Single mum to 5, striving for debt free life

mark55man

No wonder you are a bit down today - just do what you have to do to survive today and this week and don't beat yourself up. BUT at the same time don't let it derail you for ages.  Wait a few days and then (in your mum's voice) give yourself a kick up the backside and get on with it

savingholmes

mark55man said:

No wonder you are a bit down today - just do what you have to do to survive today and this week and don't beat yourself up. BUT at the same time don't let it derail you for ages.  Wait a few days and then (in your mum's voice) give yourself a kick up the backside and get on with it

What he said. Seriously, be kind to yourself this week - sounds like you are. Of course it's going to be hard caring for 5 kids on your own. Doubly hard when grieving and around anniversaries too. You are doing really well. 

I'm going to look into the gold thing too as I have some and have no idea what it's worth.

Jill12

Good morning, another day, another chance. Feeling significantly lighter in mood today and far more positive. As always thank you for everyone for the positive feedback and support. @DancingInTheRain, I am delighted you got such a wonderful result from the company, @savingholmes you may be sitting on a goldmine x

Out for dinner last night with friends who cheered me up no end and made the £25 spend on dinner worth every penny. The spend on hair colour, scissors and hair products came to £25 yesterday and I ll do my hair myself- always have as the hairdressers terrify me. Nil alcohol crossed my lips as I chose to drive. Another expense on Wednesday was a tattoo coming in at £180- budgeted for and planned months in advance. Had heed and hawked as whether to go ahead with it or not but I do love a tattoo or 100!!! Very much a luxury I understand. Have found the joy that is Tilly Tides and occasionally round up pence to move over to the savings account but it still looks ridiculously barren, I ll tackle that to create a small EF after PP is gone but before I destroy the car loan. I will add an extra £50 to the weekly household budget from payday to allow for wiggle room and extras like clothes or shoes. My DS had requested a new electric razor and I kept putting him off as there was no wiggle room in the budget, although I was getting tattooed he was not allowed to shave lol......priorities and all that. So the extra £50 can get stuck in a pot for unexpected eventualities like that. 11 days to payday and I am now joining the girls at work in the skint club..... not so smart now Jill!!! However, budget is still holding its own and there is enough money to get through until payday. 

Today I am having breakfast for my brother- paid for by him then meeting a friend for a long walk and catch up. Once home I am going to start a declutter and tidy of my bedroom so needing a bit of luck with that. Happy Saturday folks x

Jill12

Completed a SOA out of curiosity and it has not made for pretty reading. I am quite clearly terrible at budgeting and have no idea where my money is going. Time to go back to the very beginning with the budget. Mobile cost covers 4 mobiles, groceries at £1200 is the weekly shopping money that covers every event in the family for a week from food, fuel, gifts. I pay all insurances in full every year but dont budget for it throughout the year. As each big expense comes in I cover it monthly. Example, car repair at £300 say would come off of left over money. I defo need to redo this budget and start again but in the meantime here it is.

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

Household Information[/b]

Number of adults in household........... 1

Number of children in household......... 5

Number of cars owned.................... 1[b]

Monthly Income Details[/b]

Monthly income after tax................ 3200

Partners monthly income after tax....... 0

Benefits................................ 308

Other income............................ 600[b]

Total monthly income.................... 4108[/b][b]

Monthly Expense Details[/b]

Mortgage................................ 450

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

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

Management charge (leasehold property).. 0

Council tax............................. 113

Electricity............................. 173

Gas..................................... 0

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

Water rates............................. 0

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

Mobile phone............................ 89

TV Licence.............................. 13

Satellite/Cable TV...................... 43.5

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

Groceries etc. ......................... 1200

Clothing................................ 0

Petrol/diesel........................... 0

Road tax................................ 0

Car Insurance........................... 40

Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0

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

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

Childcare/nursery....................... 300

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

Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0

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

Buildings insurance..................... 20

Contents insurance...................... 0

Life assurance ......................... 14

Other insurance......................... 30

Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0

Haircuts................................ 0

Entertainment........................... 0

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

Emergency fund.......................... 0[b]

Total monthly expenses.................. 2485.5[/b]

[b]

Assets[/b]

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

House value (Gross)..................... 180000

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

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

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

Total Assets............................ 195000[/b]

[b]

Secured & HP Debts[/b]

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

Mortgage...................... 68000....(450)......2.3[b]

Total secured & HP debts...... 68000.....-.........-   [/b]

[b]Unsecured Debts[/b]

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

paypal.........................1220......50........0

m&s loan.......................13200.....308.......5.9[b]

Total unsecured debts..........14420.....358.......-  [/b]

[b]

Monthly Budget Summary[/b]

Total monthly income.................... 4,108

Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,485.5

Available for debt repayments........... 1,622.5

Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 358[b]

Amount left after debt repayments....... 1,264.5[/b]

[b]Personal Balance Sheet Summary[/b]

Total assets (things you own)........... 195,000

Total HP & Secured debt................. -68,000

Total Unsecured debt.................... -14,420[b]

Net Assets.............................. 112,580[/b]

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

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

Jill12

I also have a pension pot with about £90,000 in it that is with a default provider. I need to get advise on the best place to put this to grow. I pay into my NHS pension monthly and employers contributed. This is sitting at about £16000, I think. Would be good to try and forecast future values but this is an area totally new to me. 

MatyMoo

You aren’t doing terribly at budgeting at all!

I would start to move the grocery spend around in to the correct pots like fuel for the car, haircuts, car maintenance, road fund licence, clothing entertainment etc and then try to save for the annual expenses monthly in a separate account. 

Then you will be able to see what your household expenditure really is and if you can cut down on a category and move it where needed.

You have a good excess every month!

joedenise

Being retired and on a pension I couldn't work in the way you do.  I really have to budget in the way set out in the budget planner so that the money is available when the bills are due.  I agree with @MatyMoo that you need to redo your budget separating out the different categories.  You don't necessarily need to use a separate savings account (I don't as I get interest on my current account).

You are doing really well.  Don't beat yourself up.

mark55man

Pension Bore here - just a few thoughts and forgive me if stating the obvious, but in truth it is complicated (beyond belief sometimes).  Assuming you are 40 planning to retire in your 60s.   

* With £90K money in a pot (this would seem to be a defined contribution DC pot - where you invest money and it grows (or not) but its your risk to generate an income  when you choose from 55 onward (maybe 58 if you are younger as the rules changed again)
* Working for NHS, although you are contributing you are NOT building a pot of money with the NHS, you are building an entitlement to an income aka a Defined Benefit (Final Salary or CARE)  which it will be the governments risk to fund (clue they will be good for it). In the private sector you can (difficult but possible) cash in a DB entitlement for surprisingly large amounts of money.  This is not private sector largesse, its just that a guaranteed income is way more valuable than people expect
* On top of that you will have your state pension entitlement building up both through work and in child allowance entitlement - you should check what you have on the gov site - also complicated as people's trajectories through life are so different, but basically you get a maximum figure and current entitlement

One good use of the DC pot when you are older is if you are still working when you old enough to withdraw is to buy extra NHS pension as this turns your pot into guaranteed income - but that will need a careful assessment of your requirements.  But with full state pension, 30 years Full time NHS plus some DC money on the side you might be looking at £25-30Kp.a in todays money when you get to normal retirement age (or a bit less if you need to take it earlier, but for longer).  Do your own calculations most pension providers give estimates (pinch of salt needed).  

I am not a financial professional, just became very interested a decade ago and have hung around the pension boards for ages, but not many of them are on the DF boards - funny that ! So just make sure you understand what you have built up for yourself.

Finally with 20 years to go the general guidance for your existing DC would be invest in the lowest cost global equities fund, and reconsider your options as you get to within 5-10 years from needing it.  Over 20 years cash or cash like investments will lose purchasing power and although this won't in hindsight you can always find something that will have done better, looking forward from now to then it removes the risk that you think you know better than the market, whilst removing erosion due to fees

Jill12

@MatyMoo and @joedenise, I have my Monzo account waiting to be filled up once payday comes around and then will siphon out in to little pots.

@mark55man, lots of good advice and I appreciate you taking the time to post, lots to think about. For now I log into the pension and look at all the funds and options I have- which are many and well lets just say I have a lot of reading to do before I can make an informed decision. The Gov pensions is fully paid up so far with contributions as started working at 14 part time and always worked since, thats if a Gov pension exists when I come to retirement. 

On the debt front I have refinanced the car loan to APR of 5.9 for £13151 over 4 years. Saves couple £100 and reduces term by a few months, pocket change has been flung at PP but two children have had birthdays so cakes and presents have been the order of priority. Still fully intend to repay PP on 26 Jan, one week to go.

Professionally I have been offered a new job part time over 4 days with a new team that I have accepted. I can work overtime to make up the pay gap if I want and that is the biggest draw- if I want. I will undertake a post grad certificate come April that will run over 2 years and this will be funded through my employer. The qualification will open up my career and earning potential so win win I think. 

I am going to be happy to say goodbye to January as now getting closer to Spring and payday!! A neighbour was cutting their grass the other day and the smell of freshly cut grass was just heavenly, better days are coming xx

mark55man

look at the monevator site.  Has lots of simple examples and suggestions.  You need to cut through the choice and work out what you would be happy with - most of mine is in cheap fees, global reach - let all the entrepreneurs of the world make you comfortable slowly rather than trying to get rich quick.  I'm quite a lot older than you so my allocation is a bit different but that's where I was 10 years ago.  Anyway good luck