Hey Dear Diary, want to hear my story?

caffeineaddict1986

UncannyScot wrote: »

Hello and welcome

Good books and good coffee, two of my fave things too
You need any advice or info just post up and we'll do what we can to help

Thank you! Absolutely love my coffees (to the extent of being a snob about it!)
I definitely will do. I intend to better detail my debts tomorrow along with my paper plan and a year by year breakdown on how to close the debt down. I am expecting a bit of an overdraft dip next month but only temporarily until I gain control of my finances. It isnt the best method but has to be done.

caffeineaddict1986

Deleted_User wrote: »

Welcome to the boards, they're a nice if slightly mad lot here

Any help, just shout.

Pmo2
X

I definitely will do ! Thanks much for the warm 'mad' welcome ! Loving this amazing group some more

caffeineaddict1986

Thank you Laurag! I see there are a few coffee & book lovers here. Glad to know the art of reading isnt completely dead in this day and age !

caffeineaddict1986

Thank you Shelbi. Definitely feeling the warmth & love this group exudes and super excited to start my journey !

[Deleted User]

caffeineaddict1986 wrote: »

Thank you Laurag! I see there are a few coffee & book lovers here. Glad to know the art of reading isnt completely dead in this day and age !

I love reading and I'm trying to get back in to it again slowly.

Coffee...Not too keen on, I do love the Dowe Egberts hazelnut one, that lasts me like forever.

caffeineaddict1986

Hey PMO2 - I find that with books, most of us have a love hate relationship. I am the same too, sometimes I am very into them and go through them quite quickly but there have been phases where I have never read for a few months at a stretch.

Oooh never tried that brand of coffee before, will definitely add to my list!:)

caffeineaddict1986

Dear Diary,
I think this is going to be a long one... Are you ready? Do you want to know my magic number ?

Here's how it stands as of today (in the order of smallest to largest) -

Credit Card 1 - £1000 (0% Interest rate)
Loan from a friend - £1500
Bank loan 1 - £2122.12 (4 payments of £530.53 left)
Bank loan 2 - £3958.92 (9 payments of £439.88 left)
Credit Card 2 - £6600 (0% interest rate)
Credit Card 3 - £11000(0% interest rate)


Apart from this, I have a few one of payments that I want to close this month which definitely will eat well into my overdraft but I am ready to take that hit as I want to make sure I am as current as possible with repayments & my DFW plan.

One off balance repayment to friend - £325
One off balance repayment to another friend - £600

TOTAL is a whopping £27,106!!!:eek:

Having a major freakout moment as it is much much larger than my original estimate !!!!!!
Looking at the above reinstates that we have indeed been stupid with financial planning for the house we bought as 5 of the above loans (including the 3 from our friends) could have been avoided if we had saved a little more:( There is a reason for this though and its because of my silly heart. I fell in love with the house the first time we went viewing and DH did his absolute best to make sure we got it even though it was slightly over budget and needed extensive negotiation. However, the house was not very well maintained by the tenants who were living at the time and we had to borrow some money to get the most basic work done. As you can see, we have been blessed with some amazing friends who stepped up to support us (and we'd do the same for them in a heartbeat) and the rest was borrowed on my name from the bank as DH's name was on the mortgage. Anyway, long story short, please don't judge me as not all of the debt was due to me being stupid & frivolous.

I know for a fact that 6 above the above items can & will be closed without a lot of effort from me this year.

Credit Card 1 - £1000 (0% Interest rate)
Bank loan 1 - £2122.12 (4 payments of £530.53 left)
Bank loan 2 - £3958.92 (9 payments of £439.88 left)
Loan from a friend - £1500
One off balance repayment to friend - £325
One off balance repayment to another friend - £600

Like I said earlier, I am ok to take the hit on the overdraft if it means I can close a few of the above as I have a fairly decent overdraft limit (£1300) thats been agreed with my bank for minimal interest rate.
This leaves me with the massive 2 credit cards amounting to £17600 and for this, I need to have a very solid plan in place & a loooot of control to keep me going........

I'll leave you pondering while I step away for a bit to do my SOA......................

caffeineaddict1986

Another long one this but its SOA time -
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.................... 1 - second hand & fully paid

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 3155
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 3155

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0 - paid from joint account
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 0 - paid from joint account
Electricity............................. 0 - paid from joint account
Gas..................................... 0 - paid from joint account
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0 - paid from joint account
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 45 - On a contract until August 2018.
TV Licence.............................. 0
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 7.99 - This really is netflix subscription
Groceries etc. ......................... 0 - paid from joint account
Clothing................................ 0 - this is true , I have way too many clothes and haven bought any in over 2 months! Was a very good girl during Christmas sales .....
Petrol/diesel........................... 0 - paid from joint account
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0 - OH pays for this from his account
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0 - OH pays for this from his account
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 280 - I travel into London 3 days a week and this covers travel expenses
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0 - paid from joint account
Buildings insurance..................... 0- paid from joint account
Contents insurance...................... 0- paid from joint account
Life assurance ......................... 0 - Company paid I think , need to revisit
Private Health insurance......................... 0 - Company paid I think, need to revisit
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0 - Nope nothing for now!
Haircuts................................ 50
Entertainment........................... 50
Holiday................................. 0 - paid from joint account
Emergency fund.......................... 0 - paid from joint account
Family maintenance...................... 425 - This is for my parents every month.
Joint account for common bills.......... 700
Parlour etc............................. 30
Ipad.................................... 45 - On a contract until July 2018
Total monthly expenses.................. 1632.99


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 1800
Car(s).................................. 0
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 1800

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Credit Card 1..................1000......12........0 - until May 2018
Credit Card 2..................6600......80........0 - until June 2020
Credit Card 3..................11000.....280.......0 - Until Apr 2019
Friend 3.......................600.......600.......0
Friend 2.......................1500......100.......0
Friend 1.......................325.......325.......0
Loan 2.........................3958.92...439.9.....0 - Not sure of APR, tbc
Loan 1.........................2122.12...530.6.....0 - Not sure of APR, tbc
Total unsecured debts..........27106.04..2367.5....-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 3,155
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,632.99
Available for debt repayments........... 1,522.01
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 2,367.5
Amount short for making debt repayments. -845.49

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 1,800
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -27,106.04
Net Assets.............................. -25,306.04

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

I am going to have an income/outgoings mismatch the next month and might well have to live off literally nothing but OD will cover for the absolute essentials. Thankfully, my OH is flexible with money being put into common account so there is some wiggle room but I'd like to do my bit and not take advantage of his niceness (I might resort to teaching him money management once I become debt free as he has some fairly substantial credit card loans himself!) . Its going to be pretty rough for the next couple of months but there is light at the end of the tunnel as I am pretty sure of getting a fairly decent bonus which will give me some breathing space. This is not until May this year so I am going to have to just live on an absolute low budget until then. eeeek!
I have not accounted separately for date night spends and emergency repairs for the house as they all come out of the joint account that both me & OH put into. With all monthly bills paid, we usually have around 200 extra every month that we save and use either for a vacation or for unforeseen expenses including our little kitten's medical bills.

another_casualty

Nice new diary . You’ve lived a good life already . You have good friends . Not many I know would lend such large amounts .
You’re young enough to get out of the mess you’ve made though.
Monthly income is great if it’s just you , but I assume that’s not the case ?? Is your partner in any debt ? It’s not a joint mortgage by the looks of it . I’m not sure what to advise tbh , as normally I would advise Debt mgt. However, if it was me, I’d think about paying friends and family back first with a thank you present .

Great advice will arrive here soon .

Wish you and the kitten best of luck

caffeineaddict1986

another_casualty wrote: »

Nice new diary . You’ve lived a good life already . You have good friends . Not many I know would lend such large amounts .
You’re young enough to get out of the mess you’ve made though.
Monthly income is great if it’s just you , but I assume that’s not the case ?? Is your partner in any debt ? It’s not a joint mortgage by the looks of it . I’m not sure what to advise tbh , as normally I would advise Debt mgt. However, if it was me, I’d think about paying friends and family back first with a thank you present .

Great advice will arrive here soon .

Wish you and the kitten best of luck

Hey anothercasualty, thanks for popping by! I am really blessed to have a great family & some lovely close friends around me....Great idea re thank you present, hadn thought of that myself. I have a few vouchers I can use to buy them something nice without having to dip deeper into my OD...
You are right in that its not just me as DH has a few credit cards too he needs to clear. + the mortgage which is in his name but monthly's goes out of our joint account. He isn't as driven as me at the mo but I am sure he'll get on board as soon as he sees how positive this whole journey is going to be for both of us... I intend to pay 2 of my friends this month even if it means I d dip into my OD a bit... I think its a necessary casualty in this whole process ....