Nichola's get out of debt/get confident diary

Nichelette

Hopefully this won't be a long ramble...

Okay, I've decided to start this diary because I think I need the extra push that I will get from making everything I spend public.

Currently my debt stands at (approximately):

* £10,880 student loan (without interest, will find out how much it is this month when I get the annual statement from the SLC)
* £2000 Abbey overdraft
* £1,400 Natwest overdraft
* £3,110.60 Car payments (the figure in my sig is without the interest so I can work out how much I will need to pay it off early). £155.53 is taken off of this every month.
* £186.15 Barclaycard

I also have £1308.77 in my ISA which I will use part of to pay this months credit card bill. I will pay that in full, and it will be the final one. It has always been a bit of a security blanket but since I've been looking for a job I've been living on it and using my savings to pay it off. I think because the money isn't directly leaving my savings to start with I have been spending more than I would if it were directly from the savings, so from now on I'm living on £10 cash per week until I find a job.I'm currently saving to pay off my car early which is what the money is really for.

Okay...how did I get in this much debt? Obviously debt is part of being a student, although I have worked through a lot of my degree some people win from the student loans system and some people lose. I was one of the losers, but I'm not going to moan about it because it's over now and there is nothing I can do about it.

Some of it was from being young and stupid, and finally the car is something I could sell. I did need it when I got it, but I could live without it now (long post here about why I ended up with it if anyone is that interested http://nicheletta.livejournal.com/). Unfortunately last September someone saw fit to reverse into it and drive off, it now needs two new doors (at a cost of about £1000) which there is no way I can afford. I didn't eat for days after it happened . If I were to sell it I'd take a massive loss, so as I've paid so much for it already I decided to keep it as it will make it easier to find a job if I can travel/get about at short notice for temping. I've had it since it was 4 months old so I know it has been looked after. The plan is to keep it until it dies on me.

I did this to my credit card this morning:



As I wrote on another thread I'm going to wear it until I'm debt free to remind me not to spend my money on rubbish I don't need. I strongly advise everyone to make their credit cards into bracelets lol. As soon as my Abbey overdraft is dead the bracelet will be getting a bit of red on it .

The purpose of this diary will be to post my spending every day, this way I can be told off for doing wrong and buying rubbish... seriously, I NEED telling off. As this is getting a bit long and rambly I'll leave the confidence part for the next entry .

jenjade

well done hun keep posting have you written the amount you owe in full on a piece of paper in your wallet to help you think before you spend??
i love diaries!!

Nichelette

I haven't Jen, but that's definately a good idea... I'm about ot leave for Brighton soon but I'll do it when I get there... I'll have to cover up the photos of my friends... sorry friends lol.

SmlSave

I love the braclete!

Have you found out how much you could get for your car? how much would you lose? Thankfully I have a job that is easy to get to by bus but my OH got told when he got his job that they wouldn't have hired him if he didn't have a car!

How is your job hunting going?

Bowski_1011

oh I think I'm gonna enjoy this Diary. I don't have any advice to give I'm afraid but well done on starting your diary. The bracelet's a great Idea, can't imagine I'd make one myself but I wouldn't be too suprised if I seen my sister walking round with one after she reads this thread !!

Piquant_2

Oh I looove the bracelet!! Round off the corners so that it won't cut you

I've just bagged up several of my bracelets (non valuable ones) ready for the car boot sale on Sunday. Hey! perhaps you'll be able to sell yours when you're debt free, how strange would that be?

Piq

Nichelette

Thanks everyone . I'm not sure what I'd get for the car now it has been damaged but I did ask when it was about 2 years old (and in perfect condition with low miles) and was shocked when they told me how little they would give me. If I remember rightly I think they said about £2,500 which is a joke when the list price was £11,000 new. Anyway, obviously selling it isn't really an option in light of that. I'm happy keeping it, I just want it to be 100% mine.

I was going to round off the corners of the bracelet but surprisingly they aren't actually sharp! It isn't something that I'm really wearing because I like the look of it, it's more to remind me not to be an idiot! If I'm honest dangly bracelets really annoy me so I'll be glad when I can take it off lol. I do actually make jewellery which I sell so I'm looking into starting a 'real' mini business doing it now I've finished uni.

Anyhoo, to the spending... Friday was a no spend day but weekends are always the bad time for me because I visit my boyfriend in Brighton so I can't really sit and do nothing like I tend to do during the week. Unfortunately he has been a bit more blessed financially than me (his dad paid his rent, he got £850 in grant per year and was given a £2.5k cheque from his parents at graduation, this is in contrast to my £150 grant and nothing from my parents). Anyway, the point is that it is hard not to do things which require spending money around him, as understanding as he is. He often buys me drinks/dinner etc but I don't like him wasting his money on me and want to be able to pay for myself. I'm definitely not one of those people who will take all they can get.

Yesterday I managed not to spend anything during the day but in the evening we went to the pub where I spent a shocking £5.90 on a cocktail pitcher and 60p on crisps (I had held out for ages but I was actually hungry and we weren't going to eat for 3 hours). My boyfriend bought me dinner because he knew I couldn't afford it which was nice of him. I know that is a lot to spend on drink of all things but we seem to spend a lot of time in pubs, often I'll just go without or have a soft drink but I'd had a bad day so I caved. That only leaves me with £3.50 til next Friday, but I think I'll be able to manage that as I normally have lots of no spend days during the week as it's hard to spend money when you're constantly looking for a job. I really need some new shoes as mine are getting holey and scuffed, but I'm trying to hold out as long as is possible. I got some work suitable shoes half price in the next sale a while back so I'll have to live in those when I get a job and keep my scruffy ones for home til my financial situation picks up a bit .

Nichelette

Okay, I just wrote a long post but lost it :mad:, so I'm going to summarise.

Basically, yesterday was a no spend day which is good, but I missed out on some temp work this morning as I was on the phone to my friend last night and didn't get to sleep til about four this morning. He has very bad depression/self harm issues and he wanted to hurt himself so I didn't want to leave him alone til I was sure he was okay and would go to sleep. On the plus side though, I have sold a locket on etsy this morning so that's another £8 or so in my pocket.

I've decided my new job finding strategy is to apply for a job every day (exc weekends), that way I *have* to find a job eventually. My problem is that although my grades are good I have always had a very low opinion of myself, so I think anyone would be mad to employ me. I worked out that taking tax, NI, travel to work, rent, paying for my car and servicing my debts I need a job paying at least £15-16,000 . To me that seems like a lot of money. Anyway, I'm going to post the jobs I'm applying for here as well as my spends, that way I can't have a day off from applying as that is the last thing I need. This is today's job: https://www.westsussex.gov.uk/apps/erecruitment/vacancyDetail.jsp?mode=e&id=1986

If I don't get anything soon I'm going to have to try and find temporary christmas work in a shop to tide me over, much as I hate shop work I need the money, though I was thinking that working in my local hobbycraft maybe wouldn't be so bad. We'll see I guess...

SmlSave

Good luck job hunting!

Remember, even a temp jobs means money and paying off that debt quicker!

Nichelette

Thanks smlsave , the people at the temp agency said they would let me know if anything crops up.

Nichelette

I got some good news today, I've been given some temp work starting on Monday and lasting six weeks. It's doing admin for a pensions company, but it's quite local which is good as that will keep travel costs down. It's only £7 an hour so after tax I'll be getting less than when I was a student in my last job, but it's still money, and hopefully I will be on at least £8 an hour when I find a permanent job as really with paying off my debt that is the least I can survive on. I'm really hoping I can get the job I applied for the other day, if I can it would be great because the interviews are on the 15th of October, so the satrt date would probably be just after this six weeks admin work ends. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

I haven't spent any of my weekly £10 since Saturday, but I have decided to take £100 from my savings which I am using to buy jewellery supplies for christmas trade. I make jewellery which I sell to get a bit of extra income so in theory I should get this and a bit more on top. Anyway, that's all for today I think .