-£99,152 net worth - scary figure

ImpulseSpender

So glad your son enjoyed his first shift. I loved having my own money when I first started my first part-time job, felt like I could spend it how I wanted without anyone giving their opinion!

charliedavis

Just set up a weekly direct debit to ensure my self assessment is paid off on time by January, and now doing the same for OH. feeling very organised!
McDonalds last night for a rapid tea, just got off a 5 hour off train journey and OH had emergency jobs he needed to get to. Not very money saving OR healthy but when his phone rings he has to take the work - the downside of being self-employed

charliedavis

Updated SOA, as didn't have allowances in for Self assessment. This will be a tight few months due to the tax bills being due at the end of Jan. May not be able to make overpayments until those are paid off.

Also updated to remove the car which is on a lease linked to HP, as it will be handed back in 2 years time and replaced with another for OH work, so isn't technically a debt.

Quite a bit paid off in the last few weeks thanks to tax repayments from previous years, which has given us the chance to build some cash reserves, definitely needed with 2 self-employed people.

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

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

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 5000
Partners monthly income after tax....... 3600
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 317
Total monthly income.................... 8917

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 2850
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 280
Electricity............................. 100
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 190
Water rates............................. 26
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 200
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 42
Internet Services....................... 47.5
Groceries etc. ......................... 433
Clothing................................ 60
Petrol/diesel........................... 160
Road tax................................ 26
Car Insurance........................... 165
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 60
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 12
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 30
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 96
Other insurance......................... 110
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 100
Haircuts................................ 60
Entertainment........................... 240
Holiday................................. 200
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Self assessment (OH).................... 300
Self assessment (me).................... 400
Car lease............................... 337
Pet food/care........................... 62
Itunes.................................. 20
Netflix................................. 9
Driving lessons......................... 245
Total monthly expenses.................. 6872.5


Assets
Cash.................................... 3500
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 6000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 9500

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
MBNA Horizon...................18100.....500.......23
Zopa Loan......................23833.....689.......15
MBNA Nuba......................6814......100.......0
Sainsburys Loan................12500.....300.......12
MBNA...........................6322......0.........200
Barclaycard....................4875......100.......150
Barclaycard....................12735.....300.......15
Total unsecured debts..........85179.....1989......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 8,917
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 6,872.5
Available for debt repayments........... 2,044.5
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 1,989
Amount left after debt repayments....... 55.5

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 9,500
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -85,179
Net Assets.............................. -75,679

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

charliedavis

Had a couple of glasses of wine last night and booked us a February weekend away in Geneva for £36 each (flights only so far). We'd decided not to go on big holidays next year, just a cheaper 7 day holiday and a couple of weekends away but still feeling daft that I spent my entire £75 HSBC switch cash on the flights. Holidays have been one of our downfalls in the past few years, as we both love experiencing new places.

In other news did a Tesco shop for £85, think I will alternate Tesco and Aldi as Aldi's toiletries and packed lunch items are great but I don't find their fruit and veg lasts as long as Tesco.

Been reading a website by Rami Sethi who says it's far easier to add £1000 of income than save £1000 from your bills so thinking of setting up a People Per Hour profile and doing some extra work on the side to get more cash in to pay off debts. OH business doing really well at the moment so our income will be higher this month than normal, and xmas is always busy for him too.

charliedavis

Ooh forgot to add - logged on to Barclaycard yesterday and reduced my credit limit, I have been doing this monthly as I pay the debt off

BookmobileBadGirl

Are you really not paying anything to your MBNA card each month?

redmel1621

You seem to be making great headway on the debts.

Well done sticking to your guns about the grocery cut backs and I'm sure your ds will come round to the cheaper brands

charliedavis

Our 3rd NSD yesterday. I cannot remember having NSDs at all in the past so this is amazing, OH is really working hard with me.

Not going to manage one today, as I had my eyebrows threaded for £8.

Overall, I feel like a different person, I am thinking differently about spending, about debt.

Signed a new client yesterday which is an extra £700 per month to put towards the debt.

DS is enjoying his new job, and found out he can get a pay rise after working there for a few months, and does get a share of the tips so his pay should be higher than £4.50. He's always loving cooking and is actually assisting the chef so it really is such a great job for him!

Sounds like I need to update my SOA as I must have forgotten to put an MBNA payment in there, whoops!

charliedavis

Decided to pay off £1000 from the largest debt with the tax repayment, and EF is now up to £1200. OH is having a really good month too so we should be able to overpay on our minimum payments by at least £1500 per month. Looking at the snowball debt destroyer this shows our debt as being paid offin 28 months so not too long at all. It's got me super motivated to earn extra income so we can pay it off even faster!

In other news, got my DD's xmas pressie sorted, bought her a second-hand PC so she can play Sims. Also bought her a beautiful red leather chair from Facebook Marketplace for £10.

mfmaybe

Been having a read, and will join the journey. Up until recently, DH and I had a similar monthly income to yours, with considerably less debt. (We did have childcare though, and I have 2 horses, which eats most of it!). What struck me, once I started the journey properly, was how much I had been deceiving myself thinking we had plenty money. When I sat down and worked out just how many annual bills and emergency funds and whatnot I had to save up for, I realised my budget was tighter than pair of lycra shorts

Most people find there's a flurry at the beginning. This is rarely as large as yours has been (but it's all relative!), but might be because of claiming PPI or getting credits back from the utilities companies. And then they realise that the problem isn't just paying off the debt, it's cutting the budget enough to make sure they are living within their means. From reading your diary so far, you are confident you can just pay off the debt in large chunks, which would be fantastic. And you're doing all the right things. But the SOA has a ton of slack in it; and I wonder if an alternative, or perhaps parallel, approach, would be to pick a smaller income amount and try to make all living expenses fall within that. Your SOA shows nearly £7k a month on normal expenses. I know the rent and tax payments are taking up a huge chunk of that, but you've got lots of entertainment budgets for example. Just a suggestion, but my takeaway from most diaries is that things never really work until people figure out that they way they are living is unsustainable. As you yourself said, this incredible amount of unsecured debt has nothing to show for it.

I hope this doesn't sound negative, it's not meant to be! Have a look at TreadingonPlayMobile's diary. She has a large amount of debt and much smaller earning potential, and it's a good lesson in turning the tanker around despite much resistance on her part initially .