Rising to the top of the ocean - and staying afloat!

rising_from_the_ashes

Right I’ve decided it’s time for a fresh new diary!

Risen from the Ashes has been running since 2011 and is getting a bit long – and the challenges I face are different to what they were then!

So .... welcome back to anyone who’s been part of my journey so far, hoping you’ll stick with me and also hoping a few new faces may join me.

Warning, warning ..... I DO ramble ..... I DO get a bit obsessive with figures and spreadsheets – so please give me a nudge if I do get a bit carried away with them!

I think a lot of it stems from being single – not having anyone to share the stresses of making ends meet / having someone here to off-load to means it tends to all pour out on here but it does make me feel better getting it out and really does help so .... please put up with me a little bit!

I’m going to hog the first few posts to put things like my SOA, action plan etc in so that I can keep these up to date (pinched from others’ diaries!) as I always lost track of these in my other diary!

rising_from_the_ashes

• Spent the best part of my adult life in loads & loads in debt (nearly £20k at one point!)
• Consolidated 3 times .... my advice - DON’T do it!
• Eventually worked it off over many years & paid it back the hard way
• DF October 2011 - but with a tight budget
• Spent 2012 trying to establish budgeting / savings pots - budgeting is my downfall .... I am USELESS at it!

Things went a bit errrr t*ts up around 3 months ago when I had to change my car to an automatic (I couldn’t use the clutch properly anymore so it was a necessity safety wise) – old car should’ve been fine for another 4-5 years so it was definitely NOT planned OR budgeted for!

I have managed to avoid a new loan & the c/cards are being paid in full BUT the OD has risen .... a LOT

Technically – I’m still DF as I have budgeting pots & a small savings account (redundancy fund!) which would cover the OD but I feel that I’d get in more of a mess as I’d not have money to pay the annual bills when they’re due!

Having spent the whole of 2012 trying to get them up and running I don’t want to wipe them out! So, to me – the OD is a debt that needs cleared .... the hard way!

Any and all suggestions welcomed! There isn’t a lot to e*bay – this all went when clearing the big debts and I can’t take a 2nd job just now due to health reasons ....

rising_from_the_ashes

As you can see – there’s not a huge amount of room to move but this does include absolutely everything now.

Looking back, no wonder I got in a mess as there were things unaccounted for (and if added mean I wasn’t even breaking even).

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of children in household.........
Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1334
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1334

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 277
Secured/HP loan repayments....... 0
Mobile insurance...................... 6
Estate Maintenance Charge .....11
Council tax............................. 94
Electricity............................. 30
Gas..................................... 40
Insurance - Dog ................. 17.32 Auto-renewal - Nov '13
Insurance - Cats ................. 12.9 Auto-renewal - Nov '13
Telephone (land line)................... 12.49 1/2 price to May '13
Mobile phone............................ 21 Contract to March '14 - cashback claims bring overall cost down to £8.50 / month (these will be going to emergency fund)
TV Licence.............................. 12.12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 22.5
Internet Services....................... 12.99 1/2 price to May '13
Groceries etc. ......................... 140 Need to work on this!
Clothing................................ 20 New "Others" pot
Petrol/diesel........................... 130 Estimate - new car
Road tax................................ 8.5 Feb '13 - saved
Car Insurance........................... 20 Sept '13 - saved
Car maintenance (including MOT & breakdown cover)...... 25 Service Aug '13, MOT March '14, Breakdown cover = 5 years cover with car - saved
Dog costs ............................. 40
Cat costs .............................. 45
Bank account fee ..................... 6.5 Use benefits available
Window cleaner ..................... 5
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 20 New "Others" pot
New boiler .......................... 25 Saved
Buildings insurance..................... 10 May '13 - saved
Contents insurance...................... 10 May '13 - saved
Income insurance..................... 23.5 Can't change as redundancy would be excluded
Boiler insurance......................... 12.9 Nov '13
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 10 New "Others" pot
Haircuts................................ 7.5 New "Others" pot
Entertainment........................... 50 This is really my "misc / anything else" fund
Massage ........................... 25
Holiday................................. 20 New "Others" pot
Emergency fund.......................... 25 Saved
Bike insurance.......................... 2 Nov '13
Charity................................. 8.34
Total monthly expenses.................. 1258.56

Assets
Cash.................................... 1000
House value (Gross)..................... 70000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 6700
New boiler fund ....................... 325
Total Assets............................ 78025

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly.. .APR
Mortgage...................... 68000....(277)......2.49
Total secured & HP debts...... 68000.....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly.. .APR
OD.............................900.......0........ .0
Total unsecured debts..........900.......0.........-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,334
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,258.56
Available for debt repayments........... 75.44
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 0
Amount left after debt repayments....... 75.44

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 78,025
Total HP & Secured debt................. -68,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -900
Net Assets.............................. 9,125

Created using the SOA calculator at www.stoozing.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using Firefox browser.

rising_from_the_ashes

I am terrible at budgeting ...... I’m OK with bills as I have a separate account for these and all my d/debits come out of here & I transfer a set amount every month – and I never use this account for anything else.

I’d highly recommend it! You never need to worry about there not being enough to cover the d/debits or get any charges!

Budgeting for annual things ... errr not good at this historically!

The only thing I have managed to do properly was the Pets – as I was always worried someone would need an unexpected vets trips & I’d have no money to pay for it... So, their pot has been up and running for a couple of years – it now allows me to bulk buy their food, litter etc and I’ve made huge savings doing this!

rising_from_the_ashes

I pay everything on my c/card (I am hopeless with cash) and clear in full each month.

However, as the c/card runs from and to the middle of the month, I’m 2 weeks in arrears with things like Groceries & Fuel (don’t currently put this money into a pot as can’t afford to pay the bill & put the amount away for the next month IYSWIM:o).

Hopefully the budgeting pots will make this a lot easier as I move to getting money set aside for all “those little things that crop up” but it’s been really hard work trying to get these up and running .

At the start, I was over-paying many of them as things like the car service was due in Feb ’12 but only started the pot around Nov/Dec ’11!

This is one of the reasons the “Others pot” was errrrrrr written off – and I really need to get this sorted ASAP!

rising_from_the_ashes

Editing to add figures ..... will be useful to refer to for monthly transfers on payday :T

House & Car - £238.50

• House

1. Insurance - £20
2. Landline advance rental - £10
3. Emergency Fund - £25
4. To add - Groceries

• Car

1. Insurance - £20
2. Servicing, MOT, Maintenance - £25
3. Tax - £8.50
4. Fuel - £130
5. [STRIKE]Breakdown cover not needed - 5 years with new car [/STRIKE]:T

Pets - £85

• Dog - £40
• Cats - £45

Both excluding insurance costs which come out the bills account

Others - £80

Need to get this one up and running!

• Hair - £7.50
• Dentist - £12.50
• Clothes - £20
• Optician - £10
• Presents - £10
• Holiday - £20
• To add - Entertainment / Anything else

rising_from_the_ashes

I'm intending to update this list periodically!

• Closed old Monthly Saver Account as this has now completed it’s 12 months – this is the replacement Boiler fund!
• Set up new Monthly Saver Account – starts Jan @ £25 / month
• Set up new ISA & transfer money from completed Monthly Saver Account - 12/12/12
• Stopped smoking!
• Open new basic bank account
• Set up 2013 Spending spreadsheet
• Set up 2013 Savings pots spreadsheets
• Written to old employers pension provider to update address details (only been here 6 years!:o) - 14/12/12
• Others Pot – Get this up & running for Clothes, Presents, Opticians, Dentist, Hair & Holiday
• House & Car pot - add a Fuel pot [STRIKE]& transfer any underspend each month[/STRIKE] - managed to put this away from Nov pay (£95 which will cover spends) as not been using car as much :T
  
• Finalise 2013 budget

rising_from_the_ashes

And this one!

• Write to bank to close unused savings account (and ask for £3+ to be sent to me!)
• [STRIKE]Others Pot – Get this up & running for Clothes, Presents, Opticians, Dentist, Hair & Holiday[/STRIKE]
• Others pot – aim to add Entertainment later & transfer any underspend each month
• House & Car pot - add a Groceries [STRIKE]& Fuel[/STRIKE] pots & transfer any underspend each month
• Pay off OD!
• Spending diary – keep this up! Need to work out where the extra money’s going
• [STRIKE]Finalise 2013 budget - nearly there![/STRIKE]

rising_from_the_ashes

Well, that’s the boring stuff out the way!:o

elantan

Hey rising, Will grab a seat and join ya if you don't mind ?

mummybearx

Oh hello shiny new diary :wave:

I love the idea of having money stored to bulk buy pet food etc, something I would love to be able to do.

Have subscribed, will be here pushing and shoving you along, dragging myself on your coat tails into a DF life!