That tiny little glimmer

LannaBond

I've very much been a long time lurker on these forums. Today I decided is the time I 'fess up to where things are at. Looking back I wonder what we have been doing with our money all this time.

A little history, approx. three years ago my husband lost his job, due to his boss having a midlife crisis and wanting his best friend to have my husbands job. At that time we had two loans, two credit cards, an overdraft and a finance agreement, on top of the mortgage and general living expenses. It put the absolute fear of god into me, I was lucky enough to consolidate the loans and finance agreement into one loan and get one of the credit cards moved to a 0% deal, the other was already on one.

Since then hubby has been lucky enough to have quite a long term temp job and we have managed to get rid of the overdraft, one of the credit cards, replace our ancient boiler and redo our bathroom. Until four weeks ago, hubby has been out of work since and we are now just down to my wage, outstanding debts include the mortgage, the loan (still two years left on that) with a current standing balance of £6452, a new finance agreement for sofas approx. £2300 and one remaining credit card with £100 left out of £3200 to pay, which makes me exceptionally happy knowing that next weekend I will be credit card free for the first time in about 22 years!!

Whilst it's tight living on my wage, and there's not much room for fun stuff, unless it's for free, I know I can cover all of our main outgoings (I'll be posting a SOA). So, I'm now wondering what on earth my hubby's wage of £900 a month went on (and how much more debt would have been gone!!!).

I've now decided that I need to keep a proper check on spends and in addition to that (I'm not sure if I found the following on these boards or via one of the many inspirational FB groups I am in!) an eye on just general wastage.


Watching my waste management:

• Food
• Plastics
• Utilities
• Money

Investing in myself

• Doing something that makes me happy
• Doing something that takes me nearer to my long term goals
• Learning a new skill or restarting an old one
• Growing my own food

Needs not wants

• Appreciate what I have and enjoying it

Simplicity

• Putting a routing in place to keep my life running smoothly and make things more automatic
• Simplifying my stuff. Declutter here I come!
• Cutting out the extra noise in life. Allowing myself peace and quiet.
• Making space for myself
• Being frugal in my needs

Here's to a new start and smooth sailing through my 40's (hit that milestone in February) and beyond!!

Toni'sfriend

Sounds like a good plan. Good luck. I'll be following to see how you do and you will get some great advice from the knowledgeable people on here,

LadyP01

Hey, just stopping by and following. Best of luck on this journey, best thing I ever did was start to love more frugally and consider zero waste. :T

LannaBond

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 0 (unless you count my furbaby!)
Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1349
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1349

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 310
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 119
Electricity............................. 40
Gas..................................... 51
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 42.28
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 29
TV Licence.............................. 0
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 38.73
Groceries etc. ......................... 180
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 60
Road tax................................ 10.5
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................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 42
Total monthly expenses.................. 922.51


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 80000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 2000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 82000


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 0........(310)......0
Total secured & HP debts...... 0.........-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Loan...........................6452......258.......0
Sofa...........................2300......68........0
Total unsecured debts..........8752......326.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,349
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 922.51
Available for debt repayments........... 426.49
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 326
Amount left after debt repayments....... 100.49

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 82,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -8,752
Net Assets.............................. 73,24

LannaBond

Toni'sFriend - I plan on having a good read of the forums, everything that can help me!

LannaBond

LadyP01 - It's something I've been looking into for a couple of months and plan on phasing in as soon as I can!

clearmydebts

Wishing you the very best of luck on your journey!

JennyJukes

Hiya Lanna sounds good.

Quick q's about the SOA:

You don't buy any clothing?
You have a car but no insurance? No maintenance? What about MOT/Service?
Nothing on presents? Haircuts? Entertainment?
How is there £42 a month going into an emergency fund but you have no cash?
No pet insurance?

These things might not be paid monthly but I think for SOA purposes people usually take the yearly amount and divide it by 12.

LannaBond

JennyJukes wrote: »

Hiya Lanna sounds good.

Quick q's about the SOA:

You don't buy any clothing?
You have a car but no insurance? No maintenance? What about MOT/Service?
Nothing on presents? Haircuts? Entertainment?
How is there £42 a month going into an emergency fund but you have no cash?
No pet insurance?

These things might not be paid monthly but I think for SOA purposes people usually take the yearly amount and divide it by 12.

Hi JennyJukes,


Nope, just some new undies every now and then. I have too many clothes, so I just keep rewearing and repairing until they fall completely apart!!


I pay for my insurance annually, so I probably should have split by 12, which works out at £20 a month, MOT hasn't been more than the MOT fee and that usually comes out of the £42 that goes into what we laughingly call our savings (current balance in that account is £14!).


I only buy presents for three people and we all agreed that it would be no more than £20, hubby and I don't buy each other anything as we agreed there is nothing we need, as have most of my family. The dog has had more haircuts in the past five years than I have, my mop just tends to get pulled into a bun and forgotten about.



I did forget about Netflix, so need to add in that £9 per month.


No pet insurance, even though my puppy is now 16 and a half, we've been pretty lucky that he has been healthy.


So looking at that I probably need to add an additional £40 a month.


The £42 was an attempt at taking a payment we used to make for the TV we bought and paid off and try to start a little bit of a savings account, although we do tend to dip in when we are stretched. The thought is there, the follow through not so much!

EP456

Hi Lanna

What about TV Licence and home insurance?

Also, you have Mortgage as nil, but paying £310 per month?

Best of luck in your quest xx

savingholmes

Hi

I think your soa is good - I think as DR would say you need to up your income. Is there anything you can do to boost it? Plenty of ideas on the boards. Good luck on your journey.