My all new debt diary

4littleone

:j Thank you Denise!!:j

Thanks for posting, i was beginning to think i might be on my own here!

benbenandme

Just seen your diary, welcome and good luck with it !! Tax credits are a nightmare, I live in dread of them deciding they've overpaid me and want it back cos theres none left, its all gets eaten up in the budget every month :rolleyes:
Keep posting and it sounds as if your debts will be gone in no time :beer:

4littleone

Well today is pay day so here goes...

Wages = £2249.91

Today i have paid;

Mortgage £500
C/T £50
Solicitor £200.80 :j this debt is now clear!!
Gas £60
Electricity £70
Grocery shopping £57 Included bulk monthly items so am still in budget for £30 per week.
Childminder £525
Partner £20 (he lent it to me ages ago and has asked for it back even though i just paid off his massive phone bill :mad: )
Overdraft £20

Total bills paid today = £1502.80

Total left is £747.11

Out of that i will have to take £73 for the rest of the monthly grocery budget and £35 ish dd for the tv licence.

Leaves just over £611 not counting child benefit!

AND..... i got my phone bill today, i was over charged last month so I'm actually £3.58 in credit!! Therefore no phone dd this month!!

I am going to wait until the end of the month to see exactly what i have left over and then decide what to throw it at. I'm considering sticking it all in my isa and then writing to Activ Kapital to make a full and final offer on the O/D.
I'm thinking 40p in every £

I can't believe how just looking at what i spend and where has made such a difference. Alright, i know i've still got the £30 to my isa, £5 for Christmas and budget for haircuts and clothes.... but i think i may not put away for those this month and pay off a debt instead? What do you guys think?

4littleone

:j Thank you benbenandme!:j

Yay, another DFW to join the fun!

Looby_Lou_7

Hi 4littleone,

Just read your diary,you have made a fab start in clearing you debts.Hope you get the tax credit sorted they can be abit of a nightmare. Good luck.

Looby xxx

4littleone

Thanks for your support loobylou!
The tax credits are an absolute pain in the rear. I called them yesterday and their over payments section told me i am nothing to do with them, then the main number told me that i can only speak to overpayments??
They're sending me out a dispute form now for me to argue against the "overpayment" but i am beginning to think that i'm going to be stitched up here. :mad:

I really need this year to work for me. I am deperate to leave my p and have a peaceful life. At least my efforts are off to a good start.
Once all the debts are paid off and the fixed rate has ended on the mortgage i can put all my spare cash into savings and then rent somewhere for a few months. ( i know it will be a mare trying to get my share paid out of the house. He is so bad with money that he will find it really hard if not impossible to re-mortgage to buy me out. He's too stubborn to sell and i don't want to stay as the house has no happy memories for me.)

Wel, on another note, i have decided to put the spare cash i'll have left over to pay off the gas and electric arrears. I think this is best as this is a debt that keeps on building each month because of normal usage on top of arrears. So if i pay the arrears now, i will have saved another £131 per month to throw at the overdraft and loan. The overdraft will not go up as it is 0% interest now.

:j Two debts paid off by the end of this month!!:j

4littleone

Well last month ended up being a bit less successful than i'd hoped...
I lost my Grandad 3 weeks ago so i've not been posting on my diary and i've overspent. (new clothes for funeral etc etc)

I ended up with £56 left at the end of the month instead of the few hundred i'd wanted but on wards and upwards.
So here goes this months budget.

Wages; £2249.91
C/Benefit; £72.40
Expenses; £63.00

Total Income; £2382.31

Outgoings;

Mortgage £500
C/Tax £50
New fence £25
Childcare £500
Telephone/BB £34
Gas £60
Elec £70
Water £29
ISA £30
Christmas £5
Ins £17.49
Food £130
Smoking £20

Debt Payments;

Electricity £170
Gas £70
Loan £50
O/Draft £20
Solicitor £200.80

Total £510.80

Total outgoings; £1981.29

Left over £401.02

I want to have a holiday this summer with the littlie so i intend to put an extra £100 into my ISA and then use whatever i have left at the end of this month to pay off the O/Draft to get that balance down.
The sooner i get that cleared the sooner i can put a large chunk away each month to attack the loan.
So all in all I'm not as far along as i'd hoped but it's not a massive disaster. I am still hoping that i can be as close to debt free as possible by the end of this year.

Oh and i have been very good with my credit card. I used it for food only and paid it off in full on payday so i am sticking to my plan of just using it to help rebuild my credit rating (for when i finally buy a home) rather than using it as a credit facility.

Oh well, lets see how this month pans out.

Cleosmum

How are things going so far? Are you still keeping a spending diary? Holidays - have you thought about camping?

4littleone

Hi Cleosmum, :j

things are going pretty good for me. I've decided to change tactic a bit with the diary.
I'm keeping a paper one but i don't always get a chance to update daily on the net i've decided to keep this thread for my big monthly update and to post what i discover through the paper diary as well as any payments i make off my overall debt.

So far this month is going ok, I've made all my bill and debt payments so i just have the food budget left to use.
I've been a bit naughty this week, the kids are away so i had a takeaway last night and went to the pub the night before.

I've also sat down and worked out what i need to pay if i offer full and final payments to my creditors.

The overdraft would be £370 approx and the loan would be £1700 approx if i offer 30p in every pound.
I think i can save enough from April and Mays budget to pay off the overdraft at the end of May (if they accept the offer) and then i get my 1/4 ly bonus in July which would be almost double what i need for the loan (again if they accept).
So, i might actually be debt free by the end of the summer. I can't believe i've just said that! I've been struggling for years to sort out my finances and it finally looks like it might happen. All thanks to this forum with all it's info.

The OH is still wasting £££ :mad: but i'm slowly separating myself from that. It's just so frustrating that the o/d is down to him and the loan got behind because of him also.
Still, i feel really positive right now and the gas and electricity is finally on track so that's more free cash each month to put in the savings.

Another thing i have done is to look at the childcare vouchers. I can claim the full £253 a month, and am already £55 in credit with the childminder due to an overpayment. I have sorted out a week for daughter at mums in the summer hols, a week at my dads and 2 weeks with me so the childminder will only have to be paid hol pay of £62.50 per week.

If i save up the childcare vouchers and over pay for the next couple of months, i should be able to have July, August and Sept without having to payout to the C/M if you see what i mean.
That would give me £510 for each of those months to throw into the isa. :T

This could be a really good year for me. Hows your journey going?

Cleosmum

Thanks, my journey is going really good now, been attacking it all half heartedly for what seems like ages, but had full on wake up call in jan and things are going so so well now. My OH commented last night that we are paying stuff off really quickly and we havent even noticed a change in the way life is. We still eat fine, bills are covered and debts are being paid off, its a great feeling! My depression has lifted thank goodness, that has taken since aug 07 and been very gradual, but I am finally ok to say I dont have bad days and I am out the other side

I have subscribed to the diary, will keep an eye on emails to see when you post next, dont leave it a full month if you want to get stuff off your chest or shout from the rooftops, I shall be along to have a read