-£99,152 net worth - scary figure
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charliedavis
Posts: 409 Forumite
Unbelievably, this huge amount of debt has been incurred solely in the last 3 years.
It was even higher, but I've been working with a debt counsellor and we've managed to reduce it down by around £5,000 in the last 30 days.
As you can see from the SOA later on, the debt is being paid - just about. There's even room for some over payments.
However as we are both self employed - the income is as of today. It is finely balanced and we can both have a bad month, meaning this budget gets knocked and we have ended up using credit.
With no savings, this has meant we have tended to use credit haphazardly and irresponsibly.
I am determined to get this paid off hence this diary, and really hoping for your support!
As you can see, we are renting which is really expensive, and we want to buy a house eventually.
We have nothing to show for the amount we have spent, except some great holiday photos.
Yes I inherited this method of overspending from my parents, as did my OH - but I want this pattern to stop now before I pass it on my kids too.
I'll add this first post now then continue to add more thoughts.
It was even higher, but I've been working with a debt counsellor and we've managed to reduce it down by around £5,000 in the last 30 days.
As you can see from the SOA later on, the debt is being paid - just about. There's even room for some over payments.
However as we are both self employed - the income is as of today. It is finely balanced and we can both have a bad month, meaning this budget gets knocked and we have ended up using credit.
With no savings, this has meant we have tended to use credit haphazardly and irresponsibly.
I am determined to get this paid off hence this diary, and really hoping for your support!
As you can see, we are renting which is really expensive, and we want to buy a house eventually.
We have nothing to show for the amount we have spent, except some great holiday photos.
Yes I inherited this method of overspending from my parents, as did my OH - but I want this pattern to stop now before I pass it on my kids too.
I'll add this first post now then continue to add more thoughts.
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Comments
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Cars:
OH needs a decent car for work and 100% is accounted for via the business as he is self employed, so the HP is for a 2 year lease that will then be swapped for a different vehicle in 2 years time. His petrol is not accounted for above as his business pays for it.
My car - I did have a lease car a few months back but swapped it for an 4 year old Astra a few months back to cut down on monthly overheads.0 -
Loans:
Zopa was for paying off our self assessment.
Part of the reason the debt was accrued is because my business had a couple of amazing years and then I had to take time off due to ill-health (stress related) - meaning we ending up living on the savings I had made to pay the tax.
Sainsburys was for credit consolidation0 -
Mobile phones:
Reimbursed by our businesses - I know it looks expensive :-)0 -
£2,850 rent for a couple :eek::eek: - halving that would do more for you than any other small changes0
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Areas I can definitely see I can save:
Groceries, £150 per week is a saving from the £220 per week I used to spend at Ocado, but the past few weeks we have been closer to £100/£120 in Tesco, and now aiming to get that to £80 per week in Aldi. This will save £70 x 4 = £280 per month
Entertainment - will cut that right down to £30 per week saving another £280 per month.
I've looked at a snowball debt calculator and overpaying by £800 per month will get us out of debt in 57 months.
In an ideal situation I'd like to increase my business income back up again to be able to snowball an extra £2000 per month, which would get us of debt in just 24 months. The difference is HUGE - so it's something to work towards in my business - health permitting. Pushing really hard last time is what made me ill so I do need to be careful0 -
£2,850 rent for a couple :eek::eek: - halving that would do more for you than any other small changes
Totally agree - we are in a fixed tenancy agreement until August when we will be moving to a far cheaper house. There are 4 of us though, we aren't just a couple :-) I do have an older son too who often visits.
I do run events from my house so do claim quite a bit of it back, around £700 per month is claimed back via the business.
I have asked to be released early from our tenancy - they agreed but the fees plus the fact we'd have to make up the shortfall made it impossible to do so ...0 -
Concentrating on paying the high MBNA CC off first, been chucking everything I can off it at the moment.
Confused about the fact it means I have no cash savings/emergency fund though - would love thoughts on what I should be doing here to prevent relying on a CC in case of emergency?0 -
charliedavis wrote: »Totally agree - we are in a fixed tenancy agreement until August when we will be moving to a far cheaper house. There are 4 of us though, we aren't just a couple :-) I do have an older son too who often visits.
I do run events from my house so do claim quite a bit of it back, around £700 per month is claimed back via the business.
I have asked to be released early from our tenancy - they agreed but the fees plus the fact we'd have to make up the shortfall made it impossible to do so ...
Hi Do you live in a very expensive area? I live in the middle of a capital city family of 5 in a 4 bed house and we pay £900 a month for rent - so this does seem really high, I hope you can find somewhere more affordableDMP: £30,668 £3,364.02 DFD July 20240 -
Hi,
Just want to say welcome. Looking at your SOA, it looks like there are definitely some areas you can cut which is good. Good luck on your journey
August 2019 - Debt £8000
June 2020 - Debt £190.96
Saving Pots: House Fund: £2015.21 Holiday Pot: £327.31 Rainy Day Fund: £964.84 Sod it/Treat Fund: £12.06
Stocks and Shares ISA: £189.650 -
Hi Do you live in a very expensive area? I live in the middle of a capital city family of 5 in a 4 bed house and we pay £900 a month for rent - so this does seem really high, I hope you can find somewhere more affordable
I think we could easily move to a rented house half the price for sure, that's the plan in August when the tenancy ends. I do have an office here, which I was paying £550 per month for before, that's partly how we justified moving here.
When I was steadily taking out £150k a year from my business it didn't seem like an issue. I'm definitely guilty of being far too optimistic that my business and health could sustain it indefinitely. I feel quite sick about the money I've wasted these last few years for sure.0
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