Time for a change

WelshKitty85

I have been a long time lurker on the forum and have gained a lot of inspiration from many of the diaries. I have finally decided that it is time to come out of hiding, to start my own diary, and to face my own challenges on the way to becoming debt free.

In brief, I am a mum to two beautiful children who are my world. I work part time and am also studying for a degree. My husband is currently out of work. Technically, we have enough money coming in each month to pay the bills, with a little left over. However, in reality, little spends here and there add up to more than I expect and we often end up living in the overdraft. One of the main things I need to get to grips with is my student finance. I get paid a lump sum 3 times a year and have to budget each payment to last over 4 months. I try to keep it in a seperate account and transfer an allowance to my current account each month, but knowing its there makes it too easy to dip into.

I will try to call back later and post an soa, but I'm hoping that keeping track of my spending on here will keep me on the right path throughout my journey to becoming debt free.

WelshKitty85

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

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 770
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 666
Other income............................ 415
Total monthly income.................... 1851

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 488
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 358
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 82
Electricity............................. 85
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 32
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 68
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 46
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 200
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 150
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 60
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 20
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 6
Buildings insurance..................... 15
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 20
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1642


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 90000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 9000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 99000


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 84000....(488)......0
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 700......(34).......0<
Car finance 2..................2000.....(127)......0<
Car finance 1..................6495.....(197)......0
Total secured & HP debts...... 93195.....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Barclaycard....................2950......70........0
Santander loan.................2500......139.......0
Total unsecured debts..........5450......209.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,851
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,642
Available for debt repayments........... 209
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 209
Amount left after debt repayments....... 0

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 99,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -93,195
Total Unsecured debt.................... -5,450
Net Assets.............................. 355

WelshKitty85

The expenditure shown in my soa is pretty accurate (although I haven't looked up interest rates yet). The additional income shows how much I need to transfer from my student finance each month just to break even. I get just over £3000 in january to last 4 months, so this sounds reasonable. However, out of this I need to pay for my car tax. We have also given the children holiday ticket for xmas, so all the holiday expenses have to come out of this too ( inc things like passports). After all these things have been paid, it leaves about £1800 to cover the 4 months, so I really need to get a grip of spending and make sure we are only buying what we can afford.

JLS1901

Hello WelshKitty I can offer much advice but I'm going to subscribe as I'm a student too like you and find I spend all my finance before I should and I end up in a mess! It is doable tho and this site is great
Welly x

WelshKitty85

Igamogam wrote: »

Oooh Hello! Lovely new diary. Well done on the SOA!

Just a couple of things............

Can you get your monthly phone bill down?Can you live without subscription TV? ( Its very easy!)

2 cars?? I realise both have finance on dont they need to be taxed/serviced and eventually MOT after 3 years?

Free hair cuts thats good But not even a tiny wee bit in the budget for birthdays or are you going all out frugal.

Use the snowball calculator to help you which debts to hammer first and maybe keep a spending diary - lots of fab people on this forum and equally fab ideas to help you.

Good luck *subscribes*

Thanks for the welcome and the suggestions. Phones are tied into contract but once mine is up I am hoping to cut the cost considerably.

The sky tv includes phone and broadband too. The calls are unlimited, so I am thinking I could maybe reduce this and just use evenings and weekends, esp since we both have mobiles.

I was paying into a scheme where I got health, dental and hair costs reimbursed so havent had to pay for haircuts. I have recently stopped paying into this and so far have been colouring my hair myself. I cut my oh and ds hair and dd gets hers done free by the lovely hairdresser who does my mums. I am hoping mine wont need cutting for a while.

We have 2 cars because we are hoping my husband will be back in work soon and because of locations of work, schools etc it is more practical to have a car each. I did have a cheaper car, but when it came back with from garage needing over £1000 worth of work I got a newer one which has mot, service, warantee included for the first few years.

As for birthdays and other big spends, I try to deduct them from my student finance when it comes through and then divide the remainder between the 4 months that it has to last. Perhaps this is not the best way to do it?

Thanks again.

WelshKitty85

wellylass89 wrote: »

Hello WelshKitty I can offer much advice but I'm going to subscribe as I'm a student too like you and find I spend all my finance before I should and I end up in a mess! It is doable tho and this site is great
Welly x

Thanks for the words of encouragement.

Had a lovely day today with friends and family. Cooked a lovely gammon and have plenty of leftovers for tomorrow.

Tomorrow's challenge is to shop for buffet food on a budget. It's dd's birthday on Saturday. She has asked to go to cinema with a friend , which is fine by me as we can do the £1 movie. Going to do a buffet when we get home. I think I have some bits in the freezer that I can use but will need to shop for more tomorrow, plus ingredients to make a cake.

Will also have to meal plan for the week so I can get all essentials tomorrow and hopefully not have to hit the shops again til the end of next week.

WelshKitty85

Well, today hasn't gone quite to plan as I have been up poorly all night. I always get a horrible cough at this time if year.

Anyway, I managed to do a meal plan and put a list together and sent dh to the shops with cash. He has pretty much stuck to the list and we shouldn't need to go shopping again for another week.

WelshKitty85

Well, yesterday didn't go to plan at all. My attempt at making dd's birthday cake was a disaster! Not sure why as I am usually quite successful with baking cakes. So, we are off to the cinema this morning and then will have to stop somewhere to either buy a cake or the ingredients for another attempt. The first option sounds quite appealing at the moment as I am still feeling so rough.

WelshKitty85

Lovely day today. Went for the cheaper option of buying ingredients for a second attempt at cake making and, although it wasn't perfect, dd was happy with it.

Everyone else has gone home now, children settled in bed and dh disappeared upstairs so it has given me the opportunity to start setting some goals.

In the short term, money is going to be quite tight, because of expenses like car tax, holiday and having to pay back some council tax benefit from last year (long story, but wish I had never claimed in the first place). So my short term goal is just to stick to budget and avoid falling back into the overdraft. Shopping will have the biggest impact on this so it will be really important for me to meal plan and stick to shopping lists.

From April/May onwards, we should be slightly better off financially as council tax repayments will have finished and I wont have expenses like holiday to pay for. My goal then will be to make overpayments on the cc to clear it before the 0% ends.

My degree should be done & dusted in around 18 months. I hope to have the majority of my debts cleared by then. My goal will then be to look for a better paid job and to start saving towards moving house.

Hopefully this diary will help to keep me on track.

WelshKitty85

NSD today. Leftover buffet food for lunch and still have some gammon left to use up tonight. Haven't got a clue what to do with it though. Thinking about having a sort out in the kids bedroom to make room for all their new toys, but enjoying sitting with my feet up for the time being.

LAM2011

HI Welshkitty

good luck in your journey of being DF. I used to bake a bit but these days it either gets eaten before it can be packed away or I just don't have time and both OH and I could do with loosing some weight lol so its better not to bake

What about some chips, egg and beans or one of with the gammon?