Getting my life together before hitting the 'big' 3 0

NekoKi · 24 September 2022 at 9:45PM

I've always known how to budget and live within my means, which makes me even sillier for not getting it done!
In 1 year and 8 months I'll be turning 30, and I want to enter that chapter of my life being well on my way to a frugal, financially independent future. The biggest flaw in this plan is that I have a chronic condition that is currently quite disabling, and I have no idea when or if it will go back into remission. I've decided to work towards my goals anyway, and hope that it conveniently clears off along with all my debt and other issues!

I'm around £4k in debt and had to stop working a year ago, so currently rely solely on benefits. I've decided to use the time to get some higher qualifications under my belt, learn a new language or two and try to develop some useful life skills such as cooking, baking, sewing. I'm single and share custody of my 6 year old DD with her Dad, no pets. I'm not sure where all my money goes but I suspect that most of it goes on either food or trying to make my house look halfway decent, which seems to be a huge uphill battle as I'm too unwell to decorate or do even simple DIY myself. I'm going to try to stop spending on the house because I never have money for anything else, and being in debt makes me feel very stressed out. I'd love to start saving for a house deposit once it's all gone, so that once I'm well enough to go back to work I can (hopefully) get a small mortgage for a place of our very own.

I plan to note down all of my spends, and maybe join in some of the Oldstyle challenges to help me become more mindful with regards to food and entertainment spending. The diaries on here have really inspired me over the past few weeks, and I can't wait to carry on reading. I've yet to get to the end of any, but I'll certainly be giving it my best shot!

NekoKi · 24 September 2022 at 9:56PM

[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......... 1

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

Monthly Income Details[/b]

Monthly income after tax................ 0

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

Benefits................................ 2080

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

Total monthly income.................... 2080[/b][b]

Monthly Expense Details[/b]

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

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

Rent.................................... 450

Management charge (leasehold property).. 0

Council tax............................. 15

Electricity............................. 40

Gas..................................... 40

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

Water rates............................. 40

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

Mobile phone............................ 10

TV Licence.............................. 0

Satellite/Cable TV...................... 7

Internet Services....................... 35

Groceries etc. ......................... 400

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

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

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

Car Insurance........................... 0

Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 260

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Haircuts................................ 10

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

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

Emergency fund.......................... 0

Cleaner................................. 60[b]

Total monthly expenses.................. 1367[/b]

[b]

Assets[/b]

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

House value (Gross)..................... 0

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

Car(s).................................. 0

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

Total Assets............................ 0[/b]

[b]

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts[/b]

[b]Unsecured Debts[/b]

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

Loan...........................700.......85........0

Loan...........................700.......65........0

Loan...........................800.......50........0

Water arrears..................350.......30........0

Loan...........................2000......45........0[b]

Total unsecured debts..........4550......275.......- [/b]

[b]

Monthly Budget Summary[/b]

Total monthly income.................... 2,080

Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,367

Available for debt repayments........... 713

Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 275[b]

Amount left after debt repayments....... 438[/b]

[b]Personal Balance Sheet Summary[/b]

Total assets (things you own)........... 0

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

Total Unsecured debt.................... -4,550[b]

Net Assets.............................. -4,550[/b]

[i]Created using the SOA calculator at www.LemonFool.co.uk.

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

A few notes about the parts that I may get questions on:
I usually aim to spend £200pm on food shopping, but this never seems to be enough and I'd also like to start getting out of the house once every two weeks for a meal with DD, so have started my grocery budget off quite high.
Fast internet is important to me and my current provider is the best I've managed to find so far, so don't plan to change that any time soon as I live fairly remotely and have had disastrous connections previously.
I should really start to budget for clothes, christmas, birthdays I know. I hope to stabilise my spending first or else I'll just end up dipping into it by the end of every month.
The £260 for car maintenance is what I pay motability for my car. This price includes use of the car, insurance, MOT, repairs, everything apart from fuel basically.
The cleaner has been an absolute life saver for me. I feel stressed if my home isn't spotless, so I was using up far too much of my limited energy on cleaning when I'd much rather spend it having quality time with DD while she's young.