Here’s to the future...

Scloud

Ok deep breath... I've done the SOA. It's a pretty upsetting picture but it has highlighted to me the importance of putting pots away for those extra spends like birthdays, dentists, etc. The car is a purchase hire which includes tax and maintenance. We only have it until October so a big stress currently is what we are going to do for a car. I have a family member who has been very unwell and they live in a rural place just over an hour away so the car is essential as we visit there often. The TV / phone / internet is all one package. 
I also don't add my loans into my total debt as I am focusing on the credit card debt. They tick away with their monthly payments and I can look to them once I have got the credit card debt down. 

[font=courier new][b]Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet[/b][b]

Household Information[/b]

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

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

Number of cars owned.................... 0[b]

Monthly Income Details[/b]

Monthly income after tax................ 2111

Partners monthly income after tax....... 1657

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

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

Total monthly income.................... 3768[/b][b]

Monthly Expense Details[/b]

Mortgage................................ 0

Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0

Rent.................................... 1040

Management charge (leasehold property).. 0

Council tax............................. 127

Electricity............................. 28

Gas..................................... 58

Oil..................................... 0

Water rates............................. 28.32

Telephone (land line)................... 0

Mobile phone............................ 25

TV Licence.............................. 13.2

Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0

Internet Services....................... 41.5

Groceries etc. ......................... 250

Clothing................................ 50

Petrol/diesel........................... 150

Road tax................................ 1

Car Insurance........................... 27

Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 1

Car parking............................. 5

Other travel............................ 0

Childcare/nursery....................... 0

Other child related expenses............ 0

Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 22

Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0

Buildings insurance..................... 0

Contents insurance...................... 6

Life assurance ......................... 0

Other insurance......................... 0

Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 50

Haircuts................................ 37.5

Entertainment........................... 100

Holiday................................. 40

Emergency fund.......................... 100

car..................................... 177[b]

Total monthly expenses.................. 2377.52[/b]

[b]

[b]Unsecured Debts[/b]

Total unsecured debts..........44243.....1332......-  [/b]

[b]

Monthly Budget Summary[/b]

Total monthly income.................... 3,768

Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,377.52

Available for debt repayments........... 1,390.48

Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 1,332[b]

Amount left after debt repayments....... 58.48[/b]

[b]Personal Balance Sheet Summary[/b]

Total assets (things you own)........... 920

Total HP & Secured debt................. -0

Total Unsecured debt.................... -44,243[b]

Net Assets.............................. -43,323[/b]

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

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

Lookafterthepennies2020

Have you looked at switching your internet etc? I know virgin do a package deal a £37p/m and there internet is really reliable. Although it’s only a few pounds per month saving if you go through Quidco they have deals on for &90 cash back etc .  Are you still planning on a holiday with the current covid situation? If not that money could be put towards cc payments etc, other than that if you haven’t already try selling on eBay etc it’s amazing how much the little amounts start to add up and it kills a bit of time too, your already tackling the food budget and the more u plan that should hopefully come down too  

Scloud

Thanks for looking through my SOA @Lookafterthepennies2020. We do use the internet a lot and being at home more it is nice not to be frustrated with the internet. I will have a look at Quidco though as it sounds interesting and not anything I have looked into before. 
Prolific has been a good earner for me and every time I get to £30 I put that to my target debt. I have sold few bits on eBay but maybe this is a good time to have another sort through and be a bit more brutal this time! 
I hope that we will be able to get the food budget down and hopefully this is the peak of the problem. As the months go by I hope that we will be able to get the minimum payments down, overpay and hopeful become eligible for some 0% balance transfers. 
Annoyingly I have a 2k credit card that I paid off months ago that is just sat there not offering me a balance transfer - that would really help! 
In the meantime I have opened savings pots for those annual outgoings which feels like a positive step to moving away from living pay check to pay check. 

Lookafterthepennies2020

Scloud said:

Thanks for looking through my SOA @Lookafterthepennies2020. We do use the internet a lot and being at home more it is nice not to be frustrated with the internet. I will have a look at Quidco though as it sounds interesting and not anything I have looked into before. 
Prolific has been a good earner for me and every time I get to £30 I put that to my target debt. I have sold few bits on eBay but maybe this is a good time to have another sort through and be a bit more brutal this time! 
I hope that we will be able to get the food budget down and hopefully this is the peak of the problem. As the months go by I hope that we will be able to get the minimum payments down, overpay and hopeful become eligible for some 0% balance transfers. 
Annoyingly I have a 2k credit card that I paid off months ago that is just sat there not offering me a balance transfer - that would really help! 
In the meantime I have opened savings pots for those annual outgoings which feels like a positive step to moving away from living pay check to pay check. 

No problem I have tried to get selling on eBay and made £47 which I was pleased with as it was just bits and bars tbh but I only have 10 items a month so I’m a bit gutted lol.  quidco is deffo worth a look especially if you do a lot of online shopping, I have had £100 for switching to EDF and it was a cheaper tariff anyway and money from virgin etc but the little amounts seem to add up too, I try to keep it all in there and then draw out at Xmas:  I’ll put my referral as I think you get £10  

https://www.quidco.com/raf/2977607/

Scloud

Pay day yesterday! I always look forward to it and then after I've shuffled money around it's always a bit of an anti-climax. I am working on building a budget where every penny is accounted for which means when payday comes there are no surprises - I know where it is all going. I did treat myself to some books that I've been waiting to order today so thats an exciting treat. I have managed to resist some sandals that I've been eyeing up that have gone into the sale. They are still pretty expensive and I don't need them (my urge to spend impulse would disagree!) so I am going to leave them as hard as it is! Sales are such a great way of getting me to spend money I don't have on things that I don't need.

Set up my annual spends savings pots so that feels good. I've got a few birthdays coming up and it's really clarifying to have the money for presents reading to go in the pot. 

Moneywhizz

Just had a read through your diary. Well done on tackling your debt and paying off so much already. Looking at your SOA I don't see much that you can cut back on, but there is very little spare after your essentials and debts are paid. Is that your minimum repayments or does it include overpayments? Your rent payment is high, do you live in an expensive area? I think your plan to get your minimum repayments down is good one if you are planning a family soon as your income will drop not only during maternity leave, but also with childcare costs when you return to work. Unless you have family to help out with childcare, the costs are very high, so this will have a major impact on your ability to repay your debt. Could you begin to adjust your lifestyle just now so that you spend less on going out, entertainment, so that you can either build up some more savings for mat leave, or overpay more of your high interest debt.  Once you have children that will probably happen anyway! Whatever way you look at it, it is going to be a fairly long journey so making sure your budget is realistic is the best way of sticking to it. If you under estimate your spending you will continually be running out, and trying to juggle your different pots to cover your overspends. A zero based realistic budget is your best way forward. 

enthusiasticsaver

You seem to be doing well on bringing the debt down.  Looking at your soa it is better to break the debt down so it shows the individual debts and the rates.  Are you tackling smallest balances first or highest interest rates? I agree that having emergency savings is crucial even if you have debt.  It means you are not tempted to add to the debt when you have an unexpected expense. 
I would also say that if you are trying for a family then a lot of things like pub trips etc will have to go anyway so cutting back on that should be painless and save you some money especially after having 3 months of not being able to go to one during the virus restrictions.  Can you invite friends round with a bottle instead to save money ? Same goes for holidays.  It is a matter of priorities and rarely can we all do everything at the same time.  Presumably you are trying to get the debt down so you have more disposable income  and save because you want a family but at the same time live life as if you had no other committments.  Having a family does mean putting a stop to socialising for a while (no energy, time or money in my experience) so getting used to a social life on a budget now while you are trying to pay off debt would be useful. Also can you and your DH do without clothes for 6 months or more and just use what you already have? Moneywhizz makes a good point about childcare being expensive so unless the debt is gone you may be looking at reduced income on maternity leave and then high childcare costs. 

I don't bother with sales.  Unless I actually need something I don't go shopping and then just look for the best value for whatever I need.  It helps that I do not enjoy shopping though. 

Scloud

Moneywhizz said:

Just had a read through your diary. Well done on tackling your debt and paying off so much already. Looking at your SOA I don't see much that you can cut back on, but there is very little spare after your essentials and debts are paid. Is that your minimum repayments or does it include overpayments? Your rent payment is high, do you live in an expensive area? I think your plan to get your minimum repayments down is good one if you are planning a family soon as your income will drop not only during maternity leave, but also with childcare costs when you return to work. Unless you have family to help out with childcare, the costs are very high, so this will have a major impact on your ability to repay your debt. Could you begin to adjust your lifestyle just now so that you spend less on going out, entertainment, so that you can either build up some more savings for mat leave, or overpay more of your high interest debt.  Once you have children that will probably happen anyway! Whatever way you look at it, it is going to be a fairly long journey so making sure your budget is realistic is the best way of sticking to it. If you under estimate your spending you will continually be running out, and trying to juggle your different pots to cover your overspends. A zero based realistic budget is your best way forward. 

Thanks for having a read through @Moneywhizz. We do live in a very expensive city in the south and our rent is amongst the cheapest around. We've been in our current flat for years and I think it would rent for about £1,300 if it went back on the market now. I think we are looking at having to pay 3 days childcare and working 5 days a week which we can just about afford as we have some repayments that will be finished in the next 12 months and I get a yearly pay-rise. 
I upped our food budget this month and that feels so much better and much more realistic - it feels so much more comfortable knowing that we have enough to cover food and won't have to dip into overdrafts to get by at the end of the month.
Our lifestyle is what got us into this mess so I know that we need to face that to help us get out of it. I think it will be about finding a balance between doing things we enjoy, seeing friends and sticking within a budget but not just saying yes to everything and spending without a care!  

Scloud

enthusiasticsaver said:

You seem to be doing well on bringing the debt down.  Looking at your soa it is better to break the debt down so it shows the individual debts and the rates.  Are you tackling smallest balances first or highest interest rates? I agree that having emergency savings is crucial even if you have debt.  It means you are not tempted to add to the debt when you have an unexpected expense. 
I would also say that if you are trying for a family then a lot of things like pub trips etc will have to go anyway so cutting back on that should be painless and save you some money especially after having 3 months of not being able to go to one during the virus restrictions.  Can you invite friends round with a bottle instead to save money ? Same goes for holidays.  It is a matter of priorities and rarely can we all do everything at the same time.  Presumably you are trying to get the debt down so you have more disposable income  and save because you want a family but at the same time live life as if you had no other committments.  Having a family does mean putting a stop to socialising for a while (no energy, time or money in my experience) so getting used to a social life on a budget now while you are trying to pay off debt would be useful. Also can you and your DH do without clothes for 6 months or more and just use what you already have? Moneywhizz makes a good point about childcare being expensive so unless the debt is gone you may be looking at reduced income on maternity leave and then high childcare costs. 

I don't bother with sales.  Unless I actually need something I don't go shopping and then just look for the best value for whatever I need.  It helps that I do not enjoy shopping though. 

Thanks for looking through @enthusiasticsaver. I did list the debts separately but it felt too personal to post on here so I combined them. We are tackling the highest interest rates first. I am currently working on getting rid of a shop credit account which is not quite the highest interest but it is by far the highest minimum payment and it just needs to go! Once that's gone I will have a large chunk of money to put onto the highest interest card and then we will avalanche/snowball/slowly chip away from there. Ive also rounded up all of the minimum payments to the nearest 10 so that there is a tiny overpayment on each one.
I think I definitely want the best of both worlds at the moment and now that I have got into the habit of budgeting and not using credit my next step is to face the reason why I spend so much money in the first place. We have a lot of lovely stuff and plenty of clothes so that could be an area that we can use for overpayments. We also are trying to sell as much as possible on ebay for a quick boost. These 3 months of lockdown have really helped us to appreciate being at home and using what we have. Before lockdown we spent every weekend flying about to different places but I think we need to keep some of this slow pace which will save us so much money (in petrol as much as in our entertainment spend!) and help us to appreciate things when we do do them - rather than feeling like we have to be busy all of the time.

Scloud

Feeling positive today! Just updated my spreadsheet with my latest statement for the focus debt - the dreaded store card and I am over 1/4 of the way there and actually not far off 1/3 of the way. In fact just £60 to go until I get to 1/3. I will make that my overpayment target for the month. I've been putting any extra ebay sales and prolific onto it and I'm starting to see how chipping away at it will make a big difference. AND I didn't get tempted by their sale so another reason to feel happy. It may just be their first sale that I could not find anything to tempt myself with. 

So my focus debt current stands at £2077 remaining of £3007 - 31% paid off! 

Yay for small wins today!