early 40s and not fabulous at all

Plush

Just sold DD's old bike on eBay - for a good price, yay!

Local buyer so hopefully won't have issues with collection and payment.

EssexHebridean

Good news on eBay - hope it's been collected and paid all OK now!

I'd suggest keeping an idea in mind of how you're looking with regard to potentially needing to switch some of the current 0% stuff to a new 0% deal as and when - that will be a tall order to get the whole lot cleared but you might well be able to get a new deal just for the cost of the BT fee as and when needed. It's always nice to know if that's the case, even if it doesn't influence the way you go about clearing it.

One thing I will challenge you on - you refer to the christmas presents that you "need" to buy - are they all definitely "needs" or might you be able to, by agreement with other parties, reduce the list down a bit? Token present/secret santa style gifts might work with some people instead of a "normal" present perhaps?

Plush

Not yet - but he's coming tonight. He's a priest, so I trust I won't get scammed.

On the presents yes, trying to do a bit of that. TBH they aren't that many, and the only one that's more expensive is DD's.

Regarding the debt transfer yes, I have that in my mind. I've always been able to transfer debt at 0% and sometimes with 0 fees. But, my hope is that, in 18-19 months from now when the 0% runs off, there won't be much, if anything, left to transfer. Fingers crossed

That, assuming I keep my job and use bonuses to pay off chunks of it... I also hope I will be able to reduce my mortgage payments starting mid next year, if bank of England does't increase their rate more than .25-.5 (and even with this increase I should be able to lock in at a lower rate than I am on now). Also, childcare costs will decrease as my DD will go into yr 6 next autumn, and they will decrease even more in secondary school - will use some holiday clubs, but very limited, as I have a lot of holiday myself.

Plush

Just made a plan to skip this week's big online grocery shopping. I temporarily switched from Ocado to Tesco because I got some good vouchers in the post - 3 vouchers worth about £10 each. But, I need to spend £60 to use the £10, so I decided to shop online every 2 weeks until mid Dec when the vouchers expire. THen, who knows...

I know I need to switch to Aldi or similar. I have not had time to physically check it out (it's not exactly close).

Bike was collected and all is good with payment. The extra money covers half my DD's present. I wish I could stick them into her bank account but I won't.

Off to sleep, knackered...

Plush

Here we go. I have rounded up some amounts and removed all car and pets-related information as it does not apply. My annual bonus is not included 1. because it's not guaranteed and 2. it was always spent beforehand, so why budget it...

This is way too tight - not on the bills side, but on the spending side. YNAB shows overspending in food, eating out and fun, and beauty. (also holidays, but I removed that from the budget for now). I know it's DOABLE to stay in green and pay off that damn debt... but the question is... can I do it, especially long term? Not so sure. I'm hopeful though...

Any suggestions welcome. I probably forgot a category which is why I have "Contingencies" in there. Software/storage subscriptions comes to mind... those are paid annually.

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of children in household......... 1

Total monthly income.................... 3063 (salary, child benefit, and child support; excluding annual bonus)

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 1000 (actually this is £980 but I've rounded it up - overpaying)
Mortgage (unemployment only) insurance.. 36
Other insurances........................ 17 (contents, mobile, WW travel, home emergency cover)
Life assurance ......................... 0 (work perk - also sickness and accident insurance)
Management charge (leasehold).......... 70 (service charge, building insurance and ground rent)
Council tax............................. 102
Electricity ............................ 23
Gas..................................... 37
Water rates............................. 17
Telephone (land line)................... 19
Mobile phone............................ 42
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 8 (Netflix only, no cable TV)
Internet Services....................... 0 (free with Sky until end of contract - paying for landline only)
Oyster monthly card & top-ups........... 146
Pension contributions................... 0 (actually £100 but it comes off the payslip)
Childcare .............................. 290
School clubs, lunches, sch fund..........120
Child savings........................... 100
Groceries etc. ......................... 200
Clothing................................ 100
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 10 (work perk - dental insurance)
Presents (birthday, Christmas etc)...... 30
Beauty.................................. 30
Eating out & Fun........................ 100
Donations............................... 10
Gym pass (yoga)......................... 45 (starting 1 Feb 2018)
Household fund.......................... 50 (starting 1 Jan 2018)
Contingencies........................... 50 (this is really to capture all those "unexpected" ones... work in progress)
Holidays................................ 0 (no holidays planned for 2018 ... unless a miracle happens)
Total monthly expenses.................. 2664


Assets
Cash.................................... 700
House value (Gross)..................... 400000
Pension fund ............................ 35800
Total Assets............................ 436500


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 185300...(1000).....2.34
Total secured & HP debts...... 185300....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Barclaycard1...................8400......190.......0
Sainsbury's....................4400......100.......0
Barclaycard2...................0.........0.........7.9 (this WAS* my weakness)
Barclays Overdraft.............0.........0.........0
Halifax Overdraft..............0.........0.........0 (this WAS* my other weakness)
Halifax Clarity................0.........0.........17.9
Total unsecured debts..........12800.....290.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 3,063
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,664
Available for debt repayments........... 399
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 290
Amount left after debt repayments....... 109

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 436,500
Total HP & Secured debt................. -185,300
Total Unsecured debt.................... -12,800
Net Assets.............................. 238,400 (at least I'm at in green....)

* Hopefully it WAS!


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

Lucifa73

I have just returned to MSE after a long absence, although glad to say NOT because I have fallen off the wagon!


You are doing great. I remember doing my SOA back in the day. (My that WAS a painful experience!!!) I look forward to following your progress!

EssexHebridean

Comments in red then...

Plush wrote: »

Here we go. I have rounded up some amounts and removed all car and pets-related information as it does not apply. My annual bonus is not included 1. because it's not guaranteed and 2. it was always spent beforehand, so why budget it...

This is way too tight - not on the bills side, but on the spending side. If you know it's too tight, then consider relaxing it a bit. Trying to cut back is one thing -setting yourself up to fail is another entirely...Not sure which bits you think are still tight but can you make enough savings on the higher areas to pad out the tight bits? YNAB shows overspending in food, eating out and fun, and beauty. (also holidays, but I removed that from the budget for now). Are you definitely not planning any holidays or trips? I know it's DOABLE to stay in green and pay off that damn debt... but the question is... can I do it, especially long term? Not so sure. I'm hopeful though... Hopeful is good.
"determined" would be better though...

Any suggestions welcome. I probably forgot a category which is why I have "Contingencies" in there. Software/storage subscriptions comes to mind... those are paid annually. Maybe set up a savings account for those things that are annual and make sure you set aside a small sum each month to cover?

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of children in household......... 1

Total monthly income.................... 3063

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 1000 (actually this is £980 but I've rounded it up - overpaying) Long game - well done!
Mortgage insurance..................... 36
Other insurances...................... 17 (contents, mobile, WW travel, home emergency cover) this is a bank account fee yes?
Life assurance ......................... 0 (work perk - also sickness and accident insurance) Should that be zero? If so - brilliant - but do you then need the mortgage insurance?
Management charge (leasehold).. 70 (service charge, building insurance and ground rent) Bleurgh - yes, can't do anything about this!
Council tax............................. 102
Electricity ............................. 23
Gas..................................... 37
Water rates............................. 17
Telephone (land line)................... 19
Mobile phone............................ 42
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 8 (Netflix only, no cable TV)
Internet Services....................... 0 (free with Sky until end of contract - paying for landline only)
Oyster monthly card & top-ups............................ 146
Pension contributions................... 100 Do these not come out before you see your take-home?
Childcare ....................... 290
School clubs, lunches, sch fund............ 120
Child savings........................... 100
Groceries etc. ......................... 200 This is more than realistic - you should definitely be able to stay within this.
Clothing................................ 100 This seems high - can you review and switch to "needs" only?
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 10 (work perk - dental insurance)
Presents (birthday, Christmas etc)...... 30
Beauty................................ 30 You know this is high, don't you...
Eating out & Fun........................... 100
Donations............................... 10
Gym pass (yoga).................................. 45 (starting 1 Feb 2018)
Household fund.......................... 50 (starting 1 Jan 2018)
Contingencies........................... 50 (this is really to capture all those "unexpected" ones... work in progress)
Holidays................................ 0 (no holidays planned for 2018 ... unless a miracle happens)
Total monthly expenses.................. 2764


Assets
Cash.................................... 700 I'd suggest that any savings you make on groceries and clothing ought to go to building this to £1000 in the first instance.
House value (Gross)..................... 400000
Pension fund ............................ 35800
Total Assets............................ 436500


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 185300...(1000).....2.34
Total secured & HP debts...... 185300....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Barclaycard1...................8400......190.......0
Sainsbury's....................4400......100.......0
Barclaycard2...................0.........0.........7.9 (this WAS* my weakness)
Barclays Overdraft.............0.........0.........0
Halifax Overdraft..............0.........0.........0 (this WAS* my other weakness)
Halifax Clarity................0.........0.........17.9
Total unsecured debts..........12800.....290.......- Awesome work on those zeros - well done!!


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 3,063
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,764
Available for debt repayments........... 299
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 290
Amount left after debt repayments....... 9 Nice balancing!

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 436,500
Total HP & Secured debt................. -185,300
Total Unsecured debt.................... -12,800
Net Assets.............................. 238,400 (at least I'm at in green....)

* Hopefully it WAS!


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

A few tweaks I'd reckon - but overall looking good! :T

Plush

@thanks Lucifa

@Essex: When I said tight I was thinking about the reality of the past 2 months - vs the above budget. On paper it looks generous. The reality is that it feels like a big adjustment for me. I'm still trying to understand what's the best way for me going forward - apart from not touching the credit cards. I keep thinking about lowering my overdraft limits on my 2 bank accounts to... £0. I'm not sure if it's wise or stupid to do it.

Using YNAB is not enough, it doesn't block my account when I overspend so I'm tempted to go the hard/radical route for 2018, for the entire year. I'm good with plans that have a finite date in mind. The hard route means cash only for everything that's not bills/regular - so for all spending that happens in Halifax (nb. text in Italics in my SOA ). I kept thinking about it over the past couple of weeks and I think I need it. I just have to figure out a realistic weekly allowance and a practical plan to deal with it. My deadline for the grand plan is end of December, after the Christmas madness is over and my bonus is paid (i still don't know how much it is, my boss is rubbish at this; he has not calculated our bonuses yet).

Regarding your other comments:

• Holidays. Yes that's pretty much it. I can take one year off holidaying. IF at the end of the year thinks are looking brighter, I can use half my year end bonus as a reward and buy a holiday, instead of using a CC.
• Annual: I do need to make a list with all annual subscriptions. They aren't that many but they aren't £0 either.
• Contingencies: I do project budgeting at work and I always add 15% contingency. That's realistic in personal budgeting as well. I know that. I just chose to ignore it so far.
• Other insurances: contents insurance (separate) plus bank account fees less bank account rewards
• Life assurance: yes it's £0 - work benefit, together with accident and sickness insurance. I do need the mortgage insurance though; it is actually an unemployment insurance policy that covers mortgage and household bills for 12 months in case I am made redundant. Giving my lack of savings, that's wise.
• Pension contributions: yes it comes off my payslip and I now think I made a mistake with the income figure, need to check.
• Groceries, Clothing & Beauty: yes I know. This is why I think cash only would work for me.
• Assets cash £700 that's actually in a child account I set up for DD. I've started a while ago saving money in a child account (because of the high interest rate) for future child-related big expenses - such as school trips in secondary and her going to uni (here's hoping). I figured saving regularly would help - that's child benefit I get for DD rounded up to £100 The account is flexible so in case something bad happens to us, there is something in there as well.

Plush

PS. And yes, I am thick... the pension contributions should have not been included in the SOA, because they come off my payslip. In YNAB they are included as I've started tracking pension there as well. The budget for 2018 should be allowing for £400 monthly payments to credit cards, not £290 which is the minimum. Now edited SOA.

glass_half_full

Hi Plush,
I think you are doing really well tracking all this and getting to grips with it all and brave to post the SOA. Some good suggestions from EH above. A couple of suggestions before some comments on your SOA. If you are paying £400 per month then you will pay off your CCs in 2.6 years. If you could increase this by, say £300 then that becomes 18 months, it might be more motivating as you say to have a really frugal 2018 and get rid of as much as possible. I think you are right to ignore the bonus, but if you get it use it 100% on the debt, don’t be tempted to spend it on anything else. Can I suggest you check out Dave Ramsay? His podcasts are free, he is an acquired taste but there is some great wisdom in his pronouncements you may find helpful. Also, if you are going for it in January, check out Mrs Frugalwoods Uber Frugal January, I found it really helpful to reboot my mindset. Some of my suggestions come from these two! You have to challenge yourself. I think I have suggested about £300 of savings below.

Plush wrote: »

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of children in household......... 1

Total monthly income.................... 3063 (salary, child benefit, and child support; excluding annual bonus)

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 1000 (actually this is £980 but I've rounded it up - overpaying) Stop overpaying until you are out of debt, saving £20 per month

Mortgage (unemployment only) insurance.. 36
Other insurances........................ 17 (contents, mobile, WW travel, home emergency cover)
Life assurance ......................... 0 (work perk - also sickness and accident insurance)
Management charge (leasehold).......... 70 (service charge, building insurance and ground rent)
Council tax............................. 102
Electricity ............................ 23
Gas..................................... 37
Water rates............................. 17
Telephone (land line)................... 19
Mobile phone............................ 42 Go Sim only at contract end saving £30 per month
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 8 (Netflix only, no cable TV)
Internet Services....................... 0 (free with Sky until end of contract - paying for landline only)
Oyster monthly card & top-ups........... 146
Pension contributions................... 0 (actually £100 but it comes off the payslip) Controversial Dave Ramsay suggests stop paying into pension until debt free, I have not counted this but worth considering
Childcare .............................. 290
School clubs, lunches, sch fund..........120
Child savings........................... 100 Stop this and restart when debt free saving £100 per month
Groceries etc. ......................... 200 This seems low could you say reduce eating out and give yourself more here to cook at home?
Clothing................................ 100 Ok you will hate me but this has to be minimal saving £75 per month
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 10 (work perk - dental insurance)
Presents (birthday, Christmas etc)...... 30
Beauty.................................. 30 Every other month saving £15 per month
Eating out & Fun........................ 100 Minimum cut by half saving £50
Donations............................... 10
Gym pass (yoga)......................... 45 (starting 1 Feb 2018) I guess this is already committed? If not cancel and restart when debt free
Household fund.......................... 50 (starting 1 Jan 2018)
Contingencies........................... 50 (this is really to capture all those "unexpected" ones... work in progress)
Holidays................................ 0 (no holidays planned for 2018 ... unless a miracle happens)
Total monthly expenses.................. 2664


Assets
Cash.................................... 700
House value (Gross)..................... 400000
Pension fund ............................ 35800
Total Assets............................ 436500


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 185300...(1000).....2.34
Total secured & HP debts...... 185300....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Barclaycard1...................8400......190.......0
Sainsbury's....................4400......100.......0
Barclaycard2...................0.........0.........7.9 (this WAS* my weakness)
Barclays Overdraft.............0.........0.........0
Halifax Overdraft..............0.........0.........0 (this WAS* my other weakness)
Halifax Clarity................0.........0.........17.9
Total unsecured debts..........12800.....290.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 3,063
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,664
Available for debt repayments........... 399
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 290
Amount left after debt repayments....... 109

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 436,500
Total HP & Secured debt................. -185,300
Total Unsecured debt.................... -12,800
Net Assets.............................. 238,400 (at least I'm at in green....)

* Hopefully it WAS!


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