Help AAARRGGGH

ms_london

BigDebtBoy wrote:

i was having a think last night and i realy need to sort out my spending mentalty most of my mates think i am pretty generous and i have allways thought they were just a bit tight lol but thinking about its more like they are sensible and i am a bit stupid spending money thats not mine and spending money on sh%t i cant afford
what are the best things to look at on here or other sites regaring changing my mentality regarding money i need to cut down on most things get some kind of budget sorted and get these debts sorted asap im looking at a year max to get the cards paid off which will be very hard but i reakon i can do it if i change
one problem i have got is that i need to put back as much as poss into my business as without that i dont have a income obviously.
if some one can point me in the reet direction that would be much apprecited and if anyone can show me where i can get some free money that would be great :rotfl:

Nice one guys
Ian

Once the balance transfer has gone through, just call them & say you would like to reduce your balance to X. The thing is, you should know what you are spending & you must have known that youd spent more than your balance should be, you should be aware at all times what you spend, how much you have left for the month etc etc.

When I was running up my debt I was so generous with "my money" (well, the banks money) and used to buy so many rounds of drinks, meals, and treat my friends to things. They are no longer friends, but thankfully because I have been in debt when I moved to London, the friends I made here understood, so they accepted that I couldnt always do things, so I didnt have the added peer pressure of not being able to do things when all my friends were.

I think that you should just stay around these boards, post on the "How much did you spend today?" thread, and read the other parts of this board (Old Style is good for cutting back on food budgets etc), but in order to change your mentality, this is something that will happen gradually and something you will have to do yourself, it doesnt happen overnight.

What is your business? How is that going? I think you should stick to the budget we said yesterday, X amount is yours for the month, and if you spend it, its gone. You shouldnt have ANY credit available to you, not even an overdraft, that way you will HAVE to stay within your means. I havent had any credit available to me for 2 1/2 years now, and still dont, but I have managed, because I havent had any other choice.

xx

skintchick

Just on the food, I spend £60 a month for food, toiletries, cleaning products etc., and for one month I spent under £50 adn still ate well, so it is possible, you just have to be creative and do some cooking - not much though!

Happy to advise futher if you're interested in what I buy and what I do with it...

jen_jen_2

you just have to think about money a different way - everytime you want something work out the "real" price eg if i buy this in cash it will cost £500 if i get a loan to buy it it will be 36 payments X £45 per payment = £1620 in total, then is it worth it???

i personally hate paying interest (and it sounds like you do to) so dont, if your friends dont accept you for doing what suits you then they arn't worth having. look at the old style board and see how they think about money, see it as a challenge to spend as little as possible

a little story - ive got a free trial for the "posh" gym this week and yes it is very nice but the only thing i could think was, Well most of them are getting in debt to pay this and is it worth the extra £30 per month, I pay £22 per month for the local authority one down the road which is smaller but less people, same machines, just as exhausting the pool and changing rooms are not as nice but they serve their purpose.

martin says always ask yourself , do you really need it? can i get it cheaper elsewhere? (cant remember the third question - sorry martin) just begin to question everythings value

System

Ian - further to my post yesterday about paying off Cap One and Virgin, had another thought that may be of help to you.

Before you do anything with those two, give them a call and tell them quite simply that you're thinking of clearing your debt with them and cancelling your a/c. Tell them you've got a new 0% for 12months credit card. To keep your custom, they may be very nice to you! You may be able to get them to slash the rates on your existing debt or - more likely - do a promotional rate on new balance tfers. Remember, mate - HAGGLE!

If they do offer you a better monthly rate than your current HSBC monthly rate, then it won't be in your interest to cancel the cards.

Try it - see what they say and then post back.

Bargain_Rzl

BigDebtBoy wrote:

cheers jen-jen and ms-london for your advice do i just have to ring the credit card company to reduce my limit casue last time i did that they just left it and i kept blindly spending until i got a statement through and nearly had a heart attack

One of the main things you will need to change if you want to get out of debt is this attitude to "blindly spending". This implies that you don't actually care how much money/available credit you have, you'll just spend it anyway until something bounces!

You MUST get into a situation where you always know how much money you've got. Keep your accounts properly. Make sure you have itemised everything you've spent that hasn't cleared yet AS WELL as the actual current balance of each account. Make sure you know when your bills are due. You will never know how much you are spending (or have available to spend) unless you do this and you will end up making your situation worse with bank charges on top of a growing debt.

I promise I'm not trying to have a go, but I hope that now you've been getting advice on this board, you know that "blind spending" is incredibly irresponsible and the absolute antidote to getting debt free.

Good luck with sorting it all out.

System

jen_jen wrote:

martin says always ask yourself , do you really need it? can i get it cheaper elsewhere? (cant remember the third question - sorry martin) just begin to question everythings value

Not sure of the quote, but another valid question would be "Can I borrow it?"

"Borrow" as in "borrow a book from the library" but NOT as in "borrow £5000 on my credit card"!

Thefunkygibbons

Another trick is to gross up the cost of something for tax and then work out how many hours work it it

It can be quite illuminating when you realise that you worked 2 hours for a fancy sandwich, latte and a bun from Starbucks

Suddenly bring sandwiches from home for a fraction of the cost does not look so bad

BigDebtBoy

hi guys
not been on for a while been busy working
starting to get a grip on what i spend and i have only spent about £15.00 this week so far on food and a couple of beers (i work a lot of hours so need a beverage when finsihed (just the one mind)
dave will phone the credit card companies asap and do as you said
ms-london business is doing hmm OK unfortunatley i have just had to buy a new pc as my old one is running very very slowly so hopefully when i get my new one which is top of the range it should speed up my work rate x2 thus paying for itself
i think changing the way i spend is going to be just as important as paying off the debts i am looking at getting my credit cards paid off in around 12 months which is going to very hard but the sooner the better and i will only have around £11/12k debt then insted of nearly 24k

skintchick

Sounds good! The hard work is worth it, I think everyone will agree.

ms_london

Well done BDB.

How about posting a new thread when you post your updates? They are easier to see then :0)

You are doing well, just keep up the good work.

Ms_London