Diary of a reformed shopaholic (I hope)

shoppingobsessed2020

So here is yet another updated soa from me!  Comments beside them

[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................ 980

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

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

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

Total monthly income.................... 5062[/b][b]

Monthly Expense Details[/b]

Mortgage................................ 321.4 - will drop when deal switch happens by approx £80.

Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 568

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

Management charge (leasehold property).. 0

Council tax............................. 135 Over 10 months I like this as feels like we don’t miss it on the bonus months and will throw that extra at a debt.

Electricity............................. 60 - accurate we are high users naturally 

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

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

Water rates............................. 35 -on a meter already.

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

Mobile phone............................ 65 - 2 x sim only 1 x phone and sim

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

Satellite/Cable TV...................... 85 - in contract this includes landline and internet and Netflix plus all sky bar sport

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

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

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

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

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

Car Insurance........................... 80

Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 50

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

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

Childcare/nursery....................... 135 ParentPay for school 

Other child related expenses............ 150 - clubs and pocket money

Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 25 -added this in as actually both dh and I wear glasses and I have a prescription I need to get, get 6 months at a time thankfully to reduce cost.   I also have a large amount of vitamins i have to take daily and it’s cheaper to buy over the counter.  The vitamins are non negotiable I don’t absorb nutrients from food properly due to surgery so it’s a life long issue.

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

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

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

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

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

Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 10 - I get paid 13 times a year so my bonus November pay will be used towards Christmas.

Haircuts................................ 20 - just monkey boy.  Dh clippers his own, i box dye my own and get it cut once a year

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

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

Emergency fund.......................... 50 - need to up this

Union x 2............................... 50 - non negotiable 

Pension................................. 45[b]

Total monthly expenses.................. 2491.4[/b]

[b]

Assets[/b]

Cash.................................... 0 - I did have £200 in my purse, I have put it in a sealed money box so it can’t get spent in rubbish.

House value (Gross)..................... 115000

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

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

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

Total Assets............................ 130000[/b]

[b]

Secured & HP Debts[/b]

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

Mortgage...................... 67715....(321.4)....2.79

Secured Debt.................. 11346....(146)......3.79 2nd mortgage, payment for both parts of mortgage should reduce in total by £80 as of next month.  Appointment Friday to change deal.  

Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 12088....(211)......0< My car

Car 2..........................5367.....(211)......0[b] His car

Total secured & HP debts...... 96516.....-.........-   [/b]

[b]Unsecured Debts[/b]

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

Next store card................2000......120.......30 cleared by December 

Debenhams cc...................2200......120.......30 Cleared by October 

TSB cc ........................970.......30........30 Part clear June £200, remainder £800 clear July.

Barclays cc (mine).............6200......150.......30

Barclays cc (his 0%)...........5345......120.......0

Loan 1 (his)...................15100.....362.......13

Loan 2 (his)...................16250.....450.......17

Very - interest free...........300.......0.........0 Clear July

Capital 1 cc...................400.......21........30 cleared june budget 

Mbna cc (his)..................10000.....250.......25[b]

Total unsecured debts..........58765.....1623......-  [/b]

[b]

Monthly Budget Summary[/b]

Total monthly income.................... 5,062

Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,491.4

Available for debt repayments........... 2,570.6

Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 1,623[b]

Amount left after debt repayments....... 947.6[/b]

[b]Personal Balance Sheet Summary[/b]

Total assets (things you own)........... 130,000

Total HP & Secured debt................. -96,516

Total Unsecured debt.................... -58,765[b]

Net Assets.............................. -25,281[/b]

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

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

right so next month I am down £500 on wages due to being off sick.  So that leaves £450 for extra debt repayment in June not £950.

plan is as follows 

June - clear capital 1 card and use £94 of childcare and £100 of child activities budget to pay towards tsb card.  Parent pay account will be at 8 weeks of lunches and 8 weeks of tea club use paid for.
July - will have an extra £80 due to mortgage change and I will have full wage.  So spare cash is £1030 plus £100 of child activities and £97.5 of childcare budget.  Parent pay account is then at 8 weeks of childcare and lunches paid for Cleared by this point, tsb card, very account and capital 1!
August - spare cash now £1080 due to paying off a couple of cards (leaving childcare and child budgets alone this month to pay for uniform and activities should lock down be lifted)  full spare cash to Debenhams card, assuming dh home is food budget may increase and will need to give him fun money so spare cash to be thrown at Debenhams card will be £800
September - assuming everything as august.  Another £800 to Debenhams, parent pay then always runs at 8 weeks ahead.
october - as previous 2 month - Debenhams card would be clear.
november -  no Debenhams to pay so spare cash increased to £920 and thrown at the next account,
December - next account should be cleared!!!
january 2021 aiming to have £1040 spare cash a month to then throw at his Mbna card.  I feel that as I’ve cleared most of the debt in my name that it’s only fair to work then on dh card.  

Will see how things work out but I like having a plan.  This all assumes dh doesn’t have to pay for any more courses but I know he will so but I don’t know the cost so that will be an increase on a card but I can’t see it happening this year due to covid.  He has one course to do that i think his company pay for to get his promotion and pay rise so I’m hoping that will go ahead when he gets home (£1500 pay rise when has done this course, it’s actually frustrating as he could have done this course at any time in the past 5 years but he wanted to wait till he had past his last lot of exams).  He also has 2 empty cards with approx 15k limit over the 2 and has another 15k available on the Mbna which is an obscene amount of credit available when you look at his limits.  We really need to look at reducing his available credit as that’s concerning me given how tight things have been and having 30k right now available to spend with what we already have on the cards is scary, really he only needs 1 card with maybe a 5k limit (basically enough to get him home should he ever be stranded).

so given that dh has 4 cards, what would you recommend closing when the time comes.  When do I close them?  I’m thinking close every card bar the one with the bank he has his main account with?  Does that sound reasonable?  Should we keep the Mbna card?  Up to maybe 9 months ago we used to get lots of offers for balance transfers and money transfers on 0% which we used sensibly in the past to fund new windows and things for the house without taking out a loan.  At one point we even bought a car on that card on a 0% offer as it was cheaper than finance (he sold the car and cleared the card).

im such a planner so I know it’s obsessively planning but feel I need it down on paper so to speak to keep me focused and it’s giving me motivation to blast this especially if I can clear approx 6k by the end of the year,

shoppingobsessed2020

Arghhh made a mistake in my soa.  My car payment is £330 not £211,  blast.

shoppingobsessed2020

£830 a month spare cash not £950.  Should still be able to meet those deadline dates that I’ve given myself.  I’m literally wishing the next few months away so I can make a dent at this mess.

WhySeaEm

I've found your diary through your comment and been having a read. Looks like you're really starting to get to grips with your spending. I really need to do the same as I just don't know where our money goes. 

shoppingobsessed2020

A good analysis of bank statements and credits cards will do that!  Mine are all amazon prime for random rubbish we “need” (iPad cushions x 2 = £50, yes seriously that’s one of my amazon purchases and it was one of the better ones!), beauty (eyebrows, eyelashes, nails, Botox and facials - literally nothing to show for it bar a good set of tattooed eyebrows with a smooth forehead and no crows feet lol), food, gardener, and car valeting.  That’s where my money went alongside dh paying out to do a couple of qualifications.  Pokemon cards, Nintendo games, Xbox games, McDonald and costa multiple times a week.  That £5/£6 on a coffee and cake soon adds up.  Multiple times a week and you end up in the red before you know it.  It’s insane how quickly it can mount up.

whats killing me is knowing we could have literally almost paid our mortgage off yet we have wasted it which is what is giving me the motivation to blast it.  

enthusiasticsaver

shoppingobsessed2020 

so given that dh has 4 cards, what would you recommend closing when the time comes.  When do I close them?  I’m thinking close every card bar the one with the bank he has his main account with?  Does that sound reasonable?  Should we keep the Mbna card?  

I certainly don't think he needs to keep 4 cards with available credit of presumably £45k plus whatever the Barclays limit is.  When does the Barclays deal expire? If you have not had deals in the last 9 months I don't think they are going to materialise again any time soon particularly if credit tightens which it will if we have a recession as expected.  I personally would close at least one of those empty cards.  Keep the one he has had longest.  Close the MBNA and Barclays as they are repaid.  Certainly close the Next and Debenhams, TSB and Capital One.  Using 0% cards to buy things like windows and cars is only worth it if you repay within the deal period. 

You  have a plan and hopefully that will help you focus but I think the most important thing is to get out of the habit of buying any stuff on credit cards.  Paying £6k off the debt by the end of the year would be great. Good luck. 

shoppingobsessed2020

Shopping total £111.94/£250 they didn’t have my pringles.  Oh well better for the diet.

shoppingobsessed2020

@enthusiasticsaver thanks so much fro your help I really appreciate you taking the time to comment on my insanely long rambles.  I emailed his lordship last night and he’s adamant he is keeping the Mbna card with its current limit!  I can close the Halifax card and he wants to keep the Lloyds card as that’s the card he uses day to day,  for all our faults this card we don’t carry a balance on, if it’s used it’s paid off in full that month which is where some of the other accounts have ended up in a mess!  Once his Barclays is paid off (that’s got another 18 months interest free) I will close that account.  

I haven’t actually used a credit card at all the past couple of weeks which for me is amazing, Ok I’ve not been out anywhere but I’ve taken them out my purse and locked them in the safe.  It’s my debit cards only from now on and I need to stream line our current accounts.  We have 5 between us so I need to do some shifting as we don’t need that many!  3 is all we need, the joint account and a single account each, so that’s on the list to do.

shoppingobsessed2020

No option to close Halifax card and the limit has actually increased!  Not good, when lockdown is over I must go into the branch with my poa and close that account as it hasn’t been used in over 2years.

WhySeaEm

shoppingobsessed2020 said:

A good analysis of bank statements and credits cards will do that!  Mine are all amazon prime for random rubbish we “need” (iPad cushions x 2 = £50, yes seriously that’s one of my amazon purchases and it was one of the better ones!), beauty (eyebrows, eyelashes, nails, Botox and facials - literally nothing to show for it bar a good set of tattooed eyebrows with a smooth forehead and no crows feet lol), food, gardener, and car valeting.  That’s where my money went alongside dh paying out to do a couple of qualifications.  Pokemon cards, Nintendo games, Xbox games, McDonald and costa multiple times a week.  That £5/£6 on a coffee and cake soon adds up.  Multiple times a week and you end up in the red before you know it.  It’s insane how quickly it can mount up.

Ohhhh YES to Amazon Prime. It's embarrassing. And Pokemon cards. And Vbucks/Robux. I have a son who I spoil far too much...