Countdown from £28k...

ryanm8655

Hi all,


Have decided to start a debt free diary.


Have dipped in and out of the forum in recent times and have had quite an extreme change in circumstances that enables me to make a big dent in the debts quite quickly if I'm focussed.


Moving back home I have no bills or rent to pay, though my spend on travel is higher (commuting to London via train).


My SOA is below, fuel expenses are quite high as I've driven to London a few times. The other travel is based on the cost of a monthly train ticket (though this has been lower this month due to driving instead). So should have more money to commit to debts in future.


The debt has decreased a bit since my first visit some months back but looking to hit it hard now.


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.................... 1
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 2930
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2930
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 0
Electricity............................. 0
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 35
TV Licence.............................. 0
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 8.99
Internet Services....................... 0.79
Groceries etc. ......................... 100
Clothing................................ 25
Petrol/diesel........................... 160
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 61
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 30
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 556
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 10
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 10
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 20
Haircuts................................ 15
Entertainment........................... 200
Holiday................................. 50
Emergency fund.......................... 50
Total monthly expenses.................. 1331.78

Assets
Cash.................................... 103.78
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 2000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 2103.78

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Barclays.......................4198.11...153.......23.2
Barclays 2.....................3011.88...0.........0
Santander......................7085.43...221.......23
M&S............................1134.01...28........0
MBNA...........................1338.02...0.........0
MBNA...........................7876.86...239.8.....25
Tesco 2........................2417.44...0.........0
Tesco..........................329.79....34........20
Total unsecured debts..........27391.54..675.8.....-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,930
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,331.78
Available for debt repayments........... 1,598.22
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 675.8
Amount left after debt repayments....... 922.42
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 2,103.78
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -27,391.54
Net Assets.............................. -25,287.76
Created using the SOA calculator at www.stoozing.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using other browser.


I've set fixed payments on credit cards above the minimum:

M&S £30 vs £28 min
Tesco £36 vs £34 min
MBNA £250 vs £239.84 min
Santander £270 vs £221 min
Barclays £500 vs £153 min


I'll be upping Barclays by £500 in future (had some big costs on car this month - cambelt and water pump). Barclaycard are giving me 0% offers as soon as I have free balance so the initial plan is to plough cash into that and then balance transfer the MBNA balance across. Once MBNA is dealt with I'll go for the Santander.


Will probably reassess in detail after 6 months and check whether I am eligible for any further 0% offers to get the interest payments down and maximise the impact.


Would love to have this debt gone within 2 years or at the least have a much smaller amount on a 0% offer, which I'm on track to clear before the offer period ends while beginning to plough excess cash into savings for a house. Though that is all a long way off...


Thanks for reading!

EssexHebridean

Welcome to the DFW Diaries board Ryan!

You can probably think about reviewing quarterly in terms of keeping an eye for 0% offers which might prove useful - the credit club means you can do an eligibility check that won't mark your credit history to save you applying and getting rejected, remember.

ryanm8655

Thanks for the reply. I tried registering for the credit club but it couldn't verify who I was...I have recently moved so maybe that was why. I'm not sure...

[Deleted User]

Hi Ryan, read through your other threads so well done on starting a diary

Just about Credit Club, it could possibly be the site as it won't load quite a few people's credit reports at the moment, so may just be that & worth giving another go at a later date

ohdearhowdidthathappen

Welcome. Must have been a big adjustment moving from London to New Forest, although it's avery beautiful part of the country.
That's great you're living rent free, brilliant opportunity to get a head start.
Snowball calculator is a great help to prioritise debt, you've got a healthy surplus there, so should all be gone in no time

ryanm8655

Thanks for the replies, just thought I’d check in.

Not a lot happening, just waiting for payday so that I can pay a bit extra on cards and check if I have any BT offers. Will try the credit club again at the end of the month as well.

A small bit of money saving this week. Had to travel up to the Manchester office for work so travelled direct on the cross country train rather than via London, which meant I’ve got away without any commute costs this week. I also stayed the night before our team away day rather than the night of so have avoided spending on a big night out tonight. It does kinda suck as would’ve been fun and there was a small part of me that regretted it but ultimately I’ve saved myself about £100 on dinner and drinks.

Also overpaid the cards a bit more this month as Santander didn’t process my amended direct debit before the money came out...

Supposed to be going out to watch the rugby on Sunday, breakfast and beers with mates but also considering bailing on that.

Reminded myself that not suffering by missing out on a night out is why I’m in such a deep financial mess. It’s frustrating as if I was debt free I could afford to do it but the fact is I’m not and the less I spend the sooner I’ll be out of this rut.

I’m sure there will be Up’s and downs on this journey but small steps.

One thing I struggle with is the lack of instant gratification. I enjoy the debt busting when I’m actively doing things like making a payment to a card etc. But now it’s a bit of a waiting game and even doing BT offers at the end of each month leaves a lot of empty space in between.

Now have a delightful 4.5 hour train journey back to Southampton.

Thanks for reading.

Ryan

EssexHebridean

I would go to the rugby but set yourself a budget, take cash and only spend that, and if necessary if the pressure to spend more gets too high plead a headache and head home early. You HAVE to allow yourself some fun stuff as well as the overpayments - otherwise this whole thing will get old waaaay too fast and you'll bge back to square one before you know it. You've made a sensible decision to avoid one night out that you knew wouold be pricey, have also made sensible decisions about travel (although if work have said you have to travel to Manchester surely you should be claiming that fare back as expenses?) so the key thing now is to make similarly sensible decisions around the remaining night out and no undo all that good work.

Everyone has the same issues around the long gaps between being able to actually "do anything" and that also applies when you are saving rather than debt busting too. here's a thought for you though - each time you go into your banking, why not "skim off" the odd pennies or even round to the nearest £5 level, and set that money aside into a separate savings account - then when it hits a certain level you can pay the whole lot against debt as an additional OP. I've done this for years now - skimming our joint account and my personal account each time I check the online banking, and the OH does his when he remembers - we usually get over £300 a year from this - which for us goes to buy something "treaty" we could not otherwise justify, and the amount that gets removed from the balance each tie is so small you don't even notice the lack of it!

ryanm8655

Thanks for the reply.

Yes - work paid the travel costs but usually only pay from London. The direct train from Southampton was the same price so I managed to get them to pay the whole journey. A small win but a win nonetheless ha.

Good shout on the skimming to round up/down the bank balance. Also incentivises checking the account regularly.

Have a week off next week, so no commuting costs that week. I’m going to join the gym this evening so that I can make the most of it while I’m off and won’t be sat around twiddling my thumbs. Will deduct it from my entertainment budget as planned. I need to shift a few pounds and it’ll give me something else to think about.

I am also planning to use the time off to apply for higher paying jobs. Will probably hit up the local library.

Thanks,
Ryan

ryanm8655

The weekend is here!

Stayed in last night, so no expenditure so far...pay day on Wednesday...

Need to process a few expenses which’ll give the bank balance a boost. May see what I can find to flog on eBay in my week off.

Will refill the car since I have a fuel voucher that expires on Sunday but so far my fuel estimate is massively over since I’ve stopped driving to London. Haven’t topped up for a few weeks and still have about a quarter of a tank.

Thanks,
Ryan

ryanm8655

Hello all,

Not had the best couple of weeks but it’s all a learning curve I guess...

Rugby ended up being expensive and I also remembered I had a careers event to attend in London, which meant my week of no travel was a fail. I also ended up in London for a meal and drinks with some old friends (again I forgot this had been arranged for ages). Must’ve spent a few hundred in a week...

Disappointing but plan to scrimp for the rest of this month to make up for it. Need a better strategy for managing social events as after a couple of beers I tend to fall into my old ways and spend a fortune buying people drinks etc. I know this is an obvious one but thinking leave cards at home and only take the cash I can afford. Another is heading home earlier...

On the plus side my fuel spend is much less and I’ve managed to wfh all of this week, which makes up for last week.

One issue I have is that by the weekend I get into fancying a beer mode and the weeks good work can easily go out the window. The situation is exacerbated by the fact that home life is quite stressful at the moment (close family member has cancer) so when I do go out I tend to go a bit crazy to let loose...

Though on the plus side by upping payment amounts I’ve still made a half decent debt in my debts last month.

Thanks,
Ryan

Smellyonion

With that amount of surplus income and no housing cost, how did you accrue 28k of debt? What do have to show for it?