Tm's MFW ramblings

oh my, reading my last post was sobering.

Total change of circumstances, my MF journey will now be a solo one, throwing all previous plans out of the window.

I'm currently waiting on my remortgage to go through so that I have an extra £30k to pay off ex-OH, I'll keep the current house and the children will live with me, I'll also be taking on all jointly accrued (but in my name only) debt - currently £17k. My mortgage balance will be 120k.

I've had to go for a 35 year term simply to push the monthly payments low enough that I can afford them. I'm applying for a 5 year fix as that gives me the security of knowing my payment amount through to when my youngest is at school. At that point, the debt should be paid off and my childcare bill will be halved or less (currently £945 a month) so I hope, presuming all else is ok financially, I can reduce my term at that point.

Definitely time for a new SOA - I'm going to have to tighten the belt in all areas and there will be very little wriggle room.... if anything I suppose I will actually be a DFW not a MFW for at least 4 years. Feels like an enormous backwards step. And absolutely cr*ps all over my diary's name - MF x 2 by 42! No chance unless I get a lotto win!

So here goes. Revised SOA. As you can see it's pretty tight. There's a little extra income here - £4 coop reward, £6 Natwest cashback, £3 Halifax reward but not counted as could go at any time.. I'll pay those towards the CCs as extra payments....plus anything I can make with selling, surveys etc will all go towards the credit cards.

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of children in household......... 2
Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 2140
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 137
Total monthly income.................... 2277

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 404
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 85 over 12m, includes sole occupancy discount
Electricity............................. 35
Gas..................................... 35 Gas and elec are estimates, last time I lived alone I didn't have kids.... perhaps we can get this lower.
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 24 on a meter, maybe this will drop.
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 37 stuck in contract until Jan 2019, will go PAYG then
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 10 netflix - am cancelling Virgin Media, need SOMETHING to keep me sane!
Internet Services....................... 25 estimate based on a quick look at comparison sites, as I said, cancelling VM so looking for an internet only service instead.
Groceries etc. ......................... 200 this is everything inc cleaning, cat food and litter, nappies, plus stuff for littlest who has multiple food allergies, packed lunches 5 days a week for DS1 and me. But I'll focus on this and try to keep it as low as possible.
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 0 I have a fuel card through work.
Road tax................................ 2.5
Car Insurance........................... 55
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 45 I drive a lot for work so car maintenance has to be a priority
Car parking............................. 0 work pay for this
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 880 averaged over the year, boosted by 20% on top by tax free childcare
Other child related expenses............ 50 this is presents for school kids' parties, all clothes, shoes, school trips, haircuts etc for 2 kids.
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 12
Buildings insurance..................... 22
Contents insurance...................... 0 included in buildings
Life assurance ......................... 11
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 30
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Private therapist....................... 70 sadly an essential at the moment. Fortnightly sessions. Hoping to drop this as soon as I can. This will then be paid off the debt
Green Party............................. 3
DS2 JISA................................ 10
DS1 JISA................................ 10
Total monthly expenses.................. 2067.5


Assets
Cash.................................... 304
House value (Gross)..................... 150000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 0
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 150304


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 120000...(404)......2.29
Total secured & HP debts...... 120000....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
MBNA1..........................8260......85........0% until Sep 2020
M&S............................1818......25........0% until Aug 2020
AA.............................2600......52........0% until Sep 2019
MBNA2..........................3793......50........0% until Jan 2020
Total unsecured debts..........16471.....212.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,277
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,067.5
Available for debt repayments........... 209.5
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 212
Amount short for making debt repayments. -2.5

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 150,304
Total HP & Secured debt................. -120,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -16,471
Net Assets.............................. 13,833

Created using the SOA calculator at https://www.stoozing.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using other browser.

SuperSecretSquirrel wrote: »

.... from some of the things you have said in the past I can't help but wonder if in the long term you won't find yourself better off in the end :cool:

I've just gone back and read my diary from the start. I don't give that much detail ref ex-OH but of course re-reading has taken me right back in time to each message and I know the extra info that wasn't typed in my posts..... You're right SSS, I already know this is the right thing to do (i spent a year agonising over the decision!) and just need to plod on. Things are going to be very difficult for the next 4 years but after that I will be DF, own a 6yo car as an asset, my childcare bill will be wraparound care only.... I can do this it's just getting through these 4 lean years first.

Frustrating thing is if I'd gone ahead with this a year ago I'd be getting circa £570 a month in tax credits until Jan 2020......... but now my area is a Universal Credit area I'm not entitled to anything. Ouch.

My SOA is so so tight, I know I have the discipline to stick to it but I worry about things like an appliance dying or things like that. I've got zero in the budget for clothes, shoes and haircuts for me.... I'm sure I have enough stuff to keep me going over that time, but it's still a bit of a depressing thought that at the ripe old age of 32 and on a salary of £37k+, those things are luxuries I can't afford!

As anyone who's read my diary will know, I like a plan so i'm trying to keep myself busy thinking of what my options are. My SOA as posted is one. I know if I really really needed it, my parents would help out financially (but I don't really want to do this unless I absolutely have to). I need to have a little think about my arsenal of make/save money tools available to me. It's hard to think of more ways I can cut back as I've pretty much chopped everything i can think of.

I'm thinking (again) of selling the BTL. The tenants are now in £4.5k of rent arrears total, and they've been hit by the benefit cap so currently getting £274 every 4 weeks in HB when the rent for the same period is £480..... they're not paying any towards the shortfall.... Bit of a nightmare. I keep the BTL finances separate to my own, there's enough of a buffer in there to pay 3 more mortgage payments with their current rate of HB....then I'm well and truly stuffed. So I need to figure out what to do, whether to serve notice or what. It's hard as I don't want to kick them out but I'm not a charity either. if by some amazing set of circumstances they paid off the arrears that'd be brilliant, but unlikely! :rotfl:

Thinking of making/saving money, if anyone has suggestions please shout up!
1) surveys, cashback, coupons etc etc all the mse-recommended stuff
2) Finish KM'ing the house and sell sell sell anything that no longer sparks joy
3) Be extremely sensible with the food budget (meal planning etc etc) and try to create a surplus here
4) both children are boys, so save EVERYTHING from DS1 in the hope I can use it for DS2. Unfortunately the big one is a skinny thing and the little one is a tad, ahem, more solid built.... so clothes might not work, will have to wait and see. I'll save it and if it doesn't fit maybe sell....
5) do as many business miles as I can squeeze in, as I get tax relief on it so if I do 1055 business miles in a month I get £130 extra pay.