Nearly debt free diary

DebtFreeDuo

http://www.stoozing.com/calculator/soa.php Use this one for your SOA and make sure you're being completely open and realistic and not inputting numbers in that you hope to achieve. I posted mine here and got some helpful feedback and advice on areas to improve but you don't have to do that.

jemreading

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Monthly Income Details[/b]
Monthly income after tax................ 1336.66
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1336.66

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 250
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 62
Electricity............................. 40
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 17.5
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 36
TV Licence.............................. 0
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 22.99
Groceries etc. ......................... 100
Clothing................................ 10
Petrol/diesel........................... 0
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
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..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 30
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 50
Holiday................................. 50
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Gym..................................... 29.99
Sport Clubs............................. 20
Football Season Ticket.................. 33.18
Total monthly expenses.................. 751.66


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

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Credit Card 1 .................1277.45...0.........18.7
Argos Card.....................139.98....0.........0
Total unsecured debts..........1417.43...0.........-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,336.66
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 751.66
Available for debt repayments........... 585
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 0
Amount left after debt repayments....... 585

I pay my OH £365 for bills a month which includes: rent, council tax (we pay over 12 months), water, internet and netflix subscription. I've just changed my phone contract so it's £2 lower a month but I was paying more on additional data per month (a good £9 a month extra!), I don't own a vehicle by my OH does and he pays for the MOT and service - I only have to contribute to petrol. We don't have any and we do not own a TV.

DebtFreeDuo

So according to this you should still have £585 left every month but instead you have had to add to the debt. Do you have an idea of where this extra money goes each month? I think we all know how easy it is to spend a little here and there and have nothing left at the end of each month. If you have a lot of social things going on then you might want to up your entertainment budget so that you can still live within that. If you can have a few months of sticking to that budget then you can have your debt cleared in no time.

Another idea would be to keep a spending diary for a few weeks to really evaluate where all those pennies go, this helps give us a real insight into our spending habits that we otherwise wouldn't think of.

jemreading

This is where I'm currently at for October pay:
30th October - £1,336.66
Bills to OH £365.00
Work Holiday £129.00
Food £100.00
Electricity £40.00
LCFC £33.18
Gym £29.99
Phone £36.00
Credit Card £198.45
Savings £50.00

I have them colour co-ordinated on my spreadsheet The red are fixed monthly outgoings, the purple is debt, the green is savings. After the above goes out I will have left £355.04 which needs allocating to the below categories (I've just put in what I think is best - feel free to yell at me! )

Gifts - £100
Sports - £20
Myself (social/treats): £80
Travel - £100 (going to Prague for 5 days on Nov 6th)
Dental - £10
Beauty - £10
Left = £35.04

jemreading

When you say I have £585 left a month is scary. £300 would go towards the debt, in some cases, maybe more like £350?

Then whatever I have left gets allocated into envelopes but normally goes quite quickly. A new item of clothing/additional food at work/over spending on socials and events.

DebtFreeDuo

Ah ok, its because you hadn't input any payments to your debts. Is the £100 for gifts just for this month? If you can start setting aside the £30 that is in your SOA for gifts each month then realistically you shouldn't have to put in any more than that all year round.

When you say you put leftover money into envelopes, the SOA should cover all of those areas so then any leftover cash could go straight to overpayments or to savings.

db2016

hi, do you really have nothing in day to day travel?

i know you count holidays etc there, but how about any trains / buses, even the odd taxi home if your drinking?

i'd start a lil emergency fund (some people even say cut back on repaying debt and focus on EF), but maybe dont go that far and £20 a month is a good start,

also maybe even start a family EF, for unexpected things for both of you? winters coming boiler breakdowns or other things are common... or whatever else you probably wont worry about now but may hurt you in future if crops up.

editied - also cash is a great way to think about things, yea swiping is easier but its not a hand delving into a wallet and holding the cash and thinking of, do i need it, can i afford it. its just numbers coming off a screen really using credit or contactless, whereas the money physically goes down as you spend it, get change back etc.

jemreading

Hi db, I don’t have anything in the travel. I will occasionally get a taxi but it’s very rare to do so. I walk everywhere. The only time I ever need to get a bus is when I need to go a visit my parents, but again, most of the time my OH will drive me over. My ‘holiday’ fund is really a ‘travel’ fund.

At this moment, an EF is not a priority, mainly because we live in rented accommodation and our landlord will fix anything that goes wrong. The flat is really old so when something does go wrong our landlord will pay for it to be “upgraded” so I’m happy to just have savings/emergency fund.

I use cash most of the time for purchasing. I’m going to be leaving my credit card at home.

The aim for this month now is to make it through with the money I have and not use the card.

Scott_Weiland_2

Re the EF a lot of us use it as a back up car repair bill or mot bill fund. Neither applies to me so i will just build it up for xmas and birthdays.

jemreading

I just want to thank everyone for their helpful comments so far. I really appreciate it.

I am going to sit down with my OH tonight to discuss debt, spending and see what we can do going into the new year. It’s going to be a goal setting meeting for 2018.