Moneymaker2's debt diary

moneymaker2

Thought it would be nice to start a kind of debt diary so that I can check on my process and update what I am going to do or not do every day to get me to the stage where I have no outstanding debts (bar my mortgage)

The story so far:

Joined this website ages ago and set about changing my attitude towards money. Followed Martins tips and advice and changed my cards over to 0%, also changed my bank account over to Alliance and leicester as they had the best offers on (0% free overdraft for 1 year and high interest when in credit and a high interest savings account attached).
I then applied to my old bank (hsbc) to look at refunding charges we asked for just over 600 pounds and was offered £538.00 which has cleared into our account today. This has been transferred immediately to the savings account (well most of it I cleared a 18.9% overdraft at £106.17 first)

The family debt was £76,119.50 when I calculated it on Sunday just gone so I set about looking at how we could save more.
I signed up to 3 mystery shopper sites, started my £2 pot, signed up for quidco and put my first item on ebay. (currently selling for £25)
Yesterday we went to see Citifinance and they sorted us out with a £7500 loan at 13.7% and wrote cheques directly to my husbands monument (18.9%) and Barclaycard (17.9%) to get these cleared off thus saving us money a month to pay off higher debtors quicker and clearing the 2 debts quicker with the 1 loan (only 5 years now not 10 or 11 as it would have been had we kept the cards)
I then wrote letters to all outstanding creditcards and creditcards with 0 balances and will be posting these off with the cheques to have the accounts cancelled.
Last night my husband and I cut up the cards and disposed of them and talked about how to save money together (Turned his nose up at the own brand supermarket stuff though. Told him it's all made in the same factory just different packaging... Snob)
As of now our debt currently stands at £75,585.74, which is £533.76 paid off so far. Here are my plans for this weekend:
*Go through Wageslips and budget and find more money to clear off debts.
* Car boot sale on Sunday (weather is lovely and have lots to sell)
*Take photos of our old sofa and advertise them on ebay. (They are lovely but just too big for our lounge)
* And keep checking the mystery shopper stuff. (1st one not till 3rd June)
Will check back in on Sunday and let you and me all know how I got on with the above.:T

Shineyhappy

Hiya,

Have you posted an SOA to get more insight into saving money? This should also help you see how far you have come when you look back in a few months time.

Also have you joined Pigsback/Quidco etc?

Best of luck wiping those debts off!

moneymaker2

Hiya,

Yes I have signed upto both though not really sure how pigsback works.
I have posted an Soa on the board somewhere it'll be in the posts, i also have a hard copy of it on my computer that works out percentages saved.
I have just completed my first online order on tesco and it cost £53.26. Saved £5.00 by using vouchers, this will make it eaier to track where the money is going cause we used to take it out of the bank and put it in a cash tin-obviously meant that we could keep dipping into it. This has stopped cause it was a bad thing

JET34

Hello I look forward to reading you diary!!
Good luck and well done

Shineyhappy

moneymaker2 wrote: »

Hiya,

Yes I have signed upto both though not really sure how pigsback works.
I have posted an Soa on the board somewhere it'll be in the posts, i also have a hard copy of it on my computer that works out percentages saved.
I have just completed my first online order on tesco and it cost £53.26. Saved £5.00 by using vouchers, this will make it eaier to track where the money is going cause we used to take it out of the bank and put it in a cash tin-obviously meant that we could keep dipping into it. This has stopped cause it was a bad thing

I would still post your SOA on here and then re do it in say 6 months time and hopefully it will look a load better and that could be a bit of a pick me up if you ever need one.

There is a thread on the freebies board devoted to Pigsback. Make sure you read the first three posts and that should explain everything.

moneymaker2

My SOA as requested:

£2,609.76 Total income

Total outgoings:

Royal Bank Of Scotland Mortgage £724.98
Council Tax £90.00
Home Content Insurance £30.51
Water Rates £25.64
Gas Bill £30.00
Electricity Bill £25.00
Home Phone Bill £20.00
O2 £40.00
3G £40.00
Internet Bill £14.99
Royal Liver £13.95
Royal Liver £9.95
Insurance £22.16
Food Shopping £200.00
Car Insurance £81.10 (For 2 cars)
Petrol / Diesel / Gas £100.00 (For 2 cars)
Barclaycard £26.00 (0% 12months then 17.9%)
Citibank £170.14 (12.9%)
Capital One Card £5.00 (10.4%)
First Plus £336.84 (11.7%)
Alliance and leicester £16.00 (0% first 9 months then 16.9%)
HSBC loan £327.21 (6.9%)
Sky Subscription £47.00
TV Licence £11.37

moneymaker2

I can't believe how much money I am saving at the moment.
I have just sold 2 mobiles and a 3 seater sofa on ebay.
I still have a filofax, 2 seater sofa and burberry handbag up for sale.
We are having a car boot on Sunday (Weather Permitting). I also have 2 mystery shopper jobs tomorrow with Sassie and I have just recieved a letter from my old mortgage company saying that they over charged me on our exit fees so I have sent back the acceptance for the £55 owed today.
I can't explain how happy I am that we are getting so much incoming, it's all going on the debt Yay!!!

Shineyhappy

I am glad you are feeling a lot more positive!

Are you sure you want to be spending 47 pounds a month on Sky? Thats 564 pounds a year and for you to earn that you would obviously need to put tax and NI on there so its a fair bit more.

Congrats on your Ebay sales! It is wonderful to get money for stuff you dont need and you are recycling too!

I have made a hundred pounds just from Amazoning some books that were just taking up space so I was so pleased with that!

moneymaker2

Hiya Shineyhappy,

I have had to compromise on the sky thing to be honest as I have cancelled mine and my husbands cineworld movie cards. This was only costing £22 a month, however after all the sweets and popcorn and stuff I just said to my Hubby that we have sky and never watch the movie channels so I gave him the ultinatum of either downgrade the package or I cancel the movie cards.
You can see which one he chose.

moneymaker2

Have to love ebay.... Have currently made £310.00 and still have 2 items selling for at least £155.50. Once this comes through it will all go on clearing off debts.
I am also awaiting £55 from northern rock (following the advice of Martin Lewis and asking about mortgage exit fees)
I'm also getting a car insurance refund £44.74 and we have said that we'll have this car boot next Sunday now. Weather permitting.
With a few other bits I should have another £665 to help pay off the debts. I need it though cause I have currently paid off £666 and thats not a good figure to be on!!!

moneymaker2

Hiya All,

Need a bit of help or advice really.
I am due to go on maternity leave on the 22nd June and I will be off work till the 1st October.
I have started to look into the benefits that we will get and also how much it would cost to have a childminder, However my SOA is currently looking like this:

Incomings:
Basic Wages: £2500.00
Chb: Approx £114 per month (2children)
Child Tax credit £38.80 per month (only get basic as earn too much)
Total: £2652.80

Outgoings:
Royal Bank Of Scotland Mortgage £754.36 ( Keeps increasing Grrr)
Council Tax £90.00 (Already being paid over 12 months)
Home Content Insurance £30.51 (Due for renewal Oct 07)
Water Rates £25.64 (On water meter)
Gas Bill £30.00 ( Awaiting switch to same supplier as electrity)
Electricity Bill £25.00
Home Phone Bill £20.00 (Has to be bt for AOL and sky)
O2 £80.00 (Fairly new contracts, cannot reduce down to lower package till next month-2 phones)
Internet Bill £14.99 (aol-contract till August 07)
Royal Liver £13.95 (Husbands life insurance-cannot find cheaper)
Royal Liver £9.95 (My life insurance-cannot find cheaper)
Insurance £22.16 (For mortgage and secured loan)
Food Shopping £200.00 (Think this is fair for family of 4 as currently pay £170.00)
Car Insurance £81.10 (For 2 cars) 1 up for renewal in October
Petrol / Diesel / Gas £100.00 (For 2 cars)
Barclaycard £26.00 (0% 12months then 17.9%)
Citibank £170.45 (12.9%) 60 months remaining
First Plus £336.84 (11.7%) 291 months remaining
Alliance and leicester £16.00 (0% first 9 months then 16.9%)
HSBC loan £327.21 (6.9%) 91 payments remaining
Sky Subscription £47.00
TV Licence £11.37
Cinema cards £22.98
And the childcare of £360
Total £2815.51

This is £162.71 less than what we have coming in. Don't get me wrong we normally find the money through overtime and bonuses to meet our expediture, but all I keep thinking is years of minimum payments b4 our daughter will go to school so that we can start clearing the debt off again.
The pymts for the credit cards I have entered are only the minimum payments.
As you can see there is also no money in the budget to buy clothes and I'll need quite a few cause baby will get through them fast.

Really panicking only have 1 more payday before my rubbish wages start to try and clear off more debt.
Fortunatly I have just recieved £420 for the sale of my sofas and I will have another £99.74 from a refund and northern rock and also whatever I make at car boot so these will help reduce some of the debts b4 d day!!!!
I also have the black horse loan which is for the sofa, the reason its not in the budget is cause it should be 4 years interest free and you don't pay for your 1st year but dfs have messed up the credit agreement and our first payment is due in Feb 08 (1year after purchase) and it is payable over 6 months not 3 years at approx £310 per month. Keep asking hubby to call them to sort out cause over 3 years it should only be £46 per month and this is better than the £310 but he is either too busy or he forgets.
I'm digging a bigger hole now and I'm starting to panick.... Please help......