Mr and Mrs K's New Journey to a Debt Free Life.

AlexLK · 3 September 2013 at 8:14PM

Good evening everybody!

First of all, I want to say a big thank you to everybody who has contributed to both this thread and my other one.

Mrs. K. and I have make a couple of lists this evening but we are still not finished with our accurate SOA yet but here are the things we have identified:

Decreasing Our Spending

• Gas and Electricity - Stop using energy unnecessarily, check u-switch.
• Landline - Saving made of £60+ bills per month to £32.75. Commitment made to not dialling mobile numbers from this phone.
• Mobile Phone - Mrs. K. is going to keep her current iPhone at the end of her contract and go on SIM only. I am going to cut down to a £10 per month contract as I hardly use it.
• Groceries - cut the wine down to 1 bottle per week as our Saturday evening treat. One takeaway per month. Shop for fresh ingredients and cook - this is a bit challenge for Mrs. K. and I for neither of us enjoy cooking so we need to find some quick and EASY recipes. Swap between cooking and washing up daily.
• Clothing - Buy no new clothes for a year; we have absolutely loads of things we have never even wore. Sell our son's clothes that no longer fit him. Only buy him the clothes he needs from cheaper retailers.
• Petrol - Sell the V8 Disco and buy a diesel version. Stop using cars for short journeys of less than 1-2 miles.
• Car maintenance - Do not buy unessential items.
• Other child related expenses - This is going to stop until the debts have gone.
• Presents - Buy son gifts that cost less. Only buy each other a small but thoughtful gift each for special occasions. Cut down spending on family members and let them know we are cutting down our spending.
• Haircuts - Mrs K. cut down to once every other month, do not have hair dyed and I will stay at once every other month.
• Holiday - 2014 will be a holiday free year but we will have 7 or 8 family days out.

Things We Need to Save Towards

• PAYING OFF DEBTS.
• Having an emergency fund of around £5,000.
• Home improvements - new bathroom suite, trying to insulate the house better. Long term - roof replacement, boiler replacement, rewiring or move.

Improving Our Monthly Income

Mrs. K.: Apply for internal promotion at the earliest opportunity. Her boss is due to retire in two years time and has already said he would recommend her for the position.

Main Business:
I am a partner in a small firm (of two: the cabinet maker and I) supplying bespoke furniture to independent retailers.
• Don't wait for shops to find us, go out and find them!
• Shop around for materials.

Sideline Business Ideas: (Potential to make an extra £1650 per month)
Most of these I have "played" with before, during my university days.
• Pens - buying / refurbishing and selling. Aim to make £50 per pen and sell 3 per month. (£150) Notes: Allows me to keep the hobby, must not decide to "keep" any.
• Watches - buying and selling. Would have to outsource any refurbishment though. Aim to make £250 per watch and sell one per month. (£250) Notes: As above.
• Triumph / MG / Jaguar classic steering wheels. Investigate further. (£ not sure) Notes: Could be more trouble than it is worth. Autojumbles are full of dealers.
• Triumph cars - 2 per year aiming to make £1000 per car. (£150) Notes: This is easily do able. However, not a cheap business to try.
• Chesterfield chairs - buy / refurbish and sell. Aim to make £100 per chair and sell 3 per month. (£300) Notes: Picked one up today!
• Music Teaching - in the evening. Up to 10 hours per week at £25 per hour, 40 weeks of the year. School terms only. (£800) Notes: Can find 4 hours of work straight away from friends children.

Any advice or tips would be much appreciated. The "real" diary post is on it's way.

7roland8 · 3 September 2013 at 8:39PM

Great breakdown adn list above Alex - looks like you ahve worked hard on it - have been following the other thread too.

Just quick points:

• Having an emergency fund of around £5,000.
• Home improvements - new bathroom suite, trying to insulate the house better. Long term - roof replacement, boiler replacement, rewiring or move.

I would rather pay off debts and credit cards than save for an emergency fund - anything desperate I would use the cards for if and when needed.

Also are the home repairs REALLY necessary? Especially the bathroom suite?

My son just graduated - after being funded only by means tested grant and a bit of a loan - he lived at home and I do not think he feels deprived - although I am ill and husband had to medically retire through an accident at work we put two children through uni. Also they had 2:2s which I was proud of anyway.

debtfreewannabe321 · 3 September 2013 at 9:00PM

Good luck Alex, sounds like you are off to a flying start. Great news that you have the Mrs on board :T so many of these diaries tell a different story (mine included) and it makes it so much harder.

I didn't read your other thread but it sounds like you have had some great support already, I hope you carry on posting and reading on here, it really helps with motivation I found

AlexLK · 3 September 2013 at 9:05PM

Right, here goes!

Tuesday 3rd September, 2013
Day 2.

Dear Diary,

This entry I think I shall entitle "Pay the going rate or get out!"

People, I have found, take the .... wherever and whenever they can: take today, for instance, I am in one moment told I am a "complete and utter waste of space" and then asked to do some work to get a certain person's daughter through an upcoming music theory examination, for free! Yes, this was the same person all in the space of about two sentences; my hardworking and tenacious salt-of-the-earth brother-in-law to be precise. By this point to say I was seething would be mild, especially as he pays some teenage girl hardly through her ABRSM Grades to teach his precious eight year old girl piano and theory. Anyhow, I digress.

This is not the first time my brother-in-law has asked for my help and he has long expected me to put hours upon hours of work into devising materials suitable for his daughter's learning style, all because her own teacher will not or cannot do her job properly. So I did something I never thought of doing before, especially as they are technically family, I asked for payment. £35.00 worth of payment to be precise. Of course, initially, Mr. Know-It-All balked at the idea of paying the "complete and utter waste of space" to do work he has before now done for free. However, upon realising it was pay me or let his daughter fail her exam, he chose the former. So that makes me £35.00 up and him pleased in the knowledge that his little Princess will likely walk out of the exam room in November with a distinction. All in all, not a bad exchange for either of us.

Right, we shall move swiftly on to the actual point of this diary: my woeful finances which we seem to be making a little progress towards being not quite so woeful. In all honesty, Mrs. K. and I have made very little progress towards clearing the debts today: I stared at my pen collection for a bit and identified the ones that will be first to go, she found a few more figures for our SOA but apart from that it has been slow as that little thing known as "work" has got right in the way of us sorting out the financial mess I got us both into. However, it is not all doom and gloom, work has been good for me, making a tidy profit on a few items I didn't think we'd sell for quite a long time, meaning an impromptu trip into the city of Derby. This could have only meant one thing other than doing business; me getting far too tempted to spend our hard to come by cash and surprise, surprise after securing the deal, I found myself wondering up Sadler Gate, into all those shops I like to buy nice clothes from. Before I know it I'm trying on a new winter coat not so dissimilar to my "old" day to day one, almost putting my hand in my pocket to the tune of £279. Fortunately, I managed (only just) to restrain myself, instead walking out of the city with only a new mid-year diary and a £3.00 car park ticket.

Other events of the day have included: our son being spoiled by his grandparents, lunch at home, a cheap dinner of pie and chips we'd been meaning to eat for a while, no wine and a bit of a telling off from Mrs. K. for not buying the cheapest diary on offer.

Financial Summary:
+£35.00 - Unexpected music theory work.
-£1.70 - Bakery.
-£3.00 - Parking.
-£13.45 - Moleskine Mid-year diary.
I also bought a Chesterfield chair and sold four lamps and a side table to a shop in Derby. However, that being business does not really count.

In conclusion, whilst the diary may seem a bit extravagant to some, a good start made to a new life of thinking before spending.

Yours Faithfully,
Alex.

AlexLK · 3 September 2013 at 9:14PM

7roland8 wrote: »

Great breakdown adn list above Alex - looks like you ahve worked hard on it - have been following the other thread too.

Just quick points:

I would rather pay off debts and credit cards than save for an emergency fund - anything desperate I would use the cards for if and when needed.

Also are the home repairs REALLY necessary? Especially the bathroom suite?

My son just graduated - after being funded only by means tested grant and a bit of a loan - he lived at home and I do not think he feels deprived - although I am ill and husband had to medically retire through an accident at work we put two children through uni. Also they had 2:2s which I was proud of anyway.

To clarify: the emergency fund / home improvements are what we plan to save for once we have paid the debts off in full. As for using the cards, that is now out of the question due to my stupidity in the past.

The home repairs are something we do need to look at in the long term. The bathroom suite is vile and very old, the house is old (Victorian) and is not well insulated, we have patched up the roof over the past couple of years but have been told that it is really due replacement, same story with the boiler and wiring.

Well done to your children

. Sorry to hear you and your husband are unwell. I am beginning to start to wonder if I'm just over thinking what things I believe my son "needs", especially in later life when in a lot of people's opinions he should be finding his own way.

, it's so hard to know what to do for the best.

AlexLK · 3 September 2013 at 9:15PM

debtfreewannabe321 wrote: »

Good luck Alex, sounds like you are off to a flying start. Great news that you have the Mrs on board :T so many of these diaries tell a different story (mine included) and it makes it so much harder.

I didn't read your other thread but it sounds like you have had some great support already, I hope you carry on posting and reading on here, it really helps with motivation I found

I'm definitely going to try and keep posting.

Do you have a link to your diary?

boo2410 · 3 September 2013 at 9:21PM

I am so loving your diary and am rooting for you. Please try and post daily, your writing style makes me chuckle, perhaps you could do a bit of writing for a bit of extra money and what you earn could go towards your cc debts. I'm a bit fed up at the moment and this has given me inspiration. Good luck to you and your wife. :beer:

7roland8 · 3 September 2013 at 9:25PM

Well done for resisting the coat - I thought for a minute you were going to confess to buying it!

I would think what your son 'needs' is a happy and secure home life - which will be better to obtain by clearing your debts and then letting the future take care of itself.

Who knows you can always save more money in years to come perhaps - but its not the end of the world if you don't.

Tut tut - that diary was a bit OTT - I got one from ebay for under £2 and you can pick them up in the £1 shop - all those little extras do add up - and would be better off the debt.

I know you need little treats now and again - but not all the time.

Regarding your pens - I personally like handbags - but generally do not keep just buying them - as I will sell one on ebay to fund the next one.

debtfreewannabe321 · 3 September 2013 at 9:25PM

I forgot to say if you have completely run out of credit then it might be a good idea to start an emergency fund whilst paying off the debts, albeit a small one. Emergencies always seem to crop up when you least want them

? My situation was probably different to you as I went on a dmp after completely running out of credit and ways to pay them all back

so the dmp company allowed a small emergency fund budget.:)

(link to my diary: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=3928785&highlight=)

AlexLK · 3 September 2013 at 9:26PM

boo2410 wrote: »

I am so loving your diary and am rooting for you. Please try and post daily, your writing style makes me chuckle, perhaps you could do a bit of writing for a bit of extra money and what you earn could go towards your cc debts. I'm a bit fed up at the moment and this has given me inspiration. Good luck to you and your wife. :beer:

The fact people think my writing is good enough for me to make a bit of extra cash makes me chuckle!

Seriously, though I am going to look into that and I'm glad I can bring a smile to somebodies face.

I will try to post daily, as I am actually enjoying writing it and it's helping to give me motivation not to spend obscene amounts of money on things that would be frowned upon by you on here (and my wife).

Mr and Mrs K's New Journey to a Debt Free Life.

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