£29,303...Enough is enough!

WelshKitty85

Woohoo...I've just won 2500 SB on spin & win and was able to redeem £20 amazon vouchers :j :j

WelshKitty85

I've just made a small overpayment.

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt...........Monthly.. .APR
Barclaycard....................8800...........200... ....0
Hitachi..........................10,375.........226 .5.. .3.4
MBNA...........................3731............50. ...... .0

Debt total = £22,906

Savings total = £1000.28

WelshKitty85

Oops I've not updated things for a few days...although there's actually not much to report. DC3 is poorly with croup so I haven't done much of anything. I've now got £25 worth of gift cards in amazon and am saving as much as possible in there to finish the Christmas present shopping. DH has just taken out car insurance and I need to sort home insurance. Once I transfer the money to cover these there'll be about £550 left in the savings account.

WelshKitty85

DC3 is much, much better today. I hate seeing him poorly so I'm very relieved to see him back to his usual crazy self.

The house is freezing today! I forgot how cold the kitchen & dining room had got last winter and I'm worried about the children sitting in there to eat, do homework etc. We are waiting for a new radiator, but the plumber told us it would be a couple of weeks and that was 6 weeks ago! :mad: I've started looking for a new plumber today. In the meantime I've ordered some thermal curtains for the window and patio doors - only £27 for both, but I'll need to spend another £20 on curtain poles. I'm hoping it's might make the room a little bit warmer for now, then help to keep the heat in once we have the new radiator.

WelshKitty85

Happy Halloween! It's half term here. We've already had our fireworks display (ridiculously early as they are set off from the beach and therefore tide dependant). It was an amazing display. On Monday we went to a Halloween party organised by the local emergency services. It was all free but was absolute chaos! They clearly hadn't prepared for so many people to attend, but it got the children out of the house and away from computer screens for an hour or so.

DC1 is staying at a friends house tonight, so DC2 had a friend over. They had a "feast" of witches fingers, spooky face pizzas, stuffed pumpkin peppers and cobweb cakes before gong trick or treating. DC3 got 2 bags of chocolate buttons, but DC2 has come home with a bucket full of various sweets and chocolates. I'm trying to teach him about finances and today's lesson is tax - because I took him trick or treating I've told him I'm charging mummy tax at a rate of 20% of his sweets :rotfl:.

The new plumber turned up today, but clearly hadn't read my messages and didn't have the right tools for the job :mad:. He said he was going home to get them but didn't come back :mad:!! I've since messaged him and he says he's coming back tomorrow, but am I asking too much expecting people to let us know if they aren't coming back?

WelshKitty85

Urgh...feeling really deflated today as I've had to raid the savings. It's all been for planned expenses - DHs car insurance, new radiator, thermal curtains etc - but it's depressing to see the balance suddenly so low. I'll need to transfer more soon to cover home insurance and the plumber so I'm only expecting to have around £100 left in there. I have to keep telling myself that this is what the savings were for, to pay these big expenses upfront so I'm not payng them monthly over the year.

In more positive news it's been another good week on SB and I've cashed out another £20 in amazon vouchers. Ive ordered a few small stocking fillers but still have £47.53 worth of vouchers left. I need another £80 for DDs birthday present. I'm not sure if this will be doable on SB before the end of December, but I'll give it a good go!

WelshKitty85

I've re-done my SOA as things have changed quite a lot since the first one I posted.

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 3
Number of cars owned.................... 2

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1390
Partners monthly income after tax....... 600
Benefits................................ 575
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2565

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 799.3
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 240
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 146
Electricity............................. 40
Gas..................................... 40
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 57
Telephone (land line)................... 23.75
Mobile phone............................ 43
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 200
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 175
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 216
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 12
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 50
Total monthly expenses.................. 2054.05


Assets
Cash.................................... 300
House value (Gross)..................... 150000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 20000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 170300


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 142000...(799.3)....4.59
Secured Debt.................. 0........(0)......0
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 14888....(240)........5.66
Total secured & HP debts...... 156888....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Barclaycard....................8800......200.......0
Hitachi........................10375.....226.5.....3.4
MBNA...........................3731......50........0
Total unsecured debts..........22906.....476.5.....-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,565
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,054.05
Available for debt repayments........... 510.95
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 476.5
Amount left after debt repayments....... 34.45

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 170,300
Total HP & Secured debt................. -156,888
Total Unsecured debt.................... -22,906
Net Assets.............................. -9,494

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

Obviously DH's income isn't guaranteed but I've looked at what he has brought home over the last few months and this figure should be achievable. Anything over this will be a bonus.

I hate that we are spending so much on fuel each month, but until circumstances changes (like DC2 starting high school next year and taking the free bus) then I just can't see how to reduce it. I'd like to increase our grocery budget slightly but I don't think that's feasible at the moment. However, DC3 will be getting weaned off formula milk and onto cows milk soon so that should give us £5 a week to spend elsewhere.

I've not budgeted for things like car tax, insurance etc on the SOA, but as previously mentioned I'm putting aside anything I make from selling unused items, surveys etc into a savings account to be able to pay these in full when due.

pidge04

Oh my! You've been doing so well with the Amazon vouchers!! Fantastic!

mark55man

Hello WK - love a good diary and this is a cracker!!

Well done on your progress - we're all rooting for you

Mark

WelshKitty85

Thanks so much for the words of encouragement. I'm finding it difficult to keep motivated at the moment as nothing exciting seems to be happening. 17 items listed on eBay, but nothing selling. Survey money getting swallowed up for Christmas presents. Budgets only just adding up. I'm not looking forward to living another 4 years like this. I know I need to snap out of it though, list the other 50 items I need to sell, crack on with the surveys, meal plan, batch cook...

I've just been given 3 free coats for DC3 in the next few sizes and I've been promised a pile of books for DC2. DH helped me make a meal plan today. I cooked a roast dinner and have batched cooked a pie for tomorrow and another for the freezer. There's also lots of meat left over for the freezer.

ETA its a year since we completed on our house purchase. We didn't get the best mortgage deal at the time but are fixed for another year. I'm hoping that when we are able to switch next year we may be able to save between £100-200 a month that will make our budget a lot more realistic.