Teen In Debt

tinkerbel

heya ! I'm 19 too and also way overdrawn but thats on my student account and i don't really have an income so its ok for me I think. you sound like you have your head screwed on and i hope you sort everything out and stuff! I'll be interested in a read so keep posting!

Honeybee_2

Is your mobile phone on contract?

Bagpuss741

If you don't fancy a paper spending diary then sign up to http://www.spendingdiary.com/

hetic

Ok, feeling extremly down now!

Just checked online banking, a charge has taken me over my limit by £28. This means i will get charged again next month, meaning im now down to £270/month to live on £67.50 a week! Im truly depressed.

After spending £30 on petrol, that means im left with £37.50/week. Im earning over a grand a month, yet i have to live on £37.50 a week, thats terrible! Any ideas on how to stretch that budget over a week??

Milly1974

Good heavens, I wish I had £37.50 a week to spend! From the sounds of it, that £37.50 only needs to cover things that are not essential! Some suggestions that might help you.

- You do not need new clothes every time you step out the door.
- Do not buy books or magazines, go to the library.
- At the pub, have a lime and soda every other drink, rather than all alcohol.
- It is summer, head to the park with a picnic raided from your parent's kitchen with your mates and play football/gossip all afternoon.
- Pack a lunch from home rather than eat out everyday at work.

Enjoy having almost £40 a week to blow on absolutely nothing while you are still young enough to not have to worry about a mortgage and council tax!

M x

Idiophreak

You need to think of it more the way JTW looked at it...you actually have something like £110/week to live on...but you've CHOSEN to spend £75/week of that on whatever you got the loan for...

So keep using that decision as a point to focus on in your mind...and make paying off the loan your no. 1 priority....

And I have to say, I really don't think £37/week's that bad just for spending money, anyway ....

JimmyTheWig

Lets turn things on their head.

You see you are in a different situation to a lot of people on this board asking for help.
Many people come on here with debts and bills and essentials (e.g. food, kids clothes). They are trying to balance their budget.
From that viewpoint, you've balanced your budget and have £37 a week left over.

But that's not your point.
Your point is how can you live as a 19 year old should be able to on just £37 a week.
And while I don't think yours is the biggest problem we've seen on here, I can completely empathise with you. I had more weekly money than that as a poor student.
As a young adult you should be able to have an active social life.

So my question, then, is what do you want to do with your money each week that you are finding that you can't afford. E.g. if you had £80 a week, what would you do that you can't do currently?

JimmyTheWig

But I'll also try to deal with the practical aspect of it. Milly1974 had some good ideas for keeping costs down (apart from lime and soda, imho, yuk!).

The chances are that your friends are all having similar problems with money. Maybe to a greater or lesser extent but I bet many of them are. And if they're not then they might be wanting to save a deposit for a flat, etc, and so in effect will also be wanting to save money.
If your mates really do see money as no object then you're going to have to tell them that sometimes you need to do cheaper things; sometimes you're going to have to miss out on stuff. Unfortunately, that's the price of your debts. This is part of the learning process.

Ways I can think of to save money...
* Find a cheaper pub to make your local (e.g. Wetherspoons?).
* Go out earlier in the evening (there's logic coming) so you can go to the pub and go home, rather than want to go to a club afterwards.
* You've got Sky - have you got Movies or Sports or Sky+? Get some mates round with a crate of beer.
* Charity shops do decent clothes.
* Try to avoid expensive taxis home after a night out and plan your nights out around public transport.
* Take up a hobby or course that keeps you busy on, say, a Friday night. That way you'll be doing something, but won't be spending too much money (depending on the hobby!)
* Don't buy pre-packed sandwiches and other snacks. They really add up. Make your own (or even better ask your mum nicely!)
* Same goes for 500ml bottles of drink. Take a drink with you if you're going to need one.

Bargain_Rzl

£37 a week is about what I spend on "odds and ends", too, and my take home pay's quite a lot more than yours (and my only debt is my mortgage). I know it makes it a little bit more difficult if things like clothes and saving for more expensive treats also have to come out of that money, but it really is adequate, and in fact I'd suggest trying to spend even less as then you can get rid of your debt more quickly and have a bit more disposable cash all the sooner.

One thing I would strongly recommend, just as an exercise, is to spend a week with your spending as low as possible. It doesn't mean you won't end up spending anything at all, but it should make you think "do I really need this?" before buying anything. You'll start with the same budget as normal, but your mission is to have at least £10 of it left at the end of the week. I do this quite frequently if I could do with freeing up a bit of cash, and you'll really shock yourself how quickly all the little odds and ends (a magazine, a chocolate bar, a pint of beer, a sandwich) add up. It might lead you to change your mindset about whether you really want to keep frittering money away on these things in the longer term.

JimmyTheWig

Ok, then on to the "real money" side of things.

Do what you can to avoid bank charges.
Try reclaiming any unfair bank charges that you've had.
Know what's coming in and out of your bank so you know not to go over your limit.

Cancel your payment protection (have you done it yet?) and look at reclaiming some of what you've paid.

Next you want to reduce your interest charges.
Do you pay more % interest on your overdraft or your credit cards?
Which ever is the higher percentage you want to start paying off first, whilst making the minimum repayment on the other.
The quicker you can pay these off the more money you'll save. That's not an easy decission as it means cutting into your already low weekly money. But if you can spare a couple of quid a week, every bit helps.

Would you be able to give yourself a "spending timetable".
You have £270 for the month, £120 of which is petrol.
[I'm following your lead in assuming a 4 week month. Note that if we are talking calendar months then you will run into problems doing this.]
That leaves £150.
Take off any other essential spending. I'm hoping there won't be any.
Now you might say you want one big night out in the month, that would set you back £40. Other weeks you'll have a night out for £20.
That's £100 on nights out, leaving you £50.
Which gives you £12.50 a week for day to day spending. That's £1.79 a day.

I'm not particularly saying you should go with the above plan, but do you see what I mean? Make a plan and stick to it.