My Debt Free & First Mortgage Saving Diary

dougie1142

Hello all,

I'm new to this place, this is my first real post. But i love the idea of the debt diary.

I think this is a great way to get motivated to clear my debts, stay positive, focused and start saving for my own place.

I was a very silly when i was younger (i'm 24 now), and lived out with my means and had some spare cash while i was at uni - i didn't know the importance of being sensible with money and i deeply regret that.

Current debt as of 24/04/2016:

Total = -£8430
- £4769 Personal Loan - BoS
- £778 Personal Loan - V12 Personal Finance
- £869 Personal Loan - Hitachi
- £549 Fixed Term Deferred Payment - Hitachi
- £489.94 Credit Card (£500 limit)
- £952 Credit Card (£1000 limit)

The personal loan's were to cover a car and moving from Edinburgh to Aberdeen for 10 months, then the oil crisis hit and i had to move back to Edinburgh again while trying to flog my £500p/m rented flat onto someone else. The deferred payment and CC's are just stupid, and were done while i was a student and thought i was financially invincible.

However now i'm 24 and realising the potential milestone of buying my own place, i'm back living with my parents and my partner will be finishing university next year.

Income:
£1450 - Work income (may be getting a bonus in December, this will go straight to debts)

Total = +£1450p/m after tax (can go up from overtime)

Savings:
£10 - Help to buy ISA

Total = +£10

Outgoings:
£259 - Personal Loan - 21.7%APR - Est Final Payment January 2018
£26.66 - Personal Loan #2 - 29.9%APR - Est Final Payment December 2017
£62.11 - Personal Loan #3 - 19%APR
£49.06 - Buy now Pay Later - 0%
£12 - Credit Card #1 - 18.95%pa
£23.50 - Credit Card #2 - 19.95%pa
£31.50 - Car Insurance
£5.90 - Vet plan for booster jabs for dog
£5.99 - Netflix
£15.09 - Pet Ins
£80 - Fuel
£80 - Food

Total = -£650.81p/m

Monthly deficit = +£799.19 :shocked:


Goals:

• Debt free by the time my partner has finished university in July/August 2017
• Have saved enough mony for a house deposit by 2018
• Sell my 1965 Mini within the next 3/4 weeks
• Replace my Mini with a more suitable modern, reliable and cheap to run car within the next month
• Improve my credit score to very good by the end of the year

This positive deficit each month makes me very worried where my money goes - see below!

My car is currently a 1965 Morris Mini Minor - things go wrong with old cars - FACT. So i'm planning on selling that in then next couple of weeks, which should yield me enough to pay off the £4769 personal loan, which is high APR and also high monthly costs. I need a car for work and travelling up to the North of Scotland, so i will replace with a newer car with much lower running costs. I'm looking at Mini Clubman Diesels, 68mpg combined, £30 road tax.

I guess there other expenditures which i don't have the experience of totaling; occasionally eating out, i have a couple of holidays lined up this year, doing fun activities etc

Another issue i have is Vodafone have screwed me over on my credit rating, my rating used to be very good and is now very poor because of 6 "missed payments". Entirely their fault, they closed my account with no correspondance, no debt collection letters or anything and i was trying to pay it. This needs sorted ASAP. Will be onto the Ombudsman services tomorrow.

I'm sorry if i seem stupid for doing what i did financially when i was a student, i feel very embarrassed by this whole thing and it's really got me down over the last couple of years. I know there are people in worse situations than me too, but we are all effected differently by things. This is a huge cloud over my head, especially at such an important stage of my life. There is no point on dwelling on it, now is the time to FIX IT! I'm thankful i have a really supportive partner, and she is the very opposite to me, she has £10k saved up and various ISA's, she has helped me stay on the straight edge since i met her and I've realized how important it is for me to gain stability for our future.

I would appreciate any support or advice. I don't know which debt to clear first, so someone experienced might be able to point me in the right direction!

Thanks

dougie1142

Current debt as of 24/04/2016:

Total = -£8430
- £4769 Personal Loan - BoS
- £778 Personal Loan - V12 Personal Finance
- £869 Personal Loan - Hitachi
- £549 Fixed Term Deferred Payment - Hitachi
- £489.94 Credit Card (£500 limit)
- £952 Credit Card (£1000 limit)

Kitten868

Clear them in interest order. So the £700 loan first. Do you know about snowballing? You pay the minimums on everything and then everything you can to just 1 debt til it's paid off then the next one. You can clear loan 2 in the first month! With surplus to go to loan 1 or 3. It's up to you.
As you're hoping to clear loan 1 with your car I'd then focus on loan 3. Cleared the following month. And so on. Your creditor list will shrink as the months go by it will help you stay motivated.
Good luck in on the car. You'll have £1000 a month to save before you know it! X

Kitten868

Oh and close it all as you go so there's no temptation x