Sammr85's DFW Diary

sammr85

I have decided it's finally time to get me and my family debt free. Hubby's car looks like it's going to fail it's MOT in September due to rust so we need to start saving NOW!

I have done our SOA and we will start snowballing our debts as soon as we've saved enough to purchase a new car.

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 3
Number of cars owned.................... 2
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 0
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1436.5
Benefits................................ 1498.99
Other income............................ 135.42
Total monthly income.................... 3070.91
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 400
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 114 April - January
Electricity............................. 125 - This is for Gas and Elec. dual fuel
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 26
Telephone (land line)................... 18.1 - This includes internet services
Mobile phone............................ 67.15 - Both mine and hubby's
TV Licence.............................. 12.12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 51.5
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 450
Clothing................................ 50
Petrol/diesel........................... 200 - Both Cars. Hubby has 30 minute commute 6 days a week
Road tax................................ 26.25 - Both cars
Car Insurance........................... 72.58 - For 2 cars fully comp
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 58.33
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 12.48
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 16.99 laptop insurances which we use a lot due to my seemingly faulty laptop!
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 45
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 190 - Aiming for this to come down A LOT! This is our downfall
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1935.5

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 4000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 4000

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Littlewoods....................4559.73...110.......0
My capital one.................1076.35...37.25.....30.34
A's Capital One................736.21....25.55.....30.34
DFS............................562.32....25.56.....0
A's loan.......................6177.91...217.......22.8
A's Laptop.....................400.......20.99.....19.9
Laptop.........................300.......12.51.....19.9
A's Overdraft..................1200......0.........19.94
My Overdraft...................3000......0.........19.94
Argos Card.....................155.4.....6.22......29.9

:eek:

sammr85

Reserved for monthly updates!

Starting £17869.50 - Now £16681.07 (2/10/13)

Littlewoods - £4559.73 - Now £3975.70 (2/10/13)
Capital One - £1076.35 - Now £0 (20/09/13) Transferred to LTSB 0% on balance transfers on 17/9/13
A's Capital One - £736.21 - Now £729.36
DFS - £562.32 - Now £511.20 - Payments of £25.56 until May 2015 - 0%
A's Loan - £6177.91 - Now £5866.39 (2/10/13)
A's Laptop - £188.91 - Now £146.93 - Payments £20.99 until April 2014
My Laptop - £212.67 - Now £187.65 - Payments of £12.51 until Dec 2014
A's O/D - £1200 -
My M/D - £3000 -
Argos Card - £155.40 - Now £74.49 (26/09/13)
LTSB CC (0%) - £1053.58 (17/9/13) - Now £989.35 (2/10/13)

sammr85

So today I had to do a trip to Mr T's. Managed to spend £36.52 and I got enough for 6 meals plus extra bits to get my total over £40 so I could use my helping hand coupon worth £5. Hopefully I don't need to go to the shop until Sunday night but fingers crossed, that will just be for bread & milk for the week.

sammr85

Aiming for a NSD today. Need to nip out and feed our friends cats, re-new our library books and get on with my washing mountain!! Fingers crossed for that NSD x

quidsy

Set yourselves monthly personal budgets & stick to them. This is the personal spending money you each need to get through the month (make up, hair care, work expenses like lunch etc) & whatever is left over put into a debt, preferably the highest APR ones first.

Transfer this personal spending money to your own accounts or withdraw it as cash, keep the bill account completely seperate. Do not use the cash cards for the bill account EVER.

With over 1000 a month "spare" you could easily overpay debt by 3-400 a month after personal costs are taken out.

Stop buying takeaways, buy reduced items & freeze them, downgrade to own brand or make the choice to only buy offers that actually save you something. Set yourself a weekly food budget challenge. Start slightly less than you spend now then reduce down to a comfortable yet reduced level. I went from spending 150 a week on shopping for 3 people to 80. We don't want for anything & some months I might need to add an extra tenner if we are run out of cleaning products or loo roll but I buy bulk & they then last for the next 2-3 months.

Make a food plan for the week then see what you have already in cupboards/freezer & only buy the things you really need. You would be amazed at what you can make from what you already have.

Do pot lucks when the fresh food in the fridge is getting to use by date. Just cook it all up & share it for dinner. Bit random but kids quite like doing this.

Put 50 a month away for the car, general expenses like tax. MOT. Set aside another 20-30 a month to pay for the kid things that crop up like bday presents for the kids mates, presents for teachers at end of term. Bulk buy bday generic enough bday cards from card factory, they often do 10 for 1 pound. I save around 18 pound a year doing this, my son has around 15 frinds that always have parties, I also buy in advance any age approriate toys that on sale or special offer & keep them in a cupboard. When an invite to a kids party comes in, I look at what will suit, pick a card & wrap it up. Usual expense per kid £15, my cost around £8-10.

It all adds up & it is the small things that really make the difference.

Shaving a bit off of every day costs will add up to big savings.

Look at all your household bills, see if you can make a saving anywhere by changing supplier, calling up tv/phone/internet provider & telling them you arne't happy with the price. if you don't ask you don't get. I called sky & got 22 cut off my monthly, tv, phone & broadband bill.

They weren't going to offer it to me so I just asked for it & kicked a bit of a stink about how expensive it was & how cheap other suppliers were. They want to keep your business.

Good Luck.

quidsy

Also just noticed;

Electricity............................. 125

This is redonculously high. To put into perspective, I have a 4 bed 2 story house, we have 4 televisions, 2 pc's, 2 laptops, 2 tablets, 2 mobile phones & all the usual hh appliances. I tunmble dry all our underwear, pj's socks towels etc ever week & I doa round 3-4 washes a week so we use a fair bit of power. Everything is plugged in all the time, we don't switch off anyting from the mains unless we are away more than 3 nights, our elec bill per month is £30, we pay slightly more for gas as our heating boiler etc is gas but my total combined bill is £65 per month.

What do you do to have such a high elec bill?

sammr85

quidsy wrote: »

Also just noticed;

Electricity............................. 125

What do you do to have such a high elec bill?

Oops my edit hasn't taken. This is our gas & elec. dual fuel price. Our DD was £79 a month until last month and they have put it up as we were in arrears due to the gas being on longer this year than it was last year. I expect this to go down once we're in the black again x

-SOA now edited with explanations for costs

sammr85

I have found the PAD thread and I am going to join them as a way to start slowly clearing the debts and still be able to save towards hubby's new car

So running total for PAD - £6.72

MrsSmith2013

quidsy wrote: »

I have a 4 bed 2 story house, we have 4 televisions, 2 pc's, 2 laptops, 2 tablets, 2 mobile phones & all the usual hh appliances. I tunmble dry all our underwear, pj's socks towels etc ever week & I doa round 3-4 washes a week so we use a fair bit of power. Everything is plugged in all the time, we don't switch off anyting from the mains unless we are away more than 3 nights, our elec bill per month is £30, we pay slightly more for gas as our heating boiler etc is gas but my total combined bill is £65 per month.

What do you do to have such a high elec bill?

:eek: Okay, I am intrigued... who is your supplier?! I just got a tumble dryer a few months ago and my DD has gone up from £75 to £105 for electricity!! On the plus side I don't have to iron tho, which I find soul distroying, so happy-ish to pay more because of the tumble!

sammr85 wrote: »

I have found the PAD thread and I am going to join them as a way to start slowly clearing the debts and still be able to save towards hubby's new car

So running total for PAD - £6.72

Hi sammr - found your diary, so I will subscribe and we can keep up to date with each others progress! I was thinking about joining in the PAD too - I guess you wouldn't really notice the small amounts but they will make a difference at the end of the month!

Will look into that when I get home - becoming some what of a MSE addict at work, sneaking on here at any opportunity!!

Mrs S x

quidsy

Just changed to Sainsburys for dual fuel, was previously with Scottish for both & was paying around 85 a month but was always in credit by 200 quid even after winter so decied to get my credit back, change to a lower cost & fix the tariff till october 14.

sweetpea26

Hi there

I don't want to sound judgemental but you have more benefits than income. You have over 3K in pocket per month. You say that you have a spare £1000 that you are wasting! You are very fortunate to have so much money and please do understand that I am not judging you just pointing out there are so many people on far less. You should be able to buckle down and clear these quite quickly.

Does your husband need the car for work or could he use public transport so allowing you to fire every spare penny at the debts.

Its amazing how small amounts add up ... 50p here and £1 there soon adds up. I wish you all the best with your debt-busting.