Paying off £37065 unsecured debt by July 2027 while continuing to travel this amazing world

MFWannabe

Nintud said:

New soa. This time I’ve included everything missed off my first attempt, updated income and adjusted expenses to be as realistic as I can get them. I’m left with very little wriggle room.

It’s pay day. First day of my snowball debt repayment plan.

[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......... 2

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

Monthly Income Details[/b]

Monthly income after tax................ 3670

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

Benefits................................ 170

Other income............................ 283[b]

Total monthly income.................... 4123[/b][b]

Monthly Expense Details[/b]

Mortgage................................ 749

Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 347

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

Management charge (leasehold property).. 135

Council tax............................. 125

Electricity............................. 58.5

Gas..................................... 58.5

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

Water rates............................. 45

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

Mobile phone............................ 78

TV Licence.............................. 15

Satellite/Cable TV...................... 5

Internet Services....................... 25

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

Clothing................................ 80

Petrol/diesel........................... 65

Road tax................................ 2.5

Car Insurance........................... 165

Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 25

Car parking............................. 5

Other travel............................ 150

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

Other child related expenses............ 150

Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 30

Pet insurance/vet bills................. 20

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

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

Life assurance ......................... 35

Other insurance......................... 16

Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 140

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

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

Holiday................................. 165

Emergency fund.......................... 25[b]

Total monthly expenses.................. 2984.5[/b]

[b]

Assets[/b]

Cash.................................... 10

House value (Gross)..................... 172000

Shares and bonds........................ 525

Car(s).................................. 8500

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

Total Assets............................ 181035[/b]

[b]

Secured & HP Debts[/b]

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

Mortgage...................... 108572...(749)......4.5

Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 5562.....(347)......0[b]

Total secured & HP debts...... 114134....-.........-   [/b]

[b]Unsecured Debts[/b]

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

Very...........................943.......98........42.9

MBNA cc........................13953.....124.......23.76

Santander cc...................10638.....203.......21.66

Omni loan......................5200......261.......11.5

Nationwide.....................199.......50........39

Santander OD...................2900......39.9......0

Currys.........................799.......66.59.....0

Natiowide cc...................470.......25........16.9[b]

Total unsecured debts..........35102.....867.49....-  [/b]

[b]

Monthly Budget Summary[/b]

Total monthly income.................... 4,123

Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,984.5

Available for debt repayments........... 1,138.5

Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 867.49[b]

Amount left after debt repayments....... 271.01[/b]

[b]Personal Balance Sheet Summary[/b]

Total assets (things you own)........... 181,035

Total HP & Secured debt................. -114,134

Total Unsecured debt.................... -35,102[b]

Net Assets.............................. 31,799[/b]

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

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

Morning 
Ref new soa 
Gas and Electric figures are still the same but you reduced direct debit? 

Are the figures in your Santander OD correct? I think they’re the wrong way round? 

Hopefully you can remove daughter from car insurance very soon 🤞

MFWannabe

Nintud said:

£380.97 paid to Santander cc. Minimum payment and over limit amount paid.

£100 paid to MBNA. I had chipped away at this, so ‘only’ needed to pay £100 to pay the full minimum, plus an overpayment of £3 to round it down to £13,850.

£136.78 to Very as per snowball calculation.

Will put £20 into emergency savings to bring it up to £25, my planned saving per month for the moment.

I have a 2 year savings bond paying out today.  I paid £250 into that for my weekend in France. I have a few euros left from Austria, so I will change about £150 into Euros and pay some of my leasehold management charge with the remainder.

Dinner was a ys Cornish pasty from the freezer. I  picked up a ys malt loaf and muffins on Monday so lunch will be a fried egg muffin and a slice of malt loaf. Baked sweet potato and tuna for dinner.  I’m eating out of the cupboards and freezer while boys are at their Dad’s this week.  I generally live off left overs and cheese toasties on my child free weeks. I can’t be bothered to cook (and wash up) a full meal for one. Will have a banana for breakfast to offset the fried egg 😂

Finally going car shopping with daughter tomorrow. Once she has her car I will contact my insurance company to get her off my insurance, provided the admin charges don’t outweigh the monthly payment until it’s time to renew in December.

Payday and I’m barely in credit in my bank accounts 😭. Snowball calculation has my debt free date as July 2028.  Considering how much I have to pay, that date is good, but counting every penny is torture.

Hopefully Vinted sales will pick up so that I can pay off the debt faster. £2.50 in sales today.

to do:
1. Put £20 into emergency fund
2. Call Santander to reduce overdraft limit by another £75.
3. Put £65 into Curry’s fund (0% interest for 12 months)
4. Post Vinted parcel
5. Upload 5 more items to Vinted.
6. Put laundry away. I’ve half dried it in the tumble dryer and put it on the airer to finish off.
7. Use bath water to flush the loo (I’ve been reading Ladybird’s diary on the MFW board!)
8. Call child maintenance to confirm I have parental responsibility for the boys (tried on Monday but was on hold for 45 minutes)
9. Car shop with daughter
10. Buy food for meeting I’m Chairing (and claim spend back through expenses)

Unfortunately you’re in it for the long haul with this level of debt; it’s not looking at where money is going that got you here. However the positives are:
1)  Youve caught it now while you can still do something about it 
2) You have a healthy income to be able to pay these off 
3) You’re paying the debts down and will start to see that figure coming down which will hopefully enable you in the future to get a zero or low interest rate balance transfer card. As you pay the debts down you’ll have more money become available to pay to the next highest debt and so on 

You need to overpay and chuck everything at the high interest debts first while paying just over minimum payments on the rest; if you’d paid the extra £100 off Nationwide thats 39% instead of MBNA then you’d have nearly cleared that card which would have ‘freed’ up that £50 to the next high interest debt; £50 extra to Very for instance 
When does the 0% on Curry’s end? If you have 12 months from now I would put that £65 towards Nationwide at 39% and try to clear that or Very to clear that quicker 


Are you able to open a basic bank account with no overdraft facility? 

You could use new account as expenses account; i.e transfer fuel and food money into this account so you stick to your budget on those? 

You could also earn cash back etc on this account; for instance Chase Account gives cash back on spends and does round up which can soon mount up to extra pounds to put to debts 

Nintud

£36.97 from Vinted and straight to Very. Another £10 in sales revenue due later this week.

Waiting for daughter to let me know when she wants me to pick her up to go car shopping. Son has just popped in to use the loo on his way to school and is now late 🤦‍♀️

Dog is snoring beside me. Chihuahuas snore disproportionately loudly.

Nintud

MFWannabe said:

Nintud said:

£380.97 paid to Santander cc. Minimum payment and over limit amount paid.

£100 paid to MBNA. I had chipped away at this, so ‘only’ needed to pay £100 to pay the full minimum, plus an overpayment of £3 to round it down to £13,850.

£136.78 to Very as per snowball calculation.

Will put £20 into emergency savings to bring it up to £25, my planned saving per month for the moment.

I have a 2 year savings bond paying out today.  I paid £250 into that for my weekend in France. I have a few euros left from Austria, so I will change about £150 into Euros and pay some of my leasehold management charge with the remainder.

Dinner was a ys Cornish pasty from the freezer. I  picked up a ys malt loaf and muffins on Monday so lunch will be a fried egg muffin and a slice of malt loaf. Baked sweet potato and tuna for dinner.  I’m eating out of the cupboards and freezer while boys are at their Dad’s this week.  I generally live off left overs and cheese toasties on my child free weeks. I can’t be bothered to cook (and wash up) a full meal for one. Will have a banana for breakfast to offset the fried egg 😂

Finally going car shopping with daughter tomorrow. Once she has her car I will contact my insurance company to get her off my insurance, provided the admin charges don’t outweigh the monthly payment until it’s time to renew in December.

Payday and I’m barely in credit in my bank accounts 😭. Snowball calculation has my debt free date as July 2028.  Considering how much I have to pay, that date is good, but counting every penny is torture.

Hopefully Vinted sales will pick up so that I can pay off the debt faster. £2.50 in sales today.

to do:
1. Put £20 into emergency fund
2. Call Santander to reduce overdraft limit by another £75.
3. Put £65 into Curry’s fund (0% interest for 12 months)
4. Post Vinted parcel
5. Upload 5 more items to Vinted.
6. Put laundry away. I’ve half dried it in the tumble dryer and put it on the airer to finish off.
7. Use bath water to flush the loo (I’ve been reading Ladybird’s diary on the MFW board!)
8. Call child maintenance to confirm I have parental responsibility for the boys (tried on Monday but was on hold for 45 minutes)
9. Car shop with daughter
10. Buy food for meeting I’m Chairing (and claim spend back through expenses)

Unfortunately you’re in it for the long haul with this level of debt; it’s not looking at where money is going that got you here. However the positives are:
1)  Youve caught it now while you can still do something about it 

Dangerously close to missing the ball!

2) You have a healthy income to be able to pay these off 

£10k of that income is an increase since June, and anxiety inducingly wobbly.

3) You’re paying the debts down and will start to see that figure coming down which will hopefully enable you in the future to get a zero or low interest rate balance transfer card. As you pay the debts down you’ll have more money become available to pay to the next highest debt and so on 

Fingers crossed for that, but I missed a couple of payments earlier in the year, and I’m not holding my breath on getting a 0% card.

You need to overpay and chuck everything at the high interest debts first while paying just over minimum payments on the rest; if you’d paid the extra £100 off Nationwide thats 39% instead of MBNA then you’d have nearly cleared that card which would have ‘freed’ up that £50 to the next high interest debt; £50 extra to Very for instance 

I don’t think I was very clear on that. Only £3 was an overpayment to MBNA.The other £97 brought me up to the minimum payment for the month.

When does the 0% on Curry’s end? If you have 12 months from now I would put that £65 towards Nationwide at 39% and try to clear that or Very to clear that quicker.

Currys 0% ends September 2025. If I don’t save the money I will pay 29.9% interest on the whole year, plus interest going forward until it is paid.  Would it make more sense to pay very then put the large Very payment aside for Curry’s? Or should I pay a credit card after Very and let Curry’s gain £400 in interest in one hit?


Are you able to open a basic bank account with no overdraft facility? 

I have a no overdraft Monzo card I could use. Limited on where I can get cash back, but 10% in store in Morrisons for the next 10 days.  I will do an in store shop for cash back and cancel my delivery order. Also have 3% cash back on Sainsbury’s fuel. Can get Nectar points on that too!

You could use new account as expenses account; i.e transfer fuel and food money into this account so you stick to your budget on those? 

You could also earn cash back etc on this account; for instance Chase Account gives cash back on spends and does round up which can soon mount up to extra pounds to put to debts 

I’ll put fuel and grocery expenses into Monzo. I already have too many bank accounts!

Thanks MFW. I’ve added comments above.

MFWannabe

This is what I would pay: 
Nationwide - 199 - 39% - if you’re already paying £50 per month this could be paid off quickly - then take this £50 and add it to Very 

Focus on Very which you should now have £150 to throw at it plus any more you make from Vinted etc - hopefully you’ll get this paid off in 6 months (maybe less?) 

Then chuck that £150 to Curry’s and pay that off in 4 months before interest kicks in 

RelievedSheff

Subscribed to your thread and will be watching with interest and offering snippets of advice where possible  

We embarked on a not too dissimilar debt busting mission in 2020 with the understanding that we would still be able to travel and enjoy ourselves. We have always worked on the basis that debt repayment should not be or feel like a punishment. Life should still be for enjoying.

We are very much heading towards the light at the end of the tunnel with our debts now. The last of our credit card debt is on 0% and due to be paid off next year and our motorhome loan will be paid off in early 2026. But I do still vividly remember the early days and trying to make sense of what debts were best to repay first.

We took a perhaps not too traditional route and paid of some of our smaller debts off first which then enabled us to make larger contributions to the next smallest debts and get those paid off and so on. It was surprising how quickly after getting some of the debts paid off that the 0% credit card offers started to appear. Getting the remaining credit on 0% has been the biggest game changer.

Perhaps the biggest part of the journey has been breaking the reliance on credit and starting the habit of saving each month to build up a fund for future expenses.

Nintud

RelievedSheff said:

Subscribed to your thread and will be watching with interest and offering snippets of advice where possible  

We embarked on a not too dissimilar debt busting mission in 2020 with the understanding that we would still be able to travel and enjoy ourselves. We have always worked on the basis that debt repayment should not be or feel like a punishment. Life should still be for enjoying.

We are very much heading towards the light at the end of the tunnel with our debts now. The last of our credit card debt is on 0% and due to be paid off next year and our motorhome loan will be paid off in early 2026. But I do still vividly remember the early days and trying to make sense of what debts were best to repay first.

We took a perhaps not too traditional route and paid of some of our smaller debts off first which then enabled us to make larger contributions to the next smallest debts and get those paid off and so on. It was surprising how quickly after getting some of the debts paid off that the 0% credit card offers started to appear. Getting the remaining credit on 0% has been the biggest game changer.

Perhaps the biggest part of the journey has been breaking the reliance on credit and starting the habit of saving each month to build up a fund for future expenses.

Thanks for subscribing 😁 I need all the cheerleading I can get.

Ive just opened a letter from child benefit cutting £99 off the cb per month. Child no. 5 is NEET. He messed about at college and was refused a place on the next level course. The same course was full at the next travelable college, and he refused to pick an alternate course. He has made feeble attempts to find a job, but hasn’t had a single interview. This will have a knock on effect on the child maintenance.

One step forward, ten steps back.

Ive received another £9 from Vinted. I’ll have to stash that away as my income this month is now £210 less than last month.

Daughter did not find a suitable car this morning so she remains on my insurance for a few more days.

Trying not to be glum about it all. I’ve caught the debt before it reaches critical mass. I can still do this.

Nintud

I’ve filled the car up, £60.73 and £3.04 Monzo cash back. Daughter is under strict instructions to replenish the petrol she uses next week.

I’ll recoup some of the fuel costs on expenses.

Going out now to buy food for a meeting this evening. Plan is to buy as much as possible from Lidl and get 3% Monzo cash back. I can claim the food cash ATS on expenses, but I’ll be out of pocket for a couple of weeks until that is paid. I also have to pay the venue hire costs and car parking for attendees and claim that back.

I will fill the expenses form in tonight and get the ball rolling on that. I cannot afford to be out of pocket for around £100 for long.

Sarahwithlove

How old is your neet child? Are they entitled to any benefits in their own right? 

Nintud

£60.09 on meeting food and drink, most of which has come home with me. Invoice for the room is being emailed to me (I usually pay cash on the day), and I will send that on to the Treasurer to pay. 

Quiche, sandwiches and cheese & onion rolls into the freezer. Sushi and chicken skewers for dinner. Triple sandwich pack to be split between Wednesday and Thursday (bonus free lunch as I’m at a meeting with food on Thursday, so I’ll have the sandwich in the evening. Enough orange juice a milk to keep child no. 5 going for the weekend, plus some cake goodies.

I’ll take a pack of sandwiches with me for breakfast on the plane to Paris. That way I can just drop my backpack off at the hotel, grab a coffee and head to the Louvre.

No need to shop until I’m back from France.  There’s food in the freezer for son. Online shopping has been ordered, but I have decided to shop in person at Morrison’s to get 10% cash back from Monzo.  I’ll shop from my online basket. Apart from the powdered milk that I can only find in Morrison’s, the basket only contains Aldi/lidl price matches.

£1.37 cash back from Lidl shoo today. I’ve decided to pay today’s Vinted revenue and cash back off my Very debt. To start compensating for the reduction in Child Benefit I’ll lower my budget for the weekend away. I should be able to have a good time on £45 per day or less. I’ll put the final total with transport, excursions and food etc on the thread on Tuesday.