Single Dad Getting Back In The Black

MyLastFiver

Greetings all,

Well our holidays were fantastic. I underspent in Turkey but overspent on the Isle of Mull. Some of that overspending included my partner's birthday meal, and the fact that touristy parts of Scotland, like Tobermory, are very, very expensive. Anyway, the kids had a great time which is the main thing.

This morning I had an email saying I've been accepted for a Virgin credit card with three year cash transfer deal. This means I can transfer my overdraft to it and save £60 a month in interest!

Also, I made a complete balls-up of adding up my debts last month, but I've done it properly this month!

Credit card 1: £4769 (interest rate 0%)
Credit card 2: £626* (gets paid off in full)
Overdraft: £4000 (interest rate 20%) +£6 p/m charge
Car loan: £7578.74 (interest rate 16.5%) term remaining: 57mths
Family loan 1: £2100 (interest rate 0%)
Family loan 2: £445 (interest rate 0%)
STBEW's mortgage: £62912.32

Total unsecured: £19518.74
Total inc mortgage: £82431.06

I also have some bits & pieces to sell on eBay (which should raise about £70). I'm glad that, even though I overspent on holiday, my debt total is going down, and not up. It means I've taken control :-)

Kitten868

Are you snowballing? If so which debt first?
Great news about the overdraft transfer! That's fantastic. Once it's gone through reduce your overdraft to £100. No temptation but a buffer. X

MyLastFiver

Hi all,

Well I'm doing very well with my spending, and racked up another no spend day today. I quit smoking last weekend too, which helps with the NSDs!

Also, I've sold £45 worth of cycling gear on the internet.

I mentioned in my last post that I've taken out a 0% interest free credit card and transferred my £4000 overdraft to it. Well they gave me an £8500 credit limit, so I've also transferred half of my car loan to that card too, which is saving me another £50 per month in interest!

This means that, or the £82000 I currently owe (including STBX's mortgage) I'm paying out £115 per month in interest. That's not bad!

Final news item for tonight, this month I've paid off my smallest family loan completely, and I feel much better for doing it. I'd rather owe money to banks than to my family, even if I had to pay a little interest!

Drawingaline

Sounds like you are heading the right way, I am toying with starting a diary too.

Glad you had fun on the isle of mull, one of my favourite places, I have a friend who lives in tobermory and we visit yearly.

MyLastFiver

Drawingaline wrote: »

Sounds like you are heading the right way, I am toying with starting a diary too.

Glad you had fun on the isle of mull, one of my favourite places, I have a friend who lives in tobermory and we visit yearly.

Do start a diary!

Yes, Mull was amazing. If I had friends in Tober, I'd be there more often.

MyLastFiver

Evening all,

Here's my reckoning for the month. You'll notice the balance of my main credit card has gone up by £600. Yep, that's me, overspending. My phone died, so I spent £200 on a replacement, plus a few meals out, a few days out, and it all adds up! Let's see if I can do better next month.

And despite my overspending, at least my overall balance is moving in the right direction:

Credit card 1: £5056.59(0%)
Credit card 2: £7931.82(0%)
Car loan: £3791.32 (16.5%) term remaining: 56mths
Family loan 1: £2000 (0%)

STBEW's mortgage: £62572.90 (1%)

Total unsecured: £18779.73
Total inc mortgage: £81352.63

System

Well done. I think most of find that you can be "good" for so many months and then things happen and you have a not so good month. We're only human!!

Well done for saving yourself so much interest - it will make a huge difference in the long run

TTFN Ramble

MyLastFiver

Hi all,

Well I'm glad to say my balance is still moving in the right direction. Just had a promotion at work too, so I'll be a few hundred quid per month better off from next month :-)

I haven't been too bad with my spending this month, having mostly avoided the usual traps of eating out. I have avoided buying any tat this month too, which I'm happy about! I'm back on the fags though, so that's an expense.

Credit card 1: £4552.44(0%)
Credit card 2: £7681.82(0%)
Car loan: £3738.36 (16.5%) term remaining: 55mths
Family loan 1: £1900 (0%)

STBEW's mortgage: £62225.03 (1%)

Total unsecured: £17872.62 Total inc mortgage: £80097.65

chevalier

I don't mind you being fair with your nearly ex, but there it has to be equitable. your wife will have been getting pension credit when she has been looking after children. To at least keep up her state pension.

Your youngest will soon be at school so there is no reason that she can't fit a job in there to help with those bills.

If you have the children for three nights a week, are you sure your calculation is correct? Surely that almost counts as shared care, so you would just pay living cost for those days yourselves?

good luck in sorting it out and well done on being more than generous. By the way was all that debt wracked up by you or is any of it joint debt that your nearly ex is jointly liable for?
cheers
chev

MyLastFiver

Hi all, time for my monthly budget update. Whoops - I've actually gone in the wrong direction this month. Nothing in particular - just general overspending. I bought a new suit, some power tools for my workshop, and my girlfriend's (rather expensive) Christmas present.

Oh, and I paid for my ex wife to get the brakes on her car fixed too :mad:

Not disastrous but I'll have to do better if I'm going to be in the black anytime soon.

Credit card 1: £4140.56(0%)
Credit card 2: £7431.82(0%)
Overdraft: £950
Car loan: £3680 (16.5%) term remaining: 54mths
Family loan 1: £1800 (0%)

STBEW's mortgage: £61878.56(1%)

Total unsecured: £18002.38 Total inc mortgage: £79880.94