Trying to be debt free in 2020

Bella19

Happy New Year to everyone!

I have been an avid reader of many a diary on here over the last year but I am guilty of not posting myself so I thought I would create a diary to try and keep myself accountable

In 2019 myself and the OH managed to clear over £7000 of debt however since then our washing machine, fridge freezer and microwave broke and I have had to put £450 back onto the credit card.

My first task of 2020 is to get this cleared (should be done in February) and I would then like to build up a 6 month emergency fund. I have absolutely no idea how much should go into this fund and what needs including, any suggestions would be greatly received!

Best wishes to all,

Bella

Bella19

Statement of Affairs

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of pets................................... 2
Number of cars owned....................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 2500
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2500

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 710
Council tax............................. 133 (over 12 months)
Electricity and gas...................96
Water rates............................. 63 (over 8 months)
Life insurance..........................14
Mobile phone 1..........................7
Mobile phone 2..........................7
Internet Services.....................27.50
Bank charge.................................2
Groceries ............................... 200
Clothing.....................................50
Petrol/diesel........................... 200
Road tax................................ 11
Car Insurance & breakdown...35
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 100
Other travel............................ 80
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 11
House insurance..................... 14
Boiler service……………………….5
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 35
Haircuts................................ 10
Entertainment........................... 40
Holiday................................. 150

Total monthly expenses: 2000.50


Assets
Cash.................................... 1750
House value (Gross)..................... 235000
Shares and bonds........................ 200
Car(s).................................. 400
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 237350

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly.. .APR
Mortgage...................... 148000......(710).......4.2
Total secured & HP debts...... 148000....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly.. .APR
Sainsburys CC.................456.47.....11..........0
Total unsecured debts…...456.47

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2500
Expenses (including HP & secured debts)... 2011.50

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 237350
Total HP & debt................. -148000
Net Assets.............................. 89350

Bella19

Today's spending
New coving for utility room =£10
No nails glue = £6
Petrol= £40

My aim is to only spend the minimum amount necessary this month but I have a budget to sort out my utility room and storage area (£300 including flooring). We had a bad leak in there at the beginning of last year where my next door neighbour's guttering leaked and went through most of the wall. The wall is dry so some frugal diy is being done and the storage room will be used as a small sitting room to escape noisy neighbours the other side. At the moment I have spent £211 so fingers crossed there will be money left over for the CC.

MovingForwards

I love how you out your furbabies in your SOA

Could you get by with your existing clothes for a few months? That would give you a nice budget towards your utility room.

Good luck with your diary and tasks.

Bella19

MovingForwards wrote: »

I love how you out your furbabies in your SOA

Could you get by with your existing clothes for a few months? That would give you a nice budget towards your utility room.

Good luck with your diary and tasks.

Thank you for your reply 😀 You make a good point with the clothes budget, I do need to get some new but will try and limit to a few key items! I've lost 3.5 stone of weight so most of my clothes are swimming on me now. Any recommendations on where to get jeans/ t-shirts cheap?

MovingForwards

Bella19 wrote: »

Thank you for your reply 😀 You make a good point with the clothes budget, I do need to get some new but will try and limit to a few key items! I've lost 3.5 stone of weight so most of my clothes are swimming on me now. Any recommendations on where to get jeans/ t-shirts cheap?

I have been picking my new clothes up from Matalan, their jeggings are great and they do have a lot of sale items; I picked myself up some lovely dresses for work. I also got their jeggings and some vest tops (£1.50 each) but long enough to work as an oversized vest with the jeggings. Have a look online so you can see what takes your fancy.

3.5 stone is fabulous! You do need a few things, try and spread your purchases out. Keep some of your old t-shirts and jeans as dossing clothes for doing painting etc.

Bella19

MovingForwards wrote: »

I have been picking my new clothes up from Matalan, their jeggings are great and they do have a lot of sale items; I picked myself up some lovely dresses for work. I also got their jeggings and some vest tops (£1.50 each) but long enough to work as an oversized vest with the jeggings. Have a look online so you can see what takes your fancy.

3.5 stone is fabulous! You do need a few things, try and spread your purchases out. Keep some of your old t-shirts and jeans as dossing clothes for doing painting etc.

Thank you I will keep a look out for some bargains 😁

Bella19

A slow start to the day after lots of diy yesterday.

DH decided he was an expert on putting up coving so I left him to it (bad idea!) went to check up on him and he had cut it too short doh! :rotfl: He wanted to go back to the shop and buy more. As I am trying to have a frugal year and didn't want to fail on day one I wouldn't let him. After much rummaging I managed to find a tub of filler so stuck up the coving and filled in the gaps myself, vola done! :j Today's job is to get the room painted ready for wallpapering and flooring tomorrow.

Paint cost= £0 leftover white paint
Wallpaper= £0 2 leftover rolls from doing the conservatory (also found wallpaper paste score!)

Today has also been payday so have paid £50 off the CC which now leaves a balance of £406.47. I have also topped up our emergency fund which now stands at £2050. I know I could pay off the CC balance but my DH is self employed and contract is due for renewal in April so ideally we need to keep some cash spare just in case something happens and it is not renewed. The CC is interest free until August so I don't think what I am doing is harming (I hope!)

I have a small food budget for January of £40 so the plan is to run down the cupboards and the freezer stock. Currently we are working through a joint of gammon which I am trying to stretch out. So far this week we have had a gammon dinner (2 portions), gammon egg fried rice (4 portions) and today I am making a gammon and lentil soup (8 portions) and gammon egg and chips (2 portions). I don't think I am going to get much more out of it after that, not bad for a £2.50 joint though!

Have a good day everyone,

Bella x

Bella19

Evening all,

A busy afternoon after such a slow start, decorating is ahead of schedule with the wallpaper nearly up. Just need to clear some space ready to lay the new flooring tomorrow. Had some nice lino in the sale cost £63 including delivery so happy with that. To save on having to get underlay I am going to put down some newspaper and leftover wallpaper that would normally be thrown out, a handy tip from my grandfather . I then need to dig out a storage cube I remember storing in the attic to use as a tv stand and move the sofa out of the conservatory into my new snug :j

Bella19

Early morning delivery of flooring has arrived, who knew deliveries start from 7am! Just need to finish emptying the room before it can be laid.

Going to nip to the tip and then pop into the shop to get my food shop for the week. Need to get; milk, spread, apples, bananas, cheese, eggs and ham should be no more than £6 for the week. Freezer and cupboards are full so going to work my way through those this month.

I found myself scrolling through holidays online last night, this time last year would have thought nothing of putting a holiday on the CC it is 0% after all! I had a browse and then declined to book and thought about the money going into my emergency fund instead. That's over a thousand pound spend averted!

I hope to pop on later with the final figures of doing up the utility room/ snug hopefully under budget.

Have a good day all!
Bella x

Bella19

Good evening debt busters

The utility room and 'snug' are officially finished phew it's been a long week! Total cost £195 out of a £300 budget. Very pleased with that, it has meant that I have been able to order flooring for my kitchen too! managed to find a 10% off code and bought the same flooring as th e snug to make it flow. We are considering selling the house and at the moment the kitchen really lets it down so my mission next month will be to do up the kitchen on a £150 budget. I am hoping to cash flow the kitchen project out of money from this month somehow. Will have to study the budget again...

We were a little but naughty food shopping earlier and bought some pie and chips for tea tonight (not on the list and maybe some emergency biscuits) but still came in under £10 for the week. The aim next week is to stick to the list!

Have a nice evening,
Bella x