Diary of a reformed shopaholic (I hope)

shoppingobsessed2020

Thanks everyone.

@enthusiasticsaver the pension for monkey boy is non negotiable, it comes out his activity budget so we are ok.  It’s not much in the grand scheme of things really.  I’ve not increased it as I’ve been too lazy to do so.  

Dh has a decent work pension, I have nothing but I do have a house that will be left to me when a relative passes away.  It’s highly unlikely to need to be sold for care due to other assets so I’m not overly concerned re my lack of pension at the moment especially given dh decent pension.  His is a final salary one so will be more than enough to live on when mortgage and debt free!  I have started paying into my work pension so that will be worth all of 5p a month when I retire lol.

dh is more on board with the money saving as his work have done some underhand dealing which the union are now involved with as it affects everyone who works for his company.  He is still due a bonus just not what he was expecting for being away so long.  So that’s pushed him to be more on board.  Will be putting his bonus away to pay for his next lot of courses rather than using it to clear debt as he has a very expensive few courses coming up that are mandatory.

had a rather expensive week.  His car went clunk so that was nearly 1k repairing various things that needed fixed so nothing extra being paid off this month as it’s ate up all the car fund and the extra money this month.

the good news, I am transferring to a different role which pays slightly more so once I’ve transferred role I should be looking at an extra £150 every 4 weeks.

as of next month with having paid off a couple of cards it looks like we have 900 extra to pay off things so plus childcare and child activities there is approx 1100ish to pay off something.

the plan is I’m going to clear the tsb account and then throw anything left at the Debenhams account.

we are on track with paying things off, i never actually thought we could pay things off this quickly so it’s really motivating to be on track to clear yet another card.

Drawingaline

Brilliant result clearing cards. And well done getting oh on board. Even if it has taken a bit of a work shake up to do so. 

You sound so much more positive now than a few months ago.

enthusiasticsaver

Good result on paying more off the cards.

Have you or your husband looked at any of the Dave Ramsey tutorials on you tube? He is American but he focuses more on spending behaviour and attitude to debt and finances which I think for you and your DH is the reason for your debt rather than lack of income. His baby steps program have helped quite a few on this forum get their debt paid off and their finances in a better state and it may help your DH get on the same page. He is quite evangelical about it but you don't have to take it all on board. Things don't always stay the same as your DH has found out with his work issue so having a solid financial base puts you in a good position to deal with most of what life throws at us. 

I would also also say this about your lack of pension. Relying on your partners pension or an inheritance means you are not in control of when or how you retire. Your relative may live long past the date you want to retire or they may change the will or the house be sold to pay for care even if they have other assets. Later life divorces are also very common and whilst obviously I hope that this doesn't happen to you I know many women my age who are still working into their late 60s or even 70s because they ignored their own pension provision. At least you have a work pension so that is a start and even if you can't overpay it at the moment educating yourself about how it works and how much your employer puts in is sensible.

 At the moment I agree the debt should be your focus as you are doing but longer term looking at other aspects of your finance like investing and saving for the future may be beneficial. 

shoppingobsessed2020

Been a little while since I’ve been on.  Lots of changes, some good some bad but progress all the same,  I need to do a new soa to reflect the changes.  

Now that I making progress and plodding along I don’t feel the motivation to come on here as much as I should.  So the changes, I’ve bought a new car.  Not brand new but new to me.  It’s a newer model than my current one, lower mileage, and I’m extending the finance by 1yr,  my car is starting to cost me mega bucks and it’s been having some electrical issues these past 3 weeks,  I’ve had to have recovery come out to me twice so I want rid before it gets expensive as it’s had a lot spent on it recently and it’s due a service in October and I think it’s had enough spent on it this years. I have had it to the garage and they’ve ran a diagnostic and they can’t find anything wrong so it’s going as I’m not getting stuck with it,  

the next change is and I can’t remember if this happened or not before I went awol is I’ve got a new job,  internal move with a pay rise, not a huge amount but still a pay rise.  I start the new role next month so that will be good.

debt wise, I am still plodding along, We got offered a 1yr 0% balance transfer offer, so I have transferred my Debenhams and my tsb card to dh empty Lloyds credit card.  This is why I need to do a new soa.  My tsb card is now clear bar me using it for food shop and fuel and paying it off at the end of the month, Debenhams has £175 left on it and that will be paid off next month and then that is 2 cards paid off.  I am going to keep the tsb card but food and fuel only.

i have started Christmas shopping and bar monkey boys big present I am almost done.  Dh is finished for birthday and Christmas, I just have a few bits to buy for monkey boy but I think I can get his bike and the rest of the bits I want to get him for £400.  I have a £150 halfords gift card so that’s a huge chunk of his bike, so the rest is a couple of computer games and whatever else the bike costs so my bonus November pay which was going to be purely on Christmas and birthday willl also go to debt payment.  

Other than that I’ve not increased any credit card debt so am pleased about that, yes I did do a shuffle of debt but I’m confident we can pay it off within the year.  Fence still hasn’t been fixed but I have got the cash in the safe ready for that as it’s been done next month.  Handyman has had a terrible time getting hold of wood so the money is there waiting.  I know I shouldn’t have changed my car and just got rid of it and used his lordships but I hate his and think  I got a good deal.  Yes I’m extending the finance for a year and reducing the payment (it’s now £299 and pence so a decent saving over the year).  It’s at 11,9% interest which I don’t think is bad, I know it could be better but for me I think that’s decent and hopefully all being well and things going to plan, we should be able to clear another 5k of debt by the end of the year,

shoppingobsessed2020

Need to do a new soa next month as well,  well next payday once I’ve transferred roles and know what I’m getting,  to start with it will be slightly reduced due to Covid childcare arrangements as reduced after school childcare but I’ll still be coming out with what I make now or slightly more even taking that into account.  I’ve 8 weeks of dinner money, breakfast club and tea club put to one side already so have created another savings account So I can transfer the childcare money into that as I like to be ahead on that.  With eve thing that’s going on I’d rather pay more into that account than I need to as the figure in the soa is for the full year to cover what I need and obviously that’s changed due to Covid.

shoppingobsessed2020

[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......... 1

Number of cars owned.................... 2[b]

Monthly Income Details[/b]

Monthly income after tax................ 1000

Partners monthly income after tax....... 4000

Benefits................................ 82

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

Total monthly income.................... 5082[/b][b]

Monthly Expense Details[/b]

Mortgage................................ 285.6

Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 681

Rent.................................... 0

Management charge (leasehold property).. 0

Council tax............................. 135

Electricity............................. 60

Gas..................................... 60

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

Water rates............................. 36

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

Mobile phone............................ 65

TV Licence.............................. 12

Satellite/Cable TV...................... 85

Internet Services....................... 0

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

Clothing................................ 20

Petrol/diesel........................... 100

Road tax................................ 20

Car Insurance........................... 50

Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 80

Car parking............................. 0

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

Childcare/nursery....................... 135

Other child related expenses............ 150

Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 250

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

Buildings insurance..................... 10

Contents insurance...................... 10

Life assurance ......................... 45

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

Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 10

Haircuts................................ 20

Entertainment........................... 50

Holiday................................. 0

Emergency fund.......................... 50

Union................................... 50[b]

Total monthly expenses.................. 2719.6[/b]

[b]

Assets[/b]

Cash.................................... 0

House value (Gross)..................... 117000

Shares and bonds........................ 0

Car(s).................................. 15000

Other assets............................ 0[b]

Total Assets............................ 132000[/b]

[b]

Secured & HP Debts[/b]

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

Mortgage...................... 66931.4..(285.6)....2.25

Secured Debt.................. 10830....(135)......2.25<

My car.........................11000....(335)......0<

His car........................4704.....(211)......0[b]

Total secured & HP debts...... 93465.4...-.........-   [/b]

[b]Unsecured Debts[/b]

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

His barclays...................5014......120.......0

His lloyds.....................2990.66...300.......0

Lloyds loan....................15511.9...449.......0

Debenhams......................175.......175.......0

Next...........................1800......120.......0

My barclays....................6000......160.......0

Loan 2.........................13747.....362.......0

Mbna card......................9000......300.......0[b]

Total unsecured debts..........54238.56..1986......-  [/b]

[b]

Monthly Budget Summary[/b]

Total monthly income.................... 5,082

Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,719.6

Available for debt repayments........... 2,362.4

Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 1,986[b]

Amount left after debt repayments....... 376.4[/b]

[b]Personal Balance Sheet Summary[/b]

Total assets (things you own)........... 132,000

Total HP & Secured debt................. -93,465.4

Total Unsecured debt.................... -54,238.56[b]

Net Assets.............................. -15,703.96[/b]

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

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

shoppingobsessed2020

Debenhams Card will be cleared next payday.  I need to decide what to do as would it be better to reduce the payment to the Lloyds card as that’s interest free for a year and throw more elsewhere or pay 300 to the Lloyds card so it’s clear in a year and I don’t have to worry about it, still leaving 500 a month once the debenhams card is paid off to throw at something.  

I am leaning towards reducing what I pay to the Lloyds card and throwing everything spare at the mbna card.  I’ve paid/ balanced transferred a chunk of my debt off so feel it’s fair to concentrate on dh now.  I think back of an envelope calculation that I could pay £850 to the mbna card and reduce what I pay to Lloyds, but I need to wait and see what the Lloyds minimum payment is.  The other option, I don’t know if I should just throw everything spare at the Lloyds account and then do another balance transfer, throw more at the Lloyds account and repeat.  The 3k transfer cost £70 in balance transfer fee which is much less in interest than I would have been paying on the cards.

regardless I want to focus on dh accounts for a bit.

shoppingobsessed2020

Oh a few things I’ve forgot to mention.  Dh won’t be getting a bonus next year so that’s an income drop of approx £300 a month so that is a significant hit.  Probably won’t take effect till March/April as he gets a yearly bonus but they pay it monthly. 

The other thing I forgot to mention is dh still isn’t home yet, Covid has drastically messed up his industry.  His job is very secure and his company have just bought new ships so he still has a job as they want him to transfer to a new ship.  The only positive is his company have said they are doing a mandatory leave buy out.  What that means is the leave dh has accrued whilst he’s been away they will give him a set about of time off then he is back to sea and they will pay him for the remainder of the unused leave so it’s potentially rather a large amount that is coming to him at some point which will make up for the drop in income as it could be anywhere between 6-12k depending on how much leave he is given and how much they buy back.  He has about 5 months of leave accrued at the moment so its not going to be an insignificant sum even if they only buy back a months worth of leave.  

Drawingaline

Wow, can't believe he isn't back yet!!! Saving you money though 😉😁

I would look overpay the lloyds card and then bt onto it again. It's a smaller balance so may feel more of a win, especially if it can be gone by Xmas, then bt as much as you can onto it from a high interest card and repeat.

shoppingobsessed2020

Thanks @Drawingaline, that’s my initial thoughts but you know I have to ramble it out,  I still have his Barclays on interest free but kinda forgetting about that for now as it’s still another year ish on interest free.  Think that’s what I’ll do.  Blast the Lloyds card, and transfer 3k chunks from the mbna card to the Lloyds as long as we keep getting transfer offers and then continue to blast the mbna card and in the last couple of months before the Barclays deal ends I will blast/balance transfer that.  anything he needs to spend on courses (he does have a few smaller ones to do when he is home) will use his long tour bonus for, then anything he wants to treat himself to he can buy with the long tour bonus as well and if we don’t have enough cash he can credit card it and I will just have to not pay anything extra that month. 

I’m not going to be super strict when he is home re his spending, he will be exhausted and in need of some tlc so if he wants anything large that’s not in the budget then I’m not going to say no, probably will if it hits over 1k but if he wants a spend then he can have one.  I know that’s the wrong attitude to have but we’ve reduced so much (I think our debt has reduced by 10k since April looking back at my initial soa) that I feel he is in need of a treat,  I’ve had treats and sorted the majority of all the Christmas and birthdays without using a credit card and paid for a new fence, repairs to his car, repairs to my car all without reaching for a credit card which never would have happened in the past.  

There is £400 left in the account this month which was ideally for debt but I may need to raid that and not use it for debt as I need a little more to cover the fence, plus boiler service and have school shoes to buy tomorrow.  We have some activities planned but I’ve nothing in the activity budget as I’ve been using it for debt payments so that £400 will cover the rest of what I need and any activities we do that come with a cost or will cover the cost of an ice cream or parking etc on a day out.  Hopefully will have some left so I can throw it at the Debenhams card