My accountability Diary for £42k!!!! 15 October 2019 at 10:18PM in Debt free diaries 109 replies 15.5K views

KellyAS

Hi,

I've been a lurker for a long time and have finally decided that I need to start my own diary to help me stay accountable and get these debts gone. We are just about managing with a very tight budget but I want to try and cut things down more as I know they can be, I just need to keep track more of spending and stay motivated.

A bit of background: me 38, self employed currently on maternity leave until January, Hubby 44 full time employed, Mini me 1 has just turned 4 and Mini me 2 is 4 months then we have our 1 year old Great Dane.

Our debt story is similar to most on here, living way above our means for far too long, not helped by my husbands last job not being great payers, getting him to go for promotions with the promise of better earnings then taking all bonuses etc away so he actually ended up earning less so just day to day living expenses went on the credit cards. During my first maternity leave I would walk down to the shops almost every day to get Mini me 1 to sleep and would always come back with something, then there was the over spending for bits for my business, putting stuff on the cards with the intention of paying it off when I sell them but never actually doing it and possibly a couple of holidays, some of the debt is so old I don't know what it went on. Luckily most are on 0% deals so it's not costing too much at the mo although some deals will end soon so I need to do some juggling.

More recently we had an extension completed on our house with a new kitchen/diner, we had most of the money to do it from some inheritance my husband got but it worked out far more expensive than we anticipated so my mum lent us money to complete it. The kitchen is also on buy now pay later. I didn't want to put more stuff on credit but with 2 young children we had to have a functional kitchen with no dangers! The bathroom needs tiling and flooring but that will have to wait for now! We have a shower room upstairs so we use that then the kids use the bath.

I wanted to use the inheritance to pay off the debt but hubby refused and as it wasn't my money there wasn't much I could do about that. So, guess I better write down some figures and start this journey.

Debts:
Mum £13000 (no interest and she's not in a hurry for it back but I want to start saving for it so I can repay her when she needs it) not managed to save anything yet:(

Kitchen £5525 (due 18/06/2020, interest free or 8.9% over 3 years if we don't pay by then but hoping we will have enough on a 0% card to pay any remaining that way) nothing yet saved:(

Barclaycard £9508.64 (£4288.24 0% til 01/05/2020, £2355.20 0% til 01/09/2020, £2865.20 0% til 01/12/2020) pay £225 pm

MBNA £7508.59 (£1345.50 0% til 06/11/2019, £783.75 0% til 06/12/2019, £783.75 0% til 01/12/2019, £4329.34 0% til 06/02/2020, £1050 til 04/06/2020) pay £75 pm (this month will be £75.08 then go down from November)

Amazon £552.32 (APR 20%) pay £15 pm

Santander £1355.02 (0% til April 2020) pay £15 pm

Tesco £2277.87 (APR 16.95%) pay £50 pm

Creation Loans £2083.12 (£1012.24 sofa, £1070.88 dining table, both 0% for 3 years) £24.33 table, £63.52 sofa pm

Total debts: £41785.56 :eek::eek::eek:

All credit cards have now been cut up so we can't spend on them and I have opened up several different accounts to cover various things like dog expenses, gifts, cars etc

I will try and post an SOA soon with the budget I have been working with for the past couple of months but I know it needs tweaking as I don't currently save for everything we need to.

I have a load of stuff to list on ebay so need to do that and that will hopefully give me a start on paying the interest earning loans off. I'm also doing a little bit of work over Christmas (it's my busiest time of year so plan to use my 10 allowed work days to earn a bit extra to top up my maternity allowance) so hopefully that will help out too. I've been trying to overpay the last couple of months but things keep cropping up like the electricians final bill that was a surprise £610 that I had to pay, luckily I had managed to save £600 so it was covered, but still was very annoying!

We remortgaged at the beginning of the month, tried to borrow extra to make monthly payments easier but due to me not working at the mo it was refused, maybe that was a blessing :undecided

So, plans for this year
*I would love to get the overall figure to under £40k
*transfer interest earning debt to 0% card if possible
*start saving to pay mum back and for kitchen
*need to set up savings account for Mini me 2
*list stuff on ebay

Anyway, if you've stuck with me this far thank you! I feel much better having written it all down even if it is rather scary.

KellyAS

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 2
Number of cars owned.................... 3

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 594.72
Partners monthly income after tax....... 2648.75
Benefits................................137.60
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income....................3381.07

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................645
Secured/HP loan repayments..............0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax.............................135
Electricity............................. 53.17
Gas.....................................45.79
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 46 (water & sewerage)
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 20.76
TV License.............................. 12.96
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 45.99 (16 Sky & 29.99 BT Sport)
Internet Services.......................29.69 (landline & bb)
Groceries etc. ......................... 300
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 300
Road tax................................ 34.12
Car Insurance........................... 75
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 37.50
Other child related expenses............ 125
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 245.13 (insurance, food etc)
Buildings insurance..................... 6.50
Contents insurance...................... 6.50
Life assurance ......................... 20.13
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, Christmas etc)...... 100
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 10 (postcode lottery)
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 100
Professional subscriptions.............. 22.19 (union)
Total monthly expenses.................. 2406.43


Assets
Cash....................................434.42
House value (Gross)..................... 300000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 20000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 320434.42


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly.. .APR
Mortgage...................... 158999...............645.............1.45
Total secured & HP debts...... 158999

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt.................Monthly........APR
Creation dining table..... 1070.88...........24.33............0
Creation sofa..................1012.24.............63.52............0
Barclaycard....................9508.64...........225...............0
MBNA.............................7508.59...........75.................0
Tesco..............................2277.87...........50.................16.95
Amazon...........................552.32............15..................20
Santander........................1355.02.........15..................0
Mum loan........................13000..............0...................0
Kitchen............................5525................0...................0
Total unsecured debts.....41810.56.........467.85


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income....................3381.07
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2406.43
Available for debt repayments...........974.64
Monthly Unsecured debt repayments.......467.85
Amount short for making debt repayments. 506.79

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)...........320434.42
Total HP & Secured debt.................158999
Total Unsecured debt....................41810.56
Net Assets..............................119624.86

KellyAS

OK, so a bit of explanation of the above SOA:

3 cars, 2 adults, nope it doesn't add up to me either! But hubby is the car guy so his responsibility. One is a classic vehicle which he bought using his Dad's inheritance money and him and Mini me 1 love going out in it so we are looking at it as an investment. Good news is it's already doubled in value since we've had it so not all bad. Car number 2 is 11 years old and used to cart us & the kids around plus hubby to work. It's a 90 mile round trip hence the high fuel costs. Car number 3 is a van which we need to fit the dog in, and as it has 6 seats plus plenty of room for the dog we can all fit in it plus buggies, bikes, etc, etc

Our electricity seems rather high so I want to look at getting that down, it seems we are on quite an expensive tariff (Utility Warehouse) but are tied in until February 2020 (£50 penalty plus we would have to pay for the lightbulbs they fitted) need to work out if we would still be better off moving or not. We have our energy, phone, broadband and one mobile phone with them so a lot to move. Kind of regretting going with them as I never use the cashback card any more, we hardly ever shop in any of the places they offer cashback in.

Mobiles are SIM only, £5.76 pm for me and £15 pm for hubby as he uses more data, I'm at home all the time so just use our wifi.

Managed to negotiate our Sky bill down to £16 pm for the same services back in August from £35 pm so happy with that. Only thing I don't like is having to pay £29.99 pm for BT Sport but hubby likes the Moto GP and it's the only way he can watch it, or record the races on days he's working for catch up. The season ends in November so planing to cancel it then (as we'll be out of contract) then maybe use BT for broadband and get it that way as it'll be cheaper or Sky may be able to offer it soon so will wait for the new Moto GP season to start and look at the deals available then, Otherwise it's £30 a month I can squirrel away from Dec-Feb so £90 saved there.

Groceries includes everything I need for the house so food, cleaning stuff etc. This I think I should be able to cut down much more. I have a meal plan for the month and shop weekly but get very distracted with offers and always buy more than what's on my list. Need to be more disciplined, maybe try online shopping so I don't get distracted, but then I do try to get most stuff at Aldi, branded bits at Tesco (for my clubcard points) and also pop to Farmfoods for their big packs of frozen stuff when I get coupons through. The bonus of now having a large kitchen is I can stock up when stuff is on offer, if I can afford to I guess.

OK so there is nothing for car maintenance which is one of the things I need to sort out. Currently I have an annuals account where all insurance payments go so I can pay for it outright as up until now I've just bunged them on the credit cards, I know, very naughty and stupid! Unfortunately I had to use the annuals account to pay the electricians bill so that plan has gone out the window as it now only has £100 in it and car number 2 needs a service which is going to cost £120 (hubby will do the work, just needs to buy the parts and oil, benefits of being a mechanic ) MOT payments usually come out of the £506 we have 'spare' each month.

Clearly we don't have that amount 'spare' and I know what it goes on, just not the amounts so here is where this diary and a spending diary will come in handy for me. Maybe if I see what it all goes on I can change my habits and save a bit more. We have no budget for clothing and with 2 kids I know we definitely need one! Especially as Mini me 1 starts school next year. Car parking usually comes out of this 'spare' money too, as well as any entertainment, takeaways etc.

Nursery we just pay for 2 lunch clubs a week at £5 each, I'm lucky that my mum helps out with a lot of childcare. The £125 is £100 for savings (this will go down to £50 next July but I didn't save anything for Mini me 1 for ages and wanted to save £50 a month so have doubled it til then to catch up although if things get tight this might have to go for a while) £25 is for weekly swimming lessons which I think is an important skill to have. All other activities he enjoys are free (bike riding, parks etc) so we make the most of that I do need to set up a new JISA for Mini me 2 so that will be another £50 a month to go out.

Presents I save £100 per month to cover all birthdays (we both have large families so lots of kids to buy for) this seems to be doing ok, I currently have about £80 in the account and only have 1 small birthday before Christmas so hoping to not have to dip into the 'spare' cash pot.

I have put 0 for haircuts as hubby does his and the kids and I am useless at getting my hair done regularly, my mum treated me a couple of weeks ago and it cost £10.

Now we do the postcode lottery, we have won a few £10 on it but not much, however I am too scared to stop playing it just in case! It's the only lottery we do so I think it's ok to keep it for now.

Now the dog, big dog, big bills unfortunately! His food bill is slowly coming down now that he is getting to full size, as a puppy he was eating over 2kg of raw meat a day! Now he's down to about 1.6kg and I have sourced the cheapest supplier I can. Unfortunately we've had a couple of bad months with having to go to the vets, first he got stung by something in the garden (we think a wasp) and had an allergic reaction where his whole face swelled up so had to rush him in for that, then we got his eye scratched by another dog and have to be sedated to have stitches put in! Luckily the other person is covering that bill but still, it's been a couple of expensive months with insurance excesses to pay.

OK, I think that explains it all. It's late and I'm very tired so will leave it here for now.

So from this SOA I know I need to save for the the following:
*car maintenance costs
*clothing
*holiday
*insurances - cars x 3 plus house
*car tax
*savings for Mini me 2

Wow, I think I am going to need to do some serious frugalling over the next few months until things balance out a bit more. It feels good to have it all written down though and even though I don't know if anyone on here will read this I feel like I have to make an effort now!

happydays89

When our dog got stung by a wasp his faced aged about 10 years in a matter of seconds.We rushed him to the vets and had to pay a large bill.The vet said if it happened again to give him an anti histamine tablet,we now keep a box in the kitchen so everyone knows where they are.It might be worth checking with your vet and could save you some money.

happydays89

Is your husband on board with you?
It’s very stressful if you have to do this on your own.

I would keep a spending diary,write down every penny it’s amazing when you look back and see a lot of things you didn’t really need to spend money on.
“Pennies make pounds” which can go towards paying off debts.

Have you thought about delaying the £50 a month going into a savings account,this should really be paying off a high interest debt.
Once you have paid your debts off you will have a lot more money available and you could then start saving.

KellyAS

happydays89, thank you for the advice , I had given him an antihistamine but he was swelling up so quick we had to rush him in. He needed fluids and had to stay in overnight as his breathing wasn't stable, it was very scary!

My husband tries but he not great with money (by his own admission!) therefore I have control of our accounts, all our money goes into our joint account then I share it out from there once I know all the bills are covered. We had another chat yesterday where I explained what I wanted to do and he is happy to do what he can. He's picked up 1 12 hour overtime shift last month so that should be an extra £400 ish this payday then he's doing 2 9 hour shifts this week so that will be about £600 ish for next month. He's also put forward for a promotion but we have to be careful with his earnings as if we go over £50k we will have to pay back some child benefit so I need to work out if it will be worth it or not.

Yes I have considered changing the savings to pay off the debt instead, I think you're right, it will be better to pay off the interest earning stuff quickly then I can up the payments when we're in a better position.

Thank you for replying

Purplemumof2

Happy shiny diary, good luck on your journey xx

Queen_of_the_Hive

Good luck on your journey, another mum here trying to balance the books. My best advice is to breathe... and take it in baby steps. Make little tweeks here and there and you will get there. Don't try to be too hard on yourselves... i'm a classic for doing this! But its a marathon not a sprint

uk_american

Just an idea about your husband's classic car, could he make money using it, something like this: https://www.bookaclassic.co.uk/get-paid-to-drive-your-classic-car/


My friend's uncle drove them to their wedding in his classic car as his gift, it is eye-watering what rates classic cars can command. No idea if it's worth it financially though.

KellyAS

uk_american thank you for that link, I'll pass it onto him. It's a 2 seater van so couldn't really be used for weddings etc but it's quite rare so might be suitable for maybe some film work or similar.

Hi clarissa, it's hard isn't it! I just want it all paid off now, need to remind myself it's taken years to build the debt up so will take a few years to pay it off. Good luck on your journey too.

Thank you purplemumof2, and to you x

KellyAS

Quick update for today, I tried to sit down to go over our spending for the last 3 months to see what our actual figures were but Mini me 2 had other ideas and has only napped on and off all day, and only on me so haven't had a lot of time to get anything done. Hubby worked last night so has slept all day/ I have managed to get all our receipts together and set up a spreadsheet though so it's just a case of inputting all the figures and reworking the budgets.

Spending wise I paid £45 out of the dog account for a training course in November that I had already committed to. Walked into the village with Mini me 2 to get some liver and training treats for the dog from the pet shop, he is the fussiest eater! Total spend £4 and should last around 10 days. Also got him a marrow bone from the butchers for £1. Then I went to the charity shop because they had a baby bath support in there last week that I had my eye on but unfortunately it had gone. Next plan is to check local selling sites, I'm not paying £20 for something that will only last him 2 months! He rolled over for the first time today.

Called around the local schools to check open days for Mini me 1 as he starts next September so have some dates in the diary. Am hoping to get him in the closest school. Luckily it is a really good school and within walking distance so fingers crossed.

Also delivered letter to doggy daycare so I can get their insurance to cover the cost of the dogs vet treatment for his eye, it's around £1500 at the mo!

Oh also bought a pack of 1st class stamps today as I had 4 letters to send off so £4.20 spent there, so grand total of £54.20 spent today. Tomorrow we need to get fuel so hubby can get to work tomorrow night and a couple of bits in Tesco, although I might leave that til Friday when I can walk from my parents house . Oh and I need to collect a present from Asda, maybe I can do it all there instead? I have a baby sleepsuit to take back there anyway, it was a gift but completely the wrong season, a fleece in 0-3 months when he was a summer baby! so hoping they will allow me to exchange it as it still has the tag on.

Hoping for a better nights sleep tonight, the 4 month sleep regression has hit so Mini me 2 will only sleep next to me in my bed and regularly wakes me up, Mini me 1 doesn't like lie ins so 5.30/6am wake up calls are a regular thing in our house, yawn!!! At least hubby is here to help with him tomorrow morning so I can at least stay in bed! He is currently in the spare room with the dog!