Love my life 30 December 2018 at 11:13PM in Debt free diaries 6 replies 559 views

Greyflowers

I've used this site off and on but I really need to focus on my finances this year. I'm losing £100 from my wage (monthly) and longterm work is looking distinctly dodgy. Nothings been announced (never is) but its looking suspcious, best case appears to be the office moving somewhere inconvient and expensive to get to.:(


So I need to get rid of my credit card debt to give me more wriggle room when the time comes. I dont owe very much but it jumped a bit this month with Christmas and everything. To try and give myself some motivation I have just used my £500 emergency fund to pay off some of my credit card. My minium payments were less than my interest so I was actually going backwards. At least this feels postive.


Now I owe just over £1000 which isnt a lot but I only earn £650 (maybe a little more a little less, I haven't had my recalculated salary yet, end of Jan) and there's always more month than money. I'm not awful with money, but I'm not good with it either. I'm rubbish at budgeting. Just thinking about budgting makes me want to run out and buy things (I'm the same with dieting, I swear I eat more chocolate biscuits when trying to diet than I do if I simply dont think about it)



This year I need to get my finances into some sort of order. I am a grown up (over 40, yikes) this should not be impossible. Paying off my credit card and replacing my emergency fund are top priorities. I just need to get things organized, somehow.


Now excuse I'm going to go eat the last of the Christmas chocolate because the complusion to visit amazon is growing the longer i sit here (after all nobody can budget without a budgeting book, can they, are there are lots of helpful books, arrgh, why am i like this)

DestinyGamer

:rotfl:
Greyflowers you made me chuckle! Step away from the open Amazon window. I know the dangers of it too well being an avid reader. I always have to have a book on the go and my money slowly disappears as I buy 3 or 4 books a month and must try to stop.

I look forward to reading your diary more, I just started one myself. I’m using it to keep track of my debt repayments. I think of it as a game rather than a tie. I joined the 2019 1% club here on MSE and look forward to watching my percentage go up as my debt goes down Without somewhere to easily see what I am achieving I end up ignoring it nd sweeping my debt under the rug. You don’t need a little book, just write it all here in your diary, we’re not here to judge.

Lockylocky10

Subscribed Greyflowers!

Also just started a new diary so will be nice to see both of us on a journey together. Also eating all of the Christmas chocolate before I return to work on Wednesday

beanielou

Happy shiny new diary
You could start a spending diary to help you know where your money goes.
Pop up a SOA & we can help you see if there are any ways to cut down your costs

Greyflowers

Thank you for the comments.

DestinyGamer, I am so bad with amazon. Having a kindle doesn't help, it's just one or two really cheap downloads and by the end of the month I'm going how much! The 1% thing sounds a good target £12 sounds very manageble.

Locky, eating all the Christmas chocolate is a really important goal! I ended up taking some of mine into work to get rid of it. Good luck with your wedding.

beanielou, thank you. I have done my soa and it was helpful for planning but I'm not sure what I can cut. having looked at the numbers I have come to the conclusion I will be fine as long as I don't eat anything between now and May. This will help my diet enormously!

I was doing okayish but the sudden reduction in salary (£125 take-home which is a lot really) has knocked everything about. The figures are ridiculously tight and I had to put my grocery budget to £50 to get everything to work which, well, groceries are usually £120ish maybe £80 if I try hard. Still this is why I have signed up for a diay.

The HP debt ends in May, thank goodness, and it's £60 so I can up the groceries and have money for presents and things. For now though I will try and eke out my £95 cash and see if I have any vouchers and things. I'm sure I have some nectar points. I really don't want to use my credit card if I can avoid it because its too easy. And I'm horribly prone to going, well no hope of sticking to the budget, let's buy another couple of books and some craft bits anyway.

So here are the figures

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.................... 0

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 663
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income (renting out garage............................ 30
Total monthly income.................... 693

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 175
Secured/HP loan repayments - laptop ends in May.............. 59.66
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 100
Council tax............................. 110
Electricity & Gas............................. 55.08
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 19
Telephone (land line) & Internet................... 37
Mobile phone............................ 5
TV Licence.............................. 0
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 50
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 0
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 16.28
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 8.66
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Charity................................. 27.75
Union................................... 6.9
Total monthly expenses.................. 670.33


Assets
Cash.................................... 95
House value (Gross)..................... 130000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 0
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 130095


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 52000....(175)......1.26
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 298.3....(59.66)....0
Total secured & HP debts...... 52298.3...-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Credit Card....................1125.93...21.3......19.9
Total unsecured debts..........1125.93...21.3......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 693
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 670.33
Available for debt repayments........... 22.67
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 21.3
Amount left after debt repayments....... 1.37

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 130,095
Total HP & Secured debt................. -52,298.3
Total Unsecured debt.................... -1,125.93
Net Assets.............................. 76,670.77


Note: It is only thanks to my parents help I managed to buy my house, there's no way I could have done it without them.

Little_Miss_Winner

Hi Greyflowers,

I've had a quick look at your outgoings (household bills) and they are all pretty lowish.

Do you work part-time ? Wondering what sort of hours you work as your wage seems on the low side ? Is there an scope for a different / second job ?

Do you have anything to Ebay ?

Sure others will be along with suggestions too x

PurpleFairy26

Do you have the option to look to transfer your balance to a 0% card. But that way at least you'd be paying off the capital rather than interest. Have a look on here and do a 'soft check' to see if you'd be accepted. Also are you tied in to phone and internet contract, if not shop around. I think you could reduce that too.

Good luck on your journey.