My SOA and Situation Realisation

shteca · 31 July 2018 at 6:24PM

MrsPorridge wrote: »

Do you have a freezer? You could always cook four meals, one to eat that night, one to take to work next day and two to freeze.

I LOVE cooking and have a big freezer! Since getting my smart meter I have realised just how much running my freezer is costing me haha
I do that, I go to supermarket and cook enough for 2 - 3 meals. When I have the kids they eat between them a meals worth so it lasts me a couple days.
Tonight I made a Rogan Josh curry, enough for a couple days.

shteca · 31 July 2018 at 6:37PM

saajan_12 wrote: »

Sounds like you're on the right track and know what you're doing with the spending. It definitely looks possible based on your SOA to make some more room to get those debts down. I understand its much harder without an irregular income but perhaps try to save on the essential costs and then create a (tight) budget for the non essentials such as clothes, entertainment, holidays. Just my two cents on your SOA, to make sure you're saving in every area possible.

Hi Saajan
I think you are completely right. My downfalls in the past have been signing up to contracts, loans, CC without proper considerations. I have spent like it was my money when it wasn't and it has all just caught up to me now. The biggest thing for me has been looking at what I actually spend and categorising everything just to see where every penny is spent. Something I NEVER did.
Going through your points
Council tax Yes, I get the discount. My flat is a two bed flat so higher in CT
Mobile phone I cry every month when I get this bill. Took the contract out 22 months ago so just 2 more months until this will be a thing of the past never to be made again. I actually saw a deal on Martin's email for a £10/month SIM only deal that I have bookmarked
Groceries I have recently discovered Aldi and it has changed my life. Seamless transition and the kids love it. This number was just an average of what i have spent a month over the last year and because I was just looking back through a bank statement when it says Tesco it could be for clothes or food and I would just put it as Food. Now I am updating the statement daily with exactly what each line is and categorizing correctly.
Clothing Again, average over a year. Some months just blew out on school, winter, summer clothes. Will be shopping online, ebay etc going forward
Other travel This was something I considered but it was neither here nor there so thought it was worth it to get the months pass and not have to worry about it every time I get on
Haircuts Yes this is for all of us
Entertainment This and the eating out... It will be stopping here on in. Already cut it down to 0 this week so feel like I have got off to a good start
Holiday Correct, I took the kids on holiday earlier in the year and just decided this cost over the 12 months
Bank LoanReally wish there was an easy answer to this. I am at my maximum credit now. Think the CC companies have wised up to this and they are not going to give me any more CC. They rejected me a few times so I stopped trying to not look bad on my credit history
THANK YOU SO MUCH

MovingForwards · 31 July 2018 at 7:41PM

You should be getting 50% of any child benefit if you have the kids 50% of the time.

Childcare etc is that 50% of the total due to be paid each month or are you paying more/less than the total bill.

Kids clothing / hair cuts - are you paying 100% of this or do you split it between you and your ex.

Medical - if this is prescription charges and dentist/optitions count up how many scripts you have over the year as it may work out cheaper to pre-pay. Also if you have a medical condition check if it is one which gives you exemption from paying scripts. Always ask the chemist if the meds are available over the counter and what cost, it may work out cheaper than paying the script fee. Not sure if that free meds thing for kids is still going where the chemist can dish out some basic meds for the kids at no charge (i'm sure a parent can clarify!).

Car hire - look on ebay for the things you want from Ikea, they are often listed by other companies with free postage. Or dont buy one thing at a time and hire a car, store up several items then pay for Ikea to deliver. You are paying out a lot of money over the year.

Mobile bill - make sure you give the right notice to your current provider as you dont want to get stuck paying another month.

Eating out - it can be done but look for vouchers and do it as a special treat ie the kids birthday or celebrating start of summer.

You can trim back and not feel like you are living to work

enthusiasticsaver · 31 July 2018 at 10:14PM

If you cannot get any 0% deals then really knuckling down and really cutting costs as much as possible and paying as much off the debt as possible over the next 12 months is your best chance. Dont' apply for anything else as rejections will show on your credit history.

In a years time when the debt is lower then see if you can move some of the MBNA or overdraft to 0%. Holidays, entertainment, eating out, groceries and clothing can all be cut. You also need emergency savings to stop you relying on credit. I would focus on the overdraft as those are really expensive ways of borrowing and yours is really high. Let the loans run their course for now.

shteca · 7 August 2018 at 6:16PM

Okay, week into August and here is my current spending...
Supermarket £57
Entertainment £18
Restaurant £27
Clothes £19
Entertainment was mainly kids as my sister took them out and I paid the bill. Restaurant was a bit of a slip up but I am allowing £30 a month in my budget. It was with a couple friends on Friday night.
Clothes was eBay purchases for my daughter she needed some new outfits.
Over all, really impressed. If I keep it up I will be right on track at this rate.
Also had a good month in work and have been doing some side income from web design making £200 a month ish...
Feels great to have started keeping track of everything and spending more consciously.
Mainly, just my daily dose of Dave Ramsey on YouTube is enough to keep me on the straight and narrow

shteca · 11 August 2018 at 8:15PM

Two weekends into August and I feel like I am doing so well!
I got a £190 refund from e-on as I had overpaid massively on my electricity. My monthly payments are still too high so I am reducing them too.
So far this month:
Restaurant: £27
Supermarket: £89
Travel: £7.69
Entertainment: £32
Clothes: £29

Entertainment was just £10 from today going out with the kids and rest from last weekend.
Clothes, daughter needed some new outfits so got them off eBay and they are perfect!

determined_new_ms · 12 August 2018 at 8:01AM

Hi it looks like you are getting a handle on all of this. I found with becoming frugal it has been a gradual journey. Initially we went hell for leather and paid off £16k in 10 months. We went without everything but basics. That was how we wanted to do it after years of paying it off and racking it up simultaneously.

But living a frugal life has been something that we have developed and refined over the years.

I just wanted to add what I do for food for work. I eat a lot and work 12 hour shifts so take breakfast, lunch and dinner with me as well as snacks. For me it is now a habit that a couple of times a week I cook something and freeze it in portions so I have a couple of choices. Currently I have mixed bean chilli and courgette curry in the freezer. The night before a work day I grab a portion out of the freezer - and with these I'll cook up some rice - takes minutes. People say how organised I am but I don't think it is - it's 2nd nature now. Takes about 10 mins to prep and then cooks for 20-30 minutes on the hob while I'm milling around in the kitchen anyway. In the winter/colder months it's often a bean/veg soup

I often make a bacon and veg frittata and cut it into 6, taking 2 slices to work with me. Often I just cook this in the morning before work while I'm having a coffee/pottering around, but again it's simple enough to do while you're cooking your tea.

It just takes practice. It's really not much effort, less than it would take to go to the shop and buy one lunch. Convenience of modern life is sold to us but if you really stop and think about it it's less convenient than just spending 10 mins cooking something when you're at home cooking stuff anyway.

Good luck!

JayRitchie · 26 January 2019 at 9:18AM

shteca wrote: »

Two weekends into August and I feel like I am doing so well!
I got a £190 refund from e-on as I had overpaid massively on my electricity. My monthly payments are still too high so I am reducing them too.
So far this month:
Restaurant: £27
Supermarket: £89
Travel: £7.69
Entertainment: £32
Clothes: £29

Entertainment was just £10 from today going out with the kids and rest from last weekend.
Clothes, daughter needed some new outfits so got them off eBay and they are perfect!

Hey, was thinking about you when reading another post - how are you getting on?

shteca · 27 January 2019 at 6:55PM

Thank you so much for all of that. Prepping my meals and making an effort to be more conscious about my outgoings with the supermarkets has been the difference for me.
I started shopping in Aldi and more than just saving the money it’s also changed my mind starts to a much more responsible and intentional buyer. It also helps with preparation as I have to go out my way to get to Aldi so I have to have much more intention behind my shopping.
Great tips to with regards to the food.
I also keep a track of how much I spend on eating out Allens supermarkets which keeps me accountable every month.

shteca · 27 January 2019 at 7:09PM

Thank you for getting back in touch. Wow, what an incredible journey this has been! It has changed my entire life.
Doing the research and learning so much, developing new habits and becoming responsible for my outgoings.
The start was really tough and I have slowly been building back up and changing my priorities.
Where to start...
1) I still don’t have a car, I sold my ridiculous car right at the start and have made do with Uber and public transport.
2) still shopping at Aldi (game changer)
3) focusing all my energy on paying off my debts as quickly as possible. The monthly outgoing of my debts are such a cause of stress in my life and focusing on removing them and NEVER EVER returning to credit or debt is now my life goal and what I will pass on to my children.
4) following the Dave Ramsey method of paying smallest to largest and also swapped my credit card debt to a 0% which has been very recent but gives me a bit more to pay towards debt
5) cancelled / swapped MANY direct debits (savings, Spotify, changed phone contracts to a sim only, cheaper electric, dental insurance etc) just frees up so much in the grand scheme. I’m all about having as little over heads as possible and IF I CANT PAY FOR IT IN CASH, I CANT AFFORD IT.
6) learning to say no to myself! This is possibly the biggest one so far, so many occasions I have said yes to myself on impulse and paid the price later on. E.g. at the moment I don’t have a TV or car and every time I think about buying either I make an instant transfer of that amount to my debts (my logic being if I would have spent that money on some stupid stuff I might as well spend it but pay off debt) been very harsh on myself and stopped by all the rubbish I used to
7) I have developed a real sense of purpose and hope for the future. My current debt payments are around £1,000 a month and I just keep imagining the time where I will be saving that money and investing it. Gives me so much hope for the future.

That’s my recap as of right now.

When I started 8 months ago my total debt excluding my mortgage was £54,273 plus a mortgage of £67,000
I am now at £31,761 with a mortgage of £63,611

Still a while to go but at least I am conscious and intent on where I am going.

Thank you so much!

My SOA and Situation Realisation

Comments

Categories

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