Taking back control of my finances

Saving_Pots

Hi Everyone,
I wanted to come on and start a debt free diary, and take some control over my finances rather than the other way around.
I work in Finance and although I earn well, I also spend it very well too.  I'm fantastic with preparing and analysing budgets, sticking to my own however is a completely different story.
My DH works for himself so his income can be unpredictable, we are are recently married but we do tend to keep our financials fairly separate.  When we socialise we split our expenditure 50/50 but I pay all the household expenses - council tax, gas, water, electric etc.  The house DH had when I met him and there is no mortgage so my costs would be much higher if I paying half the bills and half a mortgage repayment each month so i'm fine with that.  We share the food bill equally which seems to work for us, most household repairs and holidays I tend to cover.  My earnings are almost three times DH's and it works for us.  
I have two teenage children from my previous marriage, whom I'm financially responsible for but their dad does contribute monthly maintenance this is used to cover all their clubs and sports, savings for them and things like passport renewals, winter coats, weekly pocket money, revision guides etc.  As they get older everything gets so much more expensive!

In terms of debt I have the following - 
Bank loan 1 - £2,941.60
Bank loan 2 - £927.84
Bank loan 3 - £1,063.82
CC 1 - £3560
I also have an HMRC repayment, I need to find out how much is left.  It was from tax credits claimed when I was  single, and due to receiving a couple of promotions at work my salary was incorrectly calculated so I repay this at £100 a month. 
My car is also on a finance agreement.  I will find the details to include this also, as it's still debt!
 
I was accepted for a 0% balance transfer on my CC last night for 24months which will help alot.  My monthly repayments barely make a dent when they charge interest.  
I have overspent this month already, I've tried to build up a small amount of savings as a buffer but because I have access on my online banking it's so easy to skim it regularly.  There were a few unexpected spends this month with some household repairs, car & boiler service too that I just didn't consider.  So my savings are currently at £448.  

I'm going to work on my budget tomorrow as I'm on half a days leave from work.  We are heading to a caravan Mon - Fri as the kids are with their dad, just DH and the doggo. I booked it back in January as a sun deal but then we took an upgrade and they phoned me before to check us in and we hadn't paid a pet charge so that was a £40 phone call!
I'm currently studying towards my professional qualifications which I'm self funding, but unfortunately its taking me so much longer to get through it than I expected so I plan to do alot of revision this coming week and plan my finances out properly.  I read a diary on here previously where the owner allocated £10 spend per day, for whatever they wanted.  I'm going to try this in November.  Although it may seem a lot £300 to 'waste' , it's actually controlled spending.  It's worth a go anyway. We are quite a social couple and will spend most weekends so something needs to give.   I have listed out the social events between my next two pay days and I think the £10 per day will work.  I'm really hoping so.  It does just all run away from you really.  I've worked really hard and built a good career but having always had an element of debt I feel now I earn more I spend more as well.  I'd like to clear the debt, build up the savings and mostly just learn to not waste money.  

Well, making a debt diary is certainly a start!  
SP x

enthusiasticsaver

Sounds like you have some good objectives there and I guess you just need to be more careful with spends.  Presumably your outgoings are not too bad if there is no mortgage but sometimes you spend more than you think on those.  You seem to be in control though and as you say food bills are shared equally.  

I love spreadsheets too and do a new one each month showing income/fixed expenditure/planned expenditure and disposable income.  The second page is a spending diary which shows  a running figure as we spend the disposable income.  Personal expenditure is separate as we allocate a certain amount each month into our separate personal accounts. Savings are also put aside for annual expenditure and holidays/gifts etc. What I am getting at is the spending diary shows from day to day any unallocated spends so I can see at a glance if we are overspending.  How do you use your spreadsheets? 

Good luck with getting the debt repaid and hopefully if you earn well it will soon be a thing of the past. 

ceremony

It sounds like you've got some good plans there!

Before the pandemic started I did something similar with budgeting. I'd lay out my income and expenses, and what was left would get divided up into an amount per day. I made myself stay under that spending amount, and anything that wasn't spent would get carried over until the next day.  That worked well for me because I don't tend to spend a lot in one go, I'd just fritter away money on coffees or paper magazines.

Good luck banishing the debt!