Rawring in the face of debt 19 March 2018 at 7:36PM edited 19 March 2018 at 8:02PM in Debt free diaries 18 replies 1.5K views

rawr_

To say that I've been inspired by the many debt free diaries on here would be an understatement! I have had a diary before, as I had 3K left on a credit card, but back in July 2017 decided to use some of our house deposit money to pay off the remainder, and we have built it back up since. Fast forward 6 months, and my car went bang. I need a reliable one for work, as we live in a village with no public transport and pretty selfishly I wanted something decent for a change. Hence my new debt.

I'm 26 this year and Mr Rawr is 30 in September. We are hoping to buy our first property this year (which will probably be the biggest debt we'll ever have!) and I wanted to start a diary to:
a) Hold my accountable to how we spend our money.
b) Help me to pay off my loan quicker than the length it is (it's 6 years, I do not want it for that long! :eek:)
c) Mr Rawr will hopefully be going back to Uni in Sep 2019 - so we have a little while to save, he'll be dropping one day at work, and they'll be some unpaid placements that he will have to do as part of the degree (it's 4 years part time).
d) I'm desperate to start a family but know this is an unrealistic thing to happen just yet - I'm the higher earner so I want about 6K in savings before I know I can have a comfortable 6 months maternity leave.

So I'd like to use some advice I've seen on here, and give every £1 a job! I hope that you'll support me and tell me off when I've been silly, and I look forward to carry ing on reading others inspirational debt free journeys!

rawr_

So some detail?

I probably should have mentioned that I couldn't use the house fund to buy a car. We currently live in a house owned my Mr Rawr's parents - they moved to Scotland and are renting, and will be selling this when we move out. We agreed 4 years, but we have done amazingly and managed to have done it in 2. So now we're there with the deposit, we just want to get on and find a house, which is proving to be quite difficult!

My 12K savings challenge is the only 'buffer' I have, and feel I need to have a bit to fall back on. I've never really had this kind of buffer before so now that I have it I didn't want to let it go just yet. Arguably I could have used this as part of the payment for the car... but it's done now.

Let's talk budgets. I'm not including Mr Rawr's budgets or income in this - his money what would have been going on rent has been going straight into the house fund, so it's money we wouldn't have had anyway. Now we've reached our target amount, this money is going to be put into my savings account instead (once he's saved up for a few bits for his computer first).

Personal Budget
Diesel £100.00 Leftovers into Savings (if any)
Breakdown £8.18 DD
Joint Acc. £600
Car insurance £39.50 DD
Coffees £20.00 Left overs to pay Car
Birthdays/Occ £20.00 Left overs to pay Car
Car maintenance £50.00 Left overs to Savings
Other £30.00 Left overs to pay car
Mobile £25.82 DD
Parking pass £37.50 Online monthly
Netflix £7.99 DD
Loan £164.71 DD
Car Tax £11.81 DD
Left £346.48

JOINT BUDGET £600
FOOD £275.00 Goes into Savings if not spent
Council Tax £171.00 DD
Contents Insurance £18.44 DD
Oil £40.00 Stays in account
Cat insurance £11.80 DD
Electric £24.00 DD
Water £10.00 DD
Internet £23.99 DD

We've spent a silly amount on food this month so really want to keep it down, maybe even get it below what I have budgeted. I cover all of the bills and food whilst we are in the housing situation we are I have around £350 left over in my personal account that for the last few months I have been putting away (was more than this as I didn't have my new loan).

My new month starts this Friday as I get paid on the 25th!

rawr_

I'm probably one of the only people that enjoys Monday's - but I always get so much done at work and feel so motivated to get thing's done! I've set myself a few tasks this week, one of which I completed at the weekend :j

[strike]1. Switch Electric to a cheaper tariff[/strike]
2. Cancel car insurance
3. Cancel M&S CC
4. Cancel Virgin CC

The electric I've been meaning to do since January as we were out of contract. My provider emailed me for a reading on Friday which reminded me I hadn't switched yet :eek:

The credit cards have been empty for months now, so Mr Rawr had suggested I cancel them. The car insurance is still running for my other vehicle, just need to cancel before the DD goes out next month. I've been putting it off as theres a £50 cancellation charge. I'm working from home tomorrow so I'll aim to make these phone calls tomorrow as I'll hopefully be able to call when they're less busy.

I have a full time job, working 9-5 & so does Mr Rawr, we have two cats, 3 nearly 4 year old girl cat Luna and 2 nearly 3 year old boy cat Solar. No children, don't drink, Mr Rawr has one of those Vape thing's (I'm just glad he doesn't smoke anymore ) so not many expensive leeches on our income I did have a NSD today, probably more due to the fact that it was so cold at lunch I didn't venture into town :rotfl:

beanielou

Happy shiny new diary

rawr_

Thank you beanielou thanks for dropping by

Today I've got my dreaded E*F energy bill - well that serves me right for being out of contract and being on a variable tariff. Didn't help that we had no boiler over Christmas, so we were having to use those little electric halogen heaters that suck energy up like no tomorrow. So I owe £121.50 :eek: more than what my direct debits were, which is a slight unexpected cost. I'll pay this when my switch over has finished so that I can just pay the last lot all in one go. I'm usually so organised when it comes to this, but I think with all the boiler trouble and stress over Christmas it just completely slipped my mind.

This means it will impact next months savings pot and we're already visiting family over easter in Cornwall, so was expected extra cost anyway. I really need to get on with some ebay sales to try and make a bit more. I know I'm quite lucky to have any money left over after bills etc, but it never feels enough

Think I'm headed for a NSD again today, dropped Mr Rawr off at work and have just got back and got a cup of tea to start my day. I'm working from home as I have one last assignment to write for a management course I'm doing through work. Hope everyone has a good Tuesday!

Starmummy

Hi Rawr,
Thought I'd say hi after your messages on my diary.
You are right our goals are pretty similar.

Good luck with everything

SM

rawr_

Hi Starmummy, good to hear from you, and thanks for tracking down my diary. It was nice to see someone with similar goals - and similar struggles. I appreciate I'm not in as much debt, but I guess I feel stuck sometimes being the higher earner, and I'm in a really secure job which in my field can be hard to come by, so theres no temptation for me to move somewhere else that may pay higher. I'm hoping Mr Rawr going to Uni will be the turning point financially, although theres a couple of hurdles and 5 years until we get there! Lots to think about and plan for

redofromstart

Happy new diary, and good luck with your journey! Is it Lunar or Solar in your picture?

rawr_

Hey Redo - thank you That one is Luna, she's not that small anymore

rawr_

I've been keeping up with a thread on here by Treadingonplaymobil (TOPM) and she does something that I would like to try; she lists 3 things a day that she aims to do. I think this is great as it doesn't set too many things, and will hopefully keep me focused!

Todays 3 things were:
[strike]1) Make a shopping list and meal plan for Friday's shop[/strike]
[strike]2) Workout on the cross trainer for 20 mins[/strike]
3) Do a load of washing

The second one was hard to motivate myself to do - but I felt better for it afterwards. I'm going to put a load of washing in after dinner, which I'll be going to cook momentarily ... bolognese with veggie mince and spaghetti, with value garlic bread. We're vegan so eat plant based meals, although our nutrition could be better, so I've kept this on mind for next weeks meals! Will post a meal plan on Friday as that is when it'll start.

Theres £50 left in the joint account, which I don't plan on spending, so I'll transfer this back to me all being well and will put it towards the electric bill. Also have some money left in my personal account, but this may get swallowed up by fuel, my car may make it until Friday before being filled up though we shall have to see! So that's the money to pay it off. Mr Rawr said he'll put in £35 but I said to keep hold of it, I'll take it off him if I get desperate. Have good evenings people! :j

DrSpendLittle

Happy new diary! I look forward to catching up later tonight when I'm finished with my self-imposed late work marathon!