Splishsplash’s diary

Hi all

I’ve been reading other diaries for inspiration for a while and thought I’d start my own as a way to motivate myself and pick up tips hopefully!

About me: debt wise I’ve got three loans which total just under 13k. I’ve worked out using a snowball calculator that if I overpay by 200/month in the correct order I can finish them by August 2021. I’d quite like to throw a bit more at them but I’ll have to see how I go income is going to be a bit more variable over the next few months!

It’s currently me, my OH and our little girl but I’m pregnant and due to go on maternity leave in a few weeks. My OH is a stay at home dad so it’s my wage only really and while I’ll be on 100% for 14 weeks I’ll drop to 75% after that for the remaining 20. My OH does some bits of work here and there when he gets childcare which can help but for my numbers I’m not relying on it!

I’ve been through all the direct debits and looked for places to save. Just got a new deal on gas/electric so that’s good. Bringing it down from 121 to 99 per month.

Feeling motivated :beer:

Splish x
«13456

Comments

  • Hi all

    I just did an SOA and thought I’d post it here. I’m hoping to make some savings as while this is current situation, as mentioned soon I will be dropping to 75% of my income for a short while. I’ll not have to pay travel during that time so that’s good! Struggling to work out exactly what my maternity income will be because of tax etc...

    Wondering if I can save on food. Hoping so!

    [tt]Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

    Household Information

    Number of adults in household........... 2
    Number of children in household......... 1
    Number of cars owned.................... 1

    Monthly Income Details

    Monthly income after tax................ 3691.76
    Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
    Benefits................................ 0
    Other income............................ 0
    Total monthly income.................... 3691.76


    Monthly Expense Details

    Mortgage................................ 1214
    Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
    Rent.................................... 0
    Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
    Council tax............................. 189
    Electricity............................. 0
    Gas..................................... 99
    Oil..................................... 0
    Water rates............................. 20.1
    Telephone (land line)................... 0
    Mobile phone............................ 34.95
    TV Licence.............................. 12.83
    Satellite/Cable TV...................... 45.7
    Internet Services....................... 0
    Groceries etc. ......................... 350
    Clothing................................ 25
    Petrol/diesel........................... 150
    Road tax................................ 10.5
    Car Insurance........................... 43.3
    Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 13
    Car parking............................. 0
    Other travel............................ 230
    Childcare/nursery....................... 0
    Other child related expenses............ 100
    Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
    Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
    Buildings insurance..................... 15.3
    Contents insurance...................... 0
    Life assurance ......................... 25.28
    Other insurance......................... 0
    Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 100
    Haircuts................................ 15
    Entertainment........................... 100
    Holiday................................. 0
    Emergency fund.......................... 0
    Total monthly expenses.................. 2792.96



    Assets

    Cash.................................... 0
    House value (Gross)..................... 550000
    Shares and bonds........................ 0
    Car(s).................................. 10000
    Other assets............................ 0
    Total Assets............................ 560000



    Secured & HP Debts

    Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
    Mortgage...................... 204568...(1214).....0
    Total secured & HP debts...... 204568....-.........-


    Unsecured Debts
    Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
    Nationwide loan ...............4121.21...154.......3.4
    Zopa loan 1....................5034......88.33.....6.8
    Zopa loan 2....................3735......91.12.....3.6
    Total unsecured debts..........12890.21..333.45....-



    Monthly Budget Summary

    Total monthly income.................... 3,691.76
    Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,792.96
    Available for debt repayments........... 898.8
    Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 333.45
    Amount left after debt repayments....... 565.35


    Personal Balance Sheet Summary
    Total assets (things you own)........... 560,000
    Total HP & Secured debt................. -204,568
    Total Unsecured debt.................... -12,890.21
    Net Assets.............................. 342,541.79
  • Ps I didn’t include the APR on my mortgage as it’s in two parts and they are on different rates ��
  • Yellow_mango
    Yellow_mango Posts: 450
    First Post First Anniversary
    Forumite
    Hi - well done for being so proactive before you go on maternity leave :-)

    It’s a bit worrying that you don’t have any savings or budget for an emergency fund. This would be really valuable to you, especially with young children. Even if for example your washing machine breaks down, it could easily become a crisis that leads you to borrow more to replace it. Or a car breakdown, if you need the car to take the kids to the doctor.

    Honestly, I’d focus on getting something saved up ASAP before trying to tackle the debt.

    Are both the petrol costs and the other travel costs for you to get to work? There should be a pretty good saving there whilst you’re off if so.

    How are you at taking lunches to work and buying coffees etc? That can be a pretty easy way to save quite a bit whilst you’re still working. And if that’s included in your £100 entertainment, that’ll come down a bit once you’re off.

    With your dh at home, is he responsible for most of the grocery shopping?
  • Hi! Yes not having savings is a worry. We used them all buying our new house and doing things that needed doing. That’s the source of two of the loans too (double glazing and boiler) the other was towards our car. It’s a good call - perhaps I should think about saving some first.

    The petrol is used by my OH, taking our daughter out and about etc. The other travel is mine. We don’t have a train station so I get the bus and then the train with a travel card.

    The 100 entertainment is what I give to my OH for taking our daughter out and about - soft play and national trust membership.

    He does all the shopping and I suspect I could save if I did it. He enjoys food shopping (shops at Aldi mainly)!

    I take lunch and the only time I buy it out is if we have work things happen and I need to so that I’m being sociable! ��
  • I’m wondering how much to try to put aside for savings before tackling the debt...
  • Well I guess the first place to start would be the £565 surplus you have in your SOA. Do you actually have this left over to save at the end of each month? I’ve also just moved house and I know it takes a few months to settle into a routine and figure out how much things really cost. Maybe just try and stick to the budget you’ve put there for a bit and see how you get on? With the travel costs you’ll be saving you should have around £750 to put towards this. A couple of months would give you £1,500 which is a decent EF to be getting on with.
  • enthusiasticsaver
    enthusiasticsaver Posts: 15,447
    First Anniversary First Post Name Dropper I've been Money Tipped!
    Ambassador
    I second yellow mangos suggestion to save before tackling the debt as you are due to go on maternity leave and your income will drop. If you really do have that surplus I would put it all towards savings and leave the debt for now. The interest rates are not huge so leaving it for a few months while you build up some emergency savings won't matter. When you know what your reduced income will be and you have around £1k savings then maybe look to overpay the loans.
    I’m a Forum Ambassador and I support the Forum Team on the Debt free Wannabe, Budgeting and Banking and Savings and Investment boards. If you need any help on these boards, do let me know. Please note that Ambassadors are not moderators. Any posts you spot in breach of the Forum Rules should be reported via the report button, or by emailing forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com. All views are my own and not the official line of MoneySavingExpert.
  • happydays89
    happydays89 Posts: 304 Forumite
    Our Aldi reduces fruit,veg,meat,and all chilled food dated the next day by 50% ,they usually do it about 8.30pm.Because Aldi are cheap to start with you can pick up some good bargains.Large chickens were £1.75.
    This could free up some money to put into savings.
  • Regarding working out take home pay after deductions I was in a similar circumstance (just coming to the end of maternity leave following the arrival of DS2) and discovered a really useful site called thesalarycalculator. Basically you can enter your current wage and there’s then a variety of tools on the site, one of which will help you work out your wage on a pro rats basis, so this might help?
    Would also recommend savings, our method was to have monthly pots well established to cover annual bills and also a £1000 emergency fund.
    Is there a chance you could transfer any of the debt to a 0% card to cut down interest charges too?
    Wishing you well on your journey x
  • Hi all, thanks so much for commenting and the suggestions - I really appreciate it.

    We do have this much left but since we moved we’ve just been spending it on house things every month. Last month it was fencing for the garden, before that a fridge freezer...the list goes on! We’ve decided this month no more! We can’t keep just buying stuff.

    I don’t have a credit card but could look into that - would it be free to move the balance?

    Thanks for the Aldi tip! I didn’t know they reduced things, we’ve picked up bits in Other supermarkets that way but it was always pastries and bread etc. Better if we can get fresh fruit and veg.

    In the past we’ve been quite careful always overpaying the mortgage a bit and not building up additional debt so I’m feeling a bit stressed at the situation. Just want to see those loans go!
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