Debt-Free Wannabe ASAP

Angry_Bear · 25 August 2017 at 7:17PM

As another thought - do you have more than 1 room? You could rent one out, or advertise for occasional guests on airBnB - any "bonus money" you got from that could either be used to pay off your debts or for an emergency fund.

Although I'm not sure how AirBnB or a temporary lodger would work w.r.t. sub-letting rules, I don't think it's quite the same but it's worth checking before committing to something.

Tempus01 · 26 August 2017 at 3:16PM

Yes I'm going to do all I can this month and going forward to over pay the cards. It's looking like I won't be debt free until 2021. So I really need to knuckle down.

I just have a one bedroom apartment so no other room to rent out. In march when my tenancy is up I hope to flat share so that should free up at least £500 a month

Fosterdog · 26 August 2017 at 4:02PM

Tempus01 wrote: »

Update 25.08.17

Hi Guys!

Well it's been a good week. Feeling better everyday. I've spent today sorting out all my bills etc. I have now spread my council tax over 12 months so that has brought the payment down by half as I had overpaid this month.

I've also reduced my phonebill and put a cap on my bill so that I don't go over.

I've set up a direct debit for my water so that's come down a little bit too

On the downside I've worked out that this month is the last payment from my ex which isnt greta but looking at my new SOA i hould be fine.

I am going to keep paying the minimum on my Natwest card as this has the lowest rate and then I'll over pay on the other two cards.

I encur fees if I overpay on my loan though so will keep that at the suggested payment.

The following payments will cease soon:
Gym - January + £40.50
Littewoods - Oct + £41.82
TV - March + £25.61
Phone - March + £20 (this is beacuse I paid off my handset which was £160 which I took from savings so I'm going to pay £20 back each month into my savings)

I've signed up to Quidco so hoping I can make some cashback on that.

All in all feeling pretty satisfied with the baby steps I've taken so far

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars owned.................... 0
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1907
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1907
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 800
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 58
Electricity............................. 43.24
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 31.03 this still seems very high considering you are a single person.
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 30
TV Licence.............................. 12.12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 22
Internet Services....................... 23.99
Groceries etc. ......................... 130
Clothing................................ 20 do you really need £240 of new clothes this year? Can't you just wear what you have or only buy new if you sell something on eBay first? Until debts are cleared it should be essentials only unless you can make extra for luxuries
Petrol/diesel........................... 0
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 20
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 30 do you actually spend this? If so a prepaid certificate will work out cheaper for you.
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 30 maybe cut back on this too, you can't afford to be spending £360 a year on other people right now. Either set a maximum of £5-£10 per person or maybe agree with friends/family to just do a secret santa so each of you only buys for one person.
Haircuts................................ 20 Is this needed every month? Go longer between cuts and maybe try a local college where the students do very cheap cuts. Doesn't sound a lot at £20 a month but at £240 a year it does
Entertainment........................... 30
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
(Unnamed monthly expense)............... 0
Gym..................................... 40.5 I know you are in contract but do they offer a lower/cheaper package instead?
Total monthly expenses.................. 1340.88

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

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Littlewoods....................81.84.....40.92.....0
Tesco Credit Card..............2003.17...59........26.7
Barclaycard....................1631.36...49........24.6
Natwest Credit Card............1422.34...23.8......15
Natwest personal loan..........8392.32...231.8.....23
TV V12 Finance.................197.27....25.61.....0

Total monthly income: £ 1907
Expenses (incl. HP & secured debts): £1340.88
Available for debt repayments: £ 566.12
Unsecured debt repayments: £ 430.13Surplus (shortfall if negative) £ 135.99

While it will cost you too much to overpay on the loan it would be better to pay the minimum on the lower interest cards and throw everything at the higher interest ones first so for now concentrate on the Tesco card, then BC and finally NatWest when the other two are clear.

La_escocesa · 28 August 2017 at 8:39AM

Sounds like you're making great progress tempus! :beer:

I use YNAB for budgeting - you can try it free for 34 days - basically you start from exactly where you are right now and what you need to do with all of the money you have right now until you are paid again. The principal is the same regardless of whether you are paid monthly, weekly etc. It worked for us as I was paid monthly but OH was paid weekly - I found it great for getting that to work initially (he is paid monthly now) - and it's also got a great app for tracking spending. The other thing is that you budget until all your money is already accounted for - so although your new SOA says you will have £135 spare you should also allocate that. It makes you think whether that would be better going towards a credit card extra payment, or some 'fun money' or something else. Sorry for being so evangelical... It's just made such a difference to my spending and budgeting!

I used to live in a v expensive house and it was a killer. Moving won't only decrease your rent but also your council tax, water, energy bills...

Clothes and hair cuts - try a little competition with yourself to see how long you can go without spending any money on them...

I've also found the small things thread great for keeping me on track...
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=5700880

Good luck!

Tempus01 · 28 August 2017 at 2:29PM

Sorry I'm new to this, what's YNAB?

I get my hair done every three months and costs £60 so I've divided that up for the year. I may do my colour myself while I'm getting things on track. So I could reduce that to £10 a month.

Christmas coming up and I'm dreading it

La_escocesa · 28 August 2017 at 3:00PM

Here's a referral link for YNAB - says if you do sign up with it we'll both get a month free.

https://ynab.com/referral/?ref=qa9jLJ9D8guLF2i0&utm_source=customer_referral

How many people do you usually buy for at Christmas? Could you suggest a secret santa and everyone just buy 1?

enthusiasticsaver · 28 August 2017 at 5:17PM

I think flat sharing from next march is a good idea. Will you need to save up a deposit, first months rent etc? Is March when the lease on your current place is up for renewal?

I strongly suggest you sow the seeds to your friends and family now saying expensive xmas presents are not going to be happening for you this year as you are on a very tight budget. Cut the list down as far as possible and make presents for them or buy cheaper than usual. Absolutely no point whatsoever going into further debt for Christmas. That is a mistake too many people make. You have no children, speak to your family and partner and close friends (if you normally buy for them) and see if you can cut the list down. We now only buy for immediate family and have cut out presents to siblings, nieces and nephews etc as they are all adults and we do not see them much.

A lot of people seem to make a fair amount from surveys, ebaying unwanted stuff and mystery shopping. Can you look into that?

Tempus01 · 28 August 2017 at 5:38PM

I only need to buy for my sister, and parents. Oh and partner. But i will plan it into my budget. Get a present each month. It's looking like I'll have about £80-£100 left over this month. Payday next Friday. So will put that on one of the CC's

Yes my lease is up in March. My deposit was £900 so I should get that back. I'll need to plan some money each month for when I move. There will possibly be the option of moving in with my partner then. But obviously will depend on how things go.

Not a bad bank holiday weekend. Had NSD's on Saturday and Sunday and just spent under £10 for today's dinner and bin bags.

Managed to pick up some overtime in work for two days so that's paid at 150% which will help a little. Again that'll go straight on a CC.

I've just downloaded YNAB on my phone but still figuring it out. Will need to log on on the laptop to get a proper look and get my head around it.

Not feeling as positive today. Going to be a long road

EssexHebridean · 29 August 2017 at 1:12PM

A long road it is but you've switched that light bulb firmly on before things get any worse, and are clearly aware of and willing to learn from your mistakes, so that's all good. You're made great progress so far as well - keep that up!

enthusiasticsaver · 29 August 2017 at 3:55PM

It will be a long road but the hardest bit is the thing you are doing right now. Working out where your money goes and trying to cut back. Eventually it will become second nature to think to yourself "do I really need this?" or "can I get this cheaper elsewhere?". You have the added advantage that your 3 credit cards do not have massively high balances and there is scope for you to reduce your rent next year which is really too high for you. If you don't share with your partner look for a room in a shared house. It does not have to be forever, just until you have sorted out your debt.

Debt-Free Wannabe ASAP

Comments

Categories

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free