Mortgage Newbie keeping on straight and narrow!

Mortgagenewbie

Hi

Ive lurked on these threads for ages now. We brought our house in the beginning of Sept so about since then! Anyway, done my statement of affairs and according to that we should be having a LOT left at the end of the month. We were left with some at the end of this month but no where near that figure!

So ive joined the grocery challange and will be doing a spending diary for this month, its christmas though so i dont forsee any great moneysaving but i am going to try and be more aware of everything that i spend and do the best i can!!

The worry is that myself and OH are both employed in family business and i see times getting pretty tough next year. Our wages can vary depending on bonuses/overtime - neither of which i see us maintaining into next year. Ths SOA was done on a very good month (nov is always busy), so all the more reason to know where the money is going because the only way the income is going is DOWN!!

So plan is keep a spending diary and find where the money goes, pay the card off and then it will be the challenge of renovating the house whilst staying out of debt! They came and put the gas in today so in the new year we will get central heating, rewireing, kitchen, full redecoraion etc! So busy and expensive 2012 and with the times getting tough, theres more reasons to find that ellusive spare cash and save it!!

So heres the SOA - please be gentle!!


Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household.........
Number of cars owned.................... 1
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 2414.08
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2414.08
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 676
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 170
Electricity............................. 66
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 37.72
Telephone (land line)................... 10
Mobile phone............................ 60
TV Licence.............................. 24.25
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 13.9
Groceries etc. ......................... 200
Clothing................................ 20
Petrol/diesel........................... 120
Road tax................................ 15
Car Insurance........................... 60
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 25
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 20
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 28.48
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 40
Haircuts................................ 30
Entertainment........................... 80
Holiday................................. 30
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1726.35

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 145000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 1000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 146000

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 122800...(676)......5.19
Total secured & HP debts...... 122800....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Nationwide.....................1503......25........15.9
Total unsecured debts..........1503......25........-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,414.08
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,726.35
Available for debt repayments........... 687.73
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 25
Amount left after debt repayments....... 662.73
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 146,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -122,800
Total Unsecured debt.................... -1,503
Net Assets.............................. 21,697
Created using the SOA calculator at Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using IE browser.

Mortgagenewbie

Ah, already i realise some of the errors of my ways! The payment of the credit card says 25 but we are paying at least 300-500 a month of it at the moment! Still i have to be honest, we dont put any oney aside for car/hair/bday etc etc so its still going somewhere!!

Mortgagenewbie

Ok, not much spent today, but i have to admit that its still November today and i should only be starting my budget tomorrow! Gonna apply to get a instant access savings account and start potting the money away for car bills, holidays, next christmas etc i think. Seems mad thinking about next christmas now but seeing as a lot of this years christmas presents are being put on a credit card, it makes good money saving sense- tis the way forward!!

Cherryjack

Hi there, good luck with your money saving.. im in the same situation.. needing a full house rewire at £4000.00 next year along with decoration and flooring

Mortgagenewbie

Yeah, were in the VERY lucky position that we have family connections in most trades - electrician/plumber and OH is ex decorator!! Think we can get away without full rewire but most its a 1950s ex council house with not much been done to it since! So most rooms only have one plug point! Makes you wonder how many appliances they didnt have and how many we have now!! Madness!

Only thing is with family connections you fall to bottom of the list and have to wait for them to get round to you! But made up for in savings!!

Cherryjack

OH's dad is an electritian but he will take 25years to complete it..lol.. it gives him inspiration to do his own house. OH is a plasterer by trade so that helps aswell.. these things just need to be done dont they .. be carefull with the electrics as ones not done fully may come a cropper later down the line.. and you dont want to pay out for new kitchen ..decoration and then have to start ripping up floor boards and chasing walls x

Good Luck with the savings will be following yr journey:)

Mortgagenewbie

No worries the brother in law is ex electrician so will point us in the right direction but we will get it signed off by his brother who is qualified! Its all a bit daunting at the moment though! So much to do, need to be patient and accept its not all gonna happen at once!

Cherryjack

i know the feeling.. nothing can get done until the messy work is finished bit then it will get a whole heap better.. and the decoratings the best bit

Mortgagenewbie

Yeah i cant wait to get loads of house mags and do mood boards or whatever they are called!!

Going to have a try at doing NSDs this month, thought maybe go for 2 a week as a start, theres a lot of events coming up so think that might be realistic!

Cherryjack

Good idea.. it all helps

Mortgagenewbie

Urgh, was hoping for NSD today but the car needs petrol! Not much to be done about that I guess! Does it count as a NSD if the money is coming out of a separate kitty? I’m doing the same with the petrol this month and withdrawing all the money for petrol at the beginning of the month.

I'm very good at making excuses or manipulating things round into my point of view:oI know that buying petrol would make today a spends day but i reason with myself that it’s not, think this is why our money gets frittered so much! It’s such a weird thing being really conscious of what we spend!

On positive MESing, had a £25 payout from greasy palm so paid that off credit card:)