i'm a shopaholic and need to be fixed

Kellylea

I turned 22 the otherday, my maternity leave finishes in one months time and as i was made redundant i don't have a job to return to.

Since leaving work and paying off all my debts with the redundancy i've ran up even more debt due to my self esteem crash and subsequent spending addiction resurfacing to attempt to turn myself into a yummy mummy.

I now have lots of nice clothes and fancy things and a tan from my nice holiday but lots of debt and no end to this mess in sight.

So here goes my turn around-

Household Information[/b]
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 1
Number of cars owned.................... 1
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 400
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1400
Benefits................................ 160
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1960
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured loan repayments................. 0
Hire Purchase (HP) repayments........... 0
Rent.................................... 450
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 80
Electricity............................. 60
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 10
Mobile phone............................ 0
TV Licence.............................. 10.5
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 20
Internet Services....................... 5
Groceries etc. ......................... 240
Clothing................................ 200
Petrol/diesel........................... 30
Road tax................................ 10
Car Insurance........................... 25
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 4
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 12
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 50
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 15
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 61
Haircuts................................ 17.5
Entertainment........................... 30
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1330

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 0
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 0

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Loan...........................6000......120.......0
Credit card....................2000......40........20.9
More credit cards..............950.......20........21.9
Overdraft......................200.......0.........0
Even more credit card..........1800......40........20.9
Total unsecured debts..........10950.....220.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,960
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,330
Available for debt repayments........... 630
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 220
Amount left after debt repayments....... 410
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 0
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -10,950
Net Assets.............................. -10,950

Kellylea

writing the budget out i already know that the spending on clothes has to stop and my groceries need chopping down.

There's never any money left at the end of the month and i'm going to start keeping a diary as to where the excess goes. Though i suspect it's clothes.

dhassen

Your car maintenance bit seems very low (unless you've got a brand new car which won't need fixing, or MOTs)

Kellylea

My dad works in the motor trade so we get most things done by his friends and any prangs he fixes for us for free which is very lucky.

Horace

Sell clothes you no longer wear on ebay along with stuff you no longer use. If you want baby clothes join freecycle and look on there as folks will often give away baby clothes.

Instead of listing your credit cards as More credit cards and even more credit cards, list them individually with the APRs for each and how much money you pay towards each debt.

What would be a good idea and to avoid temptation is to cut up the cards altogether. Stop buying clothes £200 a month is an enormous amount to spend because this is £2400 per year.

Keep a epending diary, make shopping lists when you go shopping, buy lesser labels and look at moneysaving oldstyle board for tips on meal planning etc.

~Beanie~

Kellylea wrote: »

Household Information[/b]
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 1
Number of cars owned.................... 1
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 400
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1400
Benefits................................ 160
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1960
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured loan repayments................. 0
Hire Purchase (HP) repayments........... 0
Rent.................................... 450
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 80
Electricity............................. 60
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 10
Mobile phone............................ 0
TV Licence.............................. 10.5
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 20
Internet Services....................... 5
Groceries etc. ......................... 240
Clothing................................ 200 - must cut this, as you know
Petrol/diesel........................... 30
Road tax................................ 10
Car Insurance........................... 25
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 4
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 12
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 50
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 15
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 61
Haircuts................................ 17.5
Entertainment........................... 30
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1330

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 0
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 0

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Loan...........................6000......120.......0
Credit card....................2000......40........20.9
More credit cards..............950.......20........21.9
Overdraft......................200.......0.........0
Even more credit card..........1800......40........20.9
Total unsecured debts..........10950.....220.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,960
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,330
Available for debt repayments........... 630
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 220
Amount left after debt repayments....... 410
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 0
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -10,950
Net Assets.............................. -10,950

According to your SOA, you have £400 per month left over. Where does this go? Saying that, you say you have just been on holiday but you haven't included an allowance for that in your budget.

Even if you keep a largish monthly clothing allowance, as long as you CUT UP ALL YOUR CARDS and use the surplus £400 to repay your debts, your SOA isn't looking to bad.

If you find that you don't have a spare £400 at the end of each month, try keeping a spending diary and write down every penny that you spend. It will soon show you where your money goes.

Kellylea

Thank you so much for all the help so far!

I've printed my SOA and pinned it on my fridge so i can keep working on each part.

I intend on doing a carboot or something for all the pre baby clothes that are no longer suitable and also the impulse buys i haven't worn.

The holiday we just went on was paid for ages ago and we used our final bit of savings for spending money. I don't plan on taking anymore until i've sorted myself out.

As for the 400 a month surplus i just don't know where it goes. I can't control my spending at all, i'm going to cut up all my credit cards and avoid the shopping centres until i learn to budget properly. For now i don't need any clothes etc. I'm annoyed that i let it get like this when i cleaned it all up last year.

Keep it coming everyone, it's a real help.