PigginSkint's DFW Diary

PigginSkint

Thanks Bobarella!

Honeysucklelou2

Well done on running the marathon. That's an amazing achievement for anyone who has just taken up running this year, even more so when you consider that you were recovering from major surgery.

PigginSkint

Honeysucklelou2 wrote: »

Well done on running the marathon. That's an amazing achievement for anyone who has just taken up running this year, even more so when you consider that you were recovering from major surgery.

Thanks but I didn't actually run the marathon - it was the 10K I ran!

PigginSkint

I have just done a new SOA (statement of affairs) and compared it with earlier ones - oh dear! I am so ashamed! My total for non-mortgage debt is now just over £32K. This means that my non-mortgage debt has increased by £10K in the last 5 years! :eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:

I desperately want to hang on to the positives here (which I hope is understandable to observers!)

• My non-mortgage debt is £10K less than my when I first calculated my SOA after my first lightbulb moment just under 11 years ago
• My total mortgage debt is considerably less than it was and is now only £14K
• My mortgages (my main mortgage plus the homeowner loan I had to take out to buy the Ex out of the house) will both be paid off in just over 4 years time
• My LTSB loan (which was quite large and the repayment is also quite large) will be paid off in just over 2 years time

My SOA has already revealed some very scary things and it is no wonder I have been struggling! My balance after everything has come in and gone out of my account is minus £85! :eek::eek::eek::eek:

I need to make a plan to tackle this. I have already done one action - I discovered that I had set the minimum payment on one of my credit cards at 3% of the balance. (The minimum payment is actually only 1%). I did this because I had transferred balances to that card at a promotional rate of 0% for 16 months. The long and the short of is I can't afford to pay 3% at the moment so I have amended that direct debit. It won't take effect until after the May payment but it will make a difference after that.

I have had a bit of shock when I checked my bank balance as my salary wasn't as high as I was expecting. I have a travel pass (rail season ticket) through a corporate scheme via my employer and the payment for that comes out of my salary 10 months out of 12. This month should have been the 2nd of the 2 months when I don't have to pay this. It appears that I have only had 1 month off paying it. I suspect I know what has happened - the expiry date for my pass has gradually been getting earlier and earlier (as you would expect after 11 years with the same employer) so I think I have slipped into a different salary month cut off point. I am guessing that next year I will have 2 months off again but it doesn't help me this year!

The other thing that my SOA has demonstrated is that is VITAL that OH pays the amount that he should into my account every month.

I really must do some price comparisons to make sure I am getting the best deals for my utilities. For gas and electric I need to wait until after my smart meter has been fitted but that will at least help me to manage our energy usage a bit better and probably save some money.

Also I must manage my spending a bit better. This is vital if we are to have any chance of going on holiday this year. But at least I have got a target now - if we really tighten our belts over the next few months we should have enough to go on holiday in August. Luckily our holiday habits are relatively affordable.

I will also have a look to see if I can do any more credit card shuffling at the moment.

I can't believe I have let things slide so badly! Feel very ashamed of myself. :(:(:(

Eager_Elephant

Well done on doing a new SOA - its good to review it regularly and at least you can see where you need to make changes.

Good to see some positives - it isn't all negative.

What a bummer about the rail card and salary.