Getting clarity on my finances

fantastiyk

Hi,
I've been receiving Martin's email for a few years and I read some of the posts on here. I've decided it's time for me to get clear on my finances and clear my debts. Recently I've felt things have been snowballing as there always seems to be someone or something somewhere waiting for my money before I even have it in my hand.
I think I've kidded myself for a long time by thinking "oh at least I don't have to do that " when I'd read someone's attempts at making food go further or selling stuff they no longer use. Truth is if I'd been doing that my debt would be smaller. I have always had the food and paid for it on cc if I didn't have any other means.
I'd like to say I've had my light bulb moment but there's a part of me feels I still rationalise spending, saying I'll start when I've bought....
My coming on to post here is my way of holding myself accountable.
I am working on my SOA at the moment. I have most of it and will put it on soon.
I already follow some of the ideas and tips I read on here but if I was seriously dealing with my debt I still wouldn't be using a cc for purchases unless I could pay it off in full each month.
I may not make it on here daily, but I do hope to post achievements regularly.

PS I chose the name "fantastiyk" because it's how I imagine I'll feel when I finally edit my signature to say "All debts Cleared!! - fantastiyk"

fantastiyk

Have been looking at the challenges threads. Like the sound of them. MAY Make £10 a day looks good. Unfortunately am struggling this week to make what I have stretch, so challenges like this are something I'm looking forward to joining. Am off to do some more on my SoA

fantastiyk

6 of us live in the household
Income 1470

Mortgage 180 ends 2017
rates 47
phone & internet 30
Mobile phone 15
Electric 87
TV 13
Life Assurance 11
gas 18
oil 25
House insurance 17
Dentist/optician 12
Car Tax 21
MOT & maintenance 25
Insurance 23
petrol 180
car parking 3
presents 110
clothes 30
hair 18
school fees 8
music lessons 75
toiletries 9 (guess)
groceries 440 (guess)
card repayments 108
Assets
House value (Gross) 100,000
Car 400
Total Assets 100,400

Income 1,470
Expenses 1,505

Although I've some high figures on here for presents and other expenses I've been entering what our actual spend was. There's been a lot of purchases for people who don't even live in our house recently and that is going to stop.
I am identifying areas for saving as I go along. It's scary having my fears that I've been spending more than I take in confirmed. Before this I would have paid for the extras on a credit card and not really counted them as an expense - yet they were the most costly of all!! Or will be by the time I've finished paying for them :eek:

fantastiyk

I have been keeping a log of what I've been spending since last week so I can have a better idea of what my actual spend is. The number of things I end up having to buy that don't be accounted for is really hitting home.
Last night: £6.99 for a new card reader for camera to computer - son needed the photos for his coursework, and ours has been missing for a month - turned house inside out this last month searching for it.
this morning: £14 for a long birth certificate for daughter - needs it for school
And I haven't even left the house. Which reminds me I must go and log these spends into my new budget planner.

debtfreewannabe321

fantastiyk wrote: »

6 of us live in the household
Income 1470

Mortgage 180 ends 2017
rates 47
phone & internet 30
Mobile phone 15
Electric 87 Obviously with 6 of you in house this may be right, but have you shopped around recently for a better deal? Seems quite high to me (also use quidco & TCB for deals
TV 13
Life Assurance 11
gas 18
oil 25
House insurance 17
Dentist/optician 12
Car Tax 21
MOT & maintenance 25
Insurance 23
petrol 180
car parking 3
presents 110 (could this be reduced a bit for the foreseeable? I get all mine in sales now or try to earn vouchers towards big presents )
clothes 30
hair 18
school fees 8
music lessons 75
toiletries 9 (guess)
groceries 440 (guess) I reckon you could cut this easily. Make a meal planner each week. Use my supermarket to compare prices and if you have aldi/lidl go there sooo uch cheaper!
card repayments 108
Assets
House value (Gross) 100,000
Car 400
Total Assets 100,400

Income 1,470
Expenses 1,505

Although I've some high figures on here for presents and other expenses I've been entering what our actual spend was. There's been a lot of purchases for people who don't even live in our house recently and that is going to stop.
I am identifying areas for saving as I go along. It's scary having my fears that I've been spending more than I take in confirmed. Before this I would have paid for the extras on a credit card and not really counted them as an expense - yet they were the most costly of all!! Or will be by the time I've finished paying for them :eek:

Have you used the snowball on the site?? the calculator will help to identify which debts should be tackled first and then all spare money goes on to that one and you keep the min. payments up on the others until debt has gone and move onto next? I've not used the PAD challenge (payment a day) but heard that is a good motivator for tackling the debt You're short by £35 each month on that soa, so i would immediately cut down on the groceries and some other areas i highlighted....obviously others may come along with other ideas on where you can cut down too :T

Well done on having your (perhaps partial) LBM...it's a start!

Also i thoroughly recommend the envelope system in the early stages. On pay day i would take out all money i knew was mine (i.e not allocated to a bill or dd) and split into different envelopes- clothes, petrol, grocery, kids stuff etc and then not use the debit or credit card AT ALL. The first month is like going cold turkey and a little scary but i think once you start parting with CASH on a regular basis you soon get into the mind set of 'do i need this? will i actually use it' and most of the time you'd rather your cash stay in your pocket

And if you have any stuff that you no longer need, give the charity shop a break for a while and try selling it! You should look to add an emergency fund in there somewhere as then once that has built up enough you can say au revoir to the credit cards completely!

good luck will follow you to see how you get on xxx

debtfreewannabe321

ooh and just seen on polly's diary you weren't sure how to subscribe to a thread. If you scroll up to the green bar at the top of these posts there is a tab that says 'thread tools' click on that and then press 'subscribe to thread' hth x

fantastiyk

Thank you debtfree,
Will check out your tips,
the electric is monthly dd altered each year by the supplier depending on how much we use, if we're overpaying they'll adjust it downwards in July. Up until last year we had a one supplier in NI for electric, think there's 2 now. I had been waiting for a bit to see if our supplier brought prices down. They put a 19per cent price increase last year and I have still managed to bring monthly payments down from £96 to £87 by buying an Owl monitor from Argos and monitoring the electricity usage. - Phone and game chargers were really sore on electric and our kids and us used to leave phones and ipods on charge all night!
Will go back and check the pros and cons of changing to the other supplier. Changed my internet provider last Sept and we're in a contract til March 2013. Wasn't happy about a few things that came to light after I had joined though and am wary of getting caught out again.
Presents: I agree. I nearly died when I added up how much we had spent on presents recently. There were a lot of events in April, May and a few more in June, then life settles down.
Groceries: I think I've had a LBM here. Yesterday I had got all the groceries on my list bar 2 items for £6.09 before I collected DD3 from school. She was with me when I went to get other items. I ended up spending another £17. I can't blame her as I lifted most of the stuff, but I know my resolve weakened when she said there wasn't anything she liked to eat in the house. To be fair I did get stuff for dinner for 3 days among other things. In future I'll leave the house a bit earlier on the 2 days I collect her after school, have the shopping done and suggest we go to the park or the library.

Haven't used the snowball yet. I know the APR on one card but the other I can't find it on the statement anywhere. Will probably have to ring them to find it out. I had been paying off the smaller one faster and minimum on the other just as a way to be doing something constructive.
LBM was definitely when I completed the SOA. Had been having small LBMs in different areas when I would add up how much I'd spent or how much I owed etc but the big one has definitely hit.
I know my debt is nothing like the amount many other people have but as I was spending more than we were taking in we were never going to get it resolved.

I like the idea of the envelope system.
And PAD will be great to try when I have some spare cash to pay with. Will look into that.

Thank you for all your invaluable and much appreciated advice. I had been trying to cut back by reading other threads but it helps to put the SOA on here and get feedback about my own finances.

fantastiyk

Hi,
Where are the best places to sell used dvds, videos, computer games, books, and clothes?

fantastiyk

Also is there a thread or section on here about food planning and making food stretch?
I thought I remembered reading one a few months back but can't find it now.

debtfreewannabe321

fantastiyk wrote: »

Hi,
Where are the best places to sell used dvds, videos, computer games, books, and clothes?

you could try music magpie, or try selling them yourself to get a little extra. For example bulk on ebay, or gumtree or facebook selling pages. ALso amazon buy in games, books etc. My son gets money from games shops in town for his old PS3 & Xbox360 games.

fantastiyk wrote: »

Also is there a thread or section on here about food planning and making food stretch?
I thought I remembered reading one a few months back but can't find it now.

I'm always on there! Instead of coming on to the pure money section of the forums go down to the old style saving threads. You will find tonnes of help there from menu planning, to grocery challenge (really helped me when i first started on here) umm to threads about what you can make from stuff left in your cupboards 2 days before pay day lol

xx

debtfreewannabe321

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=33

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=175

try both of those hopefully you will find something there of use xx