Reducing Debt - being accountable and taking responsibility
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Thought I'd spend some time this morning going through my September finances and charting my payments / spends / savings.
Below is an overview of the key figures:
Salary: £2,270.83 (net after tax & NI, student loan and 8% pension deduction)
Other Income: £34.58 (£29.88 from Eb4y sales and £4.70 from T0pCashBack)
Debt Payments: £1,124.24
Monthly Spends:
Groceries: £249.21
Fuel: £66.43
Cash: £14.28
Misc. £38.59 (incs. new case for iPad & random stuff)
Ebay: £10.46 (new MacBook case and dongle bags)
Work Expenses: £114.58 (sat on CC1 ugh!)
Takeaways: £21.20
Immediate Obligations inc. mortgage & bills: £607.45
Yearly Expenses:
Presents: £52.58
YNAB: £38.79 (annual subscription)
Holidays: £3.37 (final invoiced toll payment)
Yearly Savings:
Presents: £53
Car Maintenance: £49
Emergency Fund: £20 (must do better)
Had a residual £9.81 that carried over to October's budget.
Food spends are probably a bit too high, but I do have a £16 beef joint in the freezer that wasn't used as planned this month. Also, I bought a few lunches at work towards the end of the month when I was too busy (..ahem, lazy..) to make lunch the night before.
Fuel spends are good and I still had £30 worth of fuel in my little car at the end of the month. Working at home quite a lot turned out to be economical.
Overall, I'm happy with this month. There have been some random unexpected spends such computer accessories, 58.05 to our new energy provider after switching and my YNAB subscription, but I'm happy with these spends as they were needed and my emergency budget covered them.
Will post October spend / payment plans shortly.0 -
Looking good dr.
You've 'spent' half your salary on your debt this month. Some might say :eek: but I say :j:j:j for your discipline.
Have a fabulously frugal October.Outstanding mortgage: £23,181 (December 19)
MFW 2020 Challenge Member #10 0/£23180 -
Alrighty, plans for October are as follows:
Salay: £2251.61 (net after tax & NI, student loan and 9% pension deduction)
Other Income: £533.47 (£507.01 from a work fee, £25.25 from T0pCashBack & £1.21 in interest). Another £64.50 is due shortly from a British Gas refund from switching suppliers. It'll be put aside to cover remedial redecoration from our new boiler installation.
Debt Payments: £1,057.91
Monthly Spends:
Groceries: £234
Fuel: £80.01 (need to save some for new parking book)
Cash: £12.92
Misc. £10.21
Toiletries: £30 (foundation & other bits & bobs)
Sport: £10
Household Misc: £610 (for new boiler)
Work Expenses: £20 (got another couple of trips)
Immediate Obligations inc. mortgage & bills: £504.01
Yearly Savings:
Presents: £111.25 (will all be spent this month)
Car Maintenance: £51 (total now at £100; £250 car service in January)
Health: £14.30 (for prescription & dentist)
YNAB: £3.40
Books: £21.98 (treat purchase on a new release I wanted)
I'm sure these categories will be tweaked over the course of the month but that's what I like so much about YNAB - you have a predetermined income and a series of priority spends (immediate obligations and yearly savings / expenses) and then you can shuffle the remaining money around you monthly spends.
My immediate obligations are down by £103.44 this month (were £607.45 last month) due to cheaper broadband and energy (switched suppliers) and not having to pay new and old energy suppliers in one month.
Will be interesting to see how much I shuffle money around the categories this month - I did it quite a bit last month!
DSL :j0 -
wishingthemortgaheaway wrote: »Looking good dr.
You've 'spent' half your salary on your debt this month. Some might say :eek: but I say :j:j:j for your discipline.
Have a fabulously frugal October.
Thanks Wishing! Yes, its a bit scary how much I'm putting aside for debt repayments but funnily enough, I don't feel like I've cut back too much. I consider that scary, since I have no idea what I was spending the money on before. That said, there are no savings for holidays which I think we'll pass on anyway next year due to possible house move. My drive to get the debt paid off is making me put so much aside. Fingers crossed I can keep at it!!0 -
You are doing fantastically well and seem incredibly focused. As both your CCs are not incurring interest I think I would start to target the awful CC2 and maintain minimums on CC1 until next April when interest kicks in and hopefully you will then be close enough to zero to clear it. On mortgage applications high credit card debt is frowned upon depending on income. Getting it lower would look better on an application and maybe help to clear within the interest free period. Getting the credit utilisation percentage down looks good too.I’m a Forum Ambassador and I support the Forum Team on the Debt free Wannabe, Budgeting and Banking and Savings and Investment boards. If you need any help on these boards, do let me know. Please note that Ambassadors are not moderators. Any posts you spot in breach of the Forum Rules should be reported via the report button, or by emailing forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com. All views are my own and not the official line of MoneySavingExpert.0
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Been playing around with my YNAB this morning and putting in theoretical monthly budgets for the next 12 months.
Theoretically I could get all my debts paid off by June 1st 2018 rather than July 1st 2018.
This is based on following my current budgeting and repayment approach plus incorporating my January salary increment (net income to £2,304.95) from 1st February 2018.
However, this is a budget without life getting in the way, which it does. A potential house move will be costly (though fees and expenses associated with this will come from DFs family money) as will the first few months of settling into a new place with a bigger mortgage and higher running costs. I'm not blind to this, especially having read quite a few diaries on here that show people tend to splurge cash on buying new furniture, largely on finance, in the excitement of moving house and then generate a bunch of new debt. I don't plan on doing that, but who knows what could happen. That said, it may take longer than 7 months to move house so it may actually all work out in practice!
The above theoretical budget does have a household misc. category from February and £110 for clothing spends for the January sales. I'm hoping to save on car insurance payments come December when my policy is up for renewal.
I'm not going to change my Debt Free Date for now - I'll plod along with my DFD of 1st July 2018 and see what kind of progress I make, leaving the decision to bring the date forward until April or May.
I really better get back to work. I seem to have merged my elevenses and lunch break together into one big budgeting / MSE bonanza!0 -
enthusiasticsaver wrote: »You are doing fantastically well and seem incredibly focused. As both your CCs are not incurring interest I think I would start to target the awful CC2 and maintain minimums on CC1 until next April when interest kicks in and hopefully you will then be close enough to zero to clear it. On mortgage applications high credit card debt is frowned upon depending on income. Getting it lower would look better on an application and maybe help to clear within the interest free period. Getting the credit utilisation percentage down looks good too.
Thanks Enthusiastic! Yes, you're right, CC2 is awful. On your advice, I've revised my CC payments through to April and if I stick to my planned budgets, the balance on CC2 should be £5,707,15 on 1st Jan, which will hopefully look much better for an AIP, especially in relation to my gross salary and my low monthly spends. This strategy allows for £10 payments to CC1, which will be a bit above the minimum payment, until April and then a final payment of £200 in May. After January, my plan is to pay £1000 per month (roughly) off CC2 through to June, with a final July payment of £327.15.
There is a chance we will progress with some exploratory mortgage conversations with a broker before January, so I will be interested to get their take on my overall and specific credit utilisation. If I need to, I will BT some of CC2 to CC1 and take the hit on the fee, but I'm uncertain whether this type of financial behaviour will be negatively perceived by mortgage lenders. I know the broker in question since he's dealt with other members of my family so I'm sure we can have a good chat about all this!0 -
DrSpendLittle wrote: »Thanks Wishing! Yes, its a bit scary how much I'm putting aside for debt repayments but funnily enough, I don't feel like I've cut back too much. I consider that scary, since I have no idea what I was spending the money on before. That said, there are no savings for holidays which I think we'll pass on anyway next year due to possible house move. My drive to get the debt paid off is making me put so much aside. Fingers crossed I can keep at it!!
Come next July/August time, you'll be able to pay for a holiday outright with 1 or 2 months 'debt' money.
I firmly believe that when you have a achieved something you should mark the occasion somehow. (Spot my theme)
I got a new job - new purse
I finished paying off my student loan - new handbag
Successfully completed a massive work job - new handbag
(Don't think I need to go on....)Outstanding mortgage: £23,181 (December 19)
MFW 2020 Challenge Member #10 0/£23180 -
I like your thinking wishing....0
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First mortgage free month I'm going to blow the whole lot on something so incredibly frivolous for us all I will surprise myself.Outstanding mortgage: £23,181 (December 19)
MFW 2020 Challenge Member #10 0/£23180
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