Dan's desperate dash towards solvency

worriedDan

So it's now been 6 pay days since the start of this journey and we have cleared around 10K of our initial debt. This is about 2k less that we had planned but then we always knew that we would have to tweak it, here and there. We initially planned to pay £2000 per month but have 'only' managed 1700 or 1800 on some months. I am not beating myself up over this as even if we 'only' paid £1700 per month, our debt free date would increase by 5 months, so not the end of the world.

I am going to re do out SOA over the next few days so will post this at some point soon.

hope everyone else if doing ok.

EssexHebridean

As long as it didn't start out at 2k a month and then steadily decline month on month, then all good. And even if it did, identify that slide now and work out why it's happening and you'd still be able to stop it. You're learning so much along the way - budgeting, saying yes to some things and no to others - and all that is the stuff that you take forwards and live the rest of your life by - that's the best thing about it, the way it sets you up for the future.

10k cleared in 6 months is incredible anyway - well done!

triple_choc_chip

That's amazing Dan, what a turnaround.
Thanks for remembering to return and update! Onwards and upwards... :money:

Honeysucklelou2

Fantastic progress, well done!

worriedDan

So we have had a proper look at how far we have come since the dark days of March. I have updated the SOA to show where we are now. I have divided the debts into 0% and non-0%. Our starting debt was closer to 60K than the 55K that I originally though. We have actually paid off £9119 since we started in April which is good, but a bit less than the 10K that I thought. My wife is delighted with our progress. I am happy but want to do better!
The thing that I most pleased about is how we have changed our behaviour. Our debts have been increasing for years. We would pay off 1K and spend another 2!!! For the first time we have actually reduced the debt by a decent amount in a short time. There have been ups and downs along the way and I do feel as though it has taken us 6 months to get into the swing of things. I have also really tackled my mental health and feel far more equipped to deal with it all.

In terms of the SOA, My pay has increased a bit,plus £130 a month from my dad that he owes me for money that I lent him 8 years ago! I have only included the minimum payments so that you can see the potential amount that we have to throw at debts, on top of the minimums.

Household Information[/b]
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 1
Number of cars owned.................... 2

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 3555
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1020
Benefits................................ 82.8
Other income............................ 130
Total monthly income.................... 4787.8

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 489
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 103
Electricity............................. 40
Gas..................................... 49
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 30
Telephone (land line)................... 15
Mobile phone............................ 15
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 17.5
Groceries etc. ......................... 250
Clothing................................ 30
Petrol/diesel........................... 160
Road tax................................ 5.2
Car Insurance........................... 20
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 10
Contents insurance...................... 10
Life assurance ......................... 28
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 100
Haircuts................................ 10
Entertainment........................... 150
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 100
Total monthly expenses.................. 1643.7


Assets
Cash.................................... 14000
House value (Gross)..................... 165000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 8000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 187000


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 69000....(489)......1.25
Total secured & HP debts...... 69000.....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
all debts at 0%................40881.....830.......0
Debt not 0%....................9000......248.......6.9
Total unsecured debts..........49881.....1078......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 4,787.8
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,643.7
Available for debt repayments........... 3,144.1
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 1,078
Amount left after debt repayments....... 2,066.1

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 187,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -69,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -49,881
Net Assets.............................. 68,119

We need to better with the entertainment and present budget as we have pretty much fudged this. We haven't gone mad but equally we haven't controlled it in the way that we should.

EssexHebridean

baby steps Dan - you're doing really well with this. Pick one of the categories to make your next focus and make sure that you diarise everything you spend so you can really get to grips with what's being spent. You do realise than in another 6 months you could have shifted everything that is not at 0%? That's amazing!

worriedDan

Thanks Essex, I do love your supportive replies. You helped me a great deal in those early 'dark' days.

worriedDan

Just realised that I missed £122 from my expenses. This means that our total disposable income that we can use toward debts ( on top of the minimums) is £1944.

Part off me wants to go crazy and throw every penny at the debt, whereas my wife wants to continue aiming for the 2K a month in order to make it sustainable. 2K per month would see us debt free in just over 2 years. This would be great! I want to be debt free before I turn 40 in 2021.

enthusiasticsaver

I think you are doing really well Dan but do you really not set aside anything for car maintenance?

worriedDan

Hi, Yes we really do need to do that. We started an emergency savings pot at the start of the journey but failed to build it up again after we had used it.