Time to refocus

walby1993

First of all, let me introduce myself. I am 27, married with a gorgeous little boy who makes me very happy. I usually work 3 days a week (currently signed off sick). We currently live in our one bedroom flat (long story!) and are hoping to put it in on the market by the end of May (but hopefully sooner!). I really want to get focused on sorting out our debts and saving the money to pay our fees when we sell the flat/buy our family home.

I have posted my SOA below but please don't judge my grocery bill too harshly - this is based on what I have spent since the beginning of January until now but I spent about 5 weeks in hospital during this time so DH was living off of ready meals and takeaways. Going by past spends, I believe I can reduce this to about £250 without too much effort and then I can make inroads to reducing it further.

Any tips would be gratefully received!

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

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

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1091
Partners monthly income after tax....... 2161
Benefits................................ 81.6
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 3333.6

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 546
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 54.12
Council tax............................. 121
Electricity............................. 54
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 21
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 50
TV Licence.............................. 12.12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 43.06
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 578.12
Clothing................................ 40
Petrol/diesel........................... 183
Road tax................................ 20
Car Insurance........................... 103.25
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 15
Car parking............................. 80
Other travel............................ 63
Childcare/nursery....................... 200
Other child related expenses............ 50
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 20
Life assurance ......................... 20
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 100
Haircuts................................ 5
Entertainment........................... 45
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Business Costs.......................... 75
Bank Fees............................... 38
Total monthly expenses.................. 2536.67


Assets
Cash.................................... 1500
House value (Gross)..................... 119000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 1500
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 122000


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 91000....(546)......3.99
Total secured & HP debts...... 91000.....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Main Loan......................5700......290.5.....12.5
Wedding Loan...................1950......108.6.....11.5
Total unsecured debts..........7650......399.1.....-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 3,333.6
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,536.67
Available for debt repayments........... 796.93
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 399.1
Amount left after debt repayments....... 397.83

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 122,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -91,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -7,650
Net Assets.............................. 23,350

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

walby1993

So I spent this morning taking an inventory of all the food we have and have menu planned up until 3rd of May around this. I put everything extra I needed to buy to "complete" the meals (plus nappies) onto "my supermarket app" and it showed Aldi as the cheapest at £59.44 with Sainsburys second at £64.64. However, I have a £7.50 off voucher for a £50+ spend at Sainsburys so that would bring the total down to £57.14. Working that out that is a cost of £4.76 a day, not bad! It includes enough nappies to keep us going until about 11th of May too. Yeah me!

walby1993

Today I rang and cancelled my credit card. I have never used it in the two years I have had it. We are hoping to be applying for a mortgage in the next few months so I am trying to make sure that we have a decent credit rating.

GunWharf

Good luck on your Journey!

:starmod:

Divingmad

Good luck on your journey to debt freedom

walby1993

Thanks GunWharf and DivingMad.

I have signed up to the grocery challenge for May. I am hoping to come in at £250 for the month.

Spent a big portion of today thinking of cheap, tasty and healthy meal ideas to help me with my food budget.

Pippilongstocking

Well done on your journey - and good luck!

I'm really in awe of you tackling the grocery spends so hard!

Have you looked at Love Food Hate Waste?

Not sure which region you're in but google the one which suits you - tonnes of great advice for using up leftovers and meal planning and everything which I'm sure you're great at but I'm sure like me you sometimes can do with a wee bit of something fresh to look at!

Have you thought of keeping a spending diary?

I did my SOA when I first arrived on MSE and someone recommended a spending diary - it really helped me focus.

It would be dead easy a notebook would do or an online app for phone or an online version like

http://www.spendingdiary.com/

Goodluck!

walby1993

Hi Pippilongstocking,

Thanks for the tips. I will take a look at that website.

A spending diary is definitely an idea as my SOA is based on average spends from our bank account since 1st January but it doesn't show where cash we have withdrawn has been spent so it would be helpful to look at that. An app would probably be the easiest way, I think.

Ooo, forgot to mention. Popped to the supermarket today to get a few bits I forgot to buy for dinners (kidney beans, noodles, stirfry veg), plus red lentils to bulk some dinners out and 4 x 2 litres bottle of Pepsi (for DS christening in 12 days - no bar at hall so providing drinks). With the special offer on Pepsi, plus a voucher I had, plus Nectar card points, I had to pay a grand total of 93 pence!

walby1993

So, I have spent about a quarter of the grocery budget so far and we are not even a quarter of the way through the month. Must be stricter!

DH received a £1000 tax rebate this morning so that has gone into the savings account so we can't use it. That takes our savings up to £2,500 now. I think we will probably need about £6,000 to cover our moving fees so that is just over 40% saved!

walby1993

It has been a while since I last posted so thought I should update to help keep my focus.

So, since the last time I posted:

• I have increased our savings pot to £2,800. Not a massive amount extra but we have had a few extra expenses these last six weeks so wasn't able to increase it by any more than that.
• I attempted the May grocery challenge but lost track of spending half way through the month. So, this month I have kept a note of all spends on my phone and will add up at the end of June. I will then use this figure to set a budget for July of around 5% less.
• We put our flat on the market and within 24 hours had an offer for the full asking price! :T
• We found a lovely 3 bed house and had our offer accepted! :j
• The current owner of our new house said she will go and live with her sister, thus breaking the chain. We have therefore applied for the mortgage and are just waiting for the valuation, etc to be done.
• I became an auntie!

In other news, I have also persuaded my DH to have packed lunch Mon-Thurs at work rather than buying lunch at a cost of at least £5 a day so we are saving some money here.

walby1993

Finally debt-free!