The Marching Minimalist

angelpye

So this is my journey.

Like so many I have started a diary to motivate myself into staying on the right track...the track that leads to living a more simple, happy, guilt free, low stress, debt free, possession light, experience heavy, financially secure life of freedom. Just the idea of that brings me a moment of peace. I can do this.

Today was the second thing in a week to go wrong with my car (the first would normally send me into a tail spin and back into denial) so need something to keep me on track.

How did I get here? Stupidity would be the short answer. The long one is a catalogue of bad behaviour, a series of unfortunate events, a few conscious decisions that have made me money poor but life more fulfilled and spells of low mood. The perfect storm.

LBM. My finances took a serious nose dive recently due to ill health, bad planning and refusal on my behalf to face it. I am now on the lowest monthly budget I have had in over 13 years...If I got struck by lightening my hair would be an amazing glass sculpture due to the amount of time I have stuck my head in the sand! But seriously, it's bad, really bad (for me) but I can and I will fix it.

LBM blues...oh how hard the last couple of weeks has been facing up to the mess I made. The guilt, shame and panic has been overwhelming at times but I have had support on here and just reading other peoples plots and plans has motivated me to be brave. Reading peoples signatures has made me believe.

Time for action. My SOA is tight, so very tight, until April when my income will rise by £150. Not a lot but enough to make it manageable and close enough to make it tolerable. I hope.

The bottom line. The thing that makes the weight of the debt so heavy is not the amount of debt (although any debt is not good) it's the fact that my budget is so tight there is nothing left to pay the debt off quicker. I have things I can sell so I will have to start there. Things I don't need, don't look at, and are stored. Getting rid of excess belongings and every penny I make by doing so will bring me that one step closer to freedom. My house needs quite a bit of work as I bought a 'project' due to circumstances at the time.

The good. I am blessed in my life to have wonderful people whom I love and love me. I have a home that is safe and is slowly becoming a beautifully calm place to live as I make the necessary renovations. I am creative and this brings me great joy and challenges my mind. So many things to be thankful for the list could go on and on.

The aim. At the very least I want to be debt free, house sorted and small emergency fund by my 40th birthday. That gives just over 3 years to achieve that. I can't find the Snowball thing again at the moment but it is telling me about 60 months...nope, not acceptable. These first couple of months will be hard as very little time and the tightest of budget so will be easy to see no progress but I will not accrue more debt so it will still be a win. My income will rise as circumstances change but this low moment is my chance to realign myself to a simple way of living so when finances improve its all about security and experiences.

I am calling this my 'march' because this is not going to be a walk in the park but with determination I will get there.

angelpye

Posting SOA as it stands today and will update as things pick up.

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information[/b]
Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of children in household......... 1
Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details[/b]
Monthly income after tax................ 864.305
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 188.7
Other income............................ 200
Total monthly income.................... 1253

Monthly Expense Details[/b]
Mortgage................................ 513.1
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 0
Electricity............................. 74
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 28.1
Telephone (land line)................... 40 locked into contract
Mobile phone............................ 35.99 locked into contract
TV Licence.............................. 12.12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 7.49 netflix - want to keep atm
Internet Services....................... 0 in landline figure
Groceries etc. ......................... 165
Clothing................................ 10
Petrol/diesel........................... 30
Road tax................................ 16.2
Car Insurance........................... 40.48
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 14
Car parking............................. 1.75
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 5
Buildings insurance..................... 15
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 43.66
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 20
Haircuts................................ 4.5
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Pet food etc............................ 26
Gym..................................... 38 will use it or loose it
HMRC.................................... 26
Child Trust Fund........................ 10.01
Adobe + itunes storage ................. 9.36 necessary
Total monthly expenses.................. 1185.76


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 213300
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 1200
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 214500


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 113000...(513.1)....3.38
Total secured & HP debts...... 113000....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
CC1 ...........................1589.22...50........26.18
CC2............................500.......10........12.9
CC3............................500.......5.........0
Total unsecured debts..........2589.22...65........-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,253
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,185.76
Available for debt repayments........... 67.24
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 65
Amount left after debt repayments....... 2.24

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 214,500
Total HP & Secured debt................. -113,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -2,589.22
Net Assets.............................. 98,910.78

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

Some of the yearly things have been reduced due to income but will need increasing a little as income increases so that I am not worried I haven't got things covered.

I also need to address the emergency fund, fun and holidays because it is unrealistic for these to stay at £0. I won't be able to be generous to these for some time but I know to do this for the long haul I need to be honest with myself.

-taff

If you want to keep netflix, then why not ditch the tv licence?
As for cloud storage, can you not store it somewhere else?
What about getting a lodger for a few months? Maybe monday to friday lets for business people?

angelpye

-taff wrote: »

If you want to keep netflix, then why not ditch the tv licence?
As for cloud storage, can you not store it somewhere else?
What about getting a lodger for a few months? Maybe monday to friday lets for business people?

Thanks -taff for the reply, I appreciate it. Your suggestions do raise things I have been thinking about.

Netflix is for me but my DD watches normal TV so need to stay legal. I have been considering dropping Netflix as it is a treat only really used by me so not a necessity but I have committed to not going out to socialise which will be hard as I am a lone parent and not dating so can feel quite isolated - I think you are right though. It probably needs to be one or or the other. My friends only socialise in restaurants and pubs really, although I have asked my best friend to go walking with me when our commitments allow. I can always reinstate it when things improve. And to be honest it can be a bit of a crutch to hide from the world through binge watching rather than facing my to do list.

I wrote a different answer to that at first, trying to justify my keeping it but when I read it back it seemed ridiculous. Thanks for the push.

I will cancel the storage although its only 79p of that amount.

My house is not in a state of repair where I could charge someone to live here. I am keeping this in mind as a possible solution in the future.

Bobarella

Good luck Angelpye it is hard having a very tight budget and wanting to make more payments. I shall be here with pom poms to cheer you on!

fourthtimelucky

Good luck, I'm a fellow diarist aiming to beat this once and for all before 40. I'll follow with interest.

angelpye

Bobarella wrote: »

Good luck Angelpye it is hard having a very tight budget and wanting to make more payments. I shall be here with pom poms to cheer you on!

Thanks Bobarella, it is very hard emotionally to be so stuck. Poms poms are very much appreciated!:D

angelpye

fourthtimelucky wrote: »

Good luck, I'm a fellow diarist aiming to beat this once and for all before 40. I'll follow with interest.

I will look you up! 40 is such a strange milestone for me - don't feel ready to be 40 and seems impossible that I am not far off it. Debt free at 40 has a nice ring to it though :T

1LuckyLady

Hey Angelpye, I turn 40 in a few months time and I still don't feel ready!!
Re your SOA, you've not got a council tax figure in there..
Are you tied into a contact with your gym? Could you try somewhere else? My gym is £16/month gym/classes but no swimming.
Good luck on your March

Hutchch0920

Maybe other MSErs will correct me on this one but do you need life assurance? Seems like a lot? Could the cover be reduced for a short time to free up some cash?

Between now and April you can have a ball on eBay and the extra cash will lighten the load. Every 99p counts!

angelpye

1LuckyLady wrote: »

Hey Angelpye, I turn 40 in a few months time and I still don't feel ready!!
Re your SOA, you've not got a council tax figure in there..
Are you tied into a contact with your gym? Could you try somewhere else? My gym is £16/month gym/classes but no swimming.
Good luck on your March

Hi and thank you for posting 1LuckyLady, no council tax as I am exempt.
The classes I do, when well, are mostly pool based which to be honest are the only ones I enjoy and feel motivated to do plus my membership allows me to take DD swimming etc. Classes in my area are at least £6 and £7 for water activities plus £9 a session at the gym. I am sure there will be cheaper options for purely gym but I mainly do the other stuff. I have been ill so haven't been using it but better now and can't afford a social life - I am going to monitor how much I use it and if its not used enough will loose it. I need to be doing 6 sessions a month for it to pay not including taking DD for swims etc.

Being 40 seems like such a grown up number! I am in denial about being a grown up!