Time to be an adult about this!

no_more_spending

I have just turned 30 and just can't stop spending! Doh!

I have been on this journey for a bit so we are down to no credit cards as we are clearly not credit card people (Caleb Hammer anyone?) but we do have two substantial loans bringing our debt to circa £27k. There's just me and husband (DH) and my two kitties but somehow... we spend SO MUCH money on food! And Amazon... I have cancelled Amazon now when I looked at my 2023 orders.... Holy shhh...... it was horrifying. So much tat that now clutters my house.

I have read so many people's diaries but never signed up so never commented. This is me sharing hopefully my wins and likely losses on the journey to save up to over pay these loans and hopefully being able to support the many diaries that I have been inspired by.

We are thinking kiddo's in the next few years and I'm a tad horrified how much we just willy nilly spend. We are very fortunate that our income is higher than the average so we really have no excuse. 

I'm going to post an SOA if it's helpful. Here's to trying to be in more control of our 2024.

x_raphael_xx

Good luck!

and as Caleb would say...Taquitos, taquitos, taquitos!

no_more_spending

Debt free date with paying just the standard payments. June 2028.

SOA to follow but debts (excl mortgage) are made up of:

Halifax - £16,637.59 (Started at 20k)
Home renovations, had a leak in the bathroom and ended up re-doing it and both bedrooms. In hindsight, unnecessary!! £6k of the original £20k was used to pay off the credit card which built up to DH being off work for a bit on Statutory Sick Pay.

Santander - £9,766.86 (Started at £12k)
Loan for surgery for DH. Yes the NHS exists, however he received appalling service and was off work for 7 months. 5 months of that being fobbed off by the NHS on SSP and 2 months recovering from spinal surgery once we decided enough was enough and went private. We used some savings and topped up with this loan. 100% still the best money we've ever spent. 

no_more_spending

Thank you and OMG yes!!! @x_raphael_xx

No more Taquitos!

no_more_spending

Soooo this was January spend put into SOA. So much food for two people... eek! It's definitely eye opening doing this. Even if no one reads it, I'll have somewhere to keep track.

I'll do another SOA with March's budget and I think I'll do weekly check in's. Try some no spend day challenges. Any recommendations are welcome too.

[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......... 0
Number of cats...... 2!

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

Monthly Income Details[/b]

Monthly income after tax................ 3054

Partners monthly income after tax....... 2300

Benefits................................ 0

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

Total monthly income.................... 5354[/b][b]

Monthly Expense Details[/b]

Mortgage................................ 974

Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 220

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

Management charge (leasehold property).. 0

Council tax............................. 161

Electricity............................. 75

Gas..................................... 75

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

Water rates............................. 22

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

Mobile phone............................ 25

TV Licence.............................. 14

Satellite/Cable TV...................... 30

Internet Services....................... 28

Groceries etc. ......................... 530 (ahhhhhh!)

Clothing................................ 75

Petrol/diesel........................... 130 (could be less, had two big trips to see family)

Road tax................................ 55 (one 3 y/o car that is £20, one 18 y/o car that is £35)

Car Insurance........................... 70 (we do sinking funds and pay in full, but save roughly this p/m)

Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 50 (same as above, SF)

Car parking............................. 10

Other travel............................ 25

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

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

Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 18 (dentist plan)

Pet insurance/vet bills................. 85 (pet insurance & vet's plan x2)

Buildings insurance..................... 20 (paid yearly, SF saving)

Contents insurance...................... 10 (paid yearly, SF saving)

Life assurance ......................... 39 

Other insurance......................... 195 (private medical cover since our NHS misery)

Presents (birthday, christmas etc)......150 (this is a SF pot, sometimes spend more)

Haircuts................................ 35 (this was Jan, I only go every 3 months)

Entertainment........................... 240 (two London trips and a date night)

Holiday................................. 200 (we only do UK breaks but are due to go on a family holiday abroad this year)

Emergency fund.......................... 200 (only recently being built up again, drained most of it when DH was off work)

Fixed Saver............................ 150 

Investing............................... 200 (S&S ISA)

Clutter purchases....................... 230 (Amazon.... Home Bargains.... The Range)

Eating Out.............................. 310 (Takeaways and friends Christmas in Jan)[b]

Total monthly expenses.................. 4651[/b]

[b]

Assets[/b]

Cash.................................... 1200

House value (Gross)..................... 240000

Shares and bonds........................ 7843

Car(s).................................. 12000

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

Total Assets............................ 261043[/b]

[b]

Secured & HP Debts[/b]

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

Mortgage...................... 191393...(974)......4.34

Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 12517....(220)......0[b]

Total secured & HP debts...... 203910....-.........-   [/b]

[b]Unsecured Debts[/b]

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

Halifax........................16637.....426.......5.4

Santander......................9766.86...209.......5.39[b]

Total unsecured debts..........26403.86..635.......-  [/b]

[b]

Monthly Budget Summary[/b]

Total monthly income.................... 5,354

Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 4,651

Available for debt repayments........... 703

Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 635[b]

Amount left after debt repayments....... 68[/b] (so we just scraped by not spending more than we earned but we definitely wasted some)

[b]Personal Balance Sheet Summary[/b]

Total assets (things you own)........... 261,043

Total HP & Secured debt................. -203,910

Total Unsecured debt.................... -26,403.86[b]

Net Assets.............................. 30,729.14[/b]

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

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

MFWannabe

no_more_spending said:

Soooo this was January spend put into SOA. So much food for two people... eek! It's definitely eye opening doing this. Even if no one reads it, I'll have somewhere to keep track.

I'll do another SOA with March's budget and I think I'll do weekly check in's. Try some no spend day challenges. Any recommendations are welcome too.

[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......... 0
Number of cats...... 2!

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

Monthly Income Details[/b]

Monthly income after tax................ 3054

Partners monthly income after tax....... 2300

Benefits................................ 0

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

Total monthly income.................... 5354[/b][b]

Monthly Expense Details[/b]

Mortgage................................ 974

Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 220

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

Management charge (leasehold property).. 0

Council tax............................. 161

Electricity............................. 75

Gas..................................... 75

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

Water rates............................. 22

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

Mobile phone............................ 25

TV Licence.............................. 14

Satellite/Cable TV...................... 30

Internet Services....................... 28

Groceries etc. ......................... 530 (ahhhhhh!)

Clothing................................ 75

Petrol/diesel........................... 130 (could be less, had two big trips to see family)

Road tax................................ 55 (one 3 y/o car that is £20, one 18 y/o car that is £35)

Car Insurance........................... 70 (we do sinking funds and pay in full, but save roughly this p/m)

Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 50 (same as above, SF)

Car parking............................. 10

Other travel............................ 25

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

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

Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 18 (dentist plan)

Pet insurance/vet bills................. 85 (pet insurance & vet's plan x2)

Buildings insurance..................... 20 (paid yearly, SF saving)

Contents insurance...................... 10 (paid yearly, SF saving)

Life assurance ......................... 39 

Other insurance......................... 195 (private medical cover since our NHS misery)

Presents (birthday, christmas etc)......150 (this is a SF pot, sometimes spend more)

Haircuts................................ 35 (this was Jan, I only go every 3 months)

Entertainment........................... 240 (two London trips and a date night)

Holiday................................. 200 (we only do UK breaks but are due to go on a family holiday abroad this year)

Emergency fund.......................... 200 (only recently being built up again, drained most of it when DH was off work)

Fixed Saver............................ 150 

Investing............................... 200 (S&S ISA)

Clutter purchases....................... 230 (Amazon.... Home Bargains.... The Range)

Eating Out.............................. 310 (Takeaways and friends Christmas in Jan)[b]

Total monthly expenses.................. 4651[/b]

[b]

Assets[/b]

Cash.................................... 1200

House value (Gross)..................... 240000

Shares and bonds........................ 7843

Car(s).................................. 12000

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

Total Assets............................ 261043[/b]

[b]

Secured & HP Debts[/b]

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

Mortgage...................... 191393...(974)......4.34

Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 12517....(220)......0[b]

Total secured & HP debts...... 203910....-.........-   [/b]

[b]Unsecured Debts[/b]

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

Halifax........................16637.....426.......5.4

Santander......................9766.86...209.......5.39[b]

Total unsecured debts..........26403.86..635.......-  [/b]

[b]

Monthly Budget Summary[/b]

Total monthly income.................... 5,354

Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 4,651

Available for debt repayments........... 703

Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 635[b]

Amount left after debt repayments....... 68[/b] (so we just scraped by not spending more than we earned but we definitely wasted some)

[b]Personal Balance Sheet Summary[/b]

Total assets (things you own)........... 261,043

Total HP & Secured debt................. -203,910

Total Unsecured debt.................... -26,403.86[b]

Net Assets.............................. 30,729.14[/b]

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

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

Wow your food spending is incredible for two people. £840 in total including groceries, takeaways and eating out 🙄
You should be able to easily halve this! What exactly do you spend it on? Lunches? Ready meals? 

What’s the interest rate on the HP debt? 

2 cars but don’t spend that much on fuel really, is it necessary to have two cars? You pay a lot in car tax 

clutter purchases? What exactly were these and you need to cut them out as that’s a huge amount to spend 

£150 per month on presents? That’s a huge amount! Could easily halve this! 

enthusiasticsaver

I have to give you credit for posting an honest soa and you obviously have gone to a lot of trouble to see exactly what you have spent.  There is loads of scope for cutting back and I think you have identified lots already.  The groceries, takeaways, clutter purchases can all be cut down but your situation is not critical.  

The loans were for arguably things that if not unavoidable at least desirable rather than you overspending on lifestyle.  The rates aren't great but not awful and you are using sinking funds and saving an EF and even investing in a stocks and shares ISA.  Some say you should focus on debts first but as yours seem under control I would not stop any of what you are doing except the overspending. If you want children in the next few years I would definitely focus on getting rid of that debt as childcare is expensive.  You do not say what the HP interest rate is but that is worth looking at too. £855 a month is being spent on repaying debt so getting that paid off will mean you are essentially £855 better off which will help if maternity leave or childcare needs to be paid for. 

Is that HP a personal loan for a car or is it a car finance deal with a balloon payment?  What is the plan to pay the loans  off before  2028? Overpayments or are you saving to pay them off in full? 

elsien

Just wondering how much your husband is on board with this? Because it takes two, and all that. 

joedenise

As I right in thinking that your car tax is an annual amount rather than monthly?  I ask this as I pay £30 a year not month for my car tax.  

 

no_more_spending

Thanks everyone for all the comments. Yes totally get that we're not in dire straights but I am appalled at how blase we have been with our spending.

Yes DH is on board, he grew up in a house with no money and second hand everything so he is equally horrified that we have just been tap tap tapping away with our joint account cards.

Cars! So we actually survived on one car for a long time and got the second one last year. DH needs his for work and we coped with just that one, the 18 y/o one. He is a tradesmen so he is out at jobs all the time and it definitely shows, it's covered in plaster half the time. I was able to work from home for a long time but now we've flipped to being in the office again so second car was needed as it's an hour and a half commute by public transport or a 25 minute drive. I also have some care responsibilities for my nan who is getting a bit frail so I am hospital taxi and a few other things so it made sense for us to get another car. I haven't included the interest rate as I couldn't for the life of me find the paper work but the £12k is how much we will end up paying in total (for a car that's worth £11.5k) if we don't pay it off earlier. It is HP so no balloon payment. I know it's one of the expensive options to buying a car but we weighed up our options and here we are. I got some discount through work too. It is 5 doors (the old one is only 3) so it will do if we do decide on the kiddo route too. We plan to keep it until it dies just like the old one. 

Car tax is car tax, we clearly didn't check this before but not much I can do about it now woops. Fuel is low ish as DH get's some of his re-imbursed via work.

The £150 a month on presents is actually how much we put aside for the sinking fund which also saves for Christmas so I see it as spent in Jan. Sorry for the confusion. Maybe I will do a budget thing to show that we do save quite a lot for future expenses, one good money habit I have managed to keep up. About £700 of the £1200 cash is SF's, £500 is the buffer I keep which I want to increase. We have a family birthday literally every month but only spend £30-40 on the individual. So in Jan, we spent £38 on father-in-law for his birthday plus a takeaway of his choice (our contribution was £30 to takeaway).
Somehow, we are seen as the most responsible believe it or not so once we bought our house, we are the host's of Christmas every year and admittedly we like to treat people so we don't ask for any contributions. We switch family's yearly, his family then my family, but we always host so I like to have plenty available to feed everyone and treat. 

The Halifax loan is easy to over pay, can literally do it in the app. Santander are a right pain so aim to save up a pot of money to then ask for a settlement figure and pay it.

The overspending is my key reason for starting this. I want to be able to track our progress and just talk money with people to be honest. It's hard in my current circle because no one wants to discuss finances, we've all collectively plonked our heads in the sand rather than talk it out and help each other. 

I have gone over groceries and I think I need to break it out more. £80 of this was cat food, we have to buy prescription stuff as fussy cats.... rolls eyes... they are divas vet certified. £120 was alcohol! We went to a friend's gathering and hosted one in Jan. We're not even massive drinkers, maybe a beer here, glass of wine there. No dry January happening in the no_spend household! So that leaves £330 on food stuff. Which is still a lot for two people. I definitely remember throwing stuff away too which is so wasteful so definitely cutting back here. I think we have made progress in Feb because we started meal planning again and I made the change to doing a small shop every couple days. I find I get a big shop for the week and then some plan changes and then we end up not cooking what we should have and then boom, we end up throwing it out. I will do an SOA with Feb's spend I think as I found it super useful. Maybe I can do some comparisons to see if we have actually improved in Feb like I think (hope!) we have.

Eating out, it all adds up.... £300 later oof! £45 was my share of Christmas in Jan, £30 to father-in-law birthday takeaway, £125 on treating my parents in their favourite restaurant when I visited them (ouch), about £50 of meal deals from DH (who in fairness has been packing a lunch in Feb), £15 in Greggs for work donuts (me) and £35 pay day pizza.

Clutter purchases is what I call my impulse buys I guess, I went on a cleaning product binge it seems to to tune of £55! All now under my sink and not magically cleaning my house for me unfortunately. £35 x 2 on a photo frame because I liked it so much I bought my Mum one. Amazon had a cat scratcher thing, new socks, phone case, new headphones, cat litter. Just lots of STUFF. Stuff I definitely don't need other than the cat litter at least.

Soooooooo thanks for reading if you made it this far. It's quite therapeutic writing this all out and analysing the data. Which is hilarious to me as guess what.... I work in Data Analytics!  

no_more_spending

Oops.... just re-read my post. When I said £12k for the car, that's how much is left of what we owe in total. It started as £13.5k ish for a car worth £11.5k is what I mean. Hope that makes sense. We likely could have gone cheaper thinking on it but we did manage to get some discount and it is a really solid car. Worse case scenario we could probably sell it if we needed to. 

I also just noticed that I messed up the car tax, it is £15pm for the HP car. £35 pm for the ancient car that never dies. We only bought it for £500 as it had a year's MOT. DH needed it as a emergency vehicle to get him to work when his died and 6 years later... it's still going. We do get it serviced every year so it costs us about £250-300 including MOT each year.