Clearmydebts Diary to Freedom!!!

clearmydebts

Hi everyone,

I have replied to a few people's threads and voiced my opinion etc etc but have decided to keep my own diary as a way of keeping on track and as a target for me too!

About me: As I have said in other threads, my LBM was about a week ago. My OH went back to Uni last year and is due to finish in June/July 2009. It is only in the last few months that we realised how much money we wasted in the past. We both had fairly decent wages but seemed to spend, spend, spend!!! To be fair we have been on some lovely holidays, got the house done up & got married but this would have been achievable without CC's & loans if we had been a bit more savvy with the cash.

Anyway, I am not one to dwell on the past so onwards and upwards! At the moment I am doing a part-time job and this is going towards my CC's. I have just transferred to a 0% balance until March 2009. My wages cover my loan & we seem to be doing okay with groceries and other utilities. My OH is also looking for a part-time job so the extra cash will be either put into an ISA or used to overpay on the loan (still haven't decided which, probably the ISA). So moneywise things are starting to look up a bit. I am also signed up to cashback sites and doing online surveys.

I am looking forward to updating my signature every month & hopefully during the month if I have anything to contribute.

Thanks for reading and any advice/comments would be gratefully received.:beer:

jak

Ohhh well done for starting a diary! They are so fab and handy for keeping you focussed and motivated!
Why don't you post your SOA and the other MS-ers will be along to pick it to bits/give you helpful advice later.
Good luck.
J
X

clearmydebts

jak wrote: »

Ohhh well done for starting a diary! They are so fab and handy for keeping you focussed and motivated!
Why don't you post your SOA and the other MS-ers will be along to pick it to bits/give you helpful advice later.
Good luck.
J
X

Thanks and congrats on the impending new arrival. That must be so exciting!!!
I could post up an SOA but I am feel I have cut down on all my 'keeping up with the Joneses spending' & am happy to plough all my part time earnings into my debts. Does that make sense?

I have just re-mortgaged and changed energy supplier, made sure my water rates and council tax are the correct price & have cut down on groceries and entertainment (thanks to the great advice from the lovely people on here!).I suppose what I am saying is since my LBM I am living within my means on my normal wages (& paying off my loan) & will continue paying off my credit card with my extra money.

I'll stop now cos I'm confusing myself!

clearmydebts

Well just had to redo my signature as had forgotten about a Credit Card (£2000). Ahhhhhhhh! So now I am 23K in debt instead of 21K.

21K sounded so much better & more achievable to get it under the 20K mark. OH still hasn't heard from the job he applied for. Hoping to hear back this week. It is a long journey to work but if he was only doing it 2 days a week (and Uni for the rest) I don't think it would be too bad. Maybe I'm a slavedriver!!!

By the way, has anyone notices that the surverys are scarce this week. I had one every day last week but none this week!

clearmydebts

Ok, I have bitten the bullet and done up my SOA. Here it is:

Monthly Income

Income Amount Net Monthly Salary £ 1,770.00
Partner's Monthly Salary £ 0.00
Part-time job £ 200.00

TOTAL MONTHLY INCOME £ 1,970.00

Essential Monthly Outgoings

Outgoings Amount
Rent £ 750.00
Council Tax £ 126.00
Electricity £ 20.00
Gas £20.00 Heating
Water Rates £ 27.00
Telephone £ 40.00
Mobile Phone £ 80.00 (mostly texting friends as I'm not from this country, am tied into this tariff for another 8 months)
TV Licence £ 12.00
Life Insurance £ 64.00
Groceries £ 200.00
Clothing £ 20.00
Other Travel £10.00
Birthdays/Christmas £ 30.00
Holidays £ 50.00 (Flying home a few times a year)
Love Film £ 3.99
PC World £ 9.99

TOTAL MONTHLY OUTGOINGS £ 1,462.98 NET MONTHLY SURPLUS £ 507.02

Monthly Debts

Loan £ 16,300.00 at 6.9% (pay £272 per month)
Credit Card 1 £ 2,900.00 at 0% until Mar 2009
Credit Card 2 £ 2,300.00 at 0% until Jul 2008
Credit Card 3 £ 2,000.00 at 15%
TOTAL DEBT £ 23,500.00

Assets
House Equity £ 55,000.00

TOTAL ASSETS £ 55,000.00

clearmydebts

Any suggestions or ideas greatly received?

clearmydebts

Well, haven't posted for a little while. Was bad at the weekend and went shopping! I did get some money back from credit card charges (£80) so I treated myself. I hadn't been shopping in ages and the sun was shining, plus I have recently lost weight so wanted to feel good!

There may be a couple of jobs in the pipeline for OH but everyone is so slow in getting back to him. If there is we should be able to make serious dents in the credit cards (which would be wonderful) so I am keeping my fingers crossed.

Still very annoyed with myself for forgetting the £2000 credit card. That will be the first one to go.

clearmydebts

Well, it is looking increasingly likely that my OH will get some well paid summer work so I am looking forward to trying to reduce my debt quite a bit.

Think I will aim to reduce it to sub-20K by the end of September (presuming he gets a job). I think it will be easier to motivate myself if it is under 20K.

Am starting to really cut back on food expenditure - take-aways and going out but am frustrated that I can't knock that much off my debts yet. I find I am wishing the month of June away so I can knock a bit more off the figure.

Are other people like that?

never_too_late_2

Hi Clearmydebts,

I'm afraid I'm not even one iota as clever as some of the peeps on here but a quick look through your SOA says to me:


1. Great news that you have a surplus, let's focus on the positive here!

2. Have you tried using the snowball calculator thingy? www.whatsthecost.com I'd assume it's def best to pay off your 15% loan while maintaining the minimum payments on the two 0% debts. Also start looking now to move the 0% that expires in July. I recently took out an Ulster Bank CC, 0% for 6 months with no charge. However, you need an excellent credit rating for this. But there are lots of other offers so don't fret.

3. If your OH is studying - is your council tax single-person discounted? I believe that gets you 25% off a month....

4. Water rates seemed high - have you looked into if you'd be better off on a meter? http://www.thameswater.co.uk/UK/region/en_gb/content/FAQ/FAQ_000114.jsp?SECT=FAQ_000114

5. Telephone and mobile - always hard to curb this spend when you're calling people abroad but maybe try to use internet calling sites AND/OR cheaper companies like One Tel/Talk Talk - http://www.talktalk.co.uk/talktalk/servlet/gben-server-PageServer?article=MAIN.UK.TALKTALK.STATIC.LLSTATIC.TARIFFS.INTERNATIONAL.

Please check other websites for reviews and stuff though as I've not always heard positive things!

Also, is it worth asking your mobile company about cheaper texting for abroad options? And horrible suggestion I know but could you mail try to email more and text less? Know it's not the same....

6. Quite a high life insurance amount also - worth comparing? I'm afraid I don't know much about this cos I'm lucky enough to get it with work (sorry!)
7. You can definitely get your monthly grocery spend down from 200 quid, even 20-40 quid a month will help. You just need to meal plan and try these sites for ideas and inspiration:
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=458838
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=816965

Hope that's helped a little!

Wishing you lots of luck,
NTL
-x-

clearmydebts

never_too_late wrote: »

Hi Clearmydebts,

I'm afraid I'm not even one iota as clever as some of the peeps on here but a quick look through your SOA says to me:


1. Great news that you have a surplus, let's focus on the positive here!

2. Have you tried using the snowball calculator thingy? www.whatsthecost.com I'd assume it's def best to pay off your 15% loan while maintaining the minimum payments on the two 0% debts. Also start looking now to move the 0% that expires in July. I recently took out an Ulster Bank CC, 0% for 6 months with no charge. However, you need an excellent credit rating for this. But there are lots of other offers so don't fret.

3. If your OH is studying - is your council tax single-person discounted? I believe that gets you 25% off a month....

4. Water rates seemed high - have you looked into if you'd be better off on a meter? http://www.thameswater.co.uk/UK/region/en_gb/content/FAQ/FAQ_000114.jsp?SECT=FAQ_000114

5. Telephone and mobile - always hard to curb this spend when you're calling people abroad but maybe try to use internet calling sites AND/OR cheaper companies like One Tel/Talk Talk - http://www.talktalk.co.uk/talktalk/servlet/gben-server-PageServer?article=MAIN.UK.TALKTALK.STATIC.LLSTATIC.TARIFFS.INTERNATIONAL.

Please check other websites for reviews and stuff though as I've not always heard positive things!

Also, is it worth asking your mobile company about cheaper texting for abroad options? And horrible suggestion I know but could you mail try to email more and text less? Know it's not the same....

6. Quite a high life insurance amount also - worth comparing? I'm afraid I don't know much about this cos I'm lucky enough to get it with work (sorry!)
7. You can definitely get your monthly grocery spend down from 200 quid, even 20-40 quid a month will help. You just need to meal plan and try these sites for ideas and inspiration:
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=458838
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=816965

Hope that's helped a little!

Wishing you lots of luck,
NTL
-x-

Hi NTL,

Thanks for replying. I was beginning to get a little bit de-motivated as I hadn't had any responses and thought maybe my SOA was terrible!

*Snowball calculator - I did this and it came up with September 2012 as my DFD. I plan to pay off the 15% 'evil' credit card with my OH's wages. Then I was advised to save in an ISA or overpay on the loan. Although the ISA makes sense I would like to see the loan coming down as it would motivate me to pay off my debt quicker than 2012. I plan to pay the minimum on the cc's and also the loan repayment and then we can fling OH's wages into paying off the credit card and then loan.

BTW - not sure OH is 100% committed to this. Don't get me wrong, he knows we have debts but don't think he has had his own lightbulb moment yet! However, he has been very good with money and respectful of the fact that I am supporting him through Uni.

* Council tax - we have just sent a letter away to claim a council tax reduction (as he is a student)

* Prob a stupid question but can I change to a water meter if I am in rented accommodation?

* Telephone and mobile - trying to use Skype more and also Instant Messaging. My bill for the mobile has reduced from £100 to £50 and will try to do be more conscious of this.

* Life insurance - changed it last July and it was £80. We got it a fairly comprehensive one so neither of us would be left with loads of our debts. Will have a look though and see what is available.

* Food - I hold my hands up. I do like M&S and shopping in the local grocer etc. I have been getting a bit better & using leftover stuff for the next day. I will continue to try and cut this down.

Thanks for responding. It means a lot to get suggestions from other people out there!