedding Expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Sofa/Kitchen/TV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Birthdays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Winter Holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Summer Holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50.00
Christmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Odds & Sods
Newspapers & Magazines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Tax & NI Provisions (self-employed only). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Regular Charity Donations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Meals at work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Smokes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Coffees/Sandwiches/Snacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Total monthly income. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,184.95

Total monthly expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,363.52

ButterflyBee

Dear Diary,
Been feeling really low and depressed. That which gave me joy now just feels like an inconvenience.
Read on a site today to ask the following 7 questions....
1. Am I spending out of guilt?
2. Am I paying on my credit card/ overdraft?
3. Am I adding to my debt?
4. Do I still have bills to pay this month?
5. Do I have food in the freezer/ fridge/ cupboard?
6. Do I feel the need to be wonder woman/ superman or a hero and will children/ husband/ mother or friends hate me if I say no.


If answer yes to these questions emotional spending is not the solution and it is time to re-evaluate and make only the one change.
STOP SPENDING and CUT UP THE CARDS.

digging

Hey chin up you've made the right move by checking in on here and admitting you have debt. It's the first step. You've also taken a 2nd step in switching utility bills and claiming back charges/refunds etc.
Just looking at you're SOA... You say you need to stop the music lessons but how about stopping the gym membership (that's if your not stuck in a mid year contract). Going for a run and getting fresh air is free. (or depending on your health even a long brisk walk). I enjoy the gym so know that you're probably thinking 'not quit the gym!' but for now your daughter can still have lessons. Is there not a cheaper gym you could join or go swimming once a week. You seem to have accounted for everything except home insurance? Or is that included in your mortgage? How about a remortgage? If you have equity that is? Add £10k on to pay your cards off, maybe ask for a smaller more manageable monthly payment? ... Yeah sure you'll have your mortgage for longer and pay more in the long run but you won't be stressed, you can live your life and keep music lessons and the gym.

Good luck with it. I'm subscribing to keep an eye on you;) :dance:

ButterflyBee

Not possible to remortgage, not possible to cancel gym, but this is the family price for two.
Music lessons gone and the expensive month of October nearly over. Phew!!!

Today I feel a little more in control. Fortunately I have been able to transfer $1450.00 to Capone from MrB. Now to focus on clearing £500 overdraft first. And then the credit cards.
1. Overdraft. NWest. MrB. CapOne. Args.
2. Then the balance on manageable, low interest charge on MrB.
It may take longer than expected to get out of the cycle of debt but it can be done.
If I got into it I can get out of it.

Quick update
Overdraft £500.00 (by Oct12)
NWest £400.00 (by Dec12)
MrBarc £1080.77 (by Jan12)
Mr Agos £230 (by Feb12)
CapOne £1500 (by April13)
MrBarc £1729.61 (6.9%life of)

ButterflyBee

Almost the end of another year, thank goodness!!!
November is all about coping and dealing with every day as it comes. Making sure enough money is in each account for payments, food is on the table and bus fair is budgeted.

Cant complaim though, we have a beautiful little home, good job and lots of time to plan a way out.

Next month will be tough as it is Christmas and will need to be thrifty.

ButterflyBee

I can honestly say that I enter 2013 with a "sober" plan. This New Years eve was spent at home with great joy and much celebration and I intend to continue this streak of positivity through out 2013.

I have done a very strict budget and if all goes well and the boiler does not pack up and the car passes its MOT with flying colours I will be over the moon!

Here is to a new beginning.
:A