Mr and Mrs K's New Journey to a Debt Free Life.

AlexLK

Right, our September SOA is here, comment away:

September 2013 Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1035
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1705
Benefits................................ 433 (child benefit, child tax credit, working tax credit)
Other income............................ 0 (could be higher)
Total monthly income.................... 3173


September 2013 Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 703
Council tax............................. 162
Electricity............................. 70 (want to reduce further)
Gas..................................... 70 (want to reduce further)
Water rates............................. 35
Telephone, Internet (land line)................... 32.75
Mobile phone............................ 60
TV Licence.............................. 12.3
Groceries etc. ......................... 275
Clothing................................ 0 (yes that is ZERO Alex, love Mrs. K.)
Petrol/diesel........................... 450 (will still have the V8 this month)
Road tax................................ 47
Car Insurance........................... 75
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0 (nothing needs to be spent this month)
Car parking............................. 20
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 25
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 17
Contents insurance...................... 11
Life assurance ......................... 15
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)......0 (nothing needs to be spent this month)
Haircuts................................ 28
Entertainment........................... 65
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Other / Misc...........................................100
Total September expenses.................. 2273.05

fc123

....the petrol jumps out at me...and I remember that being a big one with us too.

I know you will have commuting costs but walk everywhere you can and chuck the receipts in a tub, tot them up after 4 weeks and see if it went down much.

Make use of online shopping (free delivery only) for heavy / bulky items and do the rest on foot if you can. Are you quite rural? Do you have farm shops and stuff nearby?

I still hate buying petrol...


+ Cooking skills. Try a new recipe per week and, if you like it, it's one to practice until you know it off by heart.


We gave up Indian takeaways and missed them so badly I bought an Indian cookbook.
After the initial spend on all the spices (£25 but they last 3 years).....bought from a Indian shop (not supermarket)........I tried out loads of recipes.
OH decided that it was way better than the takeaway versions and we don't buy them at all now.....in fact, prefer our own way more.
Impressive if people come over to eat too....:cool:, I have a cr&9 car but the home cooked Indian feast impresses every time.

AlexLK

fc123 wrote: »

Wow, a Masterplan....that's how we did it.

Oddly, I was thinking about suggesting the music thing during today as I recalled you mentioned that you would have really liked to have become a classical musician.

I know it's about the practicalities and debt busting (+ being Dad and Hubby) but a little something just for your sould woul be good to fit in too.

My mother always wanted to be a concert pianist but then had 3 kids so had to give up her Phd (it still sits in tea chests in my Dads basement, pages of handwritten notes..and they divorced over 35 yrs ago) plus in the 60's, she was expected to be SAHW .....but she always taught after school (at our home) and now she plays for Rotary events, local concerts, all sorts of gigs and loves it. She's 72 and has said that her playing has saved her in very dark moments.

What do you play?

I'm a violinist and pianist. I have taught before when I was at university, not really for the money but because I enjoyed it. Recently, I've had a hard time so much as looking at any music because I've been feeling so down about it but today I played through some pieces I did for my first year recital and really enjoyed it, plus the standard was no where near as bad as I expected it to be!

fc123 wrote: »

Good for you. Family are tricky sometimes but I'm shocked he felt he could say that to your face.

I'm not, sometimes I feel the same way about myself.

fc123 wrote: »

Reading more I didn't realise you are an upholsterer...is that right? I will post add ons to that subject another day as we just had 2 sofas upholstered by a very inspiring lady locally....she has a great shop doing interiors, curtains, up-cycling and so on. It wasn't a cheap service either but we themed it on Tetrad concept and will end up with something unique. This is the best selling point nowadays as fighting on price is a race to the bottom.
Set yourself the next level up as people out there will always pay a premium for something that isn't mainstream...esp the people that can afford everything YKWIM?

I'm not an upholsterer, well not "professionally" though I've dabbled with all manner of craft trades in my spare time before. I just like Chesterfield suites.

My main business involves selling (very) high end furniture, completely hand made, bespoke items. We sell to independent retailers, there are A LOT fairly locally. Business is improving all the time, I might even allow myself a pay rise come January.

fc123 wrote: »

errrrr...nope It was about 70k on cards, 40k on our 'Drawdown' facility attached to the mortgage and the rest was loans.
Sadly, we didn't accrue the debt with high living and I don't have a handbag collection to envy, it was mostly business disasters and the bulk of the CC was OH paying out wages ...and then the customer went down + dinged him for 50k. Chuck on the interest and *voila* 70k debt just sat there like a big fat cat.
We had a double disaster as we had a shop and lost a rent review (in the boom years when everything was going up up up) after 2 years and I had to pay the corp LL back the increase with interest.

Some of the debt was definitely being 'too busy to budget' as well.

Sorry to hear this It does go to show the risks one takes in business, I hope things are better now?

fc123 wrote: »

I have school tales to share another time as both ours did both types.....in fact daughter had a very varied education as she did failing state primary (we live in a London borough with 3 rd worst schools in UK), private then a final year in a top public girls school (the R one).....it's a long story for another day. But I do have opinion on all types of schools so don't get stressed about your boys schooling yet.

Oooh look, extra long post tonight..sorry

I live in a rural village and the local state primary has 45 children aged 4-11, it certainly would be interesting to hear your opinion re. schooling.

AlexLK

fc123 wrote: »

....the petrol jumps out at me...and I remember that being a big one with us too.

I know you will have commuting costs but walk everywhere you can and chuck the receipts in a tub, tot them up after 4 weeks and see if it went down much.

Make use of online shopping (free delivery only) for heavy / bulky items and do the rest on foot if you can. Are you quite rural? Do you have farm shops and stuff nearby?

I still hate buying petrol...


+ Cooking skills. Try a new recipe per week and, if you like it, it's one to practice until you know it off by heart.


We gave up Indian takeaways and missed them so badly I bought an Indian cookbook.
After the initial spend on all the spices (£25 but they last 3 years).....bought from a Indian shop (not supermarket)........I tried out loads of recipes.
OH decided that it was way better than the takeaway versions and we don't buy them at all now.....in fact, prefer our own way more.
Impressive if people come over to eat too....:cool:, I have a cr&9 car but the home cooked Indian feast impresses every time.

My wife has commuting costs. My petrol for business use, the business pays. We are going to try walking small trips of 1-2 miles.

We are 7 miles away from a supermarket and do a lot of our shopping on the high street of the same town the supermarket is in. This is most likely terrible from a MSE point of view but we try to avoid the supermarket and support local business as much as we can.

Our nearest neighbour is a farmer with a farm shop which we use! The next neighbour brings us free eggs and all manner of fruit and vegetables he has grown in his garden.

We will try to make an effort with the cooking.

Orange_Ena

I enjoy writing and quite often buy things through Amazon, £20 off [STRIKE]a pen[/STRIKE]... erm, gifts for our son would be nice. [/QUOTE]


:rotfl: Nicely saved!

You do have a really engaging writing style so definitely think about doing some extra works along those lines.

Glad to see things are in motion. You've achieved a lot already so a big pat on the back. Some things can be done fairly quickly and some things take a while, just try not to get overwhelmed trying to do too much at once.

I think I might have mentioned cashback sites previously. Topcashback and Quidco are good. I've bought various things online, both goods and services and had cashback from them. You just register and then click through to the original destination and make a purchase. I don't buy an awful lot online but I've had £90 back this year just by making a couple of extra clicks for stuff that I was going to buy anyway!

Definitely check uSwitch for gas and electric. I'm with EDF and last week I moved onto a new tariff with them, but I did it via uSwitch and Topcashback. I am expecting £22.05 from Topcashback and 6 bottles of wine (you like that!) from uSwitch. :T

I know people are probably throwing loads of ideas at you (just like I did above ) but I thought I'd just mention about having a banking app on my phone. I can log in everyday and I make what is known on here as a Tilly Tidy. Everyday I log in and "sweep" the odd few pence from my current account to my credit card. So if my balance is £365.78, I move the 78p across. I don't notice its missing but it adds up every day so that by the end of the month, I've made a nice extra payment to my CC.

I also having several budget and savings accounts which I can see on my phone, and I can rename the accounts so I can easily see what they are. When I get paid, I move money across to my diesel account for the month, and then when I get diesel, I move the money back to my current account to pay for it. If there's anything left at the end of it, it goes on my CC. Some of these budgetting accounts are longer term. For example, I pay my house insurance and line rental yearly so I worked out the cost over the year and divided it by 12 and now pay in £20 a month to cover these costs. I've only been doing this 4 months but for the first time in my adult life, I'm taking control and actually having a budget instead of winging it and being skint 2 weeks after payday. :eek:

Onwards and upwards Mr and Mrs K

gallygirl

Orange_Ena wrote: »

Onwards and upwards Mr and Mrs K

Onwards and downwards surely

Alex what is the Ofsted report like for your local school?

Petrol costs - is this including business? How are you paying the household budget back from your business?

This is a good budget for a month, but not an ongoing one. For example, there is a big word beginning with C coming up :eek:. Your budget should include saving for that, plus haircuts, clothing (for your SON Alex, not you and Mrs K ), and saving towards days out etc. I have around 12 different 'pots' on a spreadsheet, all with their own totals, and an overall total. Money goes in there every month and you can build up a surplus in one and 'borrow' it if you are in arrears in another. So at the moment my present pot has a nice surplus and is subsiding the holiday pot , but they should all end up at zero at my year end. I include diesel in there as well as I can spend between £150 and £300 a month and this evens it out.

Glad to see Tilly Tidies have left the mortgage boards and are doing the rounds :rotfl:. I know it sounds trivial amounts but but it does add up. Being a sad soul (and knowing Tilly, who started them ) I've kept a record of them since they got their sexy name - when I get home I'll let you know how much difference it's made to my mortgage. Just as importantly, especially if you log them on a spreadsheet , they keep your interest up and help refocus your efforts on a daily basis (even if only in a '72p, the debt will be gone in no time' sarky kind of way).

Finally, the thing which strikes me is just what a great position you're in to tackle your debt. You have lots of potential income streams which can build up to a very good income, put your family in a strong position and give you a varied worklife going forward. Exactly the kind of career I would have chosen if I had any skills :rotfl:. Superb :T. (Am rather in awe of your many talents so your BIL can go and do one.......)

Anyway, lots of spare cash at the end of the month so where is it going .

bess1234_2

My dd went to a tiny village school and it was brill for her. Set her up for a bright future. Also have a think about his friendships in such a small community. Boys need buddies to make dens with. :eek: mucky! Then secondary is something to think about when you have become a money master. But check out the ofsted report. I kind of think that primary age, it's as much if not more what you learn at home, reading, music, adding up, ability to sit still and use the toilet lol. School broadens it, but your providing how well and quickly he will learn.

You are doing brilliant. Well done for demanding some respect from your bil, this is the future. Don't do everything at once if there's a danger you could crash and burn, small permanent changes will last forever.

Coat! roll eyes :rotfl:

AlexLK

Orange Ena: Thank you. Will how the cash back sites work become easily apparent or are there other things I need to know?

As far as the budgeting goes, that sounds a good idea, perhaps I will make my first (very small) payment today. However, I'm still not sure if I'd be better off letting the two CCs still with the respective banks go to collection agencies?

We are still unsure whether or not to borrow the money from our son to get the ball rolling?

gallygirl: Ofsted report the school as "good". To be honest, I've never read the actual report as I've never considered the possibility of sending him there until now.

Petrol costs does not include the business. We are going to make an effort to a. swap the Disco for a diesel version (which will save about £100-150 per month alone) and b. stop using the car for short journeys of 1-2 miles.

We thought we'd start by cutting everything "unnecessary" for this month as next month money will be easier to come by anyway as Mrs. K. goes back to work full time.

LOL on the C word, it's only the beginning of September! I thought she'd wrote something down for haircuts and as for clothes we're getting a £50 budget next month - £50??! Better make my current stuff last then, hadn't I?

Please give us more information re. the Tilly Tidies? It'll be the only thing we're tidy with hahaha!

Thank you for the encouragement re. my own career, not had the self confidence to call it that in an awful long time.

Have a guess where the spare cash is going? It isn't going to be on a pen or watch, I can assure you that much! :rotfl:

BTW: I see you are into BTLs? My parents are into those (though they are all paid for now), they've got 12 which are funding them through retirement. It was something I hoped to eventually get into but probably not going to happen now I've wrecked my credit score.

AlexLK

bess1234 wrote: »

My dd went to a tiny village school and it was brill for her. Set her up for a bright future. Also have a think about his friendships in such a small community. Boys need buddies to make dens with. :eek: mucky! Then secondary is something to think about when you have become a money master. But check out the ofsted report. I kind of think that primary age, it's as much if not more what you learn at home, reading, music, adding up, ability to sit still and use the toilet lol. School broadens it, but your providing how well and quickly he will learn.

You are doing brilliant. Well done for demanding some respect from your bil, this is the future. Don't do everything at once if there's a danger you could crash and burn, small permanent changes will last forever.

Coat! roll eyes :rotfl:

Glad to hear about your daughter. Unfortunately, my son very rarely gets to see children his own age, though Mrs. K.'s sister has a baby on the way.

He will be learning lots at home, at the moment his favourite activity is "helping" us with any work we do to the Triumph. He likes cars a lot.

Thank you I am trying not to do too much and I see today being fairly quiet. The Chesterfield is going up for sale and I've promised Mrs. K. I will take photographs of two pens and a watch I'm not really attached to.

Well I did say I liked nice things.

7roland8

Just a few quick points - I would think it is more important to buy cheaper food form the supermarkets than buy expensive things to support local shops - you need to support yourself first.
We tend to do a largish one with Tesco delivered once a fortnight - then just stock up with a bit of milk form local Spar.
Delivery in midweek with Tesco is only £2.50 which where I live is cheaper than driving there.

Please try and get your son some little friends - go to the local playgroup etc so he gets to know other children. Also I too think its good for him to have friends in the village - or he won't fit in at all - just be the posh boy who goes away to school - and will you have enough money to keep up with the rich friends he makes there? He may find then he won't fit in anywhere.

I was kept quite isolated as a youngster and had never played with other kids before starting school - was a nightmare - I was too shy and quiet for anything and it took decades to get over. Education is about the whole person - instilling confidence etc - not just exams.