Adulting is Hard.....

Logie143

Hello everyone!

I've dipped in and out of the forum for a number of years, usually depending on the peaks and troughs of my debt. However, as life circumstances have changed it's time to even out the sine wave of my commitment and make a real effort.

I'm getting married in March this year (I only proposed in september, she's a fast mover!) and I feel like it's time that I stop being quite such a man-boy- financially at least.

I have a number of loans and some credit card debt that I want to get under control, I have no savings, pension or anything else grown up. My biggest problem is that whilst I have a good income I still spend like a kid in a sweet shop and have the financial IQ of an amoeba.

This diary is hopefully going to keep me focused, stop me buying rubbish and sort me out. I'm hoping people may pop in and give me some tips and tricks. First job tonight is to sort out what I have outstanding and sort a budget/SOA out.

TTFN :beer:

enjoyyourshoes

March this year has gone, does that mean you are now married?

Work out why you spend and what are the triggers?

Identify the cost of supporting your debt.

Identify benefits of saving and financially how much you could save (including interest)

Then start the process of reducing spending, throwing everything at the debt and then saving what you were spending!

Benefit from compound interest instead of being enslaved to it.

[Deleted User]

Congratulations on the wedding and good luck on the debt busting!

It won't be easy, it doesn't always go to plan but the important thing is not to lose focus or let your journey come to a stop because of 1 or 2 bumps in the road.

I became debt free only on 21st December and it feels brilliant!

I didn't follow the whole snowballing thing just did it my own way which worked great for me but may not be the way for anyone else.

I calculated the total debt so that I knew how much in total I had to pay off then I split the payments over each debt but not equally.

For me I got a massive buzz out of paying off and closing down some cards so tried to focus mostly on one debt at a time then when that was done allocate most of the money to the next and so on.

You will see what works for you though.

Dxxx

Logie143

Oh Sorry, My head's already in 2018. I'm getting married in March 2018.

Yeah, I'm going to start saving only when I've cleared the debts down.

enjoyyourshoes

Dig little steps out, wise man says

Scott_Weiland_2

Baby steps first step is do an SOA.

Logie143

I'll be working on an SOA tonight. It's a bit complicated because of how we split bills etc but I should be able to get something I can start to work from

redofromstart

Happy new diary, and good luck with your journey!

Logie143

OK, so here it is. This is step 1, it's not 100% in the spirit of the SOA but my partner and I view our money as our own, We both pay £740 into a joint account every month that goes towards groceries, mortgage, H&C insurances, utilities, cats etc. Step 2 is to start working on that to reduce the £740

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars owned.................... 2

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 2472.4
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2472.4

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 740 joint account payment...to be examined shortly!
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 0
Electricity............................. 0
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 53 expensive but almost finished. Weighing up new contract or sim only.....obvious answer is probably going to be sim only...
TV Licence.............................. 0
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 50 ] rough estimate at the amount I spend "topping up lunch" and buying lunch when I've forgotten it
Clothing................................ 20
Petrol/diesel........................... 60
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 66
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0 no tax on my car
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 200 short term expense for private psychotherapist, roughly 6 weeks left of appointments
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 50
Haircuts................................ 20
Entertainment........................... 100
Holiday................................. 100
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Gym..................................... 9.99
Subscriptions(Prime/Gamepass)........... 19.99
Total monthly expenses.................. 1488.98


Assets
Cash.................................... 30
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 7000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 7030

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Parent Loan....................2916.7....208.3.....0
Credit Card....................598.16....13.38.....17.18 usually pay £100/£150 pm
Sainsburys Loan 1..............8230.53...249.4.....0 waiting for paperwork to confirm APR- much higher than loan 2
Sainsburys Loan 2..............2044.4....204.4.....0 waiting for paperwork to confirm APR- last payment due October
Total unsecured debts..........13789.79..675.48....-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,472.4
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,488.98
Available for debt repayments........... 983.42
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 675.48
Amount left after debt repayments....... 307.94

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 7,030
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -13,789.79
Net Assets.............................. -6,759.79

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

Ok, so I know it's a bit rough and ready but it's difficult to view everything in it's entirety.

so my first jobs are:
1) Spend diary- I absolutely don't have £300+ left every month so I need to know where it's going
2) I've set up a budgeting spreadsheet, so I need to use it EVERY day
3) Make lunch EVERY day
4) list of things to Ebay
5) Joint account SOA

Unfortunately with the wedding coming up I'm about to have lots of little expenses pop up- groomsmen gifts anyone? :huh:

I've already spoken to Sainbury's Bank this evening and they've confirmed that there are no charges for over payment, so after the credit card is paid off I'll start hitting the shorter loan with whatever I can.