Mummy to be of three...want to be debt free! 29 December 2019 at 7:42PM edited 10 February 2020 at 11:17AM in Debt free diaries 21 replies 1.2K views

Achar90

Ok hey goes....

I've decided that next year I really need to get my finances in check on credit cards alone my husband and I have £4,800 on them, must of this is just stuff which makes me so ashamed - since October alone my husband and I have put £1000 on credit cards :eek: part of this is Christmas (totally overspent this year!) and In September my husband started an apprenticeship in electrical engineering so his wage dropped by £300pm however we know that it is short term pain for long term game as once he has qualified hopefully his wage will be more than it has been (Previous warehouse working on just above min wage)

It will be a struggle as I am due baby number three in March! I'm only taking 6months maternity leave and luckily my work pay 90% for 9 weeks and 50% for 9 weeks before I go onto SMP.

My main aim is to pay the £747 off my virgin by June and £623 from barclaycard by December 2020 as this is when the 0% deal ends. -Update Jan 2020 - paid off the £747 from Jan by doing a no spend month

So here is my SOA, any helps/tips will be much appreciated!!
Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 2 (4yr old, 2yr old, 1 on the way)
Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1339
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1270.19
Benefits................................ 137.6 (Child benefit)
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2746.79

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 507
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 114 (Car)
Council tax............................. 96
Electricity............................. 35
Gas..................................... 35
Water rates............................. 34.9
Mobile phone............................ 60 (Two phones- in contract)
TV Licence.............................. 13.2
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 8.99 (Netflix)
Internet Services....................... 27
Groceries etc. ......................... 400 (Incl nappies, cleaning products)
Petrol/diesel........................... 60
Road tax................................ 10
Car Insurance........................... 32.14
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 195
Other child related expenses............ 66 (Piano lessons)
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 19.2 (Sovereign health care, hubby and kids are covered)
Buildings insurance..................... 11.19
Life assurance ......................... 40.2 (& Critical illness cover)
Other insurance......................... 6.26 (Mortgage protection if hubby gets made unemployed)
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 22
Postcode lottery........................ 10

Total monthly expenses.................. 1803.08


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 180000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 7000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 187000


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 122388...(507)......3.99
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 4449.....(114)......0
Total secured & HP debts...... 126837....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Zopa loan .....................1647......86.75.....3
Halifax loan...................2946......159.4.....3
Virgin credit card.............1535......25........0 (No interest till Jan 21)
Barclaycard....................2183......36........0 (No interest until July 21)
Barclaycard....................860.......19........0 (No interest until Dec 20)
Total unsecured debts..........9171......326.15....-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,746.79
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,803.08
Available for debt repayments........... 943.71
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 326.15
Amount left after debt repayments....... 617.56

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 187,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -126,837
Total Unsecured debt.................... -9,819
Net Assets.............................. 50,344

Unicorn_cottage

Hello and welcome!

Did you use the soa calculator? Any chance you can repost using the format for mse option?

Congrats on the decision as a family to study electrical engineering! Very exciting

CJRyder

Quick and easy win - Ditch the TV Licence. So much on Netflix, cheaper and better choice at a time of your choosing. Also consider switching your Amazon Music to a Prime account if it's not already. £80 for the year. However you could ditch this too and use Youtube.

With regards to mobile phones, are you able to switch onto any sim only deals? I'm with EE on under £10/month, unlimited calls and texts. With the prevalence of free wifi hotspots there is little need to have more than 500MB of data. I think I get 200-300MB and hardly ever need to use it.

Jox

Try to reduce grocery spends where possible, have a budget in mind and stick to it, shop at Aldi if you can.

Childcare costs will go down when you're on maternity so that can go towards debts?

I would cut out netflix and amazon music and postcode lottery personally until debts were paid.

Achar90

Unicorn_cottage wrote: »

Hello and welcome!

Did you use the soa calculator? Any chance you can repost using the format for mse option?

Congrats on the decision as a family to study electrical engineering! Very exciting

I did my SOA via Stoozing.com however when I clicked to calculate the totals it put a comma inbetween the numbers so could not convert to MSE format:(Is there an other website I can use?

[Deleted User]

https://www.lemonfool.co.uk/financecalculators/soa.php

x

Achar90

CJRyder wrote: »

Quick and easy win - Ditch the TV Licence. So much on Netflix, cheaper and better choice at a time of your choosing. Also consider switching your Amazon Music to a Prime account if it's not already. £80 for the year. However you could ditch this too and use Youtube.

With regards to mobile phones, are you able to switch onto any sim only deals? I'm with EE on under £10/month, unlimited calls and texts. With the prevalence of free wifi hotspots there is little need to have more than 500MB of data. I think I get 200-300MB and hardly ever need to use it.

Yes I really need to look into our TV usage - at the moment I feel like I am paying £13 for cbeebies but it is a good point you make about youtube as I am sure most of the shows are on that.

Unfortunately we are both in contract until the end of next year.

Achar90

Jox wrote: »

Try to reduce grocery spends where possible, have a budget in mind and stick to it, shop at Aldi if you can.

Childcare costs will go down when you're on maternity so that can go towards debts?

I would cut out netflix and amazon music and postcode lottery personally until debts were paid.

Yes groceries is something we need to look into - I shop online so that I am not tempted to impulse buy and do meal plan. My kids are fruit monsters and most go through about £15 worth of fruit a week and my hubby can't have milk so have to buy expensive milk alternatives.

Childcare costs will stay the same - If I take my little girl out of her childminders her space could be taken up which would leave me !!!!!!ed for when I return to work in Oct.

Unicorn_cottage

What are you prepared to do to get yourself in a better position? Am saying this as a challenge really

For example if you cancelled the following for a period of time until you are in a better position you would save £137.19 a month. Would you be prepared to buy kids clothes from charity shops etc to save money - food for thought....

TV Licence.............................. 13.2
Clothing................................ 40 (This is what I save for children's clothes)
Other child related expenses............ 66 (Piano lessons)
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 22
Amazon music ........................... 7.99
Postcode lottery........................ 10

Do you have anything you can sell? It really helped me when I was on my way to paying of £25k ish of debt.

Achar90

So hubby and I have decided to do a no spend Janauary:T We have never attempted anything like this before so abit nervous. We dont spend alot during the week but tend to go out for a couple of drinks on a Friday and often go swimming, soft play, cafes etc with the kids on a weekend.

We will only allow money to be spent on petrol, groceries and I will still take my DD to playgroup on Fridays (£1.50)

I estimate I we could save £365 which would go straight to my Virgin card - great bonus today I received an email from postcode lottery saying we had won £20 and from sky saying they owe us £11.40 from when we cancelled. That's £31.40 to start off our Jan no spend pot!:D

enthusiasticsaver

I would ditch the postcode lottery and amazon music and work on getting the groceries down. I would also either get rid of Netflix or ditch the tv licence (not keep both). You will need a good emergency fund before going on maternity leave but you have a good surplus. Your childcare costs will go up when you return to work but it depends when your youngest turns 3 and gets her free hours. Is the 4 year old in school? Are the piano lessons critical for such a young child or are those for you?

I would focus on getting rid of the £623 on Virgin before June when interest is charged and then focus on the £860 on Barclaycard over the year. £72 per month will get rid of it by December which is £53 more than you currently pay. Getting rid of the piano lessons until you are in a better financial position will more than cover that.