Coming clean

youngandreckless

Thanks Sarah, I'll look up Ms London x

pink_fairy_7

HI Y&R

Well done on giving up smoking. :T

I used to be just like you with money and ended up over £45K in debt( :eek: )and I even still have the odd relapse. However just lately I seem to be in control. Every day I wake up believing that I have no money and thinking of ways to save it. I don't view this as a bad thing but as a challenge! This is enabling me to throw all my spare money at the debt. The cc's will be cleared before November next year and then I will work on overpaying the loans.

I wish you loads of luck. Keep posting and let all the nice people on this board help you.

pink fairy x

ms_london

Per month:
Joint Account - £275
Loan - £134.20 -
£63.40 - Car Insurance
£15 - Vodafone
£30 - Orange (contract until Feb)
£40 - ISA - Only form of savings I have approx £1800/£2000 by now

If your income is £1020 a month & your outgoings (as above) are £557.60, that leaves you with £462.40 a month. When is your payrise due? Next pay day or a while yet?

Is your only debt the loan & overdraft?

You also said you spend about £30 a month on petrol (should be in your budget), therefore, that leaves you with £527.60. What happens with this? Is this for food & then the rest for "social money"? I.e. for you to do what you wish with?

That is a good amount to have left over. What are you saving for at the moment? Could you not empty your ISA in order to clear your OD/Loan/part of it at least? Otherwise, use some of the £527.60 to clear it each month. Even if you allowed yourself £300 per month for food/general "you" money, that will give you an extra £227.60 to throw at your debts, your overdraft could be cleared in 4 months.

It is easy to repay your OD, all you need to do is call your bank and ask them to reduce your limit by X amount each month..

You have done really well on your smoking, so congratulations for that, and I always enjoy reading your posts on here, but like you say, if you dont want to be posting here in a years time in a worse off position, you do need to sit down and think about how you will repay the debt, or at least decide on a manageable budget. £300 a month may not sound like much, but ive managed on far less than that for the past 2 years...it can be done. At least that way if youve got nothing to show for it at the end of the month, its not as bad as thinking, where has that £500 gone..!! Thats the worse thing, having nothing to show for your money and spending it on crap!! (very easily done!!)

Let us know what you decide, and good luck.

xx

Quasar

I know what it's like when you give up smoking! Maybe that is also why you are feeling a bit negative about everything, but please remember that not smoking already saves you money, and perhaps your life.

Do visit this site daily and draw inspiration from the advice and the shared experiences of others. This site so useful in many different ways, as it is a minegold of ways to save and spend more effectively.

Above all don't lose heart. £7800 is not a lot of debt by today's standards. Why not put your monthly progress in debt-paying as your signature at the bottom of the posts, which will act as a constant reminder and encouragement? Just an idea.

You are brave, keep it up. Soon your username will need to be changed to youngandwise!

8pnoodles

Oh yeah, been there, done that!

I've actually been in and out of debt most of my life. this is the first time though that I've been in so much debt (due to a combination of a wedding, a divorce, being unemployed and not being able to claim JSA, etc).

Some months I do fairly well and other months, I don't. I know HOW to do it, I just don't always.

My big aim is to not slip back into debt further though. At least if I'm not moving forwards, I know I'm not getting in further. Maybe that should be your first aim?

I also make SURE whether I have a bad money day or not, I constantly keep track of wha I'm up. The guilt of getting a chinese last night wasn't that bad. The guilt I feel having to write it into a spreadsheet and deduct it from my monthly spending, well, that's a whole lot worse! I'm also writing a blog that everyone can read (http://8pnoodles.blogspot.com) which keeps me a bit more on te straight and narrow. if I stop posting then I've fallen off the wagon big style and also I have to be honest on there or there is no point.

I've played around with various budgets and I stick to it a bit, but I get bored! One thing I've found is changing my strategy even now and again. I did have a phase of not budgetting but simply trying to lvie on as little as possible - that's when I started my blog. And now I'm trying to stick to a budget again. I got bored of the living on nothing thing, but switching methods stopped me from getting bored of this, and stopped me from overspending too much in the meantime.

One thing people tell me again and again and again(!!!) and guys I do know is that your budget needs to be large enough for you to live in comfortably. You need to allow for nights out and some spending other than just food and essentials if you can.

Have you thought about getting part-time work? I did bar work for a bit and it did wonders for my self esteem (and got me some money!). I gave it up because I just got too tired but some people do ok with two jobs, for a while anyway. Would be good to take on extra work in the run up to xmas, there is loads about.

Try and write a list of things you can do to make yourself feel good that don't involve money (or very little money). Mine are going for a long walk on a Sunday while listening to my walkman, a long candle lit bubble bath, sitting curled up in front of the tv with a bottle of tesco's sparkling perry (it's like 84p but you can pretend it's dead expensive if you're not too fussed aboutt aste! lol). I even like going to the library and just reading. I hang out with mates who are also very very broke (telling your close mates is very helpful and they'll be more than likely happy to stay in with a bottle of something and watch dvds instead of an expensive night out). Make your own pizza.
If you are outgoing and bored, try volunteering in your area? There are websites on it, or contact local charities.

I have really learnt the HARD way that you have to say no to people sometimes. Just say you are broke this month, and you can't go out.

And seriously, if you have the willpower to quit smoking, you also have te willpower to not comfort spend. ok so you won't always make it, but try and practice saying no to yourself. Once you've identified that you do it, it's easier not to spend. Staying away from shops helps.

I now spend way too much of my free time ebaying stuff. This keeps me on the straight and narrow, cos I don't want to buy more rubbish just to ebay it!

Lastly, I also read the stories on here of people who are much more seriously in debt. Basically if (and you) don't sort this out, then that'll be us.

Final tip: My brother got me to work out how much interest I spend a month on my debt. I spend almost £50. Just for the priviledge of being in debt! I could do with £50 a month. hat's like two nights out for me! So the more out of debt I get, every month, the amount I pay in interest gets less.