Focused on being frugal and achieving debt-free freedom!

walby1993

Hi all,

This is my second diary as the first time I wasn't focussed enough, so decided a fresh start is just what I need!

Our debts did stand at around £20,000 when we came back off of our honeymoon (this and the wedding was a major distraction from being an MSE). Now, with a large-ish payment to our credit cards and the monthly loan payments haing been paid, it currently stands at £19,444. I am hoping to have paid everything off by August 2013 (fingers crossed) and I think a shiney new diary will provide me with some added motivation.

Will provide a SOA later this evening.

Walby

walby1993

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars owned.................... 2
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1300
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1675
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2975
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 710
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 72
Council tax............................. 120
Electricity............................. 23
Gas..................................... 58
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 20
Telephone (land line)................... 10
Mobile phone............................ 50
TV Licence.............................. 13
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 20
Internet Services....................... 10
Groceries etc. ......................... 180
Clothing................................ 32
Petrol/diesel........................... 240
Road tax................................ 25
Car Insurance........................... 135
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 15
Car parking............................. 5
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 5
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 12
Life assurance ......................... 17
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 50
Haircuts................................ 22
Entertainment........................... 18
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1862

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 115000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 1000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 116000

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 97222....(710)......6.99
Total secured & HP debts...... 97222.....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Credit Card One................1592......38........19.2
Main Loan......................12090.....290.......12.9
Wedding Loan...................4520......109.......11.9
Credit Card Two................1250......32........18.3
Total unsecured debts..........19452.....469.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,975
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,862
Available for debt repayments........... 1,113
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 469
Amount left after debt repayments....... 644
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 116,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -97,222
Total Unsecured debt.................... -19,452
Net Assets.............................. -674
Created using the SOA calculator at www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using IE browser.

So thats SOA done. It seems to be that we have an extra £644 which we haven't had, I don't think. However, breaking it down:
£350 of this is DH payrise
£ 50 in bank charges per month
£ 25 a month on lunchs (DH is main culprit and aiming to reduce this)
£ 35 a month on work things (tools for DH which he needs for work and registration which I need to pay to continue to work)
£ 32 a month on sofa payments (forgot to add it under debts as its 0% interest and its DD)

Remainder mainly covers things for our wedding and honeymoon, which now of couse no longer be going out.

I am no longer in overdraft so that should reduce bank charges and will look to managing joint account better to reduce charges there. Even if I can only manage a £400 overpayment each month that would be brillant (although more would of course be better!)

Took DH on a date last night - spent a grand total of £11.25. Got 2for1 student tickets on Orange Wednesday (we look young enough to get away with student lol) and £5.65 on drink and snacks. Had a lovely time. Would bring our own snacks next time to reduce the costs further.

Walby

walby1993

Just realised I have been rude and not introduced myself properly

Ok, well I am a 25 year old Maths teacher working with secondary school children. I find my job quite full-on and often feel exhuasted (its not unknown to fall asleep on the sofa at 8pm on a Friday night ) but every now and again the kids make it worthwhile. I am lucky enough to have married a wonderful man this year. MrW and I have been together for six years and did have a great big £20k type do planned but decided to bring the wedding forward three years and do it for about £7k - and I really wouldn't have changed a thing! We followed this by a very extravegant honeymoon hopping round Italy and we had an amazing time.

However.... Its now definately back to reality with a bump! I am back to work on Monday and still feel like I need at least another week off to sort out flat-related stuff.

Anyway, in terms of our debt - part of it was run up for the wedding (I would estimate a good £6,500), part of it is from having laser eye surgery (costing £4k), some would have happened when I went back to uni to train as a teacher (income dropped by £225 per month for a year) and the rest, I guess, is from just living beyond our means. But I am determined to turn this around! DH and I are very broody but we must be out of debt before that can happen and I would ideally like to have a large deposit for a house, also.

Well, I hope that people enjoy following my journey and if they dont? It doesn't matter because knowing I am on my way to being debt-free is the best feeling

walby1993

Woohoo, package just arrived from ASOS! And if anyone is thinking that this is an unnecessary spend - I have three weddings I am going to next year and have nothing to wear to any of them. I figured I would start looking now because if I leave it till say April (first wedding is beginning of May) I won't find anything, or worse, I will find something expensive! So I got two dresses for a grand total of £52 which I think is a bargain considering how fancy they are. Need to try them on to make sure they fit/I like them on.

So, lots to do today:
[STRIKE] Menu for the next eight days[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE] Shopping List[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE] Shopping[/STRIKE]
Begin to "oven-pride" the oven
[STRIKE] Clean the kitchen[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE] Clear cupboard in kitchen[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]Washing[/STRIKE]
Ironing
[STRIKE] Plan for year 9 x 2[/STRIKE]
Plan for year 10
Plan for year 11 x 2
[STRIKE] Doctors Appointment[/STRIKE]
Organise wardrobe
Buy paint for front room - not going as DH has a migraine coming on but have looked online and choosen the colours.
Go to see my friend for her birthday

Phew, thats a lot to do - better get started!

Smart_Guy

Hey welcome aboard.

Just had a look at your SOA and at first glance realised you guys are spending £420 on Car Related issues per month or even more alarming 5k per year. Is this neccesary, Could you perhaps drop to one car?

Smart_Guy

walby1993

Yeah, it guts me that cars are our second biggest expense. I have thought about dropping a car but as DH is an electrician and needs to carry god knows how many tools to work every day so he can't get rid of his car. And I work 27miles away from where we live and knowing what public transport costs and how long it takes (was using it for a week last year when car broke down, it cost £20 a day :eek: and took about 1 hour 45mins each way as opposed to 40 mins by car) it definately isn't worth me getting rid of my car either. We do shop around for car insurance but despite our only policy change each year being an extra years no claims the prices just keep going up! DH got a renewal quote in July and policy went up by £10 per month, I shopped around and managed to get it down to just a £3 increase but still an increase.

In terms of petrol, I have a very small car which is fuel-efficient and also fairly low on tax. DH has a diesel which also works out fairly fuel-efficient and he also gets some of the money back for his spends as an allowance with his job but this varies from month to month so included the average in his take home pay.

If I am missing something with reducing car costs please let me know - I am desperate to reduce the debt asap!

Oh, and thanks for the welcome (and for reading my waffle) smart_guy!

Smart_Guy

If im honest that was the main thing that stood out to me. Apart from that how about moving the two credit card debts onto a single 0%. That may save you some money in the long run

walby1993

Yeah, I have thought about 0% credit cards but am a little worried about getting rejected/affecting our credit score/having a third credit card avaliable to us. Maybe I should just take the bull by the horns (so to speak) and do it! Would save us about £50 a month in interest so definately worth thinking about!

Flee_2

Good luck.

savingholmes

Hi if you can reduce your interest it will make a big difference... I regretted not trying earlier as we got accepted for every 0% card we tried... I know not everyone has that experience so start with one... Perhaps do it via quidco a cashback site and you could be paid to switch.

Your mortgage seems high - are you tied in or is that something you could do anything about it?

Your management fee of £72 a month is also very high - is there anything you could do about that... Would buying the freehold be an option? what do you get for the management fee? Is it like a flat where they do garden and roof and stuff for that?

Good luck on your journey.... When I was in a worse position that you 3 years ago, I never thought I'd get to where I am today... and was so jealous of the people who'd started before me... But really, if you persist your day will come...

walby1993

Hi Flee :wave: thanks for the good luck wishes! And nice to have a fellow teacher around.

Hi SavingHolmes :wave: thanks for the encouragement to apply for 0% cc. Have spoken to DH and going to look at applying this weekend (cc are actually in his name so he needs to do the application form but is quite happy for me to manage the finance cos I am better than he is )

With regards to the mortgage, it is high - 6.99% :eek:. We looked at changing at the beginning of this year but taking the £2300 get-out-early fee we would have had to pay we would have actually been worse off. Current mortgage deal runs out beginning of Feb 2012 so will start finding out about various mortgages over xmas with the intention of applying at the start of the new year to have new mortgage in place as soon as old one runs out. Reckon we could reduce payments by £100 a month and still keep the same term. If we can get a reduced payment amount then whatever we save on the mortgage will be set up as DD to debts.

We also pay £31.60 on our sofa (0%) interest whish due to finish in Feb 2012 so will also set this up as a DD to debts.

As for the management fee, we are in a flat so nothing we can do about it! I try to do my "bit" by not using communal lighting if necessary, turning off plug switches left on by communal cleaners etc but not much else I can do about this one I am afraid.

And just had a quick skim of your diaries SavingHolmes and you have done very well so gives me a firm kick up the rear to maybe try and pay off debts even sooner than August 2013!