I am being upgraded from Mum to Nan - I need a plan!

Mum2Nan

I had a flicker of a LBM back at the end of December 2017 when I realised my debts had peaked at a whopping £28,929.14. Since then I have been trying to live within my means and get the debt down which today stands at £22,263.84.

With the exception of the loan for which I am making small overpayments and is ticking over nicely all credit card debt is on 0% finishing at different times. I will make a note of these later.

I found out last week I am going to be a Nan at the end of this year. I am so happy and excited and it's given me fresh impetus to get my debt down as much as possible by then.

My aims are:

1. to get the debt down sufficiently by the end of next year so I can drop down to a 4 day week to assist with childcare
2. will need to consider remortgaging in October 2020

I have already made some serious lifestyle changes:

1. I took part in dry January and have pretty much continued with this to date saving myself around £50 per month
2. I swapped smoking for vaping so am saving myself over £200 per month

Other changes I have made so far this year:

1. I swapped my gas and electricity supplier as my previous one wanted to put my monthly direct debit up by £30 :eek:
2. I now pay car tax, insurance and contents insurance annually saving me on monthly credit interest. I am hoping my insurance won't go up too much this year as I shall be able to claim 2 years NCD if I am lucky
3. I am now checking and using cash back sites to purchase online goods and services

I have one DD who although is not financially dependent on me, I still like to help out where I can

I am home to 2 rescue cats, and 4 fish.

I am not brand loyal but do try to live ethically where possible.

Things I can't change:

1. I am very restricted as to what broadband / phone package I can have due to limited, not very well known suppliers here. I did look at changing to one of the few others but when I factored in the costs of set-up / activation / router costs, these would have outstripped the small savings
2. My buildings insurance is included in my management charge
3. I appreciate my car costs me a lot of money compared to the use I appear to get out of it but it's a need rather than a want.

I don't watch live TV so therefore do not pay for a TV licence.

I don't have life insurance but I qualify for my company's 4 X death in service benefit

I am happy to take the scenic route rather than cut back on life too much.

My SOA is below.

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 2548.81
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 6.5
Total monthly income.................... 2555.31

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 806.5
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 98
Council tax............................. 124
Electricity............................. 38
Gas..................................... 14.5
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 15
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 10
TV Licence.............................. 0
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 31.5
Groceries etc. ......................... 300
Clothing................................ 15
Petrol/diesel........................... 50
Road tax................................ 16.25
Car Insurance........................... 37.25
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 30
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 207
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 5
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 20
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 7.5
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 60
Haircuts................................ 8
Entertainment........................... 25
Holiday................................. 25
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Animal Charity Donation................. 5
Hobbies................................. 9.99
Vaping.................................. 25
Loan Overpayment........................ 27.21
Mortgage Overpayment.................... 43.46
Cat Food, Fish Food & Litter............ 50
Total monthly expenses.................. 2104.16


Assets
Cash.................................... 3750
House value (Gross)..................... 225000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 1000
Other assets............................ 4000
Total Assets............................ 233750


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 133456...(806.5)....3.19
Total secured & HP debts...... 133456....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Barclaycard 1..................1319.15...29.68.....0 (ends 01/08/2018)
Barclaycard 2..................3087......69.48.....0 (ends 01/01/2019)
Barclaycard 3..................3087......69.48.....0 (ends 01/03/2019)
TSB Loan.......................8299.44...187.9.....2.89
Halifax 3......................2472......24.72.....0 (ends 24/07/2019)
Halifax 2......................2537.5....25.38.....0 (ends 26/11/2018)
Halifax 1......................1461.75...14.62.....0 (ends 23/02/2019)
Total unsecured debts..........22263.84..421.26....-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,555.31
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,104.16
Available for debt repayments........... 451.15
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 421.26
Amount left after debt repayments....... 29.89

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 233,750
Total HP & Secured debt................. -133,456
Total Unsecured debt.................... -22,263.84
Net Assets.............................. 78,030.16

Off for a walk to clear my head after all that.

M2N

My Updated SOA is now in post 14

Mum2Nan

I love living where I do. I love listening to the birds and as we have a lot of lakes and wildlife, enjoy walking.

I have updated my previous post with the Barclaycard 0% end dates. I have upped my D/D to Barclaycard to £350 to get shot of the one ending in August but this is going to eat into my savings / Emergency Fund and is obviously not sustainable.

I have looked at my Halifax Mastercard and the payments I have been making to date are coming off the deal that lasts the longest. I called them and they have said they will unallocate the payments to that and reallocate to the one that finishes soonest.

I can already see I am going to be in a bit of a pickle next year with the two Barclaycard 0% deals ending so soon together.

Despite my saying I would like to take the scenic route, I am starting to worry it's not the right way to go.

I don't have a holiday booked or anything but I do like to go for days out so am thinking of scrapping that for now. I could add another £10 to my entertainment budget and move the other to the emergency fund.

I am becoming a spreadsheet geek!

enthusiasticsaver

Congratulations on you becoming a nan at the end of the year. I am a nanna to two adorable 2.7 and 2 week old granddaughters and my DH and I do one day childcare for the 2.7 at the moment and will have them both from next January. There is nothing like grandchildren to give you joy, I am sure I enjoy them much more than I did my own 2 girls.

Re your financial situation. There are some positives in that you have an emergency cash fund and your income is more than outgoings, just, and the credit cards are 0%. You have done well to stop smoking as that is just burning cash and much better for your health to run around after your GC. Your groceries bill is very high for 1 person. Do you meal plan and use discount supermarkets like Aldi or Lidl? We spend around £250 a month at mainly Lidls and that is for 2 of us and with the odd bottle of wine in that. Usually just one a week though.

You have not said when the Halifax deals are up but I am guessing you are targeting Barclaycard 1 at the moment? Can you get cheaper cat food? My DD and her husband have 2 cats but I am pretty sure they don't spend that much on food. They have dried food mainly with one wet pouch between them on alternate days with a daily treat stick. Litter is less than £2 a bag at Lidls although they are out a lot so maybe you have to change the litter more regularly if yours are house cats which as you live in a flat presumably I guess may be the case.

Personally I would reduce the groceries spend before giving up your days out.

How long is the term of that loan? Was it for debt consolidation or for the £4000 other asset you have? Can you sell the asset to reduce the debt? At the moment you do not appear to have enough leeway to reduce your hours but you would pay less tax/ni so probably only a £250-£300 per month reduction in pay if you stayed on same salary so that is what you need to reduce your outgoings by.

beanielou

Congratulations on your news.
Your food seems really high~~can you reduce that it?
What is the other travel?

ViolaLass

Agree, food bill seems very high.

What's the 'other travel' for? Can it be reduced?

Mum2Nan

Hi Enthusiastic

Thanks for stopping by and appreciate your advice. I responded to all your comments / suggestions and lost it. I will try again.

I don't meal plan as I leave home at 7.30 and don't get home until 6.30.

I am still working on the end dates of the Halifax ones but the short one finishes in October this year but my payments are being allocated to the longest one that finishes next year. I have called them and asked them to sort this out.

I do shop in Aldi for the basics but top up at Sainsbury's.

My TSB loan finishes in 2021 but I have already reduced this by 4 months due to overpayments, The loan wasn't for debt consolidation.

The £4,000 asset is a piece of jewellery my nan left me in her will. I would rather go bankrupt than sell it.

Mum2Nan

Hi Beanielou

Thanks for stopping by. I have been trying to reduce this but I fall into the 'ethically buying' category. That said, I love Aldi for some of their products but top up at Sainsbury's

Mum2Nan

Hi viola

The travel is my train ticket to work. This cannot be reduced.

ViolaLass

Your LTV is very good so I'm surprised you're not on a lower rate. Are you on a fixed deal? ERCs? Could you switch now?

Ideally you'd get a lower rate and then stop overpaying as it would be better to put that money elsewhere.

Mum2Nan

Hi Viola

I agree but I am an 'older' FTB, I am stuck with this Barclays mortgage until October 2020. I don't know what ERCs is but am certainly hoping that when I remortgage the LTV rate will be taken into account.

ViolaLass

ERC - early repayment charge. Worth checking out what it is on your deal as it can vary greatly. Also, you don't always have to wait until the end of the deal - we could change ours from 3 months before the end with no penalty.

I'm not convinced overpaying the mortgage is necessarily the best use of your funds at this stage.