Let's Do This....Debt Free Before 2019

ShiftThisDebt

Orange_Ena wrote: »

:T This is brilliant. Well done for getting there I had my first LBM about 3 years ago but I soon got bored. I had my 2nd, and final , LBM in July last year and it's totally different this time. I will be debt free!

Wishing you all the best on your debt busting journey

Thanks very much Orange Ena. I can now see I was in denial about our debt. I used to say "yes we've got £12000 on a credit card but I'm not worried about it because we can afford the payments on it" and I had some vague plan to overpay but it was never anything concrete which I put into action.

And of course "affording" the payments is a debatable term. Yes we never missed a payment but that's very different to affording it. Can you ever really afford a debt? I don't know.

Anyway, I feel different this time and I'm genuinely setup and ready to pay it all off. It's a great feeling and I haven't really paid anything off yet! Merely been restructuring the debt we do have, ready for overpayments via a massive snowball

note3

You sound very buzzed and motivated! Your repayment plan definitely seems feasible and how great will that feel to see big debt reductions each yr and only 3 yrs from debt free!!

12_month_challenge

Hi again

Just popping in to say you seem so focussed and your plans are great :T

It certainly feels good to finally take control doesn't it?

I have been snowballing (seriously this time) and it feels so good every month when the CC statements drop in and you are able to pay them and reduce your debt totals.

I have discovered Aldi for my shopping and can easily reduce my grocery bill by £20-£30 per week.

Just by budgeting and planning my finances every week has made a huge difference already for me.

Sometimes I get a little impatient waiting to pay them every month but I must stop trying to run before I can walk.

Anyway you say you will be debt free in 3 years time. But look at it like this, you will be debt free in about 36 payments. It sound so much better

Keep going and you will get there

ShiftThisDebt

note3 wrote: »

You sound very buzzed and motivated! Your repayment plan definitely seems feasible and how great will that feel to see big debt reductions each yr and only 3 yrs from debt free!!

Yeah I really am. I actually can't wait to get going at it! :cool:

12_month_challenge wrote: »

Hi again

Just popping in to say you seem so focussed and your plans are great :T

It certainly feels good to finally take control doesn't it?

I have been snowballing (seriously this time) and it feels so good every month when the CC statements drop in and you are able to pay them and reduce your debt totals.

I have discovered Aldi for my shopping and can easily reduce my grocery bill by £20-£30 per week.

Just by budgeting and planning my finances every week has made a huge difference already for me.

Sometimes I get a little impatient waiting to pay them every month but I must stop trying to run before I can walk.

Anyway you say you will be debt free in 3 years time. But look at it like this, you will be debt free in about 36 payments. It sound so much better

Keep going and you will get there

Wow that sounds pretty amazing when you put it like that! :beer:

I know what you mean about wanting the next payday to come, I'm all excited because I got paid today!

Plus I did 3 awesome things today!

1. I took my DD2 into town today to buy some cream for her and when I was in I passed my bank. In I wandered and asked the cashier if I could cancel my overdraft facility. One phone call later (she couldn't do it in branch) and I now have 0 overdraft on my account instead of £400. Obviously the money for this hasn't gone yet as the cash will come from the Money Transfer CC I got my wife last week. However what has gone are the upto £20+ a month charges for using an arranged overdraft!

2. I called MBNA. You may recall they refunded me £12 after I had overpayed but then told me I couldn't close the account down until I had a zero balance. After they gave me my £12 back I then owed them £6 in interest accrued (I know what a faff eh?:rotfl:) So I paid that £6 and the guy told me there were no further charges to come so that's one credit card with 29% interest closed down :beer:

3. And finally I called Barclaycard. I balanced transferred the £1200 I had on that card to a new Halifax card which is 0% until next February. I had a balance remaining of £47. The guy on the other end of the phone did his best to stop me closing the account down, making me a coupleof offersincluding 6 months 0% on purchases (Errrr no thanks!!!) but I absolutely insisted that I was closing it.

Anyway, he then made a 3rd offer. "Okay, I see you have paid a lot of interest over the years (Yeah no s*** Sherlock!) so today I can offer you £50 to spend on your account"

After checking this would besimply £50 added to my account with no hidden rules, I took it. Because this in effect pays my account off now, so I've saved £50! I wasn't expecting that, so that's a bonus £50 I bagged today. I know it's a drop in the ocean compared to what I have paid but hey, it's better than a kick in the teeth!

So all in all, a pretty productive day!

Tomorrow, I get to spend some time with DD14 who is playing football, then will get out for a walk and DD2 and DD4 can ride their bikes.

Then we have to go and clear the loft of the old house as someone has finally bought it and that's a job we've been putting off since September :rotfl:

ShiftThisDebt

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 3
Number of children in household......... 3
Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1471.38
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1986.22
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 242.4
Total monthly income.................... 3700

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 565.7
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 251.89999999999998
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 127
Electricity............................. 36
Gas..................................... 36
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 61
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 110
TV Licence.............................. 12.12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 76.9
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 240
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 80
Road tax................................ 15.75
Car Insurance........................... 49.63
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 25
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 287
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 10
Buildings insurance..................... 6.04
Contents insurance...................... 6.04
Life assurance ......................... 10
Other insurance......................... 4.95
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 40
Haircuts................................ 30
Entertainment........................... 200
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 50
Total monthly expenses.................. 2331.03


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 155000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 1000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 156000


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 139462...(565.7)....3.34
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 1658.7...(251.9)....10
Total secured & HP debts...... 141120.7..-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Halifax CC.....................1899.84...19........0
BoS CC.........................6742.43...67.43.....0
Lloyds CC......................5273.69...52.74.....0
Family Loan....................15800.....200.......0
Sainsbury's Loan...............5000......147.......17
Virgin CC......................1700......17........0
Total unsecured debts..........36415.96..503.17....-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 3,700
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,331.03
Available for debt repayments........... 1,368.97
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 503.17
Amount left after debt repayments....... 865.8

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 156,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -141,120.7
Total Unsecured debt.................... -36,415.96
Net Assets.............................. -21,536.66

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

Couple of things to note:

The car hire purchase ends in June, which will free up £252 a month.
The childcare costs will vary depedning on termtime costs - £270 is a maximum most months will be less and by September it will be a nominal amount due to DD2 getting her funding for her place.
Entertainment - we have never had a budget for this but this month we are trialling a systemwhere by me and DW allow £100 each to spend on whatever we want to, this includes £60 for fitness club for me. Hopefully over time we can reduce this but it's really an experiment right now to see if we can managed with literal pots of money and not dip into the bank account to take "the odd £10 or £20 out"
Also - emergency fund is also a new outgoing this month.
Family loan was from my brother and SIL for a house deposit.

*I know you will say the mobile phone bill is too high, I'm getting ready to switch me and DD later this year from £40 a month contracts!*

Also, I don't know where that extra cash goes each month! It's something we're working on! Though I do knowour food bill has been way higher than £240. So that'll explain some of it!

Anyway, your thoughts will be interesting to me so please share!

note3

Wow that's great about barclaycard! They're such morons cos I rang and asked if they'd do a deal on my balance instead of transferring elsewhere and they refused so I just transferred the debt! Then you ring and they're so desperate they give you a free 50 squid!

So as you've written DD14 do you have 14 daughters??? Lol

ShiftThisDebt

Haha God no! That's her age!

I do have 3 daughters though:

DD14 DD4 and DD2!!!:rotfl::rotfl:

ShiftThisDebt

note3 wrote: »

Wow that's great about barclaycard! They're such morons cos I rang and asked if they'd do a deal on my balance instead of transferring elsewhere and they refused so I just transferred the debt! Then you ring and they're so desperate they give you a free 50 squid!

So as you've written DD14 do you have 14 daughters??? Lol

I wasn't expecting any kind of offers really but clearly I was in their retentions department cos theguy wasoffering me loads of thing as Id been a "loyal customer who we've had a great relationship with for 10 years" :rotfl:

12_month_challenge

ShiftThisDebt wrote: »

to see if we can managed with literal pots of money and not dip into the bank account to take "the odd £10 or £20 out"

I definitely need to start doing this as we quite often draw the odd £10 or £20 out and when you add it all up :eek:

I am going to look at arranging this today and see how we get on.
Good idea and well done on your progress :T

ShiftThisDebt

12_month_challenge wrote: »

I definitely need to start doing this as we quite often draw the odd £10 or £20 out and when you add it all up :eek:

I am going to look at arranging this today and see how we get on.
Good idea and well done on your progress :T

Yes well according to SOA we should have about £800 spare. Really makes me wonder where the cash is going