My debt-free plan - £35,236.02...

BeBopTalulah

Not exactly the most positive ending to day 1. Day 1, can't even get that right!

I've made an error in my SOA, I didn't include a payment of about £300 in my totals, so I'm £300 down already. I'm now less enthusiastic and more scared to be honest. I find budgeting difficult, every time I try to calculate my budget I get a different answer. Feels like I'm drowning in numbers and have spent hours on it today.

My husband is also not helping. He clearly hasn't had his lightbulb moment yet and I feel very alone in this. He's huffing about cancelling gym and cinema membership THAT WE DON'T USE. And he's adamant we should continue saving our child benefit, when I want to stop saving it and start putting it into our debts. Making me feel guilty about spending 'our son's money'. I'm sure our child will appreciate the windfall when he's 18, so that he can catch up with all the things he missed out on as a child because his parents were up to their eyeballs! :mad:

Treadingonplaymobil

All I can say is: DON'T GIVE UP!!!

This bit is horrible. It's nonstop unpleasant discoveries, realising nothing adds up, trying and trying and barely making any progress, but it is so worth it. Get through this pain bit and in even just a week or two you'll be feeling better. In six months you'll still be making mistakes (if you're anything like me) but they'll be gradually fewer and further between, until sometimes you get one of those magical months when the car doesn't break down, the boiler continues to work, and no unexpected wedding invitations appear and the budget actually balances!

Have you tried doing an SOA on Stoozing.com? it's much easier to adjust figures as you need to, and there are lots of prompts to ensure you don't miss anything. It's also easy to add extra rows for anything else you need to put on there that isn't already listed.

Keep going, you can do it.

Honeysucklelou2

I sympathise about the oil prices but £125 a month is quite high. I got through £400 of oil last winter which equates to £33 a month. Do you have any oil buying groups near you? Google Boilerjuice for quotes. They often have offers on particularly if a few people in the locality have ordered at a similar time.

We try to keep our wood burner as the main source of heat until mid to late October and then use oil from November to March.

enthusiasticsaver

BeBopTalulah wrote: »

Day 1





Thanks for the advice. CC5 is my first victim. Not sure whether to just start a DD for a hefty payment, or wait until the end of the month and gather up what we have left? It's the actual practical application I struggle with. Looks good on paper, but doing it is more challenging I find.

I would set the DD up for a set payment. Waiting to see if there is money left at the end of the month never works for people who struggle with budgeting and you are obviously new to this.

warby68

Looking at your list of bills, I can't see anything for car fuel?

You both work and use childcare so am guessing there is some cost there.

I thought I'd mention it as it can be a significant cost for many.

enthusiasticsaver

I don't think you do have £500 extra each month as you have not allowed for car fuel unless that is the £300??

I think your biggest problem and as you say probably the cause of some of the debt is your lack of savings for basic maintenance not only for your house but also your rental property and the 2 cars and costs connected with 4 pets which are often the root of debt on this forum.

Are you liable for tax on the rental income and have you allowed for this as there seems to be no savings for this?


I think I would look into selling the second property as it seems to me if you lost your tenants you would be in a right pickle. Running buy to let properties requires a buffer both for maintenance and gaps in tenancies or failure to pay by tenants. There have also been recent tax changes which may mean that you have an HMRC bill outstanding too.

enthusiasticsaver

BeBopTalulah wrote: »

My husband is also not helping. He clearly hasn't had his lightbulb moment yet and I feel very alone in this. He's huffing about cancelling gym and cinema membership THAT WE DON'T USE. And he's adamant we should continue saving our child benefit, when I want to stop saving it and start putting it into our debts. Making me feel guilty about spending 'our son's money'. I'm sure our child will appreciate the windfall when he's 18, so that he can catch up with all the things he missed out on as a child because his parents were up to their eyeballs! :mad:

This is the worst thing when one half of the partnership is not on board with this. My DD and her husband have young children and no way do they have time or energy for the gym or cinema visits even if they can get babysitters so I think cancelling those and reinstating them when your child is older and you are in a better financial position is sensible. Does your husband actually realise you are spending almost £1500 a month on debt repayment and are more than £35k in debt still? How does he envisage sorting this out unless you make cutbacks? I know you say the cleaner is also non negotiable so I wonder if you are both prepared to make the changes you need to get your finances on track.


Quite honestly saving for your son when you are heavily in debt is counterproductive. You are paying interest on most of the debt and have no savings as such you can draw on in an emergency so again if you have an unexpected bill you have no option but to put it on credit if it exceeds the £200 other general spends. The mobiles spends are also huge. Are they both in contract?


What are the monthly costs for your overdrafts? One says £40 so is that the fees or is that what you are aiming to reduce it by each month? Overdrafts can be instantly withdrawn so I would suggest in addition to targeting CC5 you tackle those too.


I know this must be overwhelming and having to change your lifestyle so you are monitoring spends is depressing initially but if you don't tackle this now that £35k+ could be £50k or more in a few years if you don't rein in the spending now. If one of you lost your job that could also cause you massive difficulties.

BeBopTalulah

Day 2

Morning.

Yes, the SOA I have posted here has several errors. I didn!!!8217;t use budget software to create it, I just typed up from bank statements. The long and short of it is, we have about £200 spare each month. I spent about 3 hours yesterday trying fathom our budget/situation on my own. I!!!8217;ve just done a night shift and certainly don!!!8217;t have any brain power left to look at it this morning. I promise I will post an accurate SOA this evening and try to get it to sink in with DH just where we are at.

Thank you all so much for trawling through my inaccurate drivel and getting this far. This is definitely not how I imagined Day 2 being...

crunch_time

Hi Beebop!

Lovely to have you on the forum! You can totally get this under control. It will feel like wading through treacle to begin with but you can do this.

Your below comment resonated quite deeply with me.

BeBopTalulah wrote: »

The problem my husband has (as do I to some extent) is that we feel like we should be able to do x, y and z, like some sort of entitlement for years of hard work. ‘We have a good income, so why the hell can’t we do what we like??’ It’s also deeply embarrassing to admit that we have a debt problem when we earn a good living. Like….what is the excuse when you have the means to pay for it?

Its the same in our house. We have a good income too. Husband just got a pay rise meaning from July we should have about £3600-£3700 a month! I used to have it in my head that when we were on that sort of money we would be able to afford x, y and z as people on that sort of salary can. Truth is now I would rather have money in the bank.

Follow the advice from people on here and dont give up. You can do this!

I've subscribed!

Crunchy xx

System

Keep your chin up!! this bit is definitely the worst.....but you can do this!
Did you take a look at YNAB? You can backload this with 3 months or more of spending and get an accurate reflection of your budget - as well as start to figure out how to move money around.

My DH is never fully onboard either - it's so frustrating!! I just run the money show now, and try to minimise the times he goes to the supermarket etc, as he always goes off grid and comes back with stuff we don't need.

Remember - the important thing about having a good budget is to make it achievable and realistic - as if you try to pay off too much too quickly and don't save money for stuff, then you generally get tripped up. It can also be seriously demotivating as it feels never ending.

Hugs - keep at it....