Dear Diary - help me be Debt Free

Lucifa73

Hi,

You may have seen me lurking around the DFW threads recently, particularly the daily chats and the DFW running club.

Over the past week I have read snatches of diaries and even posted occasionally. Today I've decided to start my own diary in the hopes it will keep me on track to do half as well as some of the others I've seen around here.

Here's the SOA
Hubbles input 950.00
My income 1,950.00
2,900.00
Mortgage 850.00 We need to remortgage…
Council tax 140.00
A&L loan1 22.00 loans in joint names.
NW loan 134.00
Factor fees 25.00 pay ~150 every 6 months
Contents insurance 7.10 pay ~85 a year
Car HP 208.00 Hubbles pays rest of car costs from what he doesn't put into joint account
Gas/electric 45.00
Food 250.00 This can come down I know
BT 11.00 Line rental only
Sky 55.00 Being cut back this month. Includes broadband and call package
Gym 105.00 We use this A LOT
Regular saver 50.00 To pay off 0%card in December
A&L loan 157.00 I consolidated some cards pre MSE!!!
Student loan 88.00 Old mortgage style loans
T-mobile 20.00
Contacts 21.00
Commute 90.00
0% Paypal card 47.00 minimum payment
Egg card (7.9%) 10.00
Oasis card 4.00 £90 left on this. Hope to clear in June
Balance 460.90


So basically I should be laughing but somehow I always struggle at the end of the month. I need to get a grip on the 'treats' - magazines, coffee, lunches...:o

It says 'Hubbles input' because we each put a fixed amount into the joint account to cover joint costs (in blue) and with the rest of his salary he pays for the petrol, car servicing, car insurance, TV licence and has very kindly taken on one of my credit card debts on a 0% deal.

I manage the rest of our finance because his work is all over the place ands I am desk bound.

We had a close call earlier this year - we were looking to move into a nice big house on a 100%plus mortgage when the credit crunch hit. We're counting our blessings now but have realised that if we're ever going to have a proper guest room and my longed for veg garden we need to start saving a deposit. And to be able to save effectively I know we need to clear our debts.

Any hints, tips and kicks up the butt most welcome

Thanks

Luc

Nomad25

Hello Lucifa

I'm not a DFW expert, but posting your SOA is a great jump off and someone who is 'in the know' will soon pick it up and help.

Lucifa73

Thanks - its a relief that someone even visited - I'm one of those people who organises a party then can't believe anyone will turn up!

Nomad25

Oh they will, believe me, it's a wee bit early - they're all sorting kids and dinners!! They grab you later this p.m. and you'll probably get that kick in the butt in the nicest possible way. Good luck with diary.

Gemmzie

Hi Lucifa, well done for posting your SOA, you'd probably be better off running it through http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html as it makes sure you don't miss anything and formats it nicely, just makes it a bit more complete than us asking you loads more questions.

cat4772

lucuifa

One of the best things I did was to keep a spending diary... soon realised that the cup of hot chocolate, bag of crisps and magazine or shop bought sandwich, crisps and drink for lunch were stealing all my spare money.

Visit MS old style to help with cutting down on grocery shopping. I used to spend £2-300 every six months on a 'big' shop (laundry detergent etc) and then do a top up shop each week (perishables like milk, bread etc) and that came to £50-60! At the same time, I'd throw out £10-15 of goods each week that had passed use by or sell by dates. Now I menu plan, cook from scratch and batch cook favourites like chilli, write out shopping list and stick to it (never going shopping when hungry is a biggie). Next week, I'll be looking in my freezer, cupboards etc to see what I can use up the following month (making a plan as I go) and then working out what I can cook to fill the gaps and planning my shopping trips accordingly. I was amazed that I'd filled the boot of my (admittedly small) car for on £25! Previously I'd have needed to spend £2-300 and there'd have been nothing in the house to eat!

I also check out MS OS to see how I can use things that I'd otherwise throw out (2 potatoes left from pack of 4, used 2 for jackets... cooked other 2 and then froze them. Now I've got 2 baked potatoes in the freezer when I need them).

Another thing I found quite useful, we'd have a couple of really "lean" months, doing loads of challenges and paying loads of the debts... then we'd have a slighly relaxed month. Amazingly we felt frivolous with money that third month and all we did was stick to weekly cash budgets (£20-30 each to spend how we wanted)! I don't want to do it all the time in case it becomes depressing (hence a relaxed month) but I'm finding with the credit crunch, apart from petrol, my outgoings have dropped!

Cat.x

Lucifa73

Gemmzie wrote: »

Hi Lucifa, well done for posting your SOA, you'd probably be better off running it through http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html as it makes sure you don't miss anything and formats it nicely, just makes it a bit more complete than us asking you loads more questions.

I'll do that for sure - I was killing the last 15mins at work when I threw that SOA together:o

Lucifa73

cat4772 wrote: »

lucuifa

One of the best things I did was to keep a spending diary... soon realised that the cup of hot chocolate, bag of crisps and magazine or shop bought sandwich, crisps and drink for lunch were stealing all my spare money.

Visit MS old style to help with cutting down on grocery shopping. I used to spend £2-300 every six months on a 'big' shop (laundry detergent etc) and then do a top up shop each week (perishables like milk, bread etc) and that came to £50-60! At the same time, I'd throw out £10-15 of goods each week that had passed use by or sell by dates. Now I menu plan, cook from scratch and batch cook favourites like chilli, write out shopping list and stick to it (never going shopping when hungry is a biggie). Next week, I'll be looking in my freezer, cupboards etc to see what I can use up the following month (making a plan as I go) and then working out what I can cook to fill the gaps and planning my shopping trips accordingly. I was amazed that I'd filled the boot of my (admittedly small) car for on £25! Previously I'd have needed to spend £2-300 and there'd have been nothing in the house to eat!

I also check out MS OS to see how I can use things that I'd otherwise throw out (2 potatoes left from pack of 4, used 2 for jackets... cooked other 2 and then froze them. Now I've got 2 baked potatoes in the freezer when I need them).

Cat.x

That sounds like me with the food! I do tend to cook from scratch anyway but always buy way too much!!! Or find I'm missing an ingredient, pop out to get it and come back with a bag (or 3) full. There's just the 2 of us so should definitely be able to cut back on the food spend.

Lucifa73

UPdated SOA using MakeSense calculator

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1950
Partners monthly income after tax....... 950
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2900

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 850
Secured loan repayments................. 208
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold flat)...... 25
Council tax............................. 140
Electricity............................. 45
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 11
Mobile phone............................ 20
TV Licence.............................. 0
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 55
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 250
Clothing................................ 20
Petrol/diesel........................... 0
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 90
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 21
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 7
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 20
Haircuts................................ 30
Entertainment........................... 125
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1917

Assets
Cash.................................... 300
House value (Gross)..................... 110000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 3000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 113300

Secured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 100000...(850)......7.48
Secured Debt.................. 10000....(208)......7.48
Total secured debts........... 110000....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Egg............................547.......10........7.9
PayPal.........................1392......47........0
Oasis..........................88........4.........29.4
Student loan...................0.........88........0
A&L loan/NW loan...............0.........256.......0
A&L loan (Me only).............4735......157.......7.9
HBoS o/draft...................1312......0.........19.5
Total unsecured debts..........8074......562.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,900
Expenses (including secured debts)....... 1,917
Available for debt repayments........... 983
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 562
Surplus(deficit if negative)............ 421

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 113,300
Total Secured debt...................... -110,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -8,074
Personal net worth...................... -4,774

Created using the SOA calculator at https://www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission.

I hadn't missed much - birthdays and haircut mainly. No budget for holidays as this year's paid for (2 weeks in Cornwall with parents - cheap as chips!!!) and I have exams so no days left to go anywhere else...

Buildings insurance is part of factor fees, water rates included with council tax. I need to dig out paperwork for joint loans to see how much left to pay on them. Not spending much on clothes at the minute as just started training again and hoping to go down a size and use up stuff that's too small just now.

Entertainment includes £105 joint membership to brilliant gym. It isn't the cheapest but we love it and we do use it (its within running distance). We don't drink much, don't smoke and tend to socialise at frineds' homes rather than out and about.

The loans were incurred as a result of living beyond our means in the first couple of years out of uni on pathetic salaries and having paid for most of our wedding ourselves and moving house in the same year.

beanielou

A spendng dary would be a great idea so you could see where your money goes.

Lucifa73

I have a stash of unused notebooks my Mum gets me and they've been too pretty to use for just anything.

There - nice neat heading with tomorrow's date. I've noted a budget for tomorrow too

Commute £4.10

That's it! - should manage that surely.

Its pay day next Tuesday so I'll be in control before it even hits the bank.

I think I'll make my target for June to cut out the 'treats'. In July I'll start to think about scary things like ebaying...