New 2014 Diary & New Found Motivation

MrsSmith2013

Happy New Year fellow MSE'ers!!

I have toyed with the idea of a new diary for the new year, so here goes! Having had unrealistic goals and debt free dates, I have decided that if by this time next year, I can have our debt as close to, or below £5k, I will be happy. We both earn relatively decent money so it should be do-able if we tighten our belts.

I have various little plans in place to help with the debt busting, and LOTS of spreadsheets which track our repayments so hoping I can make a bit dent in the debt. The main debts are:

These are all "ish" figures as I'm not sure where exactly the balances are sitting with interest etc.

Sainsburys Bank Loan: £9,500
Tesco Credit Card: £7,400
Student Loan £1,100
Northern Rock £800 (from a VERY old loan)
Lloyds TSB £2000? (from a VERY old overdraft )

They aren't all in my signature because I wasn't including the old stuff, but it has to go as well, so might as well get it all down!

My little plans for increasing income for the first half of the year were on my previous diary and are as follows:

January: Sell shares through employee incentive scheme
February: Have an "online car bootie (fb/netmums etc)
March: Use annual bonus from work
April: Use money from Council Tax in Mar/Apr as overpayments
May: Do an actual car boot sale
June: Sell shares through employee incentive scheme


I will look at the second half of the year once we get through some of the first half!

I'm also doing 1 debt vs 100 days for the student loan, so I am hoping that it will be gone by 22nd March - hopefully before. I will need to call them and change the repayments from coming off my pay via tax to a Direct Debit as the loan is nearing its end. That will be a job for this week.

One thing that is going to increase is my outgoings for car repayments. My car is on a PCP plan and it runs out this year, so I will be changing it. I don't go out much, don't drink alcohol and don't buy a lot of clothes etc, so I have a nice car - its my downfall, and I'm not willing to be working full time and not have a nice car. Maybe silly, but thats just how it is! If it came to the point we were struggling with bills and food then I would give it up, but we're not, so I'm not!

Anyway, enough rambling, I think I will bite the bullet and go and do our SOA... could be an eye opener!.....

(thanks to OrangeFairy for the inspiration to do a new diary and SOA!!)

Mrs S x

MrsSmith2013

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 (1 owned / 1 PCP)
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1709.75
Partners monthly income after tax....... 2166.66 (basic, usually OT)
Benefits................................ 135 (Family Allowance)
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 4011.41
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 682
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 165
Electricity............................. 102
Gas..................................... 91
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 37 (Includes Internet)
Mobile phone............................ 70 (Both mine and Hubby)
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 24.25
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 345 (surplus used for repayment)
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 40
Road tax................................ 12
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 243
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 650 (varies in school hols)
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 13.75
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 93.94 One of these is Hubbys pension other is life insurance
Other insurance......................... 48.18
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 25
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 20
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 2674.12

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 205000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 12000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 217000

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 113700...(682)......3.4
Total secured & HP debts...... 113700....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Sainsburys Loan................9300......196.......6.4
Tesco Credit Card..............7400......75........0
Student Loan...................1100......97........1.5
Old TSB Account................2000......50........0
Old NR Loan....................800.......10........0
Total unsecured debts..........20600.....428.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 4,011.41
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,674.12
Available for debt repayments........... 1,337.29
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 428
Amount left after debt repayments....... 909.29
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 217,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -113,700
Total Unsecured debt.................... -20,600
Net Assets.............................. 82,700
Created using the SOA calculator at www.stoozing.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using IE browser.

MrsSmith2013

Well.... the SOA isn't as bad as I thought... to be honest I didn't realise our income was at the level it is, so I am slightly embarrassed that we haven't cleared our debts quicker!! This is just more motivation and a kick up the backside to get ourselves in gear and get it cleared.

I'm off to bed, will be back on tomorrow to update and see how I can increase income, cut back spends and get this debt well and truely busted!!

Good Night Y'All!
Mrs S x

MrsSmith2013

Morning MSE'ers!

Just a quick diary update to try and keep me motivated. Kiddies are still alseep so letting them enjoy one last long lie of the hols before we start trying to get the bedtime / get up routine kickstarted!!

Have done a meal plan and a food shop (yesterday) so we should be good to last until Wednesday of next week. Hubby is weekly paid so this helps massively. This also includes packed lunch goodies for the kids and I, I'll just need to get fresh bread for sandwiches.

Off to a soft play place today with the kids and a couple of friends, just a little treat as its the last day of the hols. It probably isn't very MSE but we've not been anywhere in the holidays and its budgeted for so its all good.

Thats all for now!
Mrs S x

MrsSmith2013

So today I got out gas and electricity statements. We are overpaying one and underpaying the other. Have phoned them and made the following changes.

Reduced gas DD from £91 per month to £81 per month as we are in credit £197 for the second time running,

Increased electricity from £102 to £114 per month as we owe £113 to them. Not a saving as such but balancing out the accounts! I use my tumble drier a LOT so I probably need to reduce this a bit and see if that helps.

I now also have online access so I can keep an eye on it and enter meter readings etc.

Next job is student loan company to change to direct debit but the kids are starting to play up so I am off to referee!!

OrangeFairy

Yay you did a SOA. See it was eye opening really

All looks good. That debt will be shifted before you know it!

My girls are off tidying their rooms so I except a few fights before the evening is out!!

**Subscribed**

OF x

MrsSmith2013

Just a quick update as I have been playing around with my spreadsheets for the coming months to see if I can get the student loan paid off. I should be able to divide what is left by 3 and pay by direct debit in Jan/Feb/Mar and be FREE of it!! My payday is 25th so technically speaking I would be clear of it on day 103 of 100, but thats not that bad, right?!

You were so right OF, the SOA was such an eye opener, and knowing what we have coming in has made me see that we should be able to blitz this quite comfortably, there's no excuse!

I've had a good day today, blitzing housework and am now off to read to DD before she goes to sleep. Will be on the phone to the Student Loans Company first thing on Monday morning to get the payments set up and sorted out....

Mrs S x

debtfreeoneday

Subscribed.. popped in to read up and say hello. You sound really motivated and that debt will be gone in noooo time! x

MrsSmith2013

Welcome to my diary debtfreeoneday, thanks for popping over! Hopefully we can help to keep each other motivated on our debt free journeys.

So I am in work early today so thought I would phone the student loan company and get a direct debit set up to blitz the student loan. However when I went to check my student loan account online, I realised you could set the direct debit up there - so I did!

Will have the £97ish come out on payday as usual, around 26th of the month and then I have divided the rest by three and will pay £299.84 per month on the 1st Feb, 1st Mar, 1st April, and that will be that!! The good thing is, these payments are automatic from my wages and Direct Debit, so they will definately go and I can't decide that I need the money for anything else!!

Feeling good that I have gone and set it up, and know that it will be cleared within the next few months.

So now I am thinking that if I have that taken care of then anything else can just come off the credit card, anything extra that is. Once my student loan is cleared I will start another "1 Debt vs 100 Days" but don't want to have 2 running at the same time as that will get messy!

Hope everyone has a good day, and I will pop back on at night to catch up on all the other diaries!

Mrs S x

debtfreeoneday

Must feel sooo good to know it will be clear in just a few months! How exciting. Hope your day at work was Ok!

MrsSmith2013

Hi Debftfreeoneday and welcome to my diary!

I have just had an email from the SLC and they have said the Direct Debit will come off on the 15th of the month, which is right smack bang in the middle of my financial month I had initially wanted it to come off on payday but it said it couldn't be before 1st Feb, so I opted for the 1st which is about a week after payday. Will give them a call this morning and see if I can change it.

Not much else to report, I am waiting for a refund into our joint account that isn't there yet, but that isn't extra, thats just included in part of this months income/expenditure.

Had a chat with hubby last night about finances, and he agrees that we should be really making inroads into this debt with what we are earning.

Our eventual plan would be to move to a bigger house and keep the one we are in as a rental property, but there's just no way we could do that with the debt so want to clear our feet first.

Anyway, off to work for me! Hope you all have a great day,
Mrs S x