2 steps forward 1 step back and on the slow road!

neverintheblack

Right, I'm sick of being in debt!


We earn good money, have a rental income and secure jobs yet we're still in debt.


I know the problem is we like nice things, buy now pay whenever. I had my light bulb moment last month and am slowly trying to formulate a plan. This month I've cleared my interest paying credit and the o/s balance on our holiday (yes don't ask!)


As it stands today, we've got a spending budget in place for rest of month to keep out our overdraft. The overdraft is just too easy and we always think we can clear it next pay day...but it's costing us £1 a day....this is just one of the way we tip money down the drain. (Will be sharing the rest of the ways as soon as I figure them out!)


Quick tally up to get our o/s debt and it's not pretty £16541.13!


Zopa 1 - £1399.77 (16months x £82.34 o/s)
Zopa 2 - £7414.62 (51months x £139.90 o/s)
CC VM - £1384.74 (0% until October, min £25 per month)
0%car - £6342.00 (26 x £302 o/s 0% for life)


Wow....it's amazing how all these add up. I can tell you what each one was for, so at least I know it's overspending an getting things before we can afford them. Zopa 1= holiday, Zopa Car (cheaper than loan and hubby needed decent little car to commute) Virgin 0% credit card Sofa (wanted new one but didn't want to pay for 48months) 0% car loan = just because!


Right quick plan this month (need to look at snowballing??)
1 - keep to budget this month don't go into overdraft for first month in years! Will draw money out each Friday that has to last.
2 - meal plan (ban takeaways as expensive and fattening)
3 - find free/ really cheap things to do at weekends with kids
4 - sort out my spreadsheet of income vs outgoings
5 - cut back where I can (don't think I can save much apart from food / eating out)


Long term plan
Pay off Zopa 1 first, then Virgin money 0% an the o/s balance on our holiday £1000 by October (asap) Then by October that will leave Zopa 2 (7k) and car loan (5K) My plan is to keep overpaying the zopa 2 until cleared and then leave the 0% car loan to run so we can get some savings in the bank finally.


Well that's me, the debt and a quick plan of action!

FireWyrm

neverintheblack wrote: »

Right quick plan this month (need to look at snowballing??)

http://www.whatsthecost.com/snowball.aspx

neverintheblack wrote: »

1 - keep to budget this month don't go into overdraft for first month in years! Will draw money out each Friday that has to last.

Good plan in the sort term, but longer term, try https://www.vertex42.com for free spreadsheets or https://www.youneedabudget.com for something that costs money, but will pay dividends in the end.

neverintheblack wrote: »

2 - meal plan (ban takeaways as expensive and fattening)

Dont batten down the hatches too far, you'll never do it. Set aside some money for play (mine is £60) and withdraw in cash...once it's gone it's gone. In the meantime, get down to staples, get a big whiteboard with slots for the month, some markers and plan each meal out. That way, you know what to buy. I know this is 'spending money' but to need to speculate to accumulate in this case. Dont worry, the whiteboard will pay for itself in long term savings from efficient planning. Something like this :

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Office-Weekly-Planning-Board-600x400mm/dp/B001M4H9ZM/ref=sr_1_25?ie=UTF8&qid=1399625721&sr=8-25&keywords=white+board

neverintheblack wrote: »

3 - find free/ really cheap things to do at weekends with kids

Go out for a walk, a bike ride, a wander around a stately home or gardens. Take a picnic.

neverintheblack wrote: »

4 - sort out my spreadsheet of income vs outgoings

Feel free to download one from here : https://www.dropbox.com/sh/58m07i0jklqny0e/AADzbshr6zxYbObMjHhwUXUra

Or go to vertex and get a really in depth one from there.

neverintheblack wrote: »

5 - cut back where I can (don't think I can save much apart from food / eating out)

Bet you can, most people can if they try.

neverintheblack

Firewyrm


Just wanted to say a massive thank you for your post. I've got some lovely weekly menu planner paper (gift from thrifty friend) so will get cracked on with doing a fridge/freezer/cupboard audit.


Friday night is normally junk night, so starting as I mean to go on I cooked pork chops, carrots, spuds, with sage & onion stuffing. The children had got some rhubarb from school so threw that into a quick crumble served with half a carton of ready made custard won in a tombola lol...lovely tea, family happy and I've ready 'saved £25 from not buying a takeaway.


Have thrown a stew In the slow cooker with loads of veg that I'd normally throw out before my shop on Saturday. Standing looking at fridge, there's still enough in there until at least Saturday evening. Bacon, mushroom, eggs & tinned toms for brekkie, have cheese meat fruit and yogurt for lunch and stew and crumble for tea.


I'm concentrating on the small things food planning etc first and my aim is to keep the cash in the wallet as long as possible. I've taken out £100 today and that's got to last until next Friday food entertainment the lot!


Did sit and speak to hubby and explained my plan (he's leaves it up to me) and I've explained my mission and the reason behind needing to get rid of it all. He had a bit of a paddy saying life too short blah blah blah, but ive explained his work contract only until 2020, so we need to be saving asap just in case the work dries up!


I'm finally feeling in control (sorry for waffle) but life is good, but we just need to get rid of the debt and make it better!

NHS_worker_bee

neverintheblack wrote: »

Friday night is normally junk night, so starting as I mean to go on I cooked pork chops, carrots, spuds, with sage & onion stuffing. The children had got some rhubarb from school so threw that into a quick crumble served with half a carton of ready made custard won in a tombola lol...lovely tea, family happy and I've ready 'saved £25 from not buying a takeaway.

It feels good doesn't it Keep up the good work! Hopefully you'll soon feel 'addicted' to saving money, this forum does that to you.

neverintheblack

Thanks NHS worker bee....I just feel FAB! Oooh I forgot the yellow broccoli that I'd normally bin too! x

solvencyseeker

Hi neverintheblack (great name!).

We were like you some years ago. Then life took some turns for the worse (unemployment) and in the blink of an eye we were in deep trouble. Things are better now and we are working our way out of the mess but I so wish we had done things differently (good old hindsight).

I just wanted to say I think you are doing exactly the right thing. If you can change the way you live and look at money management differently from now on, you will never regret it. Work out a budget, stick to it and put some money away for a rainy day (deluge!).

Best wishes.

Willowpop

neverintheblack wrote: »

Friday night is normally junk night, so starting as I mean to go on I cooked pork chops, carrots, spuds, with sage & onion stuffing. The children had got some rhubarb from school so threw that into a quick crumble served with half a carton of ready made custard won in a tombola lol...lovely tea, family happy and I've ready 'saved £25 from not buying a takeaway.

We used to have treat night on a Saturday…a takeaway whilst watching tv etc….since I've been budgeting properly we still have a Saturday junk tea in the lounge in front of the box, but we get 2 14" pizzas from the deli counter at Sainsburys for £6 (for both - £3.49 each I think). We still have that takeaway feeling, I don't need to cook, just heat the pizzas up, and it still feels like a treat. £6 to feed me, DH, DD and a couple of slices left over for DH's lunch the next day.
I know it would work out more expensive than your lovely tea that you made, but I just wanted to say you can still have 'treats' and have them cost money. We can do this every Saturday in the month for less than the cost of 1 takeaway!:)

neverintheblack

Hi willowpop, that's a good idea. I tend not to buy pizza for me (im on slimming world) but make the dough myself. I'm sure the kids would love a shop bought and they wouldn't feel like they're missing out. Dominios are such a rip off at £10 and so naughty calories-wise.


This month has certainly been a turning point in our life and we've certainly put the brakes on our spending.
- Hubby is in his OD £250 which we've had a chat about, will pay it off on pay day and drawing a line. It's still personal spending account beer/clothes etc so we've agreed it's upto him to manage his money better and that we won't be bailing his account out every time he hits the red after spending too much!
- Joint account we've still got £133 sat in there which is unheard of with a week to go until pay day.
- paid £810 off our holiday balance (leaving £999) left not going to cancel as we'll need a break by October due to hubbies work and the fact he'll be working away all Christmas. The family time is worth every penny in my eyes.


This morning I've sat and worked out my finances and can't believe I hadn't noticed the child benefit hasn't been paid yet. That's due on the 26th may (£134) so I'm going to send half to my holiday and use the other half to keep the children entertained over half term. Cheapy trip to the cinema, ice-skating and a day trip with picnic and ice-cream should break the week up for £65 and I'm sure we'll have a few pounds left over for other bits.


I honestly can't believe that we're not in the overdraft (joint) it's been years since this has happened and I'm looking forward to having an extra £15/£20 next month as there won't be any fees.....that's got to be worth a step in the right direction. x

Scritti

What an inspiring thread this is!

Well done, neverintheblack! You sound like you really have had your LBM, you're doing so well already.

Keep at it and I wish you the best of luck!!

neverintheblack

Thanks Scritti


Yes I suppose it's my official lbm....I'm mortified how much money we burn through each month. I've done a full budget and have planned our expenses until December.


I've also done a full freezer inventory and meal planned until 31st may and in theory will only need fruit, bread and milk. The children are happy with jam or peanut butter sandwiches, have a load of cheapy frozen tube yogurts and will bake fairy cakes out my baing cupboard stores.


The plan for June (changed slightly)
- clear hubbies overdraft (Now £315 grrrr)
- Pay off balance of hoiday £999 now then it's out the way
- Meal plan an buy only what's on the list
- Any 'spare' cash will go towards paying off the virgin 0% card

The good news I've been checking our bank account daily and we have £151 left in the account until pay day. I'd given hubby £20 and a few bits of shopping so thought the total would have been around £110, but had £44 arrive from quidco! I love that site and have nearly hit £2500 in payments since I joined in 2007! Happy days :-)


I'm on a mission to spend as little as possible for rest of half term and hoping that there's £100 surplus to transfer across to the virgin money card.


I've sold a few bits on-line and got that money sat in a savings account for our holiday spends, but I'm going I'm not sure what to do with it. I've got £6 in house, £136 in my online account and my local second chance clothing store have around £50 to pay me. I'll grab it next week when I drop some more bits off and stick it in my savings and wait to see I can sell anymore junk to get my selling total up. I'm trying to keep this separate and will transfer it into holiday currency so we don't spend it.

Brightspark87

Hi neverintheblack ! welcome

Can I suggest you may think about a diary - I find mine is so useful, you get chatting to nice people who help and it focuses the mind!

Well done on all the little changes already