Time to 'grow up' - the slippery slope to 30.

immoral_angeluk

Today as been a seriously bad day.
The car is fixed... £320 later. :mad: The garage confirmed what the AA man said in that the EGR valve needed repairing/replacing. However, on the new corsas the EGR valve is a sealed unit (It seems that eveytime something goes wrong on it it costs a fortune because it's a sealed bloody unit :mad:) which meant they couldn't repair or clean it and it'd need replacing altogether. In ADDITION to that, one of the pipes leading into te air intake valve was totally split open down about 7 inches of it, so it's amazing that it hadn't died sooner in all honesty. Anyway, those two parts plus labour came to £320. God DAMN it. Of course that had to go on the credit card as I don't have that kind of money lying around sadly.

B*stards. In fairness they did show me the parts and it was obvious why they'd have to replace rather than repair them. I think it's just a crap design by Vauxhall to make everything sealed units so they can't be repaired. But I suppose in one way they can always guarantee a steady flow of income from parts can't they.... sneaky.

So yes, as you can possibly tell I've not been too happy today. A day off work I could've done without, plus £320 extra on the credit card makes IA a not very happy bunny and generally seething and p*ssed off.

What p*sses me off most is that I've essentially lived like a pauper for he past 4 months, and thrown every spare penny I could at the credit cards, only for it to be basically wiped out by things breaking. I haven't even looked or worked it out yet, but it wouldn't surprise me if I'm now back at square one or worse.

I'm going to have a fresh look at my finances tomorrow. Something clearly isn't working and I'm not busting my a** slaving away to pay off every penny of money I have only for it to be wiped out when crap like this comes along. It's ridiculous. I need a new plan of action. I need something that isn't going to cripple me every time something breaks.

I also know that the car will at some point need more repairs doing, as the fuel sensor/gauge is dodgy (apparently common on corsas/astras said Mr AA dude). The garage today quoted me £390 to replace the sensor and fuel pump so I told them to shove it. The pump itself is working fine it's just the sensor which says how much there is in there, or the gauge.
If anyone dares tell me it's a sealed bloody unit again I'm going to go postal.

I have also done my food shopping tonight but I haven't updated my budgets. I haven't had the mindpower to do it because of being upset about the car/more debt.

Plan for tomorrow:
Update spending diary/budgets
Update debt amounts and work out difference between January and now and see what the damage is.
Look on the snowball calculator and work out a realistic plan
Come up with a new plan of action to stop this happening again, or at least make it manageable when it does happen.
Start totally afresh with a clean mind and renewed vigour/determination

Screw you debt. I won't be beaten. *I'm* the one in control. Not you. You've just taken advantage and gotten a cheap hit in below the belt.

Time for round 2. *ding ding*

immoral_angeluk

Right.
Tonight is the big financial upheaval night. I need to work out a realistic plan of action to be able to pay off my debt, plan for 'one offs' and still save for a mortgage deposit.

Let's start off analysing my bills.
Here's my updated bills (DDs and regular bills that get paid out of my wages) for this month.

Rent £350.62
Council Tax £88.74
Water Rates £25.28
Gas/Elec £74.00
TV/Satellite/phone £50.49
TV licence £12.37
Very £50.00
orange £33.78
AA £7.99
Car insurance £43.00
Denplan £17.10
Life insurance £5.00
CRUK £2.00
Pet Insurance £5.43
Nursery fees £381.00
Holiday club £0.00
House Insurance £9.08
Deposit savings £55.00

This payday I will be making up £164.31 'borrowed' from the holiday fund to make it up to the £300 needed to go away with. Because of that I'll make to 'make up' £51 to the bills account but that's easily sorted anyway so I'm not too concerned.

Debts:
Barclaycard £0 £900 limit Have emailed the to request this be closed.
Very BNPL 0% til June £366 No min payment Limit £1000
halifax £455 0% til Dec 2013 min payment£5.00 Limit £500
Barclaycard £858 partially 6.9% (BT rate) but mostly 19.9% min payment £0 as have been paying off extra so it's not been taking a DD Usual min payment £13 though. Limit £1700
Capital one £867.09 0% til Oct min payment £8.76 Limit £1000
Barclayloan £3456 £161.28pm fixed 24.1% :eek: Approx 30 months remaining at a guess.

immoral_angeluk

Bills analysis:

Rent £350.62 Nothing I can do about this in itself, but once my wages go in Tuesday I will be looking into whether I'm entitled to any housing benefit as a previous benefit calculator seemed to suggest I might get £3 a week or so.
Council Tax £88.74 Same as above for council tax benefit.
Water Rates £25.28 This is already extended over 10 months which is the max they'll let me do now.
Gas/Elec £74.00 Switced last year and renegotiated recently after they wanted to increase it. Currently in debt due to winter so no point looking at switching. Am confident this is about as cheap as I can get it right now. Will review again in 6 months.
Sky £50.49 Have considered cancelling if I'm honest, but the girls love watching the kids channels specifically disney now that they're getting older and get bored by cbeebies etc. I also pay £5pm extra for the disney package. £24 is the tv, £7.50 the internet, £14 line rental, £1-£3pm actual calls (Rarely use it) and £5 disney package. Occasional extra movies from box office at £3.49 maybe once or twice a quarter. I suppose I could look at cheaper phone/internet, or maybe look at getting rid of the phone line altogether, but not really sure I'd save much compared to PAYG dongles etc from what I've been told.
TV licence £12.37 B*gger all I can do about this. *grumbles*
Very £50.00 This is the payment for the shoes and hoover, spread over the next 3 months so it's interest free. Don't intend on ordering anything else and will cancel it altogetheronce it and the BNPL is paid off.
Orange £33.78 In a contract atm. It was a 24 month contract but can't remember exactly when I took it out. I seem to remember it being oct/nov the year before last. So might be worth looking into when it's up and switching. I'm on the cheapest I can get with orange as I have a blackberry so have to have an additional bundle for that or some crap...
AA £7.99 After yesterday this is DEFINTELY a worthwhile investment. I suppose I could get it through my insurance so might be worth looking at come renewal.
Car insurance £43.00 Due for renewal Aug/Sept. Don't expect to be able to get it cheaper than this, annoyingly. If anything it'll probably go up a bit if what I read in the news is right..
Denplan £17.10 No longer eligible for free dentist/prescriptions etc as I earn too much so this is for ongoing dental care in check ups and treatment. I'm prone to needing work done so don't really want to get rid of this. It was arranged through my dentist as is the only company they use apparently.
Life insurance £5.00 Think this is essential really. God forbid anything should happen it leaves the girls with a large lump sum between them for their futures.
CRUK £2.00 Have thought about cancelling this, but cancer research is something very close to my heart (I also do the race for lifes every year) so I'd rather not cancel unless I'm forced to.
Pet Insurance £5.43 Have never claimed, but sod's law would be that something would happen if I did...
Nursery fees £381.00/Holiday club £0.00 Incredibly variable. This is this month's bill. But when there's a half term I pay at least £200pw for holiday club (but obviously then the nursery bill is lower). On average my childcare fees tend to be about the £300-£500 mark pm during the year. The only problem coming up is summer, with the 6 weeks holiday. I've booked as much time off in the 6 weeks as I was physically able but I'm going to have at least 4 weeks worth of holiday club at £200+pw due in July in addition to the September before/after school club fees. Ouch.
I don't have any family that are able to help with childcare now. So this is just one of those penalties of working full time. Also if I reduce my child care my tax credits will reduce so it's not really even worth reducing it either.
House Insurance £9.08 Due for renewal Oct/Nov I think. I can cancel now but I'd have to pay a £30 penalty so am going to wait for renewal.
Deposit savings £55.00 This is the standing order I have set up into my mortgage deposit account. If anything I want to be able to increase this if possible. I also need to think about starting some 'rainy day' and car savings really.

immoral_angeluk

Weekly bills:

Food average £60pw including packed lunches for school and work meals. Am already shopping at aldi for the bulk and doing meal planning. In all honesty I'm not sure how I can get this down any more than it is. School lunches were £20pw previously, so I'm still better off anyway.

Petrol average £25pw Occasionally goes over £25 but not that often. I live in a rural area with a 14 mile round trip to work which would involve 2 or 3 buses to get to our one offices (I work across two in different towns, 3 in one 2 in the other).

My dance £4pw normal lesson for me. Currently paying for additional street team lesson for our exams (on the 29th) which is an extra £4-£5. I don't expect us to carry this on after the exams though as the other girls can't afford it long term. Exams about £30 twice a year.

Girls' dance £4pw normal lesson for the eldest as youngest has decided not to do it. Have already said that the £4 that I'm not spending on her will be saved until she's found something else she wants to do so they're treated fairly. Exam £17 twice a year.

Social £10pw Some weeks I haven't been spending this in an effort to pay every spare penny off debts. Of course I get caught out other times though when we go out and I spend more. So I'd say on average it's probably still around that. It's very rarely more.

Bills I am not yet accounting for but should be really *slaps wrists*
Car tax £66 6 monthly (or £120 for the year).
MOT £30
Service £150
Maintenance.. WELL.... this is a sore point with me at the moment. :rotfl:
So far this year I have spent:
£320 on the EGR valve and air intake pipe :mad:
£145 on 2 tyres and balancing *rolls eyes*
£15 on a headlight inc fitting *rolls eyes*
£15 on 2 brake lights *rolls eyes*
£130 on the broken wiper linkage inc fitting. My stupid fault.... *rolls eyes*

So far £625 this year on maintenance alone. God damn it! It also needs a replacement fuel sensor, but I'll be damned if I'm paying the £390 the garage quoted me for the sensor and pump. They can bog off!! :mad:

I'm considering starting to put £10 a month aside for the car tax, and £50 for the maintenance. It *shouldn't* cost as much as it has this year normally. £130 of that after all was totally avoidable and was because I was a plank and turned my wipers on whilst they were frozen to the window :facepalm: so I'd hope that £50pm would be sufficient for maintenance, servicing and MOT. OR at least go a fair way towards it...

immoral_angeluk

Ok... summary so far. Sorry for the flood of posts but I'm typing/thinking aloud!

Things I need to do

Check out entitlement to housing/council tax benefit
Start saving for car tax/maintenance.
Find out when my mobile contract is up.
Look at possibility of cheaper phone/internet
Possibly increase mortage deposit savings?
Look at realistic plan for repaying the debt. Maybe over the remaining term of my car loan?
Look at possibility/feasibility of taking out a cheaper APR loan to pay off my higher APR car loan? (unlikely... lenders don't seem to like single mothers..)


Next step is to visit the snowball calculator I think....

immoral_angeluk

Perfect time for a quick reality check. Despite the bills increasing/drop in income and one off big expenses which I've had to put back on the car (£320 car repair, £220 cooker...) I've still paid of £1120 of debt since Nov.
Obviously this includes minimum payments but when you take interest into account at is definitely something to be VERY proud of!


Edit: Balls. I miscalculated. It's actually £800. But even so, considering £500+ has had to go on the cards due to one off big bills.....

immoral_angeluk

Ok. So the snowball calculator suggests that if I pay an extra £100pm off my debt, it'll ALL be clear by March 2014, about 6 months before the car loan finishes. I think I could live with that, it wouldn't come down as quickly as I'd like BUT it would give me the opportunity to build up some decent savings which at the moment is my biggest issue.

I know Martin always says to pay off debt with savings, especially if the interest is higher, but once crucial point of that is what happens if you have no savings and get one off expenses? You end up using credit. I think a balance needs to be struck. Overpaying the debt to bring it down sooner, as WELL as building savings.

So... with that in mind. Here's my idea for a new weekly budget.

Food £70.00 - extra to allow for those occasional 'slightly over budget' times, or if the kids need school shoes/one offs etc.
Petrol £25.00
Social £10.00
Dance £15.00
Savings £40.00 - Misc savings. £160 a 4 friday month, £200 a 5 friday month. Yes, this is a lot, BUT the intention is to build up a decent amount so I've got a good buffer. Potentially £2080 per year which can cover miscs, or go towards the mortgage savings.
Debt £20.00 - extra overpayment regular each week. £80 in 4 friday months, £100 in 5 friday months. £1040 in overpayments per year
Car savings £15.00 - equates to £60 a 4 friday month, £75 a 5 friday month. £780 per year to cover anything car related bar petrol.

Total out £195.00

Total in £195.12

Surplus £0.12 Whatever will I do with that 12p completely spare? I'm RICH! RICH I TELL YOU!

I addition to this, as I won't be saving for holiday anymore, I may have some months where I'll have surplus money left over from my wages after the bills are paid. I can either use this extra to pay off debt, or move it to the mortgage deposit account.

I think my trouble at the minute is I'm so scare of anything breaking or any one offs. It just seems so crazy that after 4 months of paying off every spare penny towards my debt I'm so susceptible to one offs.

I'm liking the idea of the new budget and plan to build savings if I'm honest. I think it'll make me feel less stressed and anxious about it all. Yes it'll take longer to pay the debt, BUT I can still pay extra if I have some, and it'd give me a safety net for car stuff and one offs in general. Plus obviously I don't use that money it can go into the mortgage pot!

If I'm going to implement this it'd have to be from once I've paid off the BNPL on the catalogue as that's something stupid like 30% apr if I let it roll over. Though in the meantime I'm definitely going to set up the £15pw for the car I think regardless. I can't avoid those costs. Savings for general stuff can wait a month....

immoral_angeluk

Amazing. Having looked into the fuel gauge 'problem' it turns out it's a common characteristic of vauxhalls to do exactly what mine's doing and there's no actual fix!
Essentially you'd put £10 in, and it won't register on the fuel gauge. Put £20 or more in (ie half a tank or more) and it will. Seems this is perfectly normal, yet the garage wanted to charge £390 for an issue which is just a quirk of the car and not an actual fault! :eek: :eek:

Shocking. But yes... either way I won't be getting it replaced. But I may start filling it to the top every couple of weeks instead of £25 a week....

immoral_angeluk

Wow. 3 hours of thinking and I think I've finally decided what I'm doing. Good job I had a wine accompaniment. Even if it was only one glass..

I'm going to go with the plan above. As of next week I'm going to start saving £15 pw towards car stuff. For the next couple of weeks my budget of £30pw stands for clothes and holiday bits, but anything extra will be paying off the catalogue.

Once the catalogue BNPL has been paid off, I will be starting the budget above. £15pw car savings, £20pw debt overpayment (starting with capital one), £40pw savings, £70pw budget for shopping, and £25pw petrol (or £50 every other week)
Any extra money that comes in will either go towards savings or will be paid extra off the debt.

I'm going to look into any potential HB/CTB entitlement, as well as the phone/internet.
In 6 months or as/when, I will look into cheaper insurances and my phone contract, as well as new 0% BTs or refinancing the car loan to a cheaper APR one.

My aim is to regularly but steadily be repaying my debt at more than the minimum, with an aim to be totally debt free by Aug 2014 when my car loan ends. In the meantime I will be building up savings to deal with one off expenses, plus building up a mortgage deposit (slowly, granted).

Last but not least, my spending diary for the past couple of days.

18/04 Car repair £320
19/04 school shoes 18.00 (2 pair, they go through shoes like water..)
19/04 food shop 64.60
19/04 lunch 2.50
19/04 french club 17.50

I think my brain has had enough for the night. Off to play scrabble and relax before bed. If anyone has lasted this long reading my ramblings from tonight... well done! I'm impressed! You definitely deserve a glass of wine. *chink*

ZTD

immoral_angeluk wrote: »

I know Martin always says to pay off debt with savings, especially if the interest is higher, but once crucial point of that is what happens if you have no savings and get one off expenses? You end up using credit. I think a balance needs to be struck. Overpaying the debt to bring it down sooner, as WELL as building savings.

I've always taken issue with this aspect of his advice. Martin is a multi-millionaire - he has excellent liquidity. On the assumption that he's trying to put himself in someone's shoes and pretend he has no savings, if he has an unexpected expense and can't raise credit at an instant - then Satan wore furry knickers to work that morning.

That is not true for a lot of people. Where would you have been without your credit card?

immoral_angeluk wrote: »

Surplus £0.12 Whatever will I do with that 12p completely spare? I'm RICH! RICH I TELL YOU!

You could always roll in it...

immoral_angeluk wrote: »

I'm liking the idea of the new budget and plan to build savings if I'm honest. I think it'll make me feel less stressed and anxious about it all. Yes it'll take longer to pay the debt, BUT I can still pay extra if I have some, and it'd give me a safety net for car stuff and one offs in general. Plus obviously I don't use that money it can go into the mortgage pot!

It's money woman! It never comes in wrong. And if a bit of money behind you cuts dowwn on stress - then it's worth it. It's not like you can't use it.

immoral_angeluk wrote: »

Amazing. Having looked into the fuel gauge 'problem' it turns out it's a common characteristic of vauxhalls to do exactly what mine's doing and there's no actual fix!
Essentially you'd put £10 in, and it won't register on the fuel gauge. Put £20 or more in (ie half a tank or more) and it will. Seems this is perfectly normal, yet the garage wanted to charge £390 for an issue which is just a quirk of the car and not an actual fault! :eek: :eek:

I'm not impressed by them. Even sealed units can be cleaned - it's not the sealed bits that get dirty.

Mr Solvent goes in one end, the sealed unit is shaken, then Mr Gunky Solvent is poured out.

A thermos is a sealed unit. Can you imagine if you weren't supposed to clean them... :eek: