Moving on to Better Things

Rosalba · 13 February 2015 at 1:55AM

Hoping its okay to post on this section as my debt is mostly in future as I'm trying to pay for a diploma and then move on to a masters. But right at this moment I'm attempting to stretch my money further than its willing to go so hopefully I qualify. If I can get through the next two years I should okay. I'm just not sure how I'm going to manage that.

I owe £1,691.08 on my Barclaycard. I just moved on a 0% deal. I can meet my minium payments, just, but I don't see how I can scrounge up the money for more than that.

I need approximately (OU haven't confirmed the figures yet) £2,750 to pay for my course that starts this October.

I have just turned down some Saturday overtime at work because paying for course but I have no time to actually work on seems an exercise in pointlessnes.

I have a third appointment at the dentist at which point I'm going to have to pay for my three lots of filings. And my cats need to go to vets for their checkup which always costs a fortune for some reason.

So currently I'm turning in circles trying to find the money for all this. It's not bad technically speaking but it feels like everything is about to spiral out of control.

Tomorrow I'm going to return some clothes I ordered over the net that that I only want but don't need, to try and offset the upcoming dentist bill a bit.

After that I'm not really sure.

Rosalba · 15 February 2015 at 8:19PM

So I have done my soa, it's more or less what I was expecting. (I have no spare money, I already knew this!) I have £500 worth direct debits a month, £50 savings for house bills (insurance, the water that isn't on dd, line rental etc) £60 for other bills (mostly cats & xmas) and £50 groceries.

Then I have £250 into a work saving scheme to pay for my masters degree. This needs to be paid everything month because it's a share scheme that will hopefully pay enough for my course fees and bit extra for expenses. I don't really want to stop this, I am 38 (good lord) and I really want to be in a postion to do my masters when I'm 40.

As the tax office is currently taking money off me for underpaid tax (I have 1 job, so I have no idea how they messed my tax up in the first place) I'm hoping when April gets here I will have a bit more money to play with.

I need to save approx £2750 by October to pay for my OU course (which is needed for my masters). After that I will worry about my Barclaycard debt, I have just moved to there 0% offer so I have something like 35 months at 0%. - Though since I have no spare money coming in its a bit academic.

SOA

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars owned....................0

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 949.05
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 949.05

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 180
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 100
Council tax............................. 100
Electricity............................. 20
Gas..................................... 25
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 20
Telephone & internet................... 28.5
Groceries etc. ......................... 50
Clothing................................ 5
Other travel............................ 5
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 4
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 36
Buildings insurance.....................in with service charge
Contents insurance...................... 6.5
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 15
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Work lottery ........................... 8
Charity................................. 11.75
Chimney sweep........................... 4
Boiler service.......................... 8
Cats.................................... 35
Saving scheme for uni................... 250
Total monthly expenses.................. 911.75

Assets
Savings for course.................................. 383.38
Savings pots (will get spent).......75.00
Actual savings.........50.00
Emergency fund (hopefully will not get spent)......250.00
House value (Gross)..................... not sure
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 0
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 758.38

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 0........(180)......2.15
Total secured & HP debts...... 0.........-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Barclaycard....................1691.08...38........0
Total unsecured debts..........1691.08...38........-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 949.05
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 911.75
Available for debt repayments........... 37.3
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 38
Amount short for making debt repayments. -0.7

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 758.38
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -1,691.08
Net Assets.............................. -932.7

Created using the SOA calculator at
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using Firefox browser.

Today I have hoovered and tidy but my flat is still a mess, so tomorrow my mission is to tidy all the flat surfaces in my sitting room, and ready my current chapter of my coursebook.