Such a silly girl...

MrsBrookfield

I've come here to get some help and advice... It might not sound like im in the worst trouble, but I feel I need to sort myself out when it comes to my finances.

I'm 21... My parents took out a loan for me 2 years ago so i could pay for cosmetic surgery. The total repayments I am making on that is £111 a month.

I also took out a barclays loan myself for £3,700, I must've been really stupid to do this as it was for something really stupid (Please don't judge me, I feel like such an idiot as it is). The repayments on that are £105 a month.

My loan repayments total to £216, which I can afford, because at present I live with my parents and do not have any bills etc to pay other than the internet, my mobile phone etc...

I earn a measly £798 a month, and with £216 of that going on loan repayments, I'm left with £582.

My worry is, my partner and I have decided to rent somewhere together (he doesn't know about my loans, i took them out before we got together and I'm rather ashamed of what i did), and I'm now fretting that I'm not going to be able to afford to pay my half of the bills etc.

Hopefully, because I'm relocating to a large city, my earnings will increase, and i'll be earning an extra couple of hundered on top of what i earn now.. Will I be able to survive and pay bills etc on about £500-600?

It's making me sick with worry that i'll not be able to afford to live, and that i'll lose my partner if i tell him what i've done.

sparky0107

Hiya hun,
Welcome to the forum, don't beat yourself up, the reason that everyone is on here is because we've got debt, and we're dealing with it day by day. Below is the link soe the Statement odf Affairs Calculator. post it on here and some very helpful people will come along and offer you some great advice

http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html

HTH

rebl43

Why not tell your partner? I know this is easier said than done but believe me, once you do tell him, it will be a weight off your shoulders and at least then he will know the score before you end up getting further into debt.
If you do end up losing him because of this, maybe he isn't the sort of person you want to be with anyway?
Good luck xx

rebl43

Hi again
I have just reread my reply to you and realised it may have sounded patronising, but I didn't meant to!
I just know now (after making some similar mistakes) a problem shared is a problem halved!
xx

Ivan_Konstantinov

yep,tell him or bigger trouble later

RAS

I'm left with £582.

So what are you spending that money on?

You need to look at this now, adjust it to reflect what you could reasonably expect to pay out when you move into together and start saving up for your move.

In fact, unless BF is already living away from home, you might both be wise to look at the situation before you move.

MrsBrookfield

Sparky - I'm not sure I could fill that in, as I haven't a clue what I would be paying a month in electric/gas/etc.

The only figured I do know, is that i'd be paying half the rent, which is £250, and half the council tax, which is £55... so on my current wage, after my loan repayments have been made, and the rent and council tax has been paid, i'd be left with £268 to pay all the other bills with.

Is that do-able?

Rebl43 - He's very strict with his money, and would never understand how i could've got into this mess. I hope *fingers crossed* That i'll be able to get by without informing him of my loans. But if worst comes to worst, and I cannot do it, then I'll have to bite the bullet and tell him.

vicshippers

Welcome to the forum! Don't worry about your debt, at least you have acknowledged the issue and are working to solve it!

I was in a similarish situation when I finished uni so I'll break down for you what I did, hopefully this will help.

1 - Grab a local paper and look for jobs that you can do and find out what kind of money they are offering. Deduct £50 a month from that total just to give yourself something to play with. This gives you an idea of exectly what you will be earning (please don't guess this - it really will do you good to KNOW for sure)

2 - Also look at the property pages for where you want to live - find somewhere you love and would want to live and find out the rent (split this in two if you're moving in with someone) this will give you a definite for your rent (again don't guess this as you might get a shock)

3- Add to the rent £100 for council tax, £50 for electric, £30 for tv and internet should you want it and £25 for water (that's what I pay for a relatively small flat in the centre of Bristol) and you have your outgoings

Now you have pretty much all your outgoings and incomings so you can see whether you will be able to afford it. Use the MSE form too - that's a really good tool for detailing all the little bits that you might not think about.

By the way - do you really want to live with someone that you don't feel would stay with you because you made a bit of a bad choice a few years ago? I know I wouldn't....

Personally I would have to move back to my parents if I earned less than 16k a year and that's with 0 debt.....that's just me though.

All the best x

MrsBrookfield

RAS wrote: »

So what are you spending that money on?

You need to look at this now, adjust it to reflect what you could reasonably expect to pay out when you move into together and start saving up for your move.

In fact, unless BF is already living away from home, you might both be wise to look at the situation before you move.

Of the £582 I have left, that is being spent on petrol to and from work and socialising. I save around £250-£300 a month from my wage, and have a fair bit saved up ready to move in to cover the much needed things like bedding, pots pans, all that kind of thing, plus 2 months rent and the bond.

RAS

Are you acquainted with www.freecycle.org - like e-bay but you only pay the cost of collecting the goods? that could get you bedding, pots, pans etc.

How about you do a mock SOA for yourself and OH and see how your finances would work out if you move in together.

MrsBrookfield

vicshippers wrote: »

Welcome to the forum! Don't worry about your debt, at least you have acknowledged the issue and are working to solve it!

I was in a similarish situation when I finished uni so I'll break down for you what I did, hopefully this will help.

1 - Grab a local paper and look for jobs that you can do and find out what kind of money they are offering. Deduct £50 a month from that total just to give yourself something to play with. This gives you an idea of exectly what you will be earning (please don't guess this - it really will do you good to KNOW for sure)

2 - Also look at the property pages for where you want to live - find somewhere you love and would want to live and find out the rent (split this in two if you're moving in with someone) this will give you a definite for your rent (again don't guess this as you might get a shock)

3- Add to the rent £100 for council tax, £50 for electric, £30 for tv and internet should you want it and £25 for water (that's what I pay for a relatively small flat in the centre of Bristol) and you have your outgoings

Now you have pretty much all your outgoings and incomings so you can see whether you will be able to afford it. Use the MSE form too - that's a really good tool for detailing all the little bits that you might not think about.

By the way - do you really want to live with someone that you don't feel would stay with you because you made a bit of a bad choice a few years ago? I know I wouldn't....

Personally I would have to move back to my parents if I earned less than 16k a year and that's with 0 debt.....that's just me though.

All the best x

Thanks for that, that has helped put things into perspective, I had no idea how much I would be paying water/electric wise...

I've worked out that I would be paying about £353 on outgoings, that's only for the bills mind... not food or anything.

That leaves me with £149 of my current wage to go on food and other household expenses.

I hope, that the job i'm qualified to do, will give me a wage of around 14k-17k, so I THINK I'll be OK... It's just so god damn scary!

As for the last comment about being with someone who wont understand my past mistakes... I can 100% see your point, but at the moment, this guy is so right for me, and he is the sole reason my finances are great. If it wasn't for him keeping me on the straight and narrow i'd be spending like I was a few years ago, racking up even more debt. He really is my rock, and telling him something like this would seriously screw us up and I couldn't live with that.