need to start living within my means

licsa

So I managed to move this thread to the diaries section, but not sure what happened to my last message, it got deleted.

My budget for this week is no more than £50 until next Sunday evening - excluding groceries and bills, which are already budgeted for. Considering my spending habits, it's not an easy target

I'll try to post at least weekly, I need to make sure I stay on track.

Good luck everyone and thanks for the visit!

licsa

First day back to work was so tiring with all those emails (sent over the Christmas break, some people can't separate work from life!).

I managed not to spend anything though, and tomorrow I'm working from home, so the week started well. Hope to stay dry (as in not spend anything) until Saturday. Groceries are scheduled for Thu, but that's budgeted for.

If you read this please say something, it feels like I'm talking to myself!

laurag89

Hi licsa,

I have just read through your diary, I used to be exactly the same with buying clothes, make-up, shoes... You name it, and very similar to you I paid by credit card because it was 0% .... The problem for me is I didn't realise my problem as quickly as you have and I now owe £15k!

Looking at your SOA you have a lot more spare money left than I do, so you can still manage some luxuries, all I would say is definitely think hard about things you buy and second check whether you need it... Or if it is just a case of want rather than need, because cutting down will free up more money to the debt.

It's so hard to find a happy medium because I'm the opposite completely now I rarely buy things unless they are needed, and i don't very often spend much when going out.... I am still happy, but would still love to go on a shopping spree now and again

Keep up your hard work I think the breaking the money into 3 to save is a good idea, and I 100% believe in having an emergency savings, I've been in awful positions where my car has gone wrong, or my pet Sick and its gone on the credit card!

X

chevalier

Welcome to the boards.

licsa wrote: »

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of children in household......... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 2323
Child benefit........................... 89
Other income............................ 500 Any way you can up your income. What can you sell? Any old mobiles to get rid of for some money?
Total monthly income.................... 2912

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 1020
Service charge, ground rent, bldg insurance.. 80
Council tax............................. 100 Assuming this is with the single persons discount. YOu can also ask for it to be spread over 12 months not 10. Helps with budgeting.
Electricity............................. 25 Ref this and the gas, this seems very low. Don't want to worry you but have you checked your meter readings online, to make sure that you are not underpaying?
Gas..................................... 40
Water rates............................. 20
Telephone (land line)................... 25
Mobile phone............................ 25
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 30
Internet Services....................... 10
Groceries Tesco......................... 200
Travelcard ............................. 125
Childcare............................... 225
Swimming, piano, French ................ 50
Contents insurance & home emergency cover.. 10
Unemployment insurance**................ 35
Gym membership.......................... 50
Medical** (prescriptions, dentist etc).. 0
Clothing................................ 0
Presents (birthday, Christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 0
Eating Out.............................. 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 2082
Ref the items in red. The easiest way to fill in these is to get your last 4 months worth of bank and credit card statements, and try to allocate the spends on there to each of these categories. That will give you a good indication of what you have spent. Going forward you will then have target areas to cut down on. I am guessing entertainment would be one of them:)
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Tesco..........................6600......66........0
Santander......................1200......12........0
Total unsecured debts..........7800......78........-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,912
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,082
Available for debt repayments........... 830
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 78
Amount left after debt repayments....... 752


**Work perks include medical, dental insurance, life assurance, and accident & sickness insurance. I don't pay for prescriptions as I have a medical exemption (chronic condition). So the only medical expenses are dental ones (25% of it, as dental insurance covers 75%).

Your SOA is doable. You just need to refine it a little more. You mentioned earlier putting 200 away for holidays. Is this because you are obligated to visit family abroad? Otherwise it seems a bit on the high side to me. But then I don't really do holidays so...
Good luck
chev

licsa

laurag89 wrote: »

Hi licsa,
I have just read through your diary, I used to be exactly the same with buying clothes, make-up, shoes... You name it, and very similar to you I paid by credit card because it was 0% .... The problem for me is I didn't realise my problem as quickly as you have and I now owe £15k!
X

Thanks! For me it's the first time when I get to this level of debt, when I was with my partner it was much easier on two incomes, we were spending but we were able to save as well and credit card debt was somewhere around £1K if that.

Being single now, I'm happy that I was able to buy my flat a couple of years ago, I could not afford the same flat now and my mortgage is much lower than local rents. Not to mention stability for my child, as she's now in school and I don't want us to move. However, I don't want to lose my flat now by being stupid about money, so I'm freaking out about this CC debt.

licsa

chevalier wrote: »

Welcome to the boards.

Your SOA is doable. You just need to refine it a little more. You mentioned earlier putting 200 away for holidays. Is this because you are obligated to visit family abroad? Otherwise it seems a bit on the high side to me. But then I don't really do holidays so...
Good luck
chev

Thanks chevalier. I'm already on the single person council discount and 12 payments.

My gas & electric costs are low because my 2-br flat is in an older low rise brick building that's very well insulated. I also did loft insulation when I moved in, there was a "free for all" homeowners government program still running at that time (now you have to be on benefits to get it). Also my boiler is very efficient and only 2 years old, when I moved in I changed the heating system (some of my debt comes from that). And it's only me and my daughter, we're both away from home all day - school and work.

Re holidays yes it's partly that, all our family is abroad and in different countries - but not only family, as I do one big holiday per year. My plan was to use my annual bonus for that but it never really worked, as I always put it on credit cards and then paid back - well, part of it - using the bonus.

PlutoinCapricorn

Do you really need that landline? I just have a very cheap PAYG mobile phone (I hate using telephones), mobile broadband and Freeview. I encourage people to communicate via email. I don't feel deprived, just thrifty.

Is unemployment insurance really worth it?

licsa

I keep the landline for making international calls - for a flat fee you can have all inclusive calls with Europe and North America and yes we do talk a lot on the phone. I was thinking about dropping it and just keep my mobile and use skype, but I also work from home (on my wish) 2 days per week, and I use the landline for work.

Unemployment insurance well... my monthly mortgage is £1000, with no savings who is going to cover my that and the bills if I lose my job? My employer doesn't have particularly good redundancy packages...

laurag89

licsa wrote: »

Thanks! For me it's the first time when I get to this level of debt, when I was with my partner it was much easier on two incomes, we were spending but we were able to save as well and credit card debt was somewhere around £1K if that.

Being single now, I'm happy that I was able to buy my flat a couple of years ago, I could not afford the same flat now and my mortgage is much lower than local rents. Not to mention stability for my child, as she's now in school and I don't want us to move. However, I don't want to lose my flat now by being stupid about money, so I'm freaking out about this CC debt.

I built my debt up with ex partners and now im left to pay it, i wont make that mistake again.
Dont panic you have money left each month after everything is paid so your in an ok position, the debt will reduce but it wont be over night, you will get there though same as me eventually.

licsa

laurag89 wrote: »

Dont panic you have money left each month after everything is paid so your in an ok position, the debt will reduce but it wont be over night, you will get there though same as me eventually.

I hope so! Today I was hopeless, I was planning an NSD but... I left at home my packed lunch and the coffee that I bought for work (I use a cafetiere at work to make my own coffee). Then I discovered that I also left my debit card and cash at home on the dining table, and I no longer carry credit cards. So I had to borrow money from a colleague to buy food and coffee.

On the + side, I found a childminder who can do the school drop off without charging me a fortune (she charges in half an hour interval and she only charges term time). So now I can make it to work on time, I was always late by half an hour.

Also on the + side I got money from my medical insurance provider, it took a while to clear as there were some issues, so now one of my credit card balances was reduced by £355 (signature updated!)

I'm optimistic about not getting into overdraft this month, it's been a while... and even if the overdraft is fee-free and interest free (the frst £300) I still don't like to make use of it.