Fighting to be free!

AnnieBox · 26 August 2013 at 12:34AM

Hi everyone, long term lurker, first time poster here.

I've been battling with my debts for years now, I have learned from my mistakes and have not repeated them and my debt is coming down.

My reason for finally posting is because as backwards as this may seem, now that I am closing in to my goal, I'm starting to feel like I'm running out of momentum.

As a bit of background, I encountered the unfortunate combination of being young and stupid with money/credit when I was about 18, then I was not man(woman?) enough to admit I had come into problems and didn't seek help and then I suffered a 2 year battle with long term unemployment.

At my worst point I was about £7000ish in debt, not as much many people I know, but I am unqualified and unskilled, just an office/customer service worker on £12k a year at the time, so it was a big deal for me.

My partner and I have been together for 9 years now and we are now both working so help each other out with our finances. He has £2000 debt in his name too so we have combined our current debts together and have been paying them off together in priority of killing the highest rates first. The total amount of combined debt we currently have is £4300. At our current rate of paying off, we are about 7 months maximum away from having my debt kicked out of my life for good.

The reason we so desperate to beat the debt is because my partner and I are currently both live with our respective parents and have done for the whole 9 years we've been together, we are now 26(me) and 27(him) years old and we feel a bit sad still being at home with our parents. We spend every Friday-Monday together and often will stay over for a week at a time when possible but it's obviously not an ideal arrangement. My partner also does not have the best home environment so we really want to beat our bad, ugly debts so that we can start saving for a mortgage deposit and get a place to call our own. I would be nice to eventually get married as well.

Now I know we have made great progress so far and 7 months really isn't a long time in the grand scheme of things, but the last couple of months, I've really been struggling with it all. I've been fighting it all for so long that being 7 months away still feels too far away. Also I feel like there is something more we should be doing to pay it off sooner and I find I'm beating myself up over this fact. Sadly second jobs and overtime aren't options and short of winning the lottery, I'm not sure how else we can boost things along.

And that's what brought me to sign up as a member at last. I'm hoping that some of the great folks here will be able to offer some support, encouragement and also money making inspiration.

If you made it this far, I commend your effort, I didn't realise it would be this long but reading back on it, there's nothing I want to remove to make it shorter anyway. Oops

So, my name is Annie and it's a pleasure to meet you. I hope we can help each other out on our journeys

samika · 26 August 2013 at 6:42AM

Hi Annie :wave:

Just popping by to say hello and to wish you all the best on your debt free journey. Good Luck!

Sam x

shinner · 26 August 2013 at 8:59AM

Good luck Annie 7 months really isn't bad going. Have you done ebay etc. There are lots of survey sites etc..The challenges are always a good way to reduce your spending. xx

AnnieBox · 26 August 2013 at 12:11PM

I am doing the eBay bit, I have 24 auctions running at the moment and will do another batch once the current listings have finished. At the moment my bids are up to £72 with watchers on most of them and there is still 2 days left to run on everything, so that's pretty exciting.

I'm also trying to sell some other stuff outside of eBay, on community sites for one of the hobbies that I participate in. Hopefully I can make up a fair chunk of money through that as well, have made £60 so far which again isn't a bad start.

I have started to potter about the boards looking for ideas and inspiration, it's a bit daunting as there is such a wealth of information here, it's kind of hard to know where to start...

AnnieBox · 26 August 2013 at 11:29PM

So I have made myself a little signature to serve as a constant reminder of my current status. I have signed up for the NSD challenge and I'm going to be starting a new personal money plan in September.

Basically most of my shopping is done online, be it auctions, online shops or buying things from people overseas, one way or another I spend a LOT of money online, most of my spare wages in fact is spent online. Oh the shame!

In an effort to curb this unhelpful spending habit, I am going to start drawing out my spare wages in cash, the only money left in my account will be what is needed to cover my direct debits which obviously have to be paid.

I will keep the majority of the money at home in my locked cash box, but I will allow myself a weekly allowance of cash, I'm thinking I will start my allowance at £50 a week and see how that goes.

I'm hoping this will help me save a decent chunk of money on a monthly basis. Any money that hasn't been spent at the end of the month will be taken to the bank and deposited, then I will use the money to pay off whichever is the current top debt. Any leftover small change will be collected in my delightful cupcake money bank until it is full enough to cash in at the bank.

Roll on pay day, I'm excited to get this system into action!

marmiterulesok · 27 August 2013 at 7:14AM

Hi Anniebox,

Well done on getting started.

It might be a good idea to post a statement of affairs and also you might consider keeping a spending diary for a month or two,just to see exactly where your money goes.

When you say that you do most of your shopping online,what is it exactly that you're buying?Food,clothes,books,make-up?If it's clothes/makeûp,have a good look at what you actually have.Like most people,you probably only wear/use a small amount of what you have.So instead of buying something new,wear/use something that sits in the back of the wardrobe.The upside of sorting through your wardrobe is that you might find more to sell ultimately.

One way of stopping this online spending (which can be a bit painful to consider) is to stop visiting these sites.If you're not browsing then you can't be tempted...it's as simple as that.I have had similar problems in the past,but it's now mostly under control.;)

Another weakness I had was going into town on a day off with the express intent of spending money on just about anything.I now shop with a shopping list and no longer window shop.It's amazing what a difference it makes.Obviosly I still have to shop in town for some things.Sometimes something catches my eye and I hear myself saying 'keep walking,keep walking'.It works you know!

Having an allowance/budget is a good way to go.I have a budget for everything (food,toiletries,travel pass,rail pass,the cat etc) and it really has made a big difference.

I also do the nsd challenge,so see you there.:) A warning though-you might find that it becomes addictive!:D

Seven months is not long-you can do it!

AnnieBox · 27 August 2013 at 11:07AM

I did start filling out a SOA but a huge portion of the fields do not really apply to me. Because I currently live at home with my mum, she pays for all the bills, utilities, TV, internet, food etc. I just pay her a contribution to keep me. Also I do not get any benefits or anything like that.

I’ve compiled my own mini SOA below which includes everything that I do pay for.

Monthly wage:
• After tax/NI/pension: £1100

Rent:
• Mum’s keep: £240

Debts:
• Barclaycard: £30
• iPad Finance :£35
• Car Finance (last payment September 2013!): £212
• Capital One: £10
• Loan borrowed from Nan: £50

Car Costs:
• Insurance: £58
• Fuel: £40

Other payments:
• Giff Gaff phone sim: £10
• Lotto Direct Debit: £16

The reason I spend so much online isn't because of clothes, bags or stuff for myself, it’s because of my hobby. It’s not something many people have heard of and even less people understand why an adult would spend so much money on it but I own Asian Ball Jointed Dolls. The dolls themselves can be very expensive, then there is the fact that you customise them so buying all the stuff for them is also expensive. It all adds up quickly. Thankfully I don’t have any outstanding doll projects now so I’m using this as a chance to break my impulsive doll spending as well. No more ‘Oooh pretty’ buys if I can help it.

I am trying to sell a lot of unused doll stuff on the community groups; I have sold some bits already and will hopefully shift even more of it in time. Any money made from this will go straight onto the debts!

The money which doesn't get spent online usually gets spent in Tesco on my lunch break as I’ve gotten into the bad habit of forgetting to make my packed lunch in advance and not having the time to do it in the morning before work. I’m working on breaking this evil habit too, no more shop lunches, it costs a fortune to eat out!!!! I have got better at just buying what I need when I go there for lunch though, instead of buying half the shop, which is a huge deal for me

The other trap is my mum asking me “While you’re in Tesco, can you get me a…” When this happens, 9 times out of ten, I forget to ask for the money back. God only knows how much money I've lost thanks to picking up bits and bobs for my dear mummy.

Apart from the above things, I don’t go out on the weekends to clubs or anything, don’t drink, don’t smoke, never go on holiday, rarely eat out at restaurants, don’t do shopping sprees and don’t have a cupboard full of shoes and handbags. Overall I’m pretty good with my money these days and I never spend any money on credit, if I can’t afford with my bank balance I don’t buy it.

I know when the debt is paid off and we eventually get our house, I will have less time and money for my doll spending anyway, so now is an ideal time for getting used to buying much less of it.

I’m determined to break these nasty cycles!

marmiterulesok · 27 August 2013 at 5:39PM

That's a bit clearer.I've never heard of these dolls.It's good that you don't have any ongoing projects.

Packed lunches plus snacks really do save so much money.It's something that I do religiously and it really pays off.I tend to batch cook as well,which helps.I couldn't face preparing my packed lunch from scratch every night.

You sound like you've got a good plan underway.It would be better to pay off the debt with the highest interest first,of course.

As for you getting stuff for your Mum,I suppose that you really just need to say to her that she owes whatever.Not that it's something that I find that easy to do.

Have a think about a spending diary.There might be a few things that you forget that you buy.

Good luck and keep posting!

John1993_2 · 27 August 2013 at 5:46PM

AnnieBox wrote: »

The reason I spend so much online isn't because of clothes, bags or stuff for myself, it’s because of my hobby. It’s not something many people have heard of and even less people understand why an adult would spend so much money on it but I own Asian Ball Jointed Dolls.

Have you stopped spending money on this?

If not, stop spending money on this. Stop now, buy no more, and stop going on eBay looking for them.

Expensive hobbies need to go when you are struggling with debt.

AnnieBox · 27 August 2013 at 8:02PM

John1993 wrote: »

Have you stopped spending money on this?

If not, stop spending money on this. Stop now, buy no more, and stop going on eBay looking for them.

Expensive hobbies need to go when you are struggling with debt.

As I said in my post, I am no longer buying things for my dolls as I have no more projects to complete anyway and I am even selling off a lot of my things for them.

AnnieBox · 29 August 2013 at 1:03PM

My first round of eBay auctions finished last night and netted me a whopping £244, much more then I expected! Once I've got it all paid for and sent off, I'll see if there is anything else worth popping up there.

Add that £244 to the £90 I've already made by selling some of my doll stuff and I have already cut off almost a month of debt! Super exciting stuff.

In a much smaller, but still exciting money move, I have brought a re-usable water bottle to use instead of buying a 1 litre evian bottled water every week and refilling that up. The bottle cost me £4 to buy but it will have paid for itself within about a month, based on the rate that I usually buy bottled water (which I usually buy just for the bottles, not even the water. Oops!)

Fighting to be free!

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