Debt Free 2017

Mrs_Hainsworth

So here's my SOA - suggested areas for saving very welcome. I'll be putting together a budget spreadsheet tonight as well.

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 2296
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1200
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 3496

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 815
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 135
Electricity............................. 106.82
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 27
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 70
TV Licence.............................. 12.12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 80
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 200
Clothing................................ 80
Petrol/diesel........................... 0
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 72
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 102
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 20
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 9.88
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 40
Haircuts................................ 30
Entertainment........................... 20
Holiday................................. 50
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1869.82


Assets
Cash.................................... 700
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 0
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 700

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
MBNA...........................2023.85...25........0
Halifax........................2127.03...0.........0
Natwest loan...................12872.7...402.......8
Natwest overdraft..............417.......0.........0
Total unsecured debts..........17440.58..427.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 3,496
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,869.82
Available for debt repayments........... 1,626.18
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 427
Amount left after debt repayments....... 1,199.18

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 700
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -17,440.58
Net Assets.............................. -16,740.58

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

A couple caveats:

• My travel is paid for by a season ticket loan that comes out of my salary so not included.
• We've been paying out quite a lot for hire cars this year as our car is out of action. I've not included these amounts but at some point we will be purchasing a new car.
• Things like presents, clothes, haircuts and holidays are guesses - we don't budget for these.
• Energy tariff has already been switched
• The £80 for satellite is for Sky TV phone and broadband (I doubt I will convince the OH to switch as the deal we have means we get the F1 without paying for other sports channels).

Kawaii_Corgi

Good luck with your spreadsheet! The thing that sticks out to me (though I'm in no way an expert like some of the brilliant people on here) is the cost of your electric - mine's only a little bit less than that and I've been told it's a really spendy amount. Are you on a meter?

I hope things get a little easier in the meantime at your current job - a new job is exciting too though!

Mrs_Hainsworth

Thanks Kawaii. It's gas and electric and we've just switched so hopefully future bills will be much less (plus we were in credit with British Gas so should get some money back)

Kawaii_Corgi

Ah, gas and electric combined is less bad than I thought! Great you're reducing it though. We currently pay about £80 pm on a meter for just electric in a studio flat

Mrs_Hainsworth

I admit I felt quite pleased watching the MSE show last night as we'd already switched.

Feeling really positive today. OH wanted to go to the shops last night as he apparently had nothing for breakfast (he doesn't like porridge) but I convinced him to get the bread maker out so we woke up to the lovely smell of bread baking this morning.

Plus I got some free fibre bars at the station on my way to work.

Happy hump day everyone!

EssexHebridean

Alright, let's take a look. Usual - comments in red..

Mrs_Hainsworth wrote: »

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 2296
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1200
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 3496

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 815
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 135
Electricity............................. 106.82You can probably close to halve this. Read meters monthly and submit the readings to the supplier. A smartphone app might be worth using for your own tracking purposes too
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 27
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 70 *raises eyebrow*
TV Licence.............................. 12.12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 80 *raises eyebrow again* I know, I hear your comments, but maybe he needs to take a look at other options for the F1. At very least, knock it down out of season to make a savings though
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 200 You could knock a bit off this if you wanted
Clothing................................ 80 Every month? C'mon...!
Petrol/diesel........................... 0 ?
Road tax................................ 0 ?
Car Insurance........................... 72 *faints* You need to make a decision on the car - either get it fixed, or get rid. It's daft paying out this amount for an expensive kerb-side ornament, though
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0 If you're planning on buying another car, you need to factor an amount in here. Personally I'd start putting money aside now ready for any new car's tax etc - remember you'll have to cough for the tax upfront
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 102
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 20 Every month? Any option for pre paid certificates etc if this is prescription costs?
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 9.88
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 40
Haircuts................................ 30
Entertainment........................... 20
Holiday................................. 50
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1869.82


Assets
Cash.................................... 700 Is this your holiday money doubling up as emergency fund?
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 0 Must have SOME value if it's costing you £860 a year to insure?!
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 700

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
MBNA...........................2023.85...25........0
Halifax........................2127.03...0.........0
Natwest loan...................12872.7...402.......8
Natwest overdraft..............417.......0.........0 Is this actually fee free or are there charges going on?
Total unsecured debts..........17440.58..427.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 3,496
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,869.82
Available for debt repayments........... 1,626.18
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 427
Amount left after debt repayments....... 1,199.18 Do you have this surplus? If you do then you can make short work of everything barring the loan.

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 700
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -17,440.58
Net Assets.............................. -16,740.58

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

A couple caveats:

• My travel is paid for by a season ticket loan that comes out of my salary so not included.
• We've been paying out quite a lot for hire cars this year as our car is out of action. I've not included these amounts but at some point we will be purchasing a new car.
• Things like presents, clothes, haircuts and holidays are guesses - we don't budget for these. You need to start., Try setting up accounts for each of these - if you can do this via online savings account off your current account that works well. Set up an automated transfer for the amount you have estimated each month then you can adjust accordingly
• Energy tariff has already been switched
• The £80 for satellite is for Sky TV phone and broadband (I doubt I will convince the OH to switch as the deal we have means we get the F1 without paying for other sports channels).

Hopefully there's some food for thought there anyway.

You've mentioned an allotment earlier in the thread - that will really help the food spend once growing season kicks in properly again, BUT you also need to budget for it. Divide your rent for the plot plus any extras by 12 and start setting that amount aside each month, along with some extra for seeds etc.

Couple of suggestions I would make bearing in mind your surplus is where it is.

- If it's attracting fees at all, kill off the overdraft,. You simply don't need it.
- Once that's gone, top your emergency fund up to 1k
- Allocate yourselves some "spending money" each month. Covers the odds and ends, plus things like Haircuts, which aren't really a household expense.
- Once you've sorted all that, you should still have a good surplus to start hitting the debt with.

This about paying insurances etc up front when they come up for renewal - again, with that surplus there's no need to do otherwise, and you may as well have the savings that will give.

Mrs_Hainsworth

Thanks EH some great ideas there. I know we need to shop around / haggle on the sky. Tbh it's one of the things, along with the car that OH is responsible for (I don't drive). As much as I nag about the car he says he doesn't want to lose his no claims - perhaps when I point out he's paid almost a grand he'll reconsider!

The mobiles are for both of us - I'm tied in until 2018 but OH is coming to the end of his contract so that might be a possible saving.

I don't get prescriptions regularly enough to justify a prepay certificate - most of that charge is for dental insurance which I'm going to cancel but trying to work out whether I can get an appointment before I do!

I don't spend £80 every month on clothes but that's an estimated average of how much I spend on random stuff (it's probably more) and I think that's the real killer for me.

The £700 is a combination of £500 compensation from our landlord (long story) and some cash wedding gifts. At the moment I'm keeping it separate just in case I need to cover the rent in January when I change jobs then most of it will go to paying the credit card.

Overdraft has a £6 charge but I want to pay it off asap. Unfortunately the terms of my loan tie me to having a natwest account else I would switch.

Worked out a budget for December so hopefully the OD will be paid off by the end of the year!

EssexHebridean

That "missing" surplus is very much the key for you by the look of it. Look at it this way - "find" that sum next month and that's the OD gone AND a lump off one of the cards.

One thing to be aware of is the "danger" at this time of year of getting paid early, and the money getting spent sooner than it ought to as a result. We've always taken the precaution of lifting the money straight from the joint account when it lands, and putting it across into a savings account, with an Automated transfer set to take it back on the day it *should* be in there. Just a thought that might not have occurred to you.

Oh - and that wedding present money? IMO that shouldn't go on debt payments unless it was specifically given to you to pay towards the cost of the wedding - otherwise give some thought to something nice and long lasting that would improve your lives/give you some pleasure, or failing that a shared "experience" of some sort, perhaps?

Mrs_Hainsworth

Wedding gifts definitely not going towards the debts - likely to go towards allotment stuff or a holiday (once we clear those credit cards):)

I'm lucky in that I get paid on the last day of the month so will get paid on the 29th Dec else I would be shifting between accounts! However I can't guarantee I'll be paid for the new job in January. This happened when I started my current job, I missed the cut off for payroll so had to go 6 weeks on half a months pay. I'm also wondering whether I transfer the cash for paying the OD at the start of the month then pay it back in at the end....? Will think on that one!

It really is the frittering away cash on nothing much that seems the big problem.

I admit that I bought a Christmas present for the OH today but I quickly noted down the amount in my Christmas spending tally so that I can keep within budget.

MrsPorridge

Something that is going to make a big difference to me this Christmas is the Skint Dad Challenge - save a penny a day for Christmas. I started it in January (found out about it on one of these forums). On 1st Jan you save 1p, 2nd Jan 2p etc., just add an extra penny a day - for example yesterday it was £3.21. I got DH to make me a wooden box with a slot in the top (like sealed pot challenge) and I put the chart you can get off Skint Dad site on the wall beside it and for once I have stuck to it - I will have almost £700 for Christmas.


Might be something you want to look into for this January? Next year I am going to do something called the backwards 1p challenge where on 1st Jan you save £3.65, 2nd Jan £3.64 so it goes down per day which I think will be a lot easier - as I am now finding it a bit of a struggle to find £3 odd each day.


Good luck.