Two thirds of the way there, final hurdle

MERFE

Not kept a diary before, I'll be honest it has taken me a lot longer than it should have to pay off the first 2/3 of our debts. It's been very slow and steady and loooooong, about 7 years. In that time we will have added on occasions for change of cars, things the kids needed or just the odd slip of feeling lifes too short.

What has changed now, well whilst I had a LBM about 7 years ago my husband didn't and I hate to always be saying no. It felt like having another child. We had a massive upheaval in 2014 when our landlady wanted to increase our rent by £200 a month with one months notice. This is what has changed him, he doesn't want to be spending £4-500 every month repaying debt.

So with this in mind and to keep on the straight and narrow for this final stint we have made some huge changes. We have moved closer to his work to cut out commuting, we have cancelled our tv and landline and we are getting some chickens and growing our own veg.

Our money is probably a bit complicated, when I had my lbm and was cutting out all luxuries to try to repay asap and hubby wasn't on board it was tricky. So he gets an allowance each month, it's £120 and he pays for his mobile plus a credit card he has for some reason and then the rest is his. The credit cards in my signature are the ones I sort repayments for. The only other debt we have is a car loan which is due to be repaid in July, once this goes the other repayments are going up.

We had a big knock with tax credits in Nov when they cut our payment by £250 a month, this has made things really tight for Christmas and birthdays for the kids especially. So I am looking for a job but there is not a lot out there for the hours I could do, but I will keep trying and hopefully this thread can keep me motivated.

MERFE

This is the current SOA, not sure much can be changed without me getting a job. The council tax is high atm as we moved so should drop to around 120 in april. Its south west water and we are on a meter so this is high but I am looking into watersure to hopefully reduce this. The surplus goes on repayments as I don't pay the minimums, I had been leaving the Barclaycard at around minimum because it was low life of balance and the other debts were so much higher but now they aren't and are on long 0% - 21 months each I think, I am going to try and throw all the extra at getting rid of the Barclaycard.

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 3
Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 0
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1880
Benefits................................ 329
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2209

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 645
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 168
Electricity............................. 66
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 40
Water rates............................. 82
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 12
TV Licence.............................. 0
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 21
Groceries etc. ......................... 350
Clothing................................ 25
Petrol/diesel........................... 60
Road tax................................ 3
Car Insurance........................... 17
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 20
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 15
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 10
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 40
Haircuts................................ 6
Entertainment........................... 30
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 75
Hubby Allowance......................... 120
Total monthly expenses.................. 1805


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

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
car loan.......................1344......224.......0
barclaycard....................810.......20........3.5
Halifax........................1877......20........0
MBNA...........................3231......35........0
Total unsecured debts..........7262......299.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,209
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,805
Available for debt repayments........... 404
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 299
Amount left after debt repayments....... 105

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 0
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -7,262
Net Assets.............................. -7,262

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

MERFE

Plan for today

spend as little as possible. I have to put some petrol in the car but just going to pop £20 in and try to get it to last the month and I need to pay £1 for my son cross country race entrance fee.
Phone the child benefit people to get a letter about child benefit entitlement as I need this dated in the last year for the watersure application.
Apply for whatever jobs are listed within a commuting distance.

Worried at the moment about half term entertainment, my husband works nights so I need the kids out the house during the day so he can sleep.

Kitten868

Increase the rent by £200 in one month???? That's ludicrous! Maybe she has debt issues.
So down from £21k to £7k? That's brilliant. The issue with these debts is it's easy to spend and hard to pay back so well done on keep going the last 7 years! It's a long slog but it's getting you in better habits for going forward
Fancy joining the February eBay challenge? It's on the dfw board. Great way to pay more towards the debt xxx

MERFE

It's the notice that really is just so wrong. Makes me so nervous now so our aim is definitely to save a buy once the debts are gone.

I know it was high, partly wedding, mostly cars, some HGV lessons and test, OH is a lorry driver and paid for it himself (sort of). Then there have been the times he has worked agency and works been hit and miss, or if I have been in hospital so he has needed to take unpaid leave and we used the cards to make up the shortfall. Having an emergency fund seems so important now when it just didn't seem possible before. Christmas was the worst, in the beginning I was really good, got the kids some secondhand bits, handmade presents for other people, then I seemed to lose focus and went a bit ott. Not crazy amounts, normal amounts but more than we had to spend.

I will have a look at the Ebay challenge, thank you. I don't think we have much left that we can ebay but I guess anything I find is better than nothing.

Kitten868

Hey! No judgement! We have all made choices to get here. Sometimes getting into debt can be for good reasons - improve job prospects etc
I know! I was watching something today that said renters pay half of their earnings towards rent but mortgaged families pay 1/4 to 1/3 of their income on mortgages. It's madness!
You're fixing this you don't need to feel ashamed. It's not how you fall, it's how you get up. Someone who can spend 7 long years making good their debt should be proud xxx

Avalancher

Best of luck in your journey, will be following for tips as you have done amazing so far. With hubby on board you will definitely see those debts go down quicker. Well done on managing to get them done so much on your own

MERFE

You are right Kitten, am so used to having to justify it.

Have requested the child benefit letter so fingers crossed we can get on the watersure tariff, its set at £55 a month so a good saving there. Water in the south west is twice what it was in the south east.

Looking through my SOA and some of the yearly costs we haven't been putting away for so I think I am going to get some tins and actually take this money out each month and keep it in a labelled pot so these expenses don't creep up on me.

First set back, completely forgot about the kids school trip. It's £230 by May that needs paying. Works out at £80 ish per month for the next 3 months. So that is going to be my ebay target.

Kitten868

Yay for eBay target! You can do it! X

MERFE

Checked my food budget. I'm trialling taking out the cash to not go over budget. Well we only have £90 left for the next 3 weeks so not sure that is going to plan. I know I have spent £20 on birthday presents so I can take this out the birthday savings account if I need to. Aiming for 2 weeks at £40, then we will see for the last week what we can manage out the cupboards. Our freezer is pretty full but its the amount of fruit the kids get through. 26th is payday.

Daughters birthday just after half term too, I am thinking I will get one of those plain ready made cakes and decorate it myself. Or I will do another butterfly cake as we have a butterfly mould from one of her previous birthday. I've already got her presents, most she needed like a new coat (from trespass in the sale, bargain) but I did get her a scooter too. It's come out the birthday savings account so hopefully affordable. Instead of a nice outfit I am making her some 3/4 length trousers and a top from a pattern I bought last year, so only needed to spend £10 on fabric, fingers crossed it fits.

Really hope I can find some more bits for ebay, not sure I am going to be able to reach that target. I can only try though and something is better than nothing to help towards it. If I have to pay the minimums on the cards for 3 months to pay for their school trip then so be it. I don't want to but the kids don't get a lot really.

Kitten868

I know exactly what you mean. It's so tough, you have to put kids first and there's always something they want or need.
For eBay/selling on webuybooks or ziffit I just keep going through all of our stuff over and over. It's been amazing for creating space and making an income. Got quite a big pile to sell again. Every time I think I know we've sold it all I find more!
It's funny I buy new furniture to store stuff then the overhaul to put stuff in the new furniture/ pay for it I become so much lighter. I love it.
Could you get the kids involved to find things to eBay to go towards school trip?
Plus giving lots to charity to keep people abroad warm. Very happy.
Glad daughters birthday is all planned x