7.5k to pay off by 2016..fingers crossed!

nicnacnoo

Paying off debts is like losing weight, you've got to want to do it for it to happen, i however have been unsuccessful in both areas!

I now feel on track for both and am willing to give it my best shot while im focused.

My debt history....I got a car on HP when i was 20, missed a few payments but then sorted out a repayment plan, i then had my first child at 25 and discovered catalogues and credit (why do they not teach money management in school!?)...After the birth of my second child i gave up work but found i wasn't coping with meeting repayments. I then went back to work after a year off part time. Roll on a few more years and i get down to about 2K debt and decide i want a static caravan 'because im not gonna have a mortgage anytime soon'! A couple of years later and im not coping with repayments so decide to sell the caravan but don't get the price i paid..so last August i consolidated (something i said i would never do but needs must) and now have my debt on 1 loan and 1 0%credit card which has been cut up and i am paying above minimum payments....im now 35 and im over 7.5K in debt, ive been in debt my whole adult life, that's just silly!:rotfl:

Heres my SOA which i have gone over and over, all things i save for are at £0 today but will be going into a co op account i have.

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

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

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 420
Partners monthly income after tax....... 260
Benefits................................ 897
Other income............................ 134
Total monthly income.................... 1711

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 340
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 23
Electricity............................. 37
Gas..................................... 47
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 19
Telephone (land line)................... 20
Mobile phone............................ 8
TV Licence.............................. 13
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 11
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 220
Clothing................................ 50
Petrol/diesel........................... 40 i share a car not the cost
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 13
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 9
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 85 love to shop vouchers
Haircuts................................ 16
Entertainment........................... 50
Holiday................................. 60 Kendal calling spends
Emergency fund.......................... 20
(Unnamed monthly expense)............... 0
August treat............................ 40
presents................................ 70 DD b'day in May
sw countdown............................ 17
mags.................................... 8
slimming world.......................... 20
saves................................... 20
lottery................................. 8
Total monthly expenses.................. 1264


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

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
loan...........................4447.11...138.......14.9
card...........................2346.67...50........0
overdraft......................800.......100.......19.9
kendal calling.................33.14.....16.57.....0
conlons........................65.6......32.8......0
Total unsecured debts..........7692.52...337.37....-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,711
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,264
Available for debt repayments........... 447
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 337.37
Amount left after debt repayments....... 109.63

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 0
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -7,692.52
Net Assets.............................. -7,692.52

Created using the SOA calculator at https://www.stoozing.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using other browser.

I plan on updating this diary once a month, or if something significant happens, i feel like ive given myself a realistic budget and that i can stick to it...fingers crossed

nicnacnoo

What a tight month its been and its not over yet! a couple of things cropped up to throw my already tight budget but we're getting there! just a couple more weeks to get through so no unexpected things and i should be fine.
Managed to order the youview box for free through talktalk so i can get rid of sky as soon as thats set up saving me £10 a month I also only have one more payment to make towards Kendal calling and Conlons for my prescription sunglasses i got on a 0% payment plan last year :T
Just need to ring up Lloyds tomorrow and reduce my overdraft by £200 (last months and this)
My aim is to get my DFD down as soon as possible, really would like early March 2016 so its before my birthday

Swampy3k

Congratulations on dealing with your debt, sometimes it helps to re look at your original post and see where you were at the beginning and seeing if you can tweak things month to month to suit.

nicnacnoo

i seem to tweak weekly and check it just as much as my online banking (pretty much 20 times a day lol) it did change from the original when things came up this month like a roller derby this weekend and my daughter needing money for school so for next month i will include a section for school things which seem to be quite often lately

nicnacnoo

Yey, rang up and reduced my overdraft by £200, it now stands at £600. Also just realised that last month was my last payment to conlons for my sunglasses so i can now take that amount off my SOA meaning my debt now stands at £7287.45:T which means by the end of next month it will be under 7k :T

nicnacnoo

Oh its been a tight week, not had any money since Tuesday, feel like a hermit because ive not left the house on my days off!
i get £177 on Tuesday
£20 - love to shop
£10 - August treat (singing in the rain in Glasgow)
£67 - into bills account
£5 - slimming world
£40 - food shop
£35 -rest of DD's b'day pressies

Then hoping for some owed child maintenance (£40) by Friday so we can do something on her birthday Saturday so its another tight week next week...i can do it!

ViolaLass

You're spending over £1000 a year on presents, not including your kids (I assume, since you appear to be budgeting for them separately). That's a lot, could you cut it?

nicnacnoo

i save for £800 love to shop vouchers that includes £300 ASDA which is for christmas presents for all the family as well as the food shop during December when i need more money for xmas nights out with work and friends, this has worked well the last few years and quite often the vouchers last into the new year. I also put aside £5 a months towards the kids friends pressies for any parties they might get invited to.
The £35 for the rest of DD's pressies is because as i said in my first post, all 'pots' are empty but thats it for birthdays in our house this year and can be built up again now, hope that explains it?

ViolaLass

nicnacnoo wrote: »

i save for £800 love to shop vouchers that includes £300 ASDA which is for christmas presents for all the family as well as the food shop during December when i need more money for xmas nights out with work and friends, this has worked well the last few years and quite often the vouchers last into the new year. I also put aside £5 a months towards the kids friends pressies for any parties they might get invited to.
The £35 for the rest of DD's pressies is because as i said in my first post, all 'pots' are empty but thats it for birthdays in our house this year and can be built up again now, hope that explains it?

It explains how you're spending it but that wasn't really the point of my post!

nicnacnoo

sorry, I think im with you now but i could break it down as this i suppose...
£300 ASDA - christmas and December food shopping
£300 my childrens presents
£120 family presents
£60 through the year for kids parties
leaving £240 some of which gets saved towards the kids birthdays but more often than not like last year was spent on winter coats and boots for us all as well as anything else needed, but you have given me food for thought and maybe i could cut down somewhere so im going to play about with the snowball and try and include the £20 i save with work every month, i save this to go to Manchester at xmas with a friend but we could easily have a year off?

nicnacnoo

Not wrote on here for a while but things are going really well, Im sticking to a realistic budget, the kids aren't missing out on anything, and neither am I although i would love a night out, not been drunk since March which is a long time in my book but for all the best reasons!
Working out next years budget with less money on christmas and birthdays and other things to see if i can maybe bring my DFD forward to December 2015, fingers crossed!