New Start

SmarterNotHarder

Hi!

I've been pottering round these forums for a bit, and am ready for a completely new start hence the new username.

I've also been a tad inspired by some of the diaries in here. I managed to get out of debt last year and *touch wood* have managed to stay out. However this is where I feel comfiest.

That said If my diary needs to be shipped elsewhere I understand

This is to keep me under control and make me focused on saving for a house deposit I think I'll find it easier to think of my savings goal (£20000) as a debt rather than a savings goal, for some reason saving doesn't spur me on as much

I've been dipping in and out of challenges on here (without the thread participants knowledge at times) and I intend to consolidate my efforts here.

Wish me luck!!

SmarterNotHarder

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars owned.................... 0

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1050
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 5
Total monthly income.................... 1055

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 260
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 0
Electricity............................. 0
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 36
TV Licence.............................. 0
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 100
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 0
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 75
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 15
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 5
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
(Unnamed monthly expense)............... 0
(Unnamed monthly expense)............... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 491


Assets
Cash.................................... 4661.09
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 0
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 4661.09

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Credit card....................250.......250.......0
Total unsecured debts..........250.......250.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,055
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 491
Available for debt repayments........... 564
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 250
Amount left after debt repayments....... 314

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 4,661.09
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -250
Net Assets.............................. 4,411.09


The utilities are included in my rent, that's why there are no entires for gas/water/elec/tv licence/broadband.

The rest is blank because i have no idea what to budget for these. Hopefully this new journey will help me with that too!

SmarterNotHarder

Challenges joined:

No Buying Unnecessary Toiletries in January 2013
Ja-NEW-ary 2013 - Take your lunch to work thread
The Completely Crazy 2013 Clothes Challenge

liltdiddylilt

Hi there

Welcome...(back) to the forum. £20k is a huge savings goal, but you have a lot left after your income. Are you house sharing? I'm a nosey parker

I would love for my bills etc to be included in such a low rent!! Mine is £450pm without anything added in

I think if it spurs you on then keep your diary wherever the heck you want it!!! I'm pretty sure there are many diaries here that are still going after the owner has moved from in debt to saving!! Apparently we're a very friendly forum :rotfl: and I have to say I haven't found the savings forum as nice...

Good luck with chipping away at your savings debt

~lilt

SmarterNotHarder

Hi Lilt,

No my favourable rent is due to the fact I'm living with parents :rotfl::rotfl:. I know I have a good deal! That's why my grocery shop is so low too, I just help out with the shopping every so often, and buy myself treats sometimes

I think I just have a different mindset about debt than savings hehe

In other news, it's Dads birthday today. Pressie and card had already been sorted but I was going to go and buy a cake. Then realised I have all the ingredients at home and a day off work... £5.00 saved :money:

Small things eh?

SmarterNotHarder

Hey! Just checking back in, Since I started this I have only spent on lunch at work once! And have bought no new toiletries lol so all good. :money:

I need to adjust my SOA as my net income is lower and has been for the last few months due to the fact I'm now paying into the company pension and had forgotten. I'm just debating whether to reduce it on my "income" or add it into "expenditure"? As the amount I'm paying in is more than the difference to my net income as it gets taken off before tax/NI is calculated.

And even though I'm off work today, it has been a totally no spend day as I haven't given in to the temptation to go "window shopping" lol. Well no spends apart from transferring money into my ISA. I have £600 of this years allowance left to put into it and then it's full! And 2 months to do it in so I can't see that being a problem. I may even have a surplus to start off next years!:j:j

Maybe I can pay off this "debt" sooner than I thought!

SmarterNotHarder

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars owned.................... 0

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1027
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 5
Total monthly income.................... 1032

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 30
Rent.................................... 260
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 0
Electricity............................. 0
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 36.6
TV Licence.............................. 0
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 100
Clothing................................ 21.66
Petrol/diesel........................... 0
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 75
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 15
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 6.5
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 30
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
(Unnamed monthly expense)............... 0
Cigarettes.............................. 30
Total monthly expenses.................. 604.76


Assets
Cash.................................... 5112.67
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 0
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 5112.67


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 0........(0)........0
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 300......(30).......0
Total secured & HP debts...... 300.......-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Halifax CC.....................0.........0.........0
Total unsecured debts..........0.........0.........-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,032
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 604.76
Available for debt repayments........... 427.24
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 0
Amount left after debt repayments....... 427.24

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 5,112.67
Total HP & Secured debt................. -300
Total Unsecured debt.................... -0
Net Assets.............................. 4,812.67

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

I think this is a bit more accurate - I haven't included the debt on my CC as I use it for spending every month and then pay it off every month so if I included it I'd be including some costs twice!

beanielou

Looking good

SmarterNotHarder

Thankyou BeanieLou,

Now the trick is to actually have the £427 left, I keep a spending diary type thing on my phone, but somehow it still doesn't add up, I must be missing things so I need to get stricter with myself about updating it!

Saying that, it's less than 2 weeks before payday, last month's purchases have been paid off the CC with £70.00 new transactions, £20 of which is a really good deal from work whereby I get MS Office Professional 2013! A massive saving and it means I'm less likely to be coveting shiny new tablets/laptops to replace my 7 year old PC, which just needs a bit of TLC really. Too scared to clean the dust out of the CPU for fear of damaging it though, which means it sounds like an aeroplane taking off!

So after paying 2 weeks worth of rent and paying last months CC off, I still have about £700 left. All my DDs go out nearer the end of the month rather than the beginning though so they still need to go.

SmarterNotHarder

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars owned.................... 0

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1110
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 5
Total monthly income.................... 1115

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 260
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 0
Electricity............................. 0
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 16
TV Licence.............................. 0
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 100
Clothing................................ 25
Petrol/diesel........................... 0
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 75
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 15
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 10
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 6.66
Entertainment........................... 50
Holiday................................. 50
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Gym..................................... 18.5
Total monthly expenses.................. 626.16


Assets
Cash.................................... 11280
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 0
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 11280

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

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


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,115
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 626.16
Available for debt repayments........... 488.84
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 0
Amount left after debt repayments....... 488.84

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 11,280
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -0
Net Assets.............................. 11,280

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

Hmm not done especially well in all that time :S I've saved just over £6500 in nearly 2 years! I will confess to a few fancy holidays in that time I guess I must admit it's been really nice not getting into debt to do it, but I've been putting my savings goal back instead I just don't see it in the same way I guess, but I really can't continue at this rate

Of the "spare" £488.84, £300 goes straight into a Regular Saver, but the rest is unaccounted for. I really need to get a handle on this. Any tips?

mfmaybe

Hi

Well you are doing better than me! How about upping the amount you pay your parents and asking them to keep it? Or, work out how much your own home would cost. Mortgage, utilities, council tax, insurance, food shopping, light bulbs, the lot. Deduct what you give your parents right now, then save the rest of it. Because the honest truth is, if you can't afford to save that amount each month then you can't afford your own place! Sounds harsh but it's a good motivator I think?

Best of luck.