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Herb Girl's Mission to Freedom!

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Hi everyone, Im been a lurker for far to long on all these boards, and after my magical moment of finding a fiver yesterday :D It occured to me to stop hiding from my problems and just start fixing them!!

So this is the first entry of what I hope will be many in an attempt to pay off the debt.

Wish me Luck!:T
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Comments

  • Well

    Step one - admitting there is a problem - CHECK

    I owe £20 000 over 2 loans and 3 credit cards. The debt has been collected from loads of things. Most of my friends have very well paying jobs so when I moved out and I carried on living as if I was well off. Once I got the first credit card maxed I didnt want my friends to realise I was less well of than them, and didnt want to miss out on the fun so I just got a loan to cover it and carried on spending. Then when I did get a well paying job everyone expected me to be up for even more expensive fun when really I was using the increase in money to pay off the loan and CC, so to save face (is that the right term) I carried on borrowing. Several years of this have lead to the stage I am at now.

    Most of my close friends know the situation I am in now, I explained that to fund my masters degree I had to take a loan as parents wanted me to stand on my own to feet - that was the first 10k, and then it just spiralled!

    Anothe point to add is that I have just gone back to University to do a PhD in herbs (hence the log in name) and so have had a major cut in wage but at least that means no one will expect me to be spending at the same rate as them. Most PhD'ers earn 12k which is what I have told my friends I am on, when in reality I earn a 16K although it is yet to be paid correctly. The other problem with doing a PhD and paying off debts is that I get paid 3 monthly so I can have one blast of paying debts off and then 2 1/2 months of what I imagine is goign to feel like limbo.

    Wow - good to get that off my chest. Now to do an SOA, hope it doesnt come back as "nope- sorry you have no money to pay anything off quickly"
  • Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

    Monthly Income Details
    Monthly income after tax................ 1100
    Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
    Benefits................................ 0
    Other income............................ 0
    Total monthly income.................... 1100

    Monthly Expense Details
    Mortgage................................ 0
    Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
    Rent.................................... 362.5
    Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
    Council tax............................. 67.5
    Electricity............................. 22.5
    Gas..................................... 0
    Oil..................................... 0
    Water rates............................. 30
    Telephone (land line)................... 5
    Mobile phone............................ 25
    TV Licence.............................. 0
    Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
    Internet Services....................... 5
    Groceries etc. ......................... 120
    Clothing................................ 20
    Petrol/diesel........................... 120
    Road tax................................ 15
    Car Insurance........................... 39
    Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 10
    Car parking............................. 10
    Other travel............................ 20
    Childcare/nursery....................... 0
    Other child related expenses............ 0
    Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
    Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
    Buildings insurance..................... 0
    Contents insurance...................... 0
    Life assurance ......................... 0
    Other insurance......................... 0
    Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
    Haircuts................................ 17
    Entertainment........................... 100
    Holiday................................. 0
    Emergency fund.......................... 0
    Total monthly expenses.................. 988.5

    Assets
    Cash.................................... 500
    House value (Gross)..................... 0
    Shares and bonds........................ 0
    Car(s).................................. 2000
    Other assets............................ 0
    Total Assets............................ 2500


    No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

    Unsecured Debts
    Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
    LOAN A L.......................10000.....281.9.....16
    LOAN SKIN......................1925......175.......0
    CC VIRGIN......................4800......25........0
    CC BARCLAYS....................1205......30........20
    CC TESCO.......................1719......25........0
    Total unsecured debts..........19649.....536.9....

    Monthly Budget Summary
    Total monthly income.................... 1,100
    Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 988.5
    Available for debt repayments........... 111.5
    Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 536.5
    Amount short for making debt repayments. -425.4

    Personal Balance Sheet Summary
    Total assets (things you own)........... 2,500
    Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
    Total Unsecured debt.................... -19,649
    Net Assets.............................. -17,149
  • Well the computer said no.... there is not enough money to pay off my loans and CC's with my current income. I know I can make cuts. Will spend the next few hours thinking about where!
  • girlatplay
    girlatplay Posts: 3,884 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    Hello Herbgirl and happy new diary :D

    Congratulations on taking the first step and admitting there is a problem. I'm not particularly well experienced in these things but I expect someone who is will be along shortly to help you.

    In the meantime, do you have anything you don't want/need anymore lying about your house that you could sell? Do you absolutely NEED your car? You could free up so much money if you sold that.

    Could you cut the entertainment budget down a bit?

    Do you need a clothes allowance? Could you go without for a while until things are a bit better or could you sell some old things then use that money to buy new things (charity shop / ebay).

    I wish you good luck with your debt busting. My advice is: never give up ;)

    Gap :)
    Mortgage at 12/07/2022 = £175,000
    Mortgage today = £161,690.76
    300 271 payments to go.
    House buyout fund £21,000/£40,000
  • I know - selling the car would knock a huge chunk out of my debt but unfortunately I need it to travel around the country for the PhD. They do pay milage which is good. I did look at selling it a while ago and getting a cheaper car, with lower tax and insurance. I might stick it on autotrader and see what happens. As I am in no rush I could sell it and then pick up a cheaper car that I like when I see it.

    I can definately see cut backs in my SOA. I know I can get petrol down to £70 a month once the other half leaves the country - I know it sounds bad but when he leaves I wont have to travel and see him 2 weekends a month and that will save well lots.

    Also I know entertainment and groceries can reduce - Alot of this was based on when I was working and earning a bit more, I just need to cut down on everything now.

    Ebay selling - isnt that what weekends were made for - finding stuff in the house and flogging it?:rotfl:
  • girlatplay
    girlatplay Posts: 3,884 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    Free listing this weekend :j
    Mortgage at 12/07/2022 = £175,000
    Mortgage today = £161,690.76
    300 271 payments to go.
    House buyout fund £21,000/£40,000
  • I dont know if the free listing weekends are any good. You get 100 free listings a month anyway and if you do list on a free weekend so is everyone else so you items well sell for less as buyers have more choice - does that make sense?
  • girlatplay
    girlatplay Posts: 3,884 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    Ha ha yes but I don't actually use ebay as my one and only time was a bit of a disaster, I just don't think I get it.
    Mortgage at 12/07/2022 = £175,000
    Mortgage today = £161,690.76
    300 271 payments to go.
    House buyout fund £21,000/£40,000
  • I just want to say how proud I am of myself. Last night I had a few old uni frends over, normally we would do dinner and drinks and I would always spend too much money.

    BUT last night I made dinner at mine from some whoopies -Delicious Turkey Burgers from scratch. And only took £30 out and thats all I spent!!Well Chuffed!!

    Today I have another test - my younger brother has asked me to go shopping with him for some new trousers which Im really happy about as I have not seen him in ages -and I am going to try and not spend anything in town which could be quiet hard as I do actually "need" a few bits.

    Thinking about doing a car boot on sunday to get rid of some of my junk. Also got a load of items ending on ebay tomorrow so will see how much money I make of that. Its going straight to pay a credit card!
  • I took a few DVD's to CEX today to trade them for cash - got £25 which I was pretty happy with. Put it straight onto paying off the CC, only to discover if I had sold a few of them on ebay I would have made alot more.... oh well. A little is better than nothing. I have a load more dvd's I want to take to CEX this week but am going to check ebay first.

    Tomorrow I am going to have a long hard sit down and work out a plan of action rather than a try and do everything at once with no real idea what Im doing. Read about snowballing or something on here the other da, going to have a look and learn more about that this evening.

    Friends and housemates have all gone out into town. Im staying in eating left overs - MSFing one day at a time. Also my first NSD!!Yippee! Want a few this week.
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