New goals, new diary

ftbwannabe · 29 February 2020 at 12:13AM

Hello! Thought I'd start a new thread, though I do feel attached to the journey my old diary saw me through! Really can't imagine having saved for our house the way I did without the help and accountability of this forum, and that diary.
So last time I was keeping a diary here I was saving to get a mortgage for my first house, after a relative gave us some cash towards a deposit. Which I managed, much to my shock! I still remember how anxious and scared I was the day I wrote my first entry here, because I didn't think anyone would lend to me with my finances the way they were.

Been in the new house a year now, hit my savings goal for a small emergency fund today, so now time to snowball the remaining cards.
Work is a bit precarious right now so wanted an EF in place first, but was so great to make an overpayment to my cards today, just want to get rid of them asap. Things like my diary, getting obsessive over my YNAB budget & the frugal challenges on this forum helped me focus & achieve so much last time.
Will post my new SOA tomorrow & catch up on how everyone is. I've been checking in but most of last year has been diy & saving/spending on house stuff. And sleeping!

Work sitch aside, I'm good- love the house, still spending too much on gardening & books, haven't smoked for 5 months, much much better at saving & budgeting now (but the top up shops have crept back up).

ftbwannabe · 29 February 2020 at 12:08PM

Statement of Affairs and Budget

Gaps, like no electric or tv license, are where my partner pays those & I pay other utilities of the same amount. Otherwise, we have separate finances.

Household Information

Number of adults in household........... 2

Number of children in household......... 0

Number of cars owned.................... 0

Monthly Income Details

Monthly income after tax................ 2095.95

Benefits................................ 0

Other income............................ 0[b]

Total monthly income.................... 2095.95[/b][b]

Monthly Expense Details
*Items are where I don't regularly spend in this category when I'm being 'good', but seems like a good idea to put money aside because realistically they are where I'll slip up or have unexpected costs. Or need a treat sometimes!

Mortgage................................ 604.3

Council tax............................. 153

Water rates............................. 36.3

Mobile phone............................ 6

Groceries etc. ......................... 200

Travel............................ 20

Buildings insurance..................... 6.92

Life assurance ......................... 65

Social........................... 80

Holiday................................. 35

Emergency fund.......................... 0 (EF is full, for now)

Charity................................. 12

Union................................... 20.3

Pension................................. 188.52

Website................................. 7.5

Spotify................................. 7.49

Carpets................................. 58.57

Allotment rent.......................... 4.11

Cloud storage........................... 3.48

Contact lenses.......................... 17

Travel to see farflung family........... 20

YNAB.................................... 4.77

*Clothing................................ 20

*Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 15

*Toiletries/medical...................... 10

*Allotment/Garden........................ 20

Total monthly expenses.................. 1535.26

Savings

Emergency Fund.................................... 1000
Savings for known future expenses........................ 732.6

Total ............................ 1732.6

Unsecured Debts

Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR

Card 1.........................1740......44........0

Card 2.........................1735......18........0

Card 3.........................9100......205.......0[b]

Total unsecured debts..........12575.....267.......

Monthly Budget Summary

Total monthly income.................... 2,095.95

Expenses ..................................... 1,535.26

Available for debt repayments........... 560.69

Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 267

Amount left after debt repayments....... 293.69

Personal Balance Sheet Summary

Total savings...........1,732.6

Total Unsecured debt.................... -12,575

[i]Created using the SOA calculator at www.stoozing.com.

Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using other browser.[/i][/font]

ftbwannabe · 29 February 2020 at 12:27PM

Review since started old diary on 1st Aug 2018:
Had no savings before, now have £1732 (1k EF, rest is for upcoming costs)
Have a mortgage (!), paid all of solicitors fees etc with cash I'd saved
No overdraft
Used cc once since 2018, to buy a new phone, as it worked out cheaper than paying monthly through the phone company
Paid off £1400 Student Loans
Was in £17204.69 of CC debt, now £12575: that's £4629.69 paid.
Total debt cleared £6029.69
How I feel about that
While my finances, & my budgeting, are transformed vs Aug 18, I started paying minumum payments on cards while I saved for moving costs & built up an emergency fund, & had a few months of being loose with the purse strings.
I really want to focus on clearing those cards now! Been doing some decluttering & trying to be more minimalist, which has helped. I still overspend on food though, mmm chocolate.
Also we want to remortgage when our introductory rate ends next Spring, so the more debt I can shift before then the better.
GOAL
'Clearing all my debt' sounds too big & far away, I want something I can reach soon to keep me motivated.
Owe less than £10k in credit card debt is an achievable goal. If my budget is realistic & I'm well behaved, my snowball calculator says I can do that by July 2020. Really?! Eeeek

ftbwannabe · 29 February 2020 at 12:36PM

Right, that's my diary intro done, here's my actual diary ;-)

Debt free wannabe activities:

Fri

Updated YNAB so my Feb spending weekend is up to date.

Reached my EF spending goal WAHOO!
Started new diary here

Set up March budget in YNAB, figured out roughly what social things I'm doing & how much I want to spend on each (doing this in advance helped a lot last time I was saving)

Made a slightly bizarre packed lunch from leftovers

Resisted buying chocolate & coffee & had tea & biscuits from my desk drawer stash instead

Worked out my bare minimum emergency budget, so if I get made redundant (a real threat at the moment) I know how much I'll need, & how long my EF + redundancy payment would stretch for

Opened a Marcus savings account to move my EF into.

Set up my snowball calculator spreadsheet with current debts & worked out overpayment schedule.

Made the first snowball payment to CC1

Set up a Snowball category in YNAB, to work like an envelope, or a Monzo pot, to swipe extra change into when I spend less than budgeted.

Resisted the spicy cauliflower 'wings' in the pub (even tho they are DELICIOUS) & didn't buy an extra beer on way home, so spent less than a tenner on drinks.

I'd budgeted £12 for the pub so moved £2 to Snowball pot.

Sat

Found boyfriend's bday present on eBay, a few months away. Got it for £6.55 less than I'd budgeted for so moved that to my Snowball pot.
Posted loads on this forum!
Talked to OH about life assurance & agreed figures. Need to email the advisor we saw to confirm now - that's going to be £65 out of my budget each month, but worth it. I'd like to pay in more but sticking to the lowest option that will cover my !!!!!! if anything happens, but only if I'm frugal.

Supposed to be stormy AF today, so had a weekend of reading & sewing planned, but it's dead sunny & nice! Maybe I'll get up to the allotment at last!
If you've read all my stuff today, sorry and thank you! Have a lovely weekend. X

nomorecredit · 29 February 2020 at 4:15PM

Happy new diary to you

Well done on "cash flowing" the house move costs and with the emergency fund too. A fellow overspending of food here too something I am working on ALL the time (must try harder I too love chocolate!) I am sure you will reach your goal of getting the debt <£10k by July 20 you got this and what a great start too sending money to the snowball pot that will soon build up.

Enjoy your weekend
NMC x