Emerging from the dark - a dfw diary

Chrysalis1976

Hi all,

I've been an avid reader and follower of this site for a while and have followed many users through their journeys to debt freedom with respect, awe and interest albeit silently.

I love the way people share their stories, ideas, tips and encouragement in such a positive way.

So why am I starting a diary, well mainly for my own progress notes to see how well I can attack my debt and if anyone can give any help it will be more than welcome.

A little about me: I work in education but unlike lecturers I work all year round (no offence ) and my job is well paid despite having a pay freeze for the last 3 years. I'm married to a lovely man who also earns a fair wage, not huge but on paper our combined income should be plenty for our simple life.

We have two lovely children aged 4 and 8, both currently on school holiday and luckily I only have to work part of the summer due to some TOIL saved up.

Now to the debt, I'm going to reserve post 2 for my SOA but that won't be until tomorrow as getting late now and taking the kids out to a slate museum (free) and then paddling in the nearby lake/picnic day.

Our debt has been up and down ever since we got married 17 years ago, we've gone through a rollercoaster of debt, no debt, debt, no debt etc.

Our current debt is just by over spending on life's daily needs which in itself is worrying because we obviously aren't budgetting well although I look out for vouchers, discounts and offers all the time.

We are not materialistic and we enjoy the simple pleasures of camping, good food and that's about it. I know I can hear you say well where's it going then? Well that's my mission to find out, sort and get to our goal of a little house with a bit of land in the country (we live about 5 mins from the sea so not too far!)

Right that's enough waffling for one post, ooh by the way my username and title are because I love butterflies and I want to emerge from the dark into a beautiful life for my family

Chrysalis1976

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 2
Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1528.45 will go down a bit during term time as pay £60 a month for degree straight from wages
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1340
Benefits................................ 134.8
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 3003.25

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 615
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 100
Electricity............................. 50 gas and elec together - quite high at min
Gas..................................... 50
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 55.82
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 84 includes payment for galaxy note used for work
TV Licence.............................. 12.12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 54.85 includes phone line, calls and broadband
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 350
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 160
Road tax................................ 15
Car Insurance........................... 43.01monthly payment includes house insurance
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 35
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 240
Other child related expenses............ 28
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0 due for renewal with contents
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 10.81
Other insurance......................... 45.64 redundancy cover and bolier cover
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 40 haven't really figured out cost of Christmas
Haircuts................................ 0 dh and son done at home, me and dd hardly ever have haircut but very cheap cut when we do
Entertainment........................... 0 found it difficult to put a figure on this as we don't go out much and when we do it's usually quite cheap
Holiday................................. 0 haven't been on holiday in years, currently saving t*sco vouchers for next year so should save spending monet
Emergency fund.......................... 0
school dinners.......................... 36
Total monthly expenses.................. 2025.25


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 115000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 3000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 118000


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 106384...(615)......4.78
Total secured & HP debts...... 106384....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
overdraft......................195.......0.........0
overdraft......................1000......0.........0
overdraft......................1000......0.........0
argos..........................358.......0.........0
very...........................190.......30........0
credit card....................2500......50........0
credit card....................1250......25........0
credit card....................1250......25........0
Total unsecured debts..........7743......130.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 3,003.25
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,025.25
Available for debt repayments........... 978
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 130
Amount left after debt repayments....... 848

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 118,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -106,384
Total Unsecured debt.................... -7,743
Net Assets.............................. 3,873

JoeyGrey

Hi Chrysalis

Looking forward to reading your diary - your dream of a little house and some land sounds perfect.

Joey

beanielou

Happy shiney new diary
A spending diary sounds as if it might be a good idea for you to keep track of your spending?

Chrysalis1976

Thanks both for the welcome, a spending diary is definitely a must will find a nice little note book out of the plenty we have around the house and start tomorrow.

We have been busy the last couple of days so haven't had the quiet or the time to do my SOA but have a very organised finance box so I know where everything is when I can get to it.

I did sit down and write out the list of debts we have to put everything down in black and white:

Very £190 need to check interest but I know it isn't brilliant
Argos £358 @ 0% until Dec 2013
overdraft 1 £195 - need to get rid of this first as an unused account and just paying for using each month
overdraft 2 £1000
overdraft 3 £1000
credit card 1 £1250 @ 0% for another 12 months
credit card 2 £1250
credit card 3 £2500

So first targets are very and overdraft 1, as well as sorting out the budget I also need to have a good sort out of the house and sell as much as possible things that are unwanted or unneeded. I already do survey sites and have a couple nearing payout.

C x

Chrysalis1976

I've now added an SOA and was quite shocked with the results, there are definitely a few expenses that can be reduced and forgot to mention that the mobile payment for for 2 phones and the galaxy.

I think the spending diary is going to be invaluable for working out how much we actually spend on food and entertainment as this is obviously where we fall down - MASSIVELY!

Let me know anything that I've missed, thanks C x

Chrysalis1976

Made over £100 selling a phone on eb*y last night, today car spun out whilst going slowly round a roundabout in the wet, so now need to go to local tyre centre to get front tyre changed.

Scary as had both kids in the car but luckily I was going slow anyway as rain has been bad all day and only one other car on roundabout!

So money in and then out as usual, I showed dh the budget summary he was quite shocked too and I've started my spending diary to keep track.

Right off to do some surveys. C x

beanielou

Do you do You Gov or Nectar ads?
Both good I think.

JoeyGrey

Pinec0ne keeps a few pounds a month coming in too - look out for posts on here saying they are hiring again.

Baldybear

Good morning Thought would drop by and wish you luck on your journey. Definitely agree with the others about a spending diary as it would be interesting to see where your surplus goes each month, worked wonders for me

Chrysalis1976

So it's not quite 10.30 and I've already spent £100 on tyres, added to my spending diary and account balance online is looking shocking. I now have 200 left in overdraft for the month (pay day is 22nd) this has to pay for food, diesel and birthday present for son.

I will also owe £200 for ds childcare for summer but they can wait until payday, I have already paid for dd sports club as her's were £5 per session compared to ds £25 but he is too young to go to the sports centre.

I have however made £2.88 by selling old clothes yay!

Thanks for the tips about surveys, I already do quite a few and some nearing pay out but why does it seem to take so much longer to build up when you're near to the balance?!?

Next job today is to sort out ds toys and books and see if there is anything I can flog on faceache.