My only regret, debts and project baby-making!

ngozi79

Hi,

I've been following the DFW forum for a few weeks and thought that my own diary might be worth a try - I'm not very good at keeping up with these things but I'll give it a go!

A bit about me....
I am 32 in a few weeks, have an amazing live-in partner, good job and the ability to waste money like it's going out of fashion.
Nearly 2 years ago I came out of a long-term relationship with a very money-savvy guy. He never had non-mortgage debts, owned his first house at 21, bla bla. When we met, I had debts which over the period of our relationship managed to clear with his support. The day I walked away from our relationship I was debt free but with nothing concrete to my name.

Having no car and nowhere to live, I spent the following few weeks buying a new car (£6,600 - for a 20 mile commute, regular trips to see family 120 miles away), renting out a flat (£600 per month, ended up with about £300 per month on top for bills... I loved this flat but it was too much for me to deal with), furnishing said flat (£2,500-3,000) and getting through xmas. To achieve this I took out an £8,000ish loan and started to ramp up debts on my credit card. Over a period of 8 months in that flat, I suspect I wasted about £15,000.

In September of last year I took up the offer from a friend to move in with him as a lodger, in a city 75 miles from my place of work. On paper this seems like a crazy idea, but I needed to get out of the town I lived in with my ex, needed a fresh start, and had already realised that the expensive flat was a bit of a costly mistake. So I uproot my life to a new city, paying lower rent but commuting 150 miles to work. Shortly after I moved, I took out a second loan for about £9,200 to clear my credit card debt (this was an epic fail.... i didn't cut up the cards, didn't solve the cause of the problem by reducing my spending)

Fortunately I can work from home alot, and my car is a diesel and manages 60mpg. I aim for being in the office 2-3 days a week on average, mostly 2 at the moment because driving in the dark isn't much fun!

So, 12 months later, I have an amazing man (he has been through the wars with money too, on agreements of some sort for multiple debts where he pays minimum payments on minimal interest. He now lives within his means.) we rent a house in a fairly grim area but we can afford it, and are very happy. I only go to work when I have to, and don't make the journey unless I know it's worth my while. I earn a decent salary so despite my large debts, I have never been in a situation where I have failed to make payments.

My OH and I really really want to start a family. And this is where my only regret comes in. I know that had I not have p****d my money up the wall for the majority of 2010, we could and would be 'getting on it' right now, but because of my £800 per month debt repayments, we cannot afford for me to be out of work. When we do finally get there, the distance of my workplace from my home means that I will not return to work there, but take a lower paid part time job local to my home town. This, for us is an important reason for us to have our debts clear before we start the next chapter of our lives, so that it does not negatively affect us when it comes to living with a small family.

Thats a pretty long post - well done for keeping up if you made it this far! Next steps, my SOA and some blurb about what I'm doing to solve my debt problems!:beer:

ngozi79

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.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1827
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1827

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 390
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 0
Electricity............................. 0
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 31
TV Licence.............................. 0
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 60
Clothing................................ 30
Petrol/diesel........................... 200
Road tax................................ 7
Car Insurance........................... 80
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 20
Car parking............................. 0
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...................... 8.5
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 20
Haircuts................................ 5
Entertainment........................... 100
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 956.5


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 3000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 3000

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Loan 1.........................5114.46...196.7.....15
Loan 2.........................7348.96...319.5.....12
Credit Card 1..................7637.52...200.......21.9
Credit Card 2..................976.29....100.......24.9
Total unsecured debts..........21077.23..816.2.....-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,827
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 956.5
Available for debt repayments........... 870.5
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 816.2
Amount left after debt repayments....... 54.3

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 3,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -21,077.23
Net Assets.............................. -18,077.23

ngozi79

I have not included my partner finances in here.... our debts are our own and wish to keep it that way.

Household finances are dealt with in a separate bank account (mine) where we both transfer in £450 a month - £390 for bills, £60 for food. This seems to be the right amount at the moment and bills include rent, cTax, water, electricity, TV license. We have no gas, no landline phone and have freeview TV.

Car insurance actually includes motorbike insurance too, same for road tax. All are paid annually but are due for renewal soon and I'll probably end up monthly for next year - obviously I will be shopping around!

I have a 2 year mobile contract of which I am one year through.

Entertainment seems quite high - we probably have a decent night out about once a month. If we crave another night out with make the most of 25% or 50% off deals at Slug & Lettuce. The entertainment amount also includes the odd bottle of cider at home - I don't let OH put beer on the house account, so I have to do the same!

ngozi79

I guess I had my LBM a few months ago. We moved into this house back in June and I guess it was around then. Since then, I have:

* Cut my days in the office to 2 a week (unless I have to go in on a 3rd day) which reduces my fuel bill, but also helps with the fact that I am constantly exhausted. I'm not a morning person and getting up at 6am for a 2 hour commute just doesn't work for me! At the end of this month, my £200 for fuel might be reducable.

* EBay and Amazon is full of my stuff - CD's, DVD's video games on Amazon, other bits of EBay. I've made about £400 in the last month or two, all of which has been paid off of Credit Card 2.

* I've done a bit of grocery shopping in Aldi, rather than Tesco - but not consistently, Tesco is convenient and we keep getting clubcard vouchers through which pushes us back there!

* Buying food at the cheaper end of the scale - deals, reduced stuff, sometimes value stuff.

* PPI on Credit Card 2 cancelled. I need to write to Credit Card 1 and Loan 2. Loan 1 has confirmed no PPI already.

* I try to only by diesel in the cheaper filling stations - Tesco (see above comment!) and Sainsubrys in the next town. The filling stations in the town where I work are a big no-no, rural and very expensive!

* Any cash left in my bank account at the end of the month goes straight onto Credit Card 2.

ngozi79

So whilst I already know that I waste money on junk, I think I might be able to curb it a bit by documenting it. I will track my spend categorised into the following areas:

* Diesel (for commuting and pleasure)
* Munchies - on my long commute I often stop to grab something quick to eat to keep me awake. I need to find a cheaper healthier option to the packet of Tesco sarnies that I often devour at 8am!
* Entertainment
* Clothing
* Presents
* Postage for Amazon & Ebay sales

This will also help me to work out how accurate my SOA is in terms of fuel, entertainment and any other sections.

ngozi79

Monday 14th November:
£119 - 2 new tyres for my car....budget range, the old ones were at the point of no return and I couldn't rely on them now the temperature has dropped and we might have frosts soon.
£4.80 - Postage for Amazon sales
£1.30 - loaf of bread in Tesco (shouldn't be paying for this from own money, should have come from house account)

Tuesday 15th November:
£1.65 - Tesco Prawn Mayo on the way to work
£0.80 - flapjack from the machine at work

Wednesday 16th November:
Nothing yet.... haven't left the house as working from home. Must remember MSE is not actually work!:p

ngozi79

Morning world!

So, wednesday ended up being a NSD which I'm pretty pleased about. Yesterday was good too, put £20 of fuel into my car first thing and that was it! I made a packed lunch for us both (OH left his in the fridge!) so didn't get tempted to buy lunch (or machine munchies) at work.

This weekend is going to be costly. We're going to a motorcycle show in Birmingham tomorrow, OH paid for the tix, and I'm covering the travelling expenses, so thats £30. When we get home we'll be heading to see family, which means an inevitable trip to the pub, but handily offset by eating somebody elses food for 24 hours! Am doing my best not to spend on a CC this month, but I can see myself needing to put a tank of fuel on there before next Friday with work trips etc. Not happy!!