Crunchy's Final Debt Free Diary!

Seasidegal58

That's a good idea on getting your OH to take control of the weekly shop. The more you involve him the better!

crunch_time

Morning all!

Life is so busy and chaotic but great!

Dentist yesterday. Registering at a new one because the old one closed but budgeted the correct £120 (£60 each and children free). Turns out we both needed a good old clean so our total bill came to £186!! I also need to have a wisdom tooth out at some point over the next 6 months as it is causing me problems and that will cost c£200. This is all private by the way which I am willing to pay for now as I had no idea that my tooth was as bad as it was whilst I have been NHS for the last few years. GRRRRRR. So I shall have to save up for a wisdom tooth removal as well.

Also, husband did his tax return. Still owed money back for child benefit (long story) so we are now the proud owners of a £1700 overdraft. I'm determined to be positive about this though. We were misadvised and it's out of our control. I've set a budget of paying it off £50 a month for the time being until the holiday has paid for so at least it is not just sitting there.

DS will need some new shoes soon - will have to go at half term I think and he just wears his trainers for the rest of term.

I'm embracing it though. This is my life and life wouldn't be any easier if we didn't have the debt. The same 'problems' would still be there.

Crunchy x

crunch_time

Afternoon all,

I’m procrastinating so come on here to update signature. I’m in two minds whether to carry on this diary at the moment. Feeling deflated by the whole thing.

Anyway, reduced debt by £160 form min payments and slushed a little from no council tax this month.

Also chucked another £100 towards holiday. Will be another £100 by next pay day if we can keep food and fuel spends low.

Decided to change to food deliveries rather than a l d I to make sure we stick to a weekly budget. Starting next Friday.

Also did a day of supply so a nice little amount to add to the holiday pot.

Crunchy x

Willowtree222

Don't stop doing it. i think you are deflated because more debt has accrued that is out of your control and it is demotivating. Where would you be if you weren't in here posting and doing your YNAB?

If you need time out, then you do, but think about how far you have come too.

x

Seasidegal58

Echoing Nicnak - There's bound to be good and not so good periods but look how far you've come.

Willowtree222

Hope you're ok. xx

Homegrown0

I agree with the two above - it is demotivating when the debt is going in the opposite direction, but i think it's at times like these that a diary is the most valuable to keep you on the straight and narrow. Somewhere to report your wins (however small) and track your progress, but also somewhere to stop you from going off the rails with the 'f**k it' attitude. Not that I'm saying this is necessarily what you'd do, but when things aren't looking great money wise, it's tempting to just throw your hands up and give up.

I hope you do return and begin to find this place a useful place to keep on keeping on.

crunch_time

Morning all

Thanks for your comments! Really appreciate them.

I’m not at all disheartened by the overdraft. I can not control HMRC and their demands I’m just pleased we were able to deal with it by getting an overdraft and not dipping into the savings. We have paid off overdrafts before and we can do again.

I feel disheartened if I’m honest for feeling like I have to explain or justify my thoughts about my money on here. I know it comes with best intentions but it can be off putting when you are trying to deal with the day to day. None of this debt has come from being frivolous. Just making lots of life decisions all at once and the impact of some unexpected tax bills and moving costs. There is no perfect way. I use this diary to air my thoughts on our money situation as I don’t have anyone else to air them with apart from husband who just tells me to stop worrying. Maybe I should just do that. The debt won’t creep up as a result. When I talk on here I am talking to myself more than anything.

It feels cathartic to talk about my thoughts. Maybe I will do an SOA - it’s been a while. It will be cathartic to me and maybe it will make our situation clear.

Crunchy wx

crunch_time

Here is the debt situation and reasons why.

CREDIT CARDS (3 of them - mostly at 0%)

NOTE: where it says 'husband overspending on credit card' - husband and I went through a phase of miscommunicating about money. I would tell him not to use his bank card so he would use his credit card instead. I would pay off what he spent but sometimes couldn't. Because he doesn't look at our accounts and we had no budgeting app he would credit card stuff instead. He is not frivolous at all but things he couldn't expense for work would go on there, the occasional drinks with friends, a piece of sports equipment, jeans when they ripped and he needed another pair etc. It has all added up and not helped by me saying when out and about 'just put it on the credit card and ill sort it out later' and then forgetting about it.


2017
£1033 - Holidays (budgeted for and booked to be paid off before taken then we decided to move so we saved our money instead. Min payment is currently paying these off and they will be finished by October.
£1400 - husband spending on his credit card (reason - see above)
£215 - food and petrol overspends (from the hearts in the right place but not very organised era)
£420 - mortgage valuation (was £500 but got down) wanted to pay it all off before mortgage renewal in Nov 2020 so started to pay off £20 a month last year but has now stopped for the meantime) This has turned around now. He hasn't done this so far this year!!! I think booking the huge holiday we have been dreaming of for many years has helped his focus.

2018
£2310 - course fees and a new laptop (£500 because my old one wasn't fit for the purpose)
£3,884 - me spending on my credit card to pay for things as when we did our 'new house budget' our expenses actually turned out to be more than anticipated so I had to supplement our income with the credit card to get by.)
£740 - new mattress (old one was 12 years old!!) getting a bad back prompted this purchase. we currently pay off £10 a month)
£4040 - overspending on husband's credit card due to disorganisation
£2470 - DIY stuff for new house - turf, wood and insulation for loft, essential furniture (small pieces we didn't have but needed like a desk for me rather than larger pieces we wanted).
£870 - Vet bill when my insurance didn't pay out when my cat died. - my fault for being fast about it and not checking and reading the small print.

OVERDRAFT

£1700 - stupid HMRC not getting to grips with their own rules about child benefit.

LOAN

£13,364 - to pay off the balance of the PCP for our car. It's over 5 years but we plan to pay it off sooner hopefully starting next year at some point. I just want to say that we have another card that's nearly 12 years old that is paid off and we will keep until it dies. When it dies we will probably get another loan to buy another one. We are OK about having debt for cars. For us, life is too short to save up for a car. Personal choice. and we don't have fancy cars!!

Now for the SOA.....

crunch_time

INCOME

Husband - £3702 (after childcare vouchers have come out which mostly covers nursery fees).
Me - £1000 (roughly, I think)

Total = £4702 (we receive no benefits)

Outgoings

£1136 - mortgage (we have paid off £11,349 since we moved just over a year ago!!!!)
£172 - council tax
£25 - water (no sewerage as we have a septic tank (emptying and servicing £250 a year)
£77 - life insurance and critical illness cover (a personal choice we are happy to pay for)
£14.95 - home insurance
£86 - electric - husband works from home and uses an electric heater. Always thinking of ways we can reduce it.
£6 - microsoft
£12.85 - TV licence
£15 - monthly vets fees and wormers etc.
£8.18 - dog insurance
£70.80 - swimming lessons - 2 children
£62 - phone on broadband (on list to see if can reduce)
£49 - car insurance for 2 cars.
£29.50 - contact lenses - essential - happy with this.
£36 - mobile - just mine - cant reduce until dec without paying a £168 up front fee!!!!
£10 car tax (£20 every 6 months for the newer car - just pay it out of spending money as and when it comes up.
£15 - itunes - husbands guilty pleasure.
£34 - haircuts for boys
£20 - karate

£1880

(chiro, oil, car tax, hair cuts for the girls - all on spreadsheet and get paid out of extra money when they are due) - happy with this for now.

Debt min payments

£100 - virgin card
£50 - overdraft
£85 - HSBC cc
£130 - Sains cc
£226 - Loan - first payment coming out in March

£591

Variables

£500 - food (includes toiletries and cleaning products. starting online shopping again to keep tabs)
£200 - fuel
£200 - clothes - not reducing this
£200 - savings - not reducing this
£112 - childcare - sometimes less sometimes more but this is average.

£1212

So this is a total of £3683

£4702 - £3683 = £1019

We aim to pay £750 a month off the holiday. We are a bit shy due to a few unexpected costs and an emergency tax situation.

This leaves £269 - for all the extras and spending money which we decide what to do with each month.

From April my salary will increase to £1700 a month. Leaving £969 for spending money and extras as well as the additional childcare costs which I haven't got to hand now. We plan to finish paying the holiday off and save some spending money then tackle overpaying the debts.

Once we get to the summer I plan to 0% my sains cc then we will get rid of the HSBC credit card as it is the smallest one releasing £85 to help pay off the sains one.

When we get back from our holiday, we plan to chuck all the money I earn at the remaining debt until it's paid off. That's £2000 a month as I will be full time by then.

So yes I can look up beyond then to see what is coming up and where we may be financially a year from then to see if I can reduce the term of my mortgage.

Hope everyone can now see the lay of the land.

My priorities are

- staying on budget for the variables part of our budget.
- keeping the husband's cc at £0 where it currently sits.
- Staying on track with the holiday payments.
- moving forward with the other aspects of our lives like decorating the house so we don't stagnate
- be proactive with costs that come out of the extra costs e.g. saving up for my tooth removal (how boring huh!) instead of credit carding it and paying it off.

Thanks for your continued support fellow debt slayers! We can do this!!

Crunchy xx