My all new debt diary

4littleone

Hi,
i am going to put my debt diary on here to keep me motivated to be debt free by the end of this year.
My snowball statement showed that i would be debt free in 29 months if i throw £250 per month at my debts, but i want to get them all cleared by the end of this year.

I am claiming back my bank charges at the moment so i will use that to pay off debts, and i will also be keeping a spending diary so that i can see where i can cut back further.
Heres my SOA. There are no costs on here for my car as i have a fully expensed company car, so that has already come out of my taxed income.

Outgoings;
council tax £50
water rates £29
mortgage £500
childcare £510.41
gas £30
Elec £30
food and toiletries £130
christmas £5
isa £30
solicitor £100 (only 2 more payments to go)
gas and electric arrears £131.40 (only 3 more payments to go)
loan £50
o/d £20
telephone and broadband £30
going out £30
clothing (me and child) £15

total = £1690.82

Incoming;

£1976 wages
£78.43

total = £2054.43

£363.61 left over (in theory!)

So, i should be able to pay off the o/d by april this year, the gas and electricity arrears will be paid in three months, and the solicitor in 2 months, which means that i can then chuck everything at the loan to get that paid off early. :j
My salary has a bonus on top which is about 10k per year but that isn't paid until the end of the year so i'm going to discount it from my income until it actually happens.
I intend to keep up to date on here so that i can track how i'm doing and hopefully get a kick up the bum from you lovely lot if i fall behind!

I am keeping a spending diary at the moment because although it looks like i should have loadsamoney left each month to throw at my debts, for the last few months i've been skint by the last week of each month.

4littleone

Sorry all, have posted the thread twice! Please ignore one of them.:D

frosty

Hi 4littleone,looks like a good plan.Have you tried keeping a spending diary?
We write down every penny that is spent and at the end of the week you can see where your money is going.Its amazing how the odd 30p mounts up.
Good luck.

4littleone

thanks frosty, yep, i'm starting on the spending diary at the moment. I really need to see why i end up with nothing when i should be pretty well off.
Although to be fair, most of the last coupole of months has been
a. christmas
b. a £300 phone bill my dear dear partner ran up (am still fuming)

angelavdavis

Hi 4littleone. I think it pointless paying into an ISA if you are incurring debts which are being at a higher interest rate. Enter your debts and repayments into the snowball calculator and then add your £30 extra you are usually paying into the ISA into the calculator as extra payment and see what effect it has on your debt free date. Increasing your o/d payment to £50 per month will really help you reduce this quickly.

Do you have much money sitting in ISAs? It could be worth looking at using this to lessen your debts if possible.

4littleone

Hi angela,
thanks for that. I pay into the isa so that i can build a big enough lump sum to ask for a full and final settlement on the loan that i have. (29% apr and cannot overpay).
The overdraft has no interest on it as it was sold to Aktiv Capital. The min payment each month is £20 but I've got £130 spare to pay off it this month and probably about the same next month.
So, my game plan is to keep the standing order for £20 so that it never gets forgotten, but to overpay as much as i can each month.

I should be able to clear the solicitors bill in one hit this month (£200) as i am going to receive some expenses back from work. :j
I then want to clear the gas and electricity arrears and get back into credit with them before i worry about the o/d as they will just keep building up, whereas the o/d will decrease even with a min payment.
Once all that lot is paid off and i have looked at my spending diary, I should have a big lump to put towards the remainder of my debt each month.
The snowball tool is fantastic by the way.:T

4littleone

First spending day since Saturday today.

£1.90 on a sandwich, packet of crisps and a bar of chocolate (fat pants icon)
I wouldn't normally buy lunch but i am working in the middle of no where today and forgot my packed lunch. Won't get home til gone 8pm tonight so couldn't face waiting.

I've allowed myself £22 to last until 21st feb. This will give me £130 extra to throw at my debt if i stick to it. Also get my expenses of £137.28 t the end of this week so that can go straight off the debt as well.
So, i now have £20.10 left to last until 21st feb.

4littleone

Well this week has been a complete failure as far as not spending goes!
I had to work away unexpectedly this week so here goes!

13th Feb - £10.06 Petrol (Fuel card died but can reclaim this on next months expenses.
14th Feb - £2.83 cigarettes. ( i had given up but ended up really stressed at work this week
£3.10 Lunch. (again i can claim this back but it's eaten up my £22 budget if you'll pardon the crap pun)
Valentines card £2.98 ..... well i wouldn't have got away with it would i!

15th Feb - Paid in cheque for £132.56 :j

Other than that i am really not happy. I used to get tax credits years ago, i got a letter last year saying that i had been overpaid by nearly £4000. :eek:
So i called them, and it turned out they were saying that they had not received my income details for that year. So i sent them all off again and everything was fine...... the letter i got today is for the same amount for the same period but they are now talking about enforcement action :mad:
I know it's probably just a case of sending info recorded delivery etc and speaking to them but it's really got to me. I'm doing my best to make sure that i pay off all my debt and this is a huge set back really. If i don't get it sorted out, that will take my total debt to about 10k :eek: and i can't even begin to imagine what that will do to my debt free date.

Oh well, onwards and upwards etc etc blah blah blah.

4littleone

Well, today is my first spending day since i last posted.

£3.56 on grocery shopping.
£3.20 on school dinners. (the bread had gone mouldy this morning :eek: )

My cheque has cleared now so i can chuck that at my debts today. I'm going to pay off the solicitor in full £200.80 this week.

I'll wait until the end of the pay month though to see what extra i can put onto the gas and electricity arrears. If i stick to my budget i should have a nice lump there.

Good news - My bonus schedule came through today, £10,200 paid quarterly. So that's £2250 every 3 months to chuck at the debt. I can't wait to be debt free. It's been a long time coming but finally i earn good money and i have learnt how to budget.
I also got approved for a credit card this week (capital one)

Before anyone shouts NOOOOOOOO! i have to explain..... I have to "front" my expenses each month out of my wages which in reality leaves me less to throw at the debts. The expenses are normally between £100 - £300 per month. From now on i can book flights etc on the card and simply hand in the statement each month. My company then pay the credit card direct for me.
So, i build up a better credit record and also have more free cash each month to pay off debts.

Bad news - no nearer to sorting out the tax credits nightmare....

4littleone

So here it is, the last day before payday....

Last night i had a meal out with partner and daughter, had already budgeted for it and spent £27.36

I also paid an old catalogue bill that i had budgeted for last month for £42.50. The catalogue is long since cancelled and that was the last payment.
So, i have ended the month with almost £70 spare cash to throw at my debts. This is fantastic as i had to pay a £308 phone bill at the beginning of the month that my partner had run up :mad: .
So it proves (in a funny kinda way) that i DO have enough left over if i budget properly to pay off a big chunk of my debt each month.
Just waiting to see what tomorrow brings now....

DeniseNZ

So, i have ended the month with almost £70 spare cash to throw at my debts.

That's a great start! Well done to you.

Oh, and good luck with the tax credits, too