Diary Of A DFW.....LivingBeyond

livingbeyond

Hi all, I have decided to start my own DFW diary. I started all this about a week ago, after finally admitting to having debts. Total debts mounted up to the following:-

Credit Card 1 £3,499.42

Credit Card 2 £900.00

Credit Card 3 £534.00

Car Loan 1 £4,320.00

Car Loan 2 £5,187.00

Personal Loan £11,000.00

Personal Loan £1,236.00

Personal Loan £700.00

Total £27,376.42



As you can see, it is quite substantial.

My SOA is as follows:-

Salary 1 After Tax £1,850.00

Salary 2 After Tax £675.65

Child Benefit £72.40

Child Tax Credits £42.13


Total £2,640.18


Outgoing

Mortgage & Insurance £750.30

Council Tax £121.00

Gas & Electricity £70.00

Water £26.34

TV Licence £10.99

Sky TV £44.00

Telephone & Internet £50.00

Account Fee's £14.50

Car Insurance £31.28

Mobile Phones £10.00

Personal Loan 1 £70.00


Groceries £200.00

Petrol/Diesel £120.00

Credit Cards £125.00


Daughters Savings Account £50.00

Car Loan 1 £96.00

Car Loan 2 £136.50

Personal Loan £218.00



Total Outgoing £2,112.41



This should be all be leaving me with £527.77 each month, however there is never anything left over, and I am only making the minimum payments against the credit cards.

So after coming on here for the first time I set myself some tasks which were:-

1) Reduce Sky TV Package
2) Contact mortgage company to move onto a more competitive deal.

Outcomes were, reduced sky to £17/month saving £27 and changed my mortgage to a fixed rate deal, saving £70. Total savings per month of £97.

After this I have decided to set myself weekly challenges. So this weeks are:-

1) Change credit card balances onto lower rates.
2) Check utility companies to ensure I am not paying too much.
3) Create a weekly meal planner, help to reduce shopping budget.
4) Analyse this months bank statement to see exactly where my £527.77 is going each month.

Thanks for reading, looking forward to your replies and encouragement.

LivingBeyond

Seaxwyn

Brilliant start livingbeyond - you will soon be making big inroads into that debt. Good luck, and I look forward to reading about your progress.

chevalier

If you stopped your daughter savings, the yearly total £600 would almost pay off your £700 loan. At the moment you are borrowing that £50 at x % to save at y % (which is probably lower). Is this logical?

Silly question but why do you have two car loans?

You don't have the following in your budget - presciption charges, dental/optical charges, car tax,mot, servicing, breakdown cover, money for birthday, xmas, holidays, child care, after school activities, clothing, school meals, buildings and contents insurance? This maybe where your £500 odd is going on?

What is account fees? Do you use the benefits that this provides (assuming it is one of those premier account thingy's)? If you do then make sure you are not paying for something twice eg holiday insurance or break down cover.

best of luck setting yourself a realistic budget
chev

livingbeyond

Does anyone else feel like this or is it just me. My home phone started to play up last week and yesterday finally gave up. Got to go and buy a new one today. Does anyone feel really frustrated when they have got to spend money they werent planning on, however little.

LivingBeyond

livingbeyond

Just completed an analysis of my spending this month. I have spent £521.61 that wasn't accounted for in my budget, so I guess I have found where all my spare cash is going. The overspend breaks down like this

Overspend on groceries = £158.13 (Total £358.13)
Cash Withdrawals = £60
General Spending on Debit Card = £303.48, anything from skip hire to McDonalds.

This overspend has really opened my eyes to where my money is ACTUALLY going. If I do this every month (which I must do as there is never anything left over) I am spending approx £6000 a year on stuff I dont need. This is enough to pay off all my credit card debt and one of my personal loans in 12 months.

LivingBeyond

livingbeyond

Completed another of my weekly challenges, have transfered all of my CC balances onto 1 card. Had an account with Britannia with a £0 balance and a credit limit of £9000. I called them up to cancel and obviously tried to keep hold of me. Offered me either a 0% offer for 4 months on balance transfers or a 6.95% balance transfer offer until repaid. Took the 6.95% offer and have now got all my balances in 1 place. The interest rates I was paying were 19.9%, 16.9% and 14.9%, so, although I havn't yet reduced the debt, the interest will be cut. Will now cancel the other accounts when transfers complete, will reduce the temptation to spend.

tealady

Well done. Don't forget the little things like pigs back and the daily clicks. it may be only pennies each time but they all mount up. Check out the Old style board as well, theres loads of money saving tips on there.

floss2

Why not start a spending diary to analyse where your money goes more deeply? Then you could budget for things like birthdays / prescriptions etc and you can see what you can cut out to save even more.