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Main site > Forums > Essential Money > Debt-Free Wannabe > Back in Debt, a bump in the road
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      Mimi Arc en ciel
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    • By Mimi Arc en ciel 10th Jan 20, 10:20 PM
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      What's this?

    Mimi Arc en ciel
    Back in Debt, a bump in the road
    • #1
    • 10th Jan 20, 10:20 PM
    Back in Debt, a bump in the road 10th Jan 20 at 10:20 PM
    Back on here again! This post is more of a sound board for me so i can track what I'm doing, what i need to do and how i am going to do this. Feel free to add advice, feel free to ignore the thread - either way I have hit a low point and I'm climbing back up now.

    After a very nasty break up I messed up and took my eye off of things, splashed out to compensate being "unhappy" (eating out etc) and in general, screwed my finances up.

    I'm not posting a full SOA for a few reasons but in all honesty - everything has been whittled down to the lowest amounts as possible and I've cut everything that we don't "need". - Plus the link doesn't work on the main board anyway!

    So - Here's my "what am I going to do plan"

    I work part time. I have done for a very long time (over a decade) whilst my children were growing up. I know work could do with me working extra hours so I have spoken about this to my boss who was quite happy - he asked "how much" salary did i want. I've ran some figures and asked for an amount, hopefully this will mean I'm around £500 after tax better off. This is not including any tax credits i may be entitled to

    Spending - my biggest spend, without a doubt, is my children. They are spoilt and quite frankly, I cant afford it. So whilst it would be nice to put savings into their accounts and pay for everything, I cant.

    So I've stopped their savings (for now - but when I'm dead they get the house so I'll try not to feel too bad!) instead of paying for everything for them I am going to give them a small amount of pocket money each and they need to pay for their activities with this (instead of me paying) - This will save me approx £50 a month per child. i know - ridiculous right. It'll also teach them the value of money. This is a good thing surely. I'm not asking them to stop their activities - they shouldn't suffer because I've been a clutz.

    Eating out - will now only happen on a immediate family members birthday. Theres no need to eat out - I have a chest freezer full of discounted food as well as the fridge freezer. Stop being a lazy cow and start cooking. Better yet, let DD1 loose (supervised!) in the kitchen and she can learn to cook. This will be useful, when i left home i couldnt cook!

    Debts. These need clearing. I've tried to swap them on to 0% cards but then ended up using the bloody card again! I actually only use 1 card (barclay card) - I'm not cutting this up, but I have removed it from Paypal etc and told DD1 to hide it and only give it me back in a dire emergency. Shes laughing, shes not going to give it me back ..... (good girl!)

    So, lets break it down then. No payment has been missed. I have 3 CC that are 0%, and one which needs paying as I'm being charged interest.

    MBNA - 0% ends 14 AUG 2020, current balance is £4973.50
    Lets be realistic, This wont get cleared before Aug. Plan is to pay as much debt off, help my credit score then move this to 0% in August. Hopefully....

    M&S - 0% ends 11 AUG 2021, Current balance is £1105.30 - not TOO worried about this, its 0% until next year so i have some time. Carry on paying minimum until all others are sorted.

    Fluid - 0% but only for around 5 months, i need to check! Current balance £1069.2. This needs paying off "second" - pay minimum but try and kill the barclaycard first as that is paying interest.

    Barclaycard - this is the big boy. This is your priority as its chargeable and the current balance is £2863.8. This needs paying ASAP!!! SOO: I have a bonus this month of £400 from work, this can go straight to BC. Try and squeeze cash from bank account (for example, do i REALLY need to spend £150 on food when we have food in freezer? Try downshifting, although most things are value anyway! and stop unnecessary spending). Flog things on FB (no selling fees) - Its my birthday in Feb, ask for cash if poss!

    Then there's the bank loan that i needed to pay for my car:
    Tesco - 3% final payment 1st July 2023 - Current Balance £5654.50. I'm not too worried about the car. This was taken into consideration and looked into thoroughly before i took the loan out so for now, although its a debt, I'm going to carry on paying the minimum amount as required.

    Haven't screwed up as badly as I thought but still, It's been a long time since I've been in debt.

    Here goes nothing......
    Last edited by Mimi Arc en ciel; 10-01-2020 at 11:09 PM.
    Very proud mummy of 2!
    Barclaycard - £2863.80 £2593.32 | Fluid - £1069.20 | MBNA - £4973.48 | M&S - £1105.30 £1077.63

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      Willing2Learn
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    • By Willing2Learn 10th Jan 20, 10:26 PM
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      What's this?

    Willing2Learn
    • #2
    • 10th Jan 20, 10:26 PM
    • #2
    • 10th Jan 20, 10:26 PM
    “
    I'm not posting a full SOA for a few reasons but in all honesty - everything has been whittled down to the lowest amounts as possible and I've cut everything that we don't "need". - Plus the link doesn't work on the main board anyway!
    Originally posted by Mimi Arc en ciel ”
    The old link has been broken for a while. But not to worry! There is a new link for you

    https://www.lemonfool.co.uk/financecalculators/soa.php


    And I think you are being too harsh on yourself when you refer to yourself having "screwed up". We cannot always keep moving forward. Sometimes the road ahead is full of winding turns.

    You can do this!!
    Last edited by Willing2Learn; 10-01-2020 at 10:29 PM.
    I work within the voluntary sector, supporting vulnerable people to rebuild their lives.

    I love my job

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      Mimi Arc en ciel
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    • By Mimi Arc en ciel 10th Jan 20, 11:08 PM
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      What's this?

    Mimi Arc en ciel
    • #3
    • 10th Jan 20, 11:08 PM
    • #3
    • 10th Jan 20, 11:08 PM
    Thank you

    The problem with an SOA is that we have horses. The problem with horses is there's a cost ... . In my defence, the cost is usually manageable - I have no rent/mortgage, I don't smoke, I don't drink, we don't go out. They are our companions, they know our secrets and they help settle me when I'm having a meltdown. Realistically, if I got rid of the horses, I'd be debt free very quickly. But then we wouldn't have anything to do. We've had them a number of years now, I thought about selling them once, I cried solid for a month. I have kept their cost down as much as I can though just recently so we can still keep them.

    I realise I'm not in a bad position re:debt, I know there are so many worse off (and believe me, I've been there. 13 years ago my ex dropped the bombshell we was in £34k worth of debt) so I know this isn't Rock bottom. But I'm trying to prevent any further spiralling because I know how quickly debt gets out of hand.

    I should probably re-word the title of my first post. Having written everything down it's not as bad as originally thought

    I've got this 💪
    Very proud mummy of 2!
    Barclaycard - £2863.80 £2593.32 | Fluid - £1069.20 | MBNA - £4973.48 | M&S - £1105.30 £1077.63

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    • By WhenIam64 11th Jan 20, 6:30 AM
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      What's this?

    WhenIam64
    • #4
    • 11th Jan 20, 6:30 AM
    • #4
    • 11th Jan 20, 6:30 AM
    “
    I have no rent/mortgage
    ”
    Do you own your property outright? If you do it narrows down your options if things go off the rails later.e.g. drop in income/hours

    You might want to think about starting some sort of emergency fund.
    Unlike some here, I am not omniscient. If I am wrong correct me. I won't take offence.

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    • By monetxchange 11th Jan 20, 12:27 PM
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      What's this?

    monetxchange
    • #5
    • 11th Jan 20, 12:27 PM
    • #5
    • 11th Jan 20, 12:27 PM
    Just popping in to add my encouragement. You know what to do. You’ll do it!

    A good thing to do would be to start eat through the food in the freezers. There’s no point buying cheap food and storing it away and not eating through it, because then you’ll end up buying more to actually eat! Buying discounted food instead of cooking from scratch can be a false economy sometimes, so quickly weigh up the sums before you buy. Definitely worth letting your kids learn to cook! I couldn’t at all when I left home either. I got to the point where I couldn’t face another meal of dry pasta with tuna stirred into it and used to live off takeaways. Start of a debt spiral and would be great to instil the frugalness of cooking into your kids early!

    Good luck
    Highest Debt: £29,500. LBM: April 2019
    TO GO: Barclaycard £11,307 £3,500 | Overdraft £2,575 £300
    GONE: HMRC £8,500 £0 | Renovations £3,500 £0 | Vanquis £3,222 £0 | Capital One £1,410 £0

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    • By Mimi Arc en ciel 11th Jan 20, 1:27 PM
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      What's this?

    Mimi Arc en ciel
    • #6
    • 11th Jan 20, 1:27 PM
    • #6
    • 11th Jan 20, 1:27 PM
    Yes, house is owned outright. I did have savings but these were used a while ago so this is something I know I need to do but I want to clear, at least the Barclays card before I look at savings - best case, I'll not need any, worst case I'll go and creep to bank of dad

    I've been and closed some bank accounts this morning that were unused and received a £350 bonus today which I've whacked straight into Barclaycard

    My friends an accountant so I've had a quick chat with her too, she's coming round later to recheck all my figures.

    I can, and I will!

    (Thank you for your replies, hope you've all had a lovely weekend!)
    Very proud mummy of 2!
    Barclaycard - £2863.80 £2593.32 | Fluid - £1069.20 | MBNA - £4973.48 | M&S - £1105.30 £1077.63

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    • By CreditCardJunkie 11th Jan 20, 10:35 PM
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      What's this?

    CreditCardJunkie
    • #7
    • 11th Jan 20, 10:35 PM
    • #7
    • 11th Jan 20, 10:35 PM
    Just wanted to wish you good luck!! I also have a little debt and a horse who I've had for 13 years. I just see his costs as money I never had at this point. He's saved my sanity on many many occasions!

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    • By Mimi Arc en ciel 15th Jan 20, 1:03 PM
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      What's this?

    Mimi Arc en ciel
    • #8
    • 15th Jan 20, 1:03 PM
    • #8
    • 15th Jan 20, 1:03 PM
    So little update

    I thought I'd give it a go and apply for a 0% card to debt shift my last bit of "chargeable" debt but unfortunately this was declined. Looking at my credit report this was because of "Debt to income ratio" and "Credit utilisation" - ah well, it was worth a try!

    I've also messaged my employer and asked to increase my hours which is something they have been after me doing for a while now. They've agreed to increase my hours from February, we are just wrangling out the pay/how many hours. If I get what I've asked for - I should be at least £500 better off a month - fingers crossed. It's been confirmed I will also get a (small) bonus at the end of the month but this is better than nothing.

    With us eating from the freezer this month I've saved on our shopping bill (£200) so I've whacked that on the Barclay card. I was also given some xmas money which I've added to the BC too.

    SO what else am I going to do that's money saving. Well I've flogged the kids (unused!) outdoor toys for £100. I've put a bike and a wendy house for sale on FB so hopefully someone will buy them! I also cleared out my garage, which needed doing! and whilst I didn't have anything in there that I could sell, I have managed to start a little log storage space so I can FINALLY cut up the logs I have and use them on the fire instead of putting the heating on / burning coal

    I've also ran through my excel sheet that I have for mu income/outgoing and checked everything is correct. By doing this I've forecasted that this month, I can pay an extra £100 towards my CC.

    Baby steps people, baby steps!
    Last edited by Mimi Arc en ciel; 15-01-2020 at 1:17 PM.
    Very proud mummy of 2!
    Barclaycard - £2863.80 £2593.32 | Fluid - £1069.20 | MBNA - £4973.48 | M&S - £1105.30 £1077.63

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    • By EssexHebridean 15th Jan 20, 4:12 PM
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      What's this?

    EssexHebridean
    • #9
    • 15th Jan 20, 4:12 PM
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    • 15th Jan 20, 4:12 PM
    On the cards that you are not using and are currently paying minimum payments on - a trick for you. Set the monthly payment direct debit to an amount slightly above the current minimum - so maybe round up to the nearest £10. Then just leave that payment going out every month. It doesn't fall over time in the way that one set for "minimum" would - and this has two advantages - the obvious one being that you pay off slightly more each month than the one before, and secondly, that you don;t end up with a small amount of additional money being left behind in your current account each month that tends not to get noticed, and so gets frittered rather than being put to use... This ONLY works for cards that you aren't using though! Stealth debt repayments - can't be beaten!
    MORTGAGE FREE 30/09/2016
    SOA CALCULATOR (for DFW newbies): SOA Calculator

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    • By Andyjflet 15th Jan 20, 4:31 PM
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      What's this?

    Andyjflet
    Agree with the post above, snowball your debt, usually I would advocate smallest first for quicker "wins" and motivation. However you may as well use the last few months of 0% on the other cards.

    Then set the minimums on the other cards and throw everything at the BC, then snowball to the next one.
    Baby Step 1 - £0 saved for emergency fund
    M&S Loan £14446 inc interest full term
    M&S Credit card 0% £3787.80
    Hitachi Loan 0% £173.44 ends March 2020

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    • By Mimi Arc en ciel 20th Jan 20, 8:35 PM
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      What's this?

    Mimi Arc en ciel
    Thanks for the replies:

    So whats happening at the moment is that all the payments come out of my maid account and go into a "bill" account. This was set up a while ago, i havent adjusted the standing orders. Once the payments have come from the "bill" account, at the end of the month, what ever is left is getting thrown at my Barclaycard.
    Very proud mummy of 2!
    Barclaycard - £2863.80 £2593.32 | Fluid - £1069.20 | MBNA - £4973.48 | M&S - £1105.30 £1077.63

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    • By Mimi Arc en ciel 20th Jan 20, 8:51 PM
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      What's this?

    Mimi Arc en ciel
    SOA....

    Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

    Monthly Income Details
    Monthly income after tax................ 2056.35
    Total monthly income.................... 2056.35

    Monthly Expense Details
    Mortgage................................ 0
    Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
    Rent.................................... 0
    Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
    Council tax............................. 101 Paid over 10 months
    Electricity............................. 28
    Gas..................................... 28
    Oil..................................... 0
    Water rates............................. 32.31
    Telephone (land line)................... 15.9
    Mobile phone............................ 10
    TV Licence.............................. 0 Dont watch live TV
    Satellite/Cable TV...................... 5.99Netflix
    Internet Services....................... 0 Inc in phone bill above
    Groceries etc. ......................... 150 Incs dog food, cleaning supplies etc for 1A, 2C, 2Dogs
    Clothing................................ 10
    Petrol/diesel........................... 120Cannot lower this, should reduce but only slightly when i start working from home
    Road tax................................ 11
    Car Insurance........................... 0
    Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 15 New car, just passed MOT
    Car parking............................. 0
    Other travel............................ 0
    Childcare/nursery....................... 0
    Other child related expenses............ 190
    Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0 I'm medical excempt
    Pet insurance/vet bills................. 571.98 These are the horses, it looks a lot, actually it is a lot, but when you look at what we get for the money, its actually quite cheap.
    Buildings insurance..................... 9.5 Includes contents
    Contents insurance...................... 0
    Life assurance ......................... 0
    Other insurance......................... 0
    Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 40
    Haircuts................................ 0 Done maybe once every 4 months by a friend lol
    Entertainment........................... 0 See horses!
    Holiday................................. 40
    Emergency fund.......................... 0
    Loan Repayment.......................... 134.63
    School trips............................ 10
    Coal.................................... 43
    Boiler Service.......................... 4.58
    Total monthly expenses.................. 1705.89


    Monthly Budget Summary
    Total monthly income.................... 2,056.35
    Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,665.89
    Available for debt repayments........... 390.46
    Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 0
    Amount left after debt repayments....... 390.46
    Last edited by Mimi Arc en ciel; 20-01-2020 at 9:03 PM.
    Very proud mummy of 2!
    Barclaycard - £2863.80 £2593.32 | Fluid - £1069.20 | MBNA - £4973.48 | M&S - £1105.30 £1077.63

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    • By Mimi Arc en ciel 20th Jan 20, 8:58 PM
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      What's this?

    Mimi Arc en ciel
    What i am currently doing, it the standing orders I dont NEED right now (such as coal) is going straight towards my debts

    Yes, the biggest factor in our life is the horses. I know this, and I know that it would be so SO much cheaper to get rid of them. However, the payment for these are manageable, Had I not of gotten into debt again!

    The Child costs - My girls compete on their horses. The cost is for the parking of our trailer, their weekly lessons (1 a week per child), entry fees. Yes, they get a lot, but come the school holidays i dont have to pay child care, as they are at the stables. In the 6 weeks holiday, they arent asking me for money for the cinema/swimming/ice skating/whatever else their friends are up to, as My 2 are at the stables
    Very proud mummy of 2!
    Barclaycard - £2863.80 £2593.32 | Fluid - £1069.20 | MBNA - £4973.48 | M&S - £1105.30 £1077.63

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    • By middleclassbutpoor 20th Jan 20, 10:12 PM
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      What's this?

    middleclassbutpoor
    Getting out of debt is an emotional and mathematical problem.

    From a mathematical perspective, it makes sense to reduce your outgoings £572 a month (£6,864) per year and add the overpayment you have and you could clear the debt.

    I doubt you would spend the near £7k a year on entertaining them on school holidays though if you didn't have the horses. This is where the emotional aspect comes in.

    You know that £4,500 a year is going to take you longer to clear. It's a decision you need to make, or have already made. - Rather than go without for 18 months whilst you clear out the mess, you would prefer to take longer.

    If you can increase your income by £500 per month, this could allow you to do the same as getting rid of your horses. But you could then clear in less than a year if you did.

    Nobody can tell you what is right for you but don't lie to yourself around justifying a cost for your children being the reason you are doing something when clearly you could provide your children entertainment in the holidays for less than the cost of the horses.

    I'm not having a go about the choice you are making but its all about balance and how far you want to take it and ensure you are doing it for the right reasons.

    For me, I have taken longer than I could have working through my debt so I get it but having cleared £50k in around 2.5 years, it could have been done more quickly. Just be sure you are mentally ready for the longer journey.

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    • By Mimi Arc en ciel 20th Jan 20, 10:52 PM
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      What's this?

    Mimi Arc en ciel
    I know you aren't having a go

    In theory though, if you just take in child care for 3 days I work currently:

    Childcare where I live is £38 per child, per day. In the 13 weeks school holiday a year, that's over 8.5k for 3 days a week.

    But I see what you're saying. If the horses were the reason for the debt, they'd be gone. But they aren't. I went through a really bad time, with work, my health and then a break up pushed me over the edge and I spent on things I wouldn't normally and didn't check my bank.

    My main concern, right not, is clearing the Barclaycard. Then I'll move into the debt with the lowest 0%. Hopefully by then I'll have built up a bit more on my credit report and can debt shift to 0% again, if not, I'll attack the highest APR and continue

    The above figures doesn't take into account a new wage, or the bonuses I get through work (as these aren't gauranteed). The shopping bill, at least for the next 2 months will be dramatically reduced as we are eating from the freezer (both indoor freezer and chest freezer are full) and things like coal, doesn't need purchasing until at least Jul/Aug for winter and that's over budgeted. I've started getting logs/wood for free from people throwing them away so I can use them too instead of coal

    I know it's not going to be a quick fix, but I'm happy with my lightbulb moment and the things I've started to do ready
    Very proud mummy of 2!
    Barclaycard - £2863.80 £2593.32 | Fluid - £1069.20 | MBNA - £4973.48 | M&S - £1105.30 £1077.63

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    • By Archergirl 21st Jan 20, 3:12 PM
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      What's this?

    Archergirl
    2 months of no council tax, wack that onto your Barclaycard as well.........it's getting there, well done x

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    • By monetxchange 22nd Jan 20, 9:56 PM
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      What's this?

    monetxchange
    How much coal are you using? £43 a month seems high. I use the £4 10kg bags you can get in most supermarkets like Asda this time of year. Home Bargains and Lidl also has £3.99 logs - pack of six, but need to be halved to use one a night to get the coal going. I bought 20 packs at the start of autumn and they’re still going.

    Is it just one room you’re heating with the fire? Any chance using the heating would work out cheaper?
    Highest Debt: £29,500. LBM: April 2019
    TO GO: Barclaycard £11,307 £3,500 | Overdraft £2,575 £300
    GONE: HMRC £8,500 £0 | Renovations £3,500 £0 | Vanquis £3,222 £0 | Capital One £1,410 £0

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    • By Mimi Arc en ciel 24th Jan 20, 10:21 PM
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      What's this?

    Mimi Arc en ciel
    “
    2 months of no council tax, wack that onto your Barclaycard as well.........it's getting there, well done x
    Originally posted by Archergirl ”
    Yep! And water rates too

    “
    How much coal are you using? £43 a month seems high. I use the £4 10kg bags you can get in most supermarkets like Asda this time of year. Home Bargains and Lidl also has £3.99 logs - pack of six, but need to be halved to use one a night to get the coal going. I bought 20 packs at the start of autumn and they’re still going.

    Is it just one room you’re heating with the fire? Any chance using the heating would work out cheaper?
    Originally posted by monetxchange ”

    We usually buy the coal from the coal man (a sack of coal for £12/25kg) its a bit more expensive as we are in a smokeless area

    In all honesty, we don't use £43 a month. I ordered 10 bags of coal on 21st Dec (1/4 of a ton - 250kg), we probably have half a bag left. Unless the weather turns massively i doubt we will be ordering any more until the summer. However it does massively reduced our gas bill. In December my gas heating bill was £23 as we barely had the radiators on as the fire kept the house warm

    What I'm going to be doing is shifting the "coal money" onto the CC but i will keep the coal bunker topped up just in case we have bad weather.
    Very proud mummy of 2!
    Barclaycard - £2863.80 £2593.32 | Fluid - £1069.20 | MBNA - £4973.48 | M&S - £1105.30 £1077.63

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