My £20k debt free diary.

Shelley84

Hi,

I posted my SOA on here yesterday then realised it was far from complete!!

I need to get everything written down so I can face up to my debt and start tackling it! It will help for me to keep a diary on here as I will see the debt coming down. And hopefully get some good advise.

So my COMPLETE SOA (!) is

Incomings
Wages - £1000 (can vary each month by about £50-100, depending on OT)
CTC - £521.51
CB - £72.40
OH Contributions - £200

Total - £1793.91

Monthly Outgoings

Nationwide loan - £237.61 (Borrowed £19,959.24 inc interest in July 2005. Interest rate is 6.7%, loan over 84 months)

Lloyds Loan - £102.82 (Borrowed £6169.20 inc interest in Dec 2005. Interest is 8.9%, loan over 60 months)

HP on Car - £122.82. (Borrowed £5895.36 inc interest in Oct 06. Interest is 9%, HP over 48 months)

Mobile Phone - £35
Petrol - £40 (sometimes a bit more if I visit Dad a lot)
Nursery - £616.25
Food - £300 on average (sometimes lower, never higher!!) (this does include Nappis and Wipes)
Precriptions - £13.70 (this month was £20.55 as needed a new inhaler)
Overdraft Interest - £8

Total - £1476.19

Yearly Outgoings
Car Tax - £180
Car Insurance - £250
MOT - £40
Clothes for DS - £150
Clothes for me - £50

Total - £670 (£55.83 monthly)

Grand Total - £1532.02

This leaves £261.89 a month. I haven't actually had this much left over so far as I used to buy things I didn't need but since LBM I have stopped buying magazines, lunches at work, things I don't really need etc so I should have this much next month.

I haven't included any Household bills here as I'm not paying any at the moment. I live with OH, DS and my Mum. We are all moving (next month hopefully) into a bigger house. This is when we'll all be contributing to bills and mortgage.

Mortgage will be £250 and bills will be £100 ish a month. At the moment I can't afford that so any ideas on how to bring costs down will be much appreciated. We will be searching for the cheapest deals on all household bills etc in our new house, so these payments may be less.

Also I will be going full time at work in March/April so will earn more money, but this in turn means my CTC will come down too. So I won't be better off financially!

I have savings of £700. This is for when we move to by DS his first bed and bedroom furniture. Also its for emergency things, like the tyre I had to buy last month! I try and add to this as and when I can.

As my debts are all loans my Mum suggested putting one of them on a 0% credit card as you can pay off as much as you want. On my loans I can't pay an extra bit here and there.

I will update this as and when there are changes and if I spend any money each day. Today I'm aiming for a NSD!!

Thanks for reading,

Shelley

p.s. thanks for the advise given by the people who read my first thread.

Verbatim

Welcome!

About the loan, you need to check whether there's an early repayment penallty. Also bear in mind that the ccs now have a balance transfer handling fee, usually 3% of balance transferred and some add interest to this.

Shelley84

Yeah I expect there will be early repayment penalty, especially on the HP. I will give them all a call and see what it is.

Quick question - What are 'clicks'? I've seen people on here say they are going to do their clicks today. No idea what these are but if they bring in a bit of extra cash then please tell me!!! :rotfl:

Shelley

robnye

prescription charges - £13 per month.....
this equals £156 per year, isnt there a monthly/annual pre payment thingy you could take out..... perhaps borrow from your savings to pay for it out right, then repay it at £13 per month

clicks are where you join a website and then using clicks through those websites earn money - usually pennies, but over time it adds up, then you can receive a nice little cheque/payment into your bank account - www.linemypocket.co.uk is one ( i am a member, but the link is not an affialiate link......

check the forum, there may be one where you use one of Martins links, so the website gains somehting from you joining

Shelley84

I did think of the yearly prescription thing but hopefully I will only be on the medication til July. :rolleyes:

Shelley84

Just looking at the pre pay prescription thing and you have to need 4 prescriptions in 3 months or 14 in 12 months. One of my medications is likely to finish in 2 months, the other in 6 so I won't be eligible for it.

Never mind!

Shelley84

Update for today.

I was aiming for a NSD today. Unfortunately I didn't manage it. I bought a book for work from Amazonat the weekend and received it today. It was supposed to be New but blatantly wasn't, covered in scratches. So I've sent it back requesting a refund. I then had to buy the same book (but updated version) from someone else.

So spends are - £11.02 (But should get refund from other book of £8.22).

Hopefully a NSD tomorrow!

I'm going to put some books and stuff for sale on Amazon at the weekend so hopefull I will get a bit of extra cash from that soon!

Shelley

Shelley84

Ok so was really hoping for a NSD on Friday. But no, it didn't happen.

I needed bread and fruit for the week. Also I bought some jiffy envelopes to put the books in that I hopefully sell on Amazon.

So on Friday I spent - Partners £5.24. Tesco around £13 (bought some milk for work which I got back frompetty cash but had to give them the receipt!)

Not too happy about the amount of spends but hey ho.

On the plus side I joined a few online survey companies last night and did a few surveys. Still got more to do though.

I'll try for a NSD today but I'm supposed to be going for a coffee after I help OH out at work. Just remembered I need petrol today so the NSD has gone out the window already!!

cantcope

Try not to concentrate too much on a NSD. just be aware of what you are spending. Do you really need to go for coffee? Could you not invite the other person to yours for a coffee rather than having one out?
Hope you have a good day today x

Verbatim

Shelley84 wrote: »

Ok so was really hoping for a NSD on Friday. But no, it didn't happen.

I needed bread and fruit for the week. Also I bought some jiffy envelopes to put the books in that I hopefully sell on Amazon.

So on Friday I spent - Partners £5.24. Tesco around £13 (bought some milk for work which I got back frompetty cash but had to give them the receipt!)

Not too happy about the amount of spends but hey ho.

On the plus side I joined a few online survey companies last night and did a few surveys. Still got more to do though.

I'll try for a NSD today but I'm supposed to be going for a coffee after I help OH out at work. Just remembered I need petrol today so the NSD has gone out the window already!!

Yep it's really about making a realistic budget including things that you know you'll need and then sticking to it. If not you'll set yourself up for failure and it will all seem impossible and you won't feel in control. It has to be "doable". :money:

Shelley84

I bought my food shopping online yesterday. Saved myself some money. Don't know exactly how much it is yet as they always substitute stuff and you never get everything you ordered!! Used a 'Free Delivery' voucher from here too!!

I'm going to join the grocery challenge too as thats the main thing I spend too much on. I will update sig soon.

Get paid on Thursday so from then I'm going to make a spending diary of every single penny in and out! Hopefully this will help me see the error of my ways!