To budget or not to budget, that is the question...

8pnoodles

... whether tis nobler to suffer.. Sorry. lol

Shakespeare aside, I have an interesting dilemma. I've been doing this trying to live on virtually nothing for maybe a couple of weeks now. I've had one moment of weakness this weekend and bought some hair straighteners, and went out down the pub with some mates. My weakness = £40.

Anyway... outside of this I've not bought anything I considered nonessential. I've even not bought any chocolate, deciding that chocolate is too expensive for what it is! That's been tough though, and I caved today and bought a small bar and some crisps because my weekend has left me a little disorganised in the lunch snacks department, I had nothing other than sandwiches to bring from home, and need energy for cycling (especially in this weather!).

Anyway I get paid today (yay) but the question is, do I try and stick to my principal of only buying absolute essentials or do I try and stick to a budget.

I my defence, I've done much better te last couple of weeks in only buying essentials than I ever did sticking to a budget.

I've written down budgets before. But I feel loathe to save say £10 a month for vets bills. This is an essential, but when I've got £100 sitting there, that could be used for paying off my debts, and I'd save on the interest if I did that.

Add that to a clothes budget, prescription budget and xmas/holidays budget, and that's a fair chunk every month that could go on my debts.

This christmas I'm making people presents so it's going to cost me under £10 in total. And I've only got 4 people to do stuff for. And they have also been warned! So why budget for things like this that I may not do?

I worry that saving money up for certain things is just going to encourage me to spend more. I'd rather look at my debt and bank account and say nope, I can't afford a holiday this year. Or whatever.

Obviously when I'm out of debt I will have a budget and stick to it. But for the moment anything non essential, well, it pretty much goes out of the window. Having had my weekend lapse though, am I being too harsh?

I don't want this to be easy. But am I on the right track with trying to live on the bare minimum with the very occasional treat, or am I using this as an excuse not to budget properly?

If I do set up a budget (bearing in mind I get paid at midnight tonight) what's the best way to go about it? Is it really worth saving money into pots, and does that work? Otherwise how do you know how much you've saved? Do you save it in lots of bank accounts, or what?

frugglewump

I hate budgets too, but i've found life easier now I know where all the quarterly or annual expenses are going to get paid from.

For the pots thing - i transfer over all the total i'm budgetting into an instant access savings account, but manage separate pots on a spreadsheet. The trick i've found is to simply pretend i've already spent the money and i've stopped logging onto my internet banking quite so often since if i can't see it it's not taunting me to pay it into another debt. Sounds childish i know but it works for me.

i will say though that i don't have a clothes, prescription or holiday budget - they come out of leftovers or the food allowance. Well except the holiday stuff - OH & I didn't have a proper holiday until we'd been together 8 years, just odd weekends camping with friends.

Tondella

Make a budget 8pnoodles, but remember, just because you have budgeted £10 per month for vets bills doesn't mean you have to spend £10 per month ... allow yourself decent living costs and put the rest towards debt repayment. Set up a direct debit to send the money out to your debts on the first of the month (or whenever pay day hits). Then spend the rest of the month doing your best to money save. At the end of the month see what you have left over, then put all your additional savings towards your debts. This way you manage to be in control of your spending, your emotions don't take a hit whenever an expense comes up (because it is already in the budget) but you still get to maximise your repayments. And if you want to pay off the debts quicker then don't budget for a holiday or other non-essentials. It's all about prioritising your spending.

In my humble opinion your £40 weakenss is a direct result of your very strict goals, as lots more people on here will tell you, set yourself a liveable budget, or else the temptation to blow it all because you are living such a miserable existence wll come around again.

all the best with your efforts, it does get easier

ms_london

I am sorry to say this but it sounds as though you have learnt nothing in the past year. Yes, you come on here with good intentions, but your weakness was £40!!!!! £4 yes ok, but £40!!

I cant bear to read your posts knowing that they although you mean them at the time, nothing changes.

You are still going to be debt in another year, and then a year after that if you dont seriously get to the bottom of it.

I think its about time you grew up to be honest, its so frustrating!!

Sorry to be harsh!!

Tondella

Stern words indeed ms_london and it's clear that such a disciplined attitude is what allowed you to clear your debts so successfully. however, on behalf of us newbie mse-ers, I'd just like to proffer the opinion that debt management isnt a road to Damascus type instant revelation, but more a gradual refinement of money managing until one day we find ourselves £19k lighter in debt.

So long as 8pnoodles keeps on posting her honest account of her spending and receives feedback from those more experienced in budgeting (such as yourself) then she will learn to become more money savvie. This has been my first pukka month of budgeting and although I'm pleased with what I have achieved I'm keen to start the next month to see how many more ways i can save. If I'd suddenly had to take on board all the tips that I am now putting into place then I think i would have been overwhelmed.

But as i said above, I think if 8pnoodles gave herself a realistic budget then she'd have a better chance of succeeding. It's all very well saying that you want to move to be with your BF asap but if the spending plan you have decided upon is impractical in actual fact you'll never become debt free

ms_london

Tondella wrote:

Stern words indeed ms_london and it's clear that such a disciplined attitude is what allowed you to clear your debts so successfully. however, on behalf of us newbie mse-ers, I'd just like to proffer the opinion that debt management isnt a road to Damascus type instant revelation, but more a gradual refinement of money managing until one day we find ourselves £19k lighter in debt.

So long as 8pnoodles keeps on posting her honest account of her spending and receives feedback from those more experienced in budgeting (such as yourself) then she will learn to become more money savvie. This has been my first pukka month of budgeting and although I'm pleased with what I have achieved I'm keen to start the next month to see how many more ways i can save. If I'd suddenly had to take on board all the tips that I am now putting into place then I think i would have been overwhelmed.

But as i said above, I think if 8pnoodles gave herself a realistic budget then she'd have a better chance of succeeding. It's all very well saying that you want to move to be with your BF asap but if the spending plan you have decided upon is impractical in actual fact you'll never become debt free

I appreciate what you're saying Tondella and you are indeed correct :0)

However, 8pnoodles was posting on the fool.co.uk for a good 18 months, until she disapeared, and has now reappeared here with the same old story. The debts still the same...

Perhaps this time will be it, but it seems that 8pnoodles likes having this debt, nothing has changed!!

The only reason I wanted to clear my debt so quickly was to go travelling. If i dont have that thought in my head, I wouldve paid the minimum payment and not worried about the interest (its only 2.3%), I hope you dont think im acting all high & mighty now that I am close to debt free, because I dont feel that I have done anything better than 1,000's of other people have done when they've cleared they're debt. I just wish 8pnoodles wouldnt act like such a martyr, its becoming tiring!!

It just annoys me that people are unhappy with the state of their lives (whether that be money, job, family etc etc) but wont do anything about it, it does take a bit of effort.

Tondella

Hi ms_london

Course I don't think you're acting high and mighty, as I've said before, your example is very inspiring, particular for me setting out at the beginning of my repayments. (hope no offence has been caused, tone of voice is a real toughy to get across in text)

I hadn't realised that 8pnoodles had been posting on fool before now, I do hope that this is the time that she gets it all sorted though. fingers crossed eh!

ms_london

Im sorry too, and to you 8pnoodles. I do hope that this is the start of the end of your debt-free-ness. Its just frustrating thats all, I hope you can appreciate it. A bit like GoStevie, as much as we all love him (if you're reading this!!).

Sorry for being a moo!!!

xx

8pnoodles

In January I owed £10679, I now owe £8928 (got paid yesterday). That's the same then is it? And I didn't start paying off my debts until February's pay cheque, and that doesn't include anything I save and make on ebay this month. And saying 18 months is unfair. It's only really been since January.

Before that point, I'd left my husband (went through getting divorced this year too), so the October through to January was a bit shaky as I moved out and adapted to a single income. Previously to that I was with my ex husband paying off £1K a month off our joint debts.

Maybe if I got paid as much as you, or was able to take on a second job without it affecting my health (tried it, got very ill) then I'd have paid off more? I probably have lived on around your budget of £50 a week for food and going out since then. Ok, so some weeks I am harsh on myself and some weeks I lapse. But I'm getting out of debt!

GoStevie is meanwhile getting into more and more debt.

Get a grip! Not everyone's life is the same.

8pnoodles

Tondella, I like the saving on your budget pots idea, and I like the not budgeting for clothes and holidays. I'll try and set something up (my pc has been playing up and my internet connection is down at home which is really unhelpful on the bank/finances and ebay front!)

Ms_London, I've paid off an average of £175 a month. Not much, but I've increased my minimum repayments as of a couple of months ago, to £330, so hopefully this will motivate me to increase what I pay off and not spend it.

I don't buy clothes any more, the last thing I bought was a pair of jeans for £1.50 on ebay. Wearing them at work now. I don't buy all the random rubbish for myself that I used to buy. I just don't! And yes it is hard work! I don't go out very much any more. I have turned down leaving dos and said I had plans or was ill. I live on Tescos value stuff. I got rid of my car. I now no longer even get lifts to work, I cycle. I'm trying! And I never bought those curtains, if you remember that.

I'm putting in a lot of work but it's taking time, that's all. I remember way back when on TMF, looking at your income and outgoings and there was no way I could match you, even though you said I should, in terms of the speed at which you were/are able to pay off your debt.

ms_london

8pnoodles wrote:

Maybe if I got paid as much as you, or was able to take on a second job without it affecting my health (tried it, got very ill) then I'd have paid off more? I probably have lived on around your budget of £50 a week for food and going out since then. Ok, so some weeks I am harsh on myself and some weeks I lapse. But I'm getting out of debt!

Yes I might be on a better wage, the whole reason I moved to London. But I moved to an area with the cheapest rent I could find, cut down my outgoings (didnt even go to the gym for most of the time), and yes I had a second job, which, yes, it did make me ill. Emotionally & physically, hence the overdose I took in April. So it hasnt been easy for me either, im not pretending it has. I havent had it all handed to me on a plate, ive had to work my butt off to get the extra money together so I can pay off X amount each month. Ive made sacrifices, and Ive been single for 3 years, something Ive had to do, because at the moment being debt free is more important to me (plus I havent met anyone nice either to tempt me).

8pnoodles wrote:

I'm putting in a lot of work but it's taking time, that's all. I remember way back when on TMF, looking at your income and outgoings and there was no way I could match you, even though you said I should, in terms of the speed at which you were/are able to pay off your debt.

I didnt say that you should match exactly what I pay back each month, but % wise, and with your income/outgoings there was room for you to pay back more than what you were doing. You had the spare cash in your budget, that is all that I was saying.

Oh well, I'll be debt free in 2 days & couldnt care less really, Ive got what I wanted in the time I wanted and thats all that matters to me. Obviously I'll stick around here & give advice or try to help to the people that need it, but more importantly to the people that WANT it & will actually listen. There's nothing worse than a martyr, its just frustrating thats all.

2 days, 2 days!!! Whooo!!