Story of Sallys Stupid Spending.....

sallyx

Right here goes.....
Ive been reading everyone elses diaries for months/years now and thought it was about time that I joined and jumped on the bandwagon.
So heres a bit about me...Im Sally 32 and Mummy to my 2 yr old daughter. Ive never been good with money and have always turned a blind eye to what ive been spending. Ive consolidated so many times I can't remember, had money from my mother (her inheritance when my dad died), sold a house and used the equity to pay off debts...run them back up again. Last year after a combination of being on maternity leave and not returning to work, DH's overtime stopped we found ourselves in financial difficulty.
We started on a DMP back in July with the CCCS and this changed our lives. Our debt free date is soooo far in the future that its not funny, and I am determined to be debt free by the time im 35. I want to be able to buy a house for our daughter and finally gain some control on our lives.

Here is my SOA so would appreciate any feedback that anyone has
Monthly Bills
Rent £600.00
Water Rates £24.00
Council Tax £142.00
Gas £30.00
Electricity £18.00
Building & Contents Ins £10.93
BT £20.00
Pipex £24.99
TV License £11.61
Payment to CCCS £158.00
Car Insurance £30.12
TOTAL £1069.65

One off bills/Expenses put away each month
Haidressing £5.00
Medicines, Prescriptions £10.00
Dentist £10.00
Opticians £25.00
Christmas Birthdays £30.00
Clothes and Footwear £43.00
Car Service £30.00
Car Tax £15.00
TOTAL £168.00
Food, Toiletries, Cleaning £284.00
Sports, Hobbies, Entertainment £30.00
Petrol £60.00
TOTAL £374.00

TOTAL OUTGOINGS £1611.65

IMCOMING
DH Salary £1238.39
My Salary £400.00 (approx changes slightly each month)
CTC £41.58
Child Benefit £72.40
TOTAL INCOMING £1752.54

So we do have a little bit left over each month. When we did the DMP with CCCS I wasn't working so the figs have changed a little. Although I have budgeted as per CCCS I do generally spend less on Food than the amount in the figs. We only just bought a car also so up until this point we have been saving this amount.

I know our broadband with pipex is high and our contract ends this month so will be looking at moving and using quidco or similar to get some money back.

These are our debts that we are paying through CCCS O/s Balance and monthly payment allocated to each

Egg Loan£4,321.68£68.22Car Loan - Capital Bank£3,708.16£49.95HSBC Overdraft£2,052.09£16.60HSBC Credit Card£4,068.62£23.23

My plan is that we are saving the bit we have each month and whatever can make on ebay/car boot etc and this is going into a pot so I can offer F&F settlements on the above debts. All have been frozen with no interest being applied apart from HSBC.....:mad: :mad:

Ok I think Im done...Phew
Going to update each day so I can progress and keep myself on track.

sillygirl24

Sally, I admire you for admitting there was a problem and wish you luck in becoming debt free.:T

Lets just hope I will be brave enoughto post mine too shortly....

Sea78

hi honey - have you checked your tax credits? that seems quite low considering what you come out with. Also there is room for saving with the phone & broadband - I get tiscali broadband, landline rental, free national anytime calls for £20 a month.
Do you do all the surveys etc you can do already? Sold everything you can?:D
Sea xxx

sallyx

Sea78 wrote: »

hi honey - have you checked your tax credits? that seems quite low considering what you come out with. Also there is room for saving with the phone & broadband - I get tiscali broadband, landline rental, free national anytime calls for £20 a month.
Do you do all the surveys etc you can do already? Sold everything you can?:D
Sea xxx

Hey Sea
Yeah I phoned tax credits the other day to update our details and that the amount we should be getting. DH gets childcare vouchers through work so this doesn't entitle us to any working tax credits. He is going to be starting a new job april time so im not too worried as it will all change then anyway.
I do some of the surveys and im still working my way through all our stuff to ebay etc...think Ive made about £280 this month on ebay alone...although with their extortinate fees these days it will be much less
Will look into tiscali for us, thanks for that
xx

Sea78

Wow!! That's a great ebay amount

How about car boots? Your opticians savings is a lot - you don't have to pay for DD's glasses do you?

firesidemaid

the other way to save money on your food shopping etc is to meal plan/batch cook - check out the old-style board.

also tesco and asda take money-off coupons off your shopping bill. asda 105, tesco anything from 10-90%! you don't have to buy the item, they just have to sell it.

i have been getting 50% off my tesco bills this week (and that was on top of their half price offers) x

donner_kebab

Hiya Sally,
I am off to bed in a mo...has been one of those days! Just wanted to say good luck with your diary and I will be reading with interest! Those ebay sales are fab, but I know what you mean when they take their cut and paypal if you use them...gets infuriating! Take care xxx

Merlot

sallyx wrote: »

Right here goes.....
Here is my SOA so would appreciate any feedback that anyone has
Monthly Bills
Rent £600.00
Water Rates £24.00
Council Tax £142.00
Gas £30.00
Electricity £18.00
Building & Contents Ins £10.93
BT £20.00
Pipex £24.99
TV License £11.61
Payment to CCCS £158.00
Car Insurance £30.12
TOTAL £1069.65

One off bills/Expenses put away each month
Haidressing £5.00
Medicines, Prescriptions £10.00
Dentist £10.00
Opticians £25.00
Christmas Birthdays £30.00
Clothes and Footwear £43.00
Car Service £30.00
Car Tax £15.00
TOTAL £168.00
Food, Toiletries, Cleaning £284.00
Sports, Hobbies, Entertainment £30.00
Petrol £60.00
TOTAL £374.00

TOTAL OUTGOINGS £1611.65

IMCOMING
DH Salary £1238.39
My Salary £400.00 (approx changes slightly each month)
CTC £41.58
Child Benefit £72.40
TOTAL INCOMING £1752.54

Going to update each day so I can progress and keep myself on track.

I am with pipex, and before my contract ended, I telephoned and asked them what they could do to keep me, they offered me 8mb broadband for £9.99, its broadband mini, and its fine unless you download lots of music etc, It could be worth a call.

Merlot.x.

Sea78

HI Sally - how are you today?

Sea xxx

Shelley84

I would try selling on Amazon instead. I'm pretty sure their fees etc are lower than Ebay.

dancingfairy

Hi
The things that stand out to me are:
clothes and footwear -can you shop in the sales/only buy what you need/shop in peacocks/matalan/primark etc?
Food and toiletries- that seems a huge amount for 2 adults and a child to me. Me and OH spent £180 this month on groceries etc and that is considered very high around here I think. Have a check on MOneySvingOldStyle for some ideas and buy basic/value stuff where possible.
Prescriptions - is this just for one of you or two? It might be worth having a look at the prescription prepayment thing- can save money over the long run.
http://www.ppa.org.uk/ppa/ppc_intro.htm

Gotta go. Be back later. Good luck