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Kitten868 · 16 December 2016 at 2:14PM

Hello lovely. I think you sound like you've done really well. And life can cause debts but I don't think you can feel hard on yourself about it. You have acknowledged that the big spends have lead to lots of little spends and your dealing with it but you can't live without a roof. Groceries are my downfall too. Keep up the good work xxx

jvr · 16 December 2016 at 2:32PM

Hi:santa2:

Well done on posting your SOA I am still working up the courage to do that!
We are similar age with similar debt and mortgage, I have the same feeling when I look at my expenses... why do I always run out?! but I realise it is the fivers here and there that I am sure are adding up to the £150 or so I seem to be running over!
Good luck with your journey I'm looking forward to seeing how you do :j

Cheeseface · 17 December 2016 at 7:58PM

Definitely start a spending diary. Write down everything and you can see where it's going.

Mine is ok apart from the eating out section. I spend far too much there. I'm going to focus on that next month.

JWPopps · 19 December 2016 at 12:11PM

Well, you're all very helpful - and I think I definitely need to hear some critical/supportive voices to keep me going.

This morning I have paid off what I owed on my 0% Sainsburys card, so tomorrow when that's showing as a zero balance I'm going to balance transfer as much as possible from my Barclaycard. No point racking up unnecessary interest charges.

I am also splitting my income into budgets: Bills (including minimum payments), debt overpayments, savings and then 'other' for a little bit of the niceties. So, if I really, really want a coffee from the canteen at work, that comes out of the niceties budget. Then if I want to do something later in the month and can't afford it... well, I'll know who to blame.

Will also build in a spending diary - that's a fab suggestion

System · 19 December 2016 at 2:47PM

welcome and good luck with your new diary.
I had your level of debt when I was in my early 30's and didn't tackle - now it's double so I just want to give you mega encouragement to get it sorted now - and then reap the rewards later on!

Subscribed x

JWPopps · 19 December 2016 at 3:18PM

ramblehan wrote: »

welcome and good luck with your new diary.
I had your level of debt when I was in my early 30's and didn't tackle - now it's double so I just want to give you mega encouragement to get it sorted now - and then reap the rewards later on!

Subscribed x

Oh thank you ramblehan! I am quite keen to get it down - the bank keep telling me I could borrow more but that's absolutely the opposite of what I want. But the temptation's always there and on a 'bad' day sometimes I think to myself... well... if they're offering it... but I've seen too many people I know/care about get shafted by debt to let myself fall for it. I hope.

JWPopps · 20 December 2016 at 11:04AM

Salary: £1560 a month
Rent from Mum: £350 a month (but only until May, since she's meant to be moving out then)
2nd job: Maybe £70 every 2 months.

My 2nd job isn't really a job as such, basically I offer my spare room out for a homeless charity, and I get paid expenses for it. In the year and a bit I've been doing it I've never had a house guest 'cost' me more than about £3.50 a night, so quite a bit of the payment I get is put towards bills and stuff. But it's irregular, which I'm actually happy about because if they were calling on me every night I'd be very sad about the state of homelessness in my town (I kind of am, but it's not too bad if you know what I mean).

Having done a proper look at what I'm spending etc, my monthly expenditure should only cost me £1540 a month, including groceries, debt payments and travel to see my boyfriend. Unfortunately, as noted, my spends have been higher than that recently. Some of that is decorating stuff from Homebase which really I can't/won't regret, because I would like to live in a house I'm really happy in and that meant I had to paint over the pink. Also, I've just been treating myself a bit too much, with coffees and stuff. So I know I need to cut down on that.

My current plan is that I will split my income:

£1200 to stay in my current account, which will cover ALL bills and minimum payments.

£360 to go into my 'monthly budget' - by which I mean, travel to see my boyfriend, doing nice things with friends on occasion, and stuff for the house.

£350 from Mum will currently go immediately into savings and debt overpayments - but not mortgage overpayments.

Any money I get from hosting will go straight into overpaying on the mortgage.

Hopefully that's a nice manageable way to live within my means (and not get into more debt), while making sensible use of all my income. Obviously I'll need to reconsider after May, if my mum does get a place of her own by then. I'm considering offering to take in a longer-term lodger from the homeless charity if that happens but we'll see.

Still, feeling hopeful! :cool:

System · 20 December 2016 at 12:30PM

Wow - putting up a homeless person, what an interesting and worthwhile thing to do - I'd love to do it, but my DH is way too cautious. I used to volunteer with a free breakfast club for homeless & low income and really enjoyed it.

Sounds like you have firm plans. There's a web money management tool called YNAB - might be worth a look - you do have to pay a subscription for it, but I have found it really useful for helping me to be able to save in different pots. Instead of looking in your bank account, you use YNAB so you spend against the budgets you have set rather than what's in your account.

TTFN Ramble x

baaluo · 20 December 2016 at 1:54PM

Good luck! Hope you figure it all out.
I personally don't have high hopes for 2017 considering brexit, trump and the current situation of the world.

Cheeseface · 21 December 2016 at 12:17PM

The plan looks good.

Do you think that you can get your household expenses down at all?

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