Debt free by 40 -- 19 Months and counting

wantabetterlife

Steph I just want to I've your brain about YNAB. It's on sale in steam for 22.50 but the thing is I only have an iPad. I don't have a PCs or laptop to use it with or an iPhone. From what you know about it do you think it would still work ok?

StressedSteph

wantabetterlife wrote: »

Steph I just want to I've your brain about YNAB. It's on sale in steam for 22.50 but the thing is I only have an iPad. I don't have a PCs or laptop to use it with or an iPhone. From what you know about it do you think it would still work ok?

Hi wantabetterlife

When I first got YNAB you definitley needed a PC to run the main YNAB software and the iphone app I have is only a companion item to help when you are out and about.

Just read this blog though and it looks like since Augst 2014 the full version is available on the ipads.

http://www.youneedabudget.com/blog/2014/ynab-for-ipad-is-here/

I think it is definitley worth a try, best £22 you will have ever spent xxxxx

StressedSteph

Puzzcat wrote: »

Hi steph,

Nice to see you back after the festives.. glad you all had a good time..!!

You popped over to my diary and asked about NYE... well we have a party invite to the neighbours.. umm... they are a young couple so suspect it will be quite noisy and probably not my thing so doubt I will venture in... if I do it will only be for an early glass of something...!! OH wants to go to his local and I'm more than happy to be on my own.. well with dd in the house somewhere so I expect that is what will happen.. A night down the pub is my worst nightmare and certainly not the way I want to bring in 2015... I expect like usual I will be tucked up in my bed and woken by fireworks at midnight..!!

So glad you are getting to do what you want to do this year.. you really can't beat nice food a nice bottle of wine and your own home... in my opinion anyway...!!!

With regards to the envelopes, I don't know how complicated it would be for you to pay the right amount into your bank account for the groceries so you could still do online shopping? I do this sometimes if I get a deal/voucher etc.. or if I want to do click n collect... I'm rather more towny than you mind.. so its only 1 mile to the bank and a choice of all the supermarkets... not a field to be seen....!!!

Love Puzz. x

Hi Puzz

I was tempted to tell hubby that he could go off down the pub if he wanted on New years eve and I would stay home with the children, but I have a stubborn streak and don't want to foster the going off separately to do our own things. He already goes off to do skittles, tennis, badminton and golf at numerous times of the year, often more than one per week so feel I need to hold onto certain times that we MUST be together. Stupid really...

On the envelope system with food shopping. I have a BIG weakness with internet shopping. I get very virtuous about the fact that I hardly EVER go out to the shops so don't get tempted to spend. What I often forget to mention is that me and Amazon have a very close relationship, that is high on impulse. With the food shopping, even though my budget is £60 per week, I often justify aaah its only £67 but if I was in a supermarket with only £60 cash in my pocket I would HAVE to put something back.

I need to be more strict with myself in 2015, I did nearly pay off 10k in 2014 but I COULD have done alot better and I REALLY want my debt gone sooner than the whole of 2015, so I have ALOT of hard work to do.

Waffle waffle, sorry

mummytogirls wrote: »

Hi Steph,

It must be the day for thinking ahead about groceries, as ive been doing the same!

My dilemma is how to budget. I cant do a set amount per week as this doesnt work for us as I go to the farmshop etc. How will you budget?

A nice meal and bottle of fizz sounds nice for NYE x

Hi MTG

I wonder if maybe you could set a month or two month budget. Maybe use January & February as a trial, keeping all your receipts, then you can work out how much on average you spend in a month, (taking off any naughty luxury spends), Then you could have an envelope with a months money in it (If you can afford to do that).

Its a tricky one. We get paid weekly, but I do sometimes get tempted to go to our local wholesaler for bulk dishwasher tablets or loo rolls but I get annoyed as we are too poor to find the extra money. Maybe I need to give it a thought as to how I could incorporate the bulk purchases ?????????

You have got me thinking now

Verbatim

Have you seen the Sainsbury's basics dishwash tabs. I think they're £1.60 for 30. Still ridiculously expensive for what they are. How much are they if you buy in bulk?

mummytogirls

Haha Steph, glad I've got you thinking!!!
Ive worked out a way which I'm going to have a go at, hopefully this way works for us x

tootallulah

Hi Steph, I live on my own and do the bulk buying thing for dishwasher tablets, loo rolls and washing powder - I do it by putting £3 a week in my budget for bulk buys and then going to Costco once every four months and I but a years worth of d/w tablets, loo rolls and washing powder in each visit which is timed to match when things are on special offer. And I only take the cash with me. Obviously you need so much more for a family but maybe this would work for you? I think you will be debt free by September by the way, don't know why I think that but I do. So I think that is £1100 per month - LOOKING FORWARD TO SEEING YOU SUCCEED.

StressedSteph

Verbatim wrote: »

Have you seen the Sainsbury's basics dishwash tabs. I think they're £1.60 for 30. Still ridiculously expensive for what they are. How much are they if you buy in bulk?

Hi Verbatim
I can't remember how much the bulk ones were from Bookers cash & Carry. Its been a long time since I have been able to afford to save money there. (:rotfl:).
i tend to buy Tesco value tablets, they just about clean stuff, its abit hit and miss, but I can't cope with paying for Finish tablets :eek:.

mummytogirls wrote: »

Haha Steph, glad I've got you thinking!!!
Ive worked out a way which I'm going to have a go at, hopefully this way works for us x

Hi MTG

Hehe there really is no end to the different ways you can save money and the different angles to our every day life. Just when I think I have looked into everything, I realise there is something else I could try ;)

tootallulah wrote: »

Hi Steph, I live on my own and do the bulk buying thing for dishwasher tablets, loo rolls and washing powder - I do it by putting £3 a week in my budget for bulk buys and then going to Costco once every four months and I but a years worth of d/w tablets, loo rolls and washing powder in each visit which is timed to match when things are on special offer. And I only take the cash with me. Obviously you need so much more for a family but maybe this would work for you? I think you will be debt free by September by the way, don't know why I think that but I do. So I think that is £1100 per month - LOOKING FORWARD TO SEEING YOU SUCCEED.

Hi Tootallulah,

That's a REALLY good idea. Maybe I can create another savings category in YNAB, if I put £5 per week in there, then I think after about two months it would be worth me going in and seeing what I could get with £40. Probably a large box of dishwasher tablets, some washing powder and some loo rolls

Thanks xxxxx

StressedSteph

Eeeeeek. In the spirit of starting off a fresh year, I thought I would put out a new SOA.


Our circumstances are muddied slightly as we live on a smallholding, we have extra costs associated with this so I have always found our SOA hard for people to assess.


BUT I thought I would put it out there, even if just for myself to look at. Please feel free to question or comment if you think I may be missing something.



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.................... 2
(My old truck + Hubbys work van) self employed Builder

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 3000 (Average)
Partners monthly income after tax....... 400 (Guess-timate)
Benefits................................ 568
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 3968
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 792
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 161
Electricity............................. 121
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 100 (Save up £25 per week)
Water rates............................. 38.5 (Metered / Smallholding)
Telephone (land line)................... 28 (Inc Broadband)
Mobile phone............................ 78 (1 Business/ 1 Personal)
TV Licence.............................. 12.12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 45
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 260 (£60 pw)
Clothing................................ 40 (Need to save this £10 pw)
Petrol/diesel........................... 300 (£30 me / £20 Dh pw)
Road tax................................ 44.61 (2 x Direct Debits)
Car Insurance........................... 55.81 (1 Van / 1 Car)
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 86 (£20 pw)
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 13 (AA Breakdown)
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 44 (2 x Swim Lessons)
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 60 (Inc Farm Buildings)
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 104 (High but covers ALOT)
Other insurance......................... 28 (Accident / Illness for Dh
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 130 (£30 pw)
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 173 (Our £20 each FUN £
Holiday................................. 20 (Need to save up but don't)
Emergency fund.......................... 40 (want to save 1k)
Barn Electric........................... 10
Self Employed Advertising............... 100 (Local magazine)
Total monthly expenses.................. 2884.04

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 424000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 5000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 429000

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 131000...(792)......4.34
Total secured & HP debts...... 131000....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Littlewoods....................363.......184.......0
Co-op cc.......................1199......40........18 (Unsure)
Barclays Overdraft.............1894......130.......0
Virgin cc......................2543......200.......0
Tesco cc.......................4402......150.......18 (unsure)
Total unsecured debts..........10401.....704.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 3,968
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,884.04
Available for debt repayments........... 1,083.96
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 704
Amount left after debt repayments....... 379.96
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 429,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -131,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -10,401
Net Assets.............................. 287,599
Created using the SOA calculator at www.stoozing.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using other browser.




As we are both self employed, our wages can fluctuate quite a lot. Hubbys is fairly steady, but my work is still evolving.


I am hoping for the following


Village Cleaning job (£20 pw) £ 80
B&B Cleaning Job (£40 pw) £160
Treatments (average 2 pw @ £30) £240
£480


This could become a lot more if I get more treatments.

eco_farmer

as a fellow farmer I would suggest you should shop around for your insurance we are paying about double yours but we are a tiny bit bigger ! I have the name of a good broker if this would help.
eco

StressedSteph

eco_farmer wrote: »

as a fellow farmer I would suggest you should shop around for your insurance we are paying about double yours but we are a tiny bit bigger ! I have the name of a good broker if this would help.
eco

That would be great thank you eco farmer. We are with the NFU. Not the most economical insurer I admit, but could'nt really think of who else would cover it all.

Otherwise we did think of covering the house and the 1.5acres, which includes the yard, garden and orchard on a regular household insurance. Then maybe do a separate smallholders insurance for the barn and 5 acre field.

Such a blooming minefield to try to get enough cover but not pay the earth...

Would be very interested in how you do it.

Many thanks