Help - addicted to spending

lihar

Hi

I know I'm not alone but I cant stop spending and my credit cards are out of control. I know I need to make this change to my lifestyle and i cannot sleep and feel sick and anxious all the time because all i keep thinking about it the balances i have outstanding. I want to stop and although I am not ready to tell my boyfriend/family/friends, I want to tell someone, someone anonymous who might be able to offer some advice on where to start. I wanted to go to a financial advisor but they cost more money than I'll ever have available and I don't know what to do.

I'm panicking.

Can someone logically please tell me where to start? I hope there's hope to get out of this :-(

epsilondraconis

Hi Lihar, well done for posting on this thread - this will help more than the credit card thread.

The first thing you will be asked to do on here is to provide a copy of your statement of affairs (SOA). This is basically a list of all of your income and expenditure. People will then be able to give you a lot of support as to how you can reduce your outgoings. See the link below.

http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html

Good luck - the first step is sometimes the hardest...

Tixy

Hello Lihar - you can tell us all about it - its much easier to confess all to people you can't see. Plus we have all been in similar situations so you won't get judged on here.

Do you know how much you owe to everyone? Do you open your letters?

If not first place to start is to set aside a few hours and collect up all the unopened post & post you havn't dealt with.

Then get yourself a cuppa and open every letter and sort into piles for each debt.

Then take a little break (it can be depressing). Once you come back to it sort the piles into date order so you have the most recent statements/threats/demands at the top of each pile (emergency chocolate might be needed at this point)

Once you have got that info sorted you are in a position to compile a financial statement of affairs. Use this link
http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html
Complete as much info as possible and choose format for MSE at the bottom of the page and post on to here.

This is a difficult step but until you know how much you owe and how much you are overspending by then you can't begin to tackle it.

We will be here to support you and once we see your situation we should be able to offer advise as to how to tackle things (warning -this will probably include cutting up credit cards - but trust me this is liberating!!)

Pah financial advisers not required when you have the DFWs behind you!

And the best words of advice DON'T PANIC!!

lihar

Monthly Expense Details[/b]
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 337.5
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 52.5
Electricity............................. 10.5
Gas..................................... 7
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 12
Telephone (land line)................... 6
Mobile phone............................ 90
TV Licence.............................. 6
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 3.5
Groceries etc. ......................... 120
Clothing................................ 200
Petrol/diesel........................... 325
Road tax................................ 10.5
Car Insurance........................... 29
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 20
Car parking............................. 15
Other travel............................ 20
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 15
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 18
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 15
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 30
Haircuts................................ 30
Entertainment........................... 130
Holiday................................. 50
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1552.5

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 162000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 600
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 162600

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
credit cards...................5400......160.......0
Total unsecured debts..........5400......160.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,470
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,552.5
Available for debt repayments........... -82.5
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 160
Amount short for making debt repayments. -242.5
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 162,600
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -5,400
Net Assets.............................. 157,200

lihar

hope that ive done that correctly. I do open my letters, i only told my dad i needed to borrow some money. He lent me £6000 and i used £2000 i inherited to pay off some other debts. I can pay my dad back min £150 a month. I forgot to add that into my sheet. Im so aware of it all but at the same time burying my head in the sand.

I had some ideas like getting the train to work and putting my car as a second leisure option. I also thought about a second job but then i realised that will become obvious to people that I'm in debt (ie close family and boyfriend). I actually feel so good just having put that down. But I've a long way to go and just feel dizzy about where to start.

Thanks so much so far for replying.

lihar

oh and i used the £6000 to pay off the other 9 credit cards i had and i cut them up immediately. Its just the remaining cards (3 accounts, 1 with a card, 2 i never activated the cards, so they are just amounts which im paying interest on) that I have.

Tixy

Hi - are these expenses just for you - do you live alone?

The mobile phone bill is huge - even if you use it loads you should be able to get it cheaper than this - have a look online at the different packages available, you should definatley be able to cut this to £50 if not more.

Clothing costs - £200 per month is a lot. If you have been spending this amount for sometime then you must have wardrobes full! You really need to cut this right back for a few months (literally only buying essentials) then when you re-instate it aim for say half this amount.

Petrol is very high (especially compared to other car costs). Is any of this work travel and do you get paid fuel allowance? If its all private then can you reduce the journeys you do at all. Definatley look into the price of travelling by train (look at season tickets) and compare to the fuel cost.

If you can cut down on your entertainment a little as well you should free up enough money to at least show as breaking even.

Any chance of earning overtime at your current job? Are you likely to be getting any increases in salary anytime soon?

You don't seem to have a huge amount of debts you just need to cut back on some of the extra spending whilst you start to clear it.

Good luck

LabLover

If youre spending that amount of clothes then you should have a wardrobe full. Make yourself a capsule(is that how to spell it ?) wardrobe and sell the rest on e-bay that will give you some cash fast to stick on the most important debts.
Can you car share ? That way sharing the cost of petrol etc?
When I was in a bit of debt I thought about getting a second job but the tax man would take most of what I made so it was a bit of a no win situation.I just ebayed all my excess clothes.
£90!!! for your mobile? can this be reduced if you went else where?
These are just a few suggestions, youve came to the right place , everyone on here is amazing !!!
x:j

Raini

Hello Lihar :hello: You really have done the right thing by making a start on tackling your debt There are lots of freindly people on here that will give you good kind advice. It's not clear if you live with your OH or not? But the stress of trying to keep all of this secret appears to be already getting to much & my advice is be honest, even if it's just to your OH for now. Then you need to look at how you can earn more (maybe overtime? or ebay?); what you can save (clothes, petrol,etc) and then snowball & overpay as much as possible and then you need to look at why you're spending. It'll be hard but might help you stay in control in the future.

Good Luck & Hugs x

mum2one

Just a flying stop, but just wanted to say well done on the 1st step, like anything its always the hardest to take the 1st step.

I've been exactly in ur position re cards and in all honestly this is the 3rd time I've got in a mess, 1st 2 were smaller debts and my parents bailed me out, this time this relates back to 2002 when I found out I was pregnant, my wages dropped as I went off sick, then ssp, and then depression, (its all on 1st post of my debt free thread), and then hit the credit cards, and know exactly where your coming from.

I've had 2 lightbulb moments (all comes to must pay off debts), but didnt have the motivation, and did the favourite thing, bury head in the sand, its 3rd and final time, and I wouldnt of been able to do it without the support from people on here and a lot of help, ok my debt free date 2015, but its a goal.

Will pop back and have a look at ur soa and see if theres any suggestions.

well done xx

Burlesque_Babe

glad you hopped over from the CC board

OK - my thoughts

Groceries etc. ......................... 120 For how many people? If 2, this is a good figure, if for 1, it can be reduced to well under £100 with meal planning and cooking from scratch. The Old Style board can help you with ideas.

Mobile phone............................ 90 - wow!!!!!! I don't spend this in a year on PAYG! Please swap to PAYG if you can or else just stop using unless in emergencies. Call your provider and ask to swap to the lowest tariff

Clothing................................ 200 Huge amount to be spending every month. Don't spend a penny for 6 months other than on undies. Go through your wardrobe and ebay or car boot everything you don't wear.

Petrol/diesel........................... 325 OUCH!! Your petrol bill is more than your rent? Can you find work closer to home - this is an enormous amount to pay in fuel for an income of under £1,500

Car Insurance........................... 29 have you used compare the market etc to see if you can swap to a cheaper provider? Also, check out quidco, a cashback service to usein conjunction with changing insurance of any type

Pet insurance/vet bills................. 18 As above

Buildings insurance - you have 0 ?

Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 30 A lot to be spending every month. Start using the grabbit board, vouchers, buy in the January sales
Haircuts................................ 30 Again, a lot to spend every month. Hair only grows half an inch a month. Consider having done every 2 months and check out your local hairdressing training college provider. I work for one and the learners are well supervised and some cut better than so called expert salon stylists - a cut and blow dry is £4.50 where I work.
Entertainment........................... 130 Again, a big chunk of money to be spending every month. Sadly, it will have to come right down to £20 or so if you are serious about clearing the debt

Holiday................................. 50 is this already booked?



Your debt total in comparison to your income isn't huge to be honest and I reckon with getting rid of all the overspend and really working hard you could clear this in a year or so. Even the clothing budget alone would give you over 2 grand off your debt if you didn't spend any more money for 12 months, sold your excess clothing and then used some of that income to buy anything you really needed.


I think it's a very do-able debt free journey without too many hard sacrifices to make - go for it - you'll really be glad you made the effort