Newbie in debt and worried

Nargleblast

Good luck and keep posting! Whenevr you are about to open your wallet, think - do I really need this? Can I get it cheaper? It's not about being a Scrooge, it is about being savvy with the dosh and making the best use of it. Remember, once those debts are paid you will have more income to spend or put away in savings for emergencies. And well done for not having credit card debts - these are a downfall for most people, the buy it now pay later ethos. Pay cash or straight out of your bank account and you owe nothing to anybody.

herbertthehelper

Nargleblast wrote: »

Good luck and keep posting! Whenevr you are about to open your wallet, think - do I really need this? Can I get it cheaper? It's not about being a Scrooge, it is about being savvy with the dosh and making the best use of it. Remember, once those debts are paid you will have more income to spend or put away in savings for emergencies.

Great advice here! I recommend trying to put some of your monthly income into your 1k savings so it grows - your debt if your clever will disappear quickly if you put the effort into to clearing it. Then when you come out you should have some savings!

dancingfairy

I agree with Narglebalast in that it's not about being Scrooge - it's about priorities and if you want something figuring out the cheapest way to buy it ie if you buy magazines a lot it may be cheaper to get a subscription and to get a subscription look around for intro offers or use Tesco points or whatever.
Then you will have more money for the important things in life.
Same with the car insurance - it may be cheaper to pay in 1 lump sum if you can afford it etc (as another poster pointed out). etc
df

CHRIS79

I pay the car insurance in one go, but put aside money each month (as my SOA) for car related bills, servicing, tax, tyres etc

Its not due for another 6 months tho,

I have loads of dvds, watches I could sell, but i feel i might regret letting them go. Im a bit of a hoarder to be honest

Chris

dancingfairy

Don't forget to put those savings somewhere earning a bit of interest while you are saving up for the car expenses - maybe an ISA or something?
With regards to the DVD's maybe you could just sell a few of the ones you really aren't going to watch again? or maybe swap with a mate? o.k it's not going to get you any money swapping but you could get another one to watch without having to fork out for it?
If you buy lots of DVDs would a DVD club work out cheaper for you? - as long as you remember to send them back when watched? then you could buy only the ones which you absolutely loved?
There's a couple of approaches to moneysaving really - there's the live on bread and water and give everything up to pay off your debts as quick as humanely possible (o.k maybe not quite bread and water but you get the point) or you can take things a bit slower - whatever works for you - if selling your entire dvde collection is going to make you utterly misserable then there is little point - you seem to have quite a good spare income so you will still be able to make good inroads into the debts.
df

slig

CHRIS79 wrote: »

I have loads of dvds, watches I could sell, but i feel i might regret letting them go. Im a bit of a hoarder to be honest

With DVDs, I would recommend you sell them unless they're ones you particularly want to keep. I've sold lots of books and DVDs that I kind of wanted to keep but didn't ever watch/read, so I said to myself that if I miss them, I'll buy them again when I'm debt free. Can't say I've missed any of them so far! Also, in a few years time everything might be on blu-ray instead, so you might want to re-buy your favourites anyway (once debt free, of course!)

With your watches, do they have any specific sentimental value? Eg a family heirloom? Your situation isn't so bad that you need to sell beloved heirlooms . But if you have any that you aren't that attached to then sell em; decluttering is quite invigorating (and addictive, just to warn you).

CHRIS79

Some are 18th, 21st presents so i wont get rid of those watches. Most I dont wear, but arent huge value so i dont make effort to sell them.

Ur right about the dvds/blu ray, i should start going through them all.

Thing that annoys me is that most of these belongings have contributed to the second loan I have of £302 a month!

Chris

Pee

Maybe selling some will help you avoiding buying more, but it is avoiding buying more not really selling what you have that needs to be addressed.

Paying your debts is addictive once you get started.

CHRIS79

I do go on play.com a lot!

Oh and diecast collectible cars. £50-60 a time!

Now im seeing where the money goes lol

Just realised too that I buy up to 8 magazines a month!

Shocking

Least I dont smoke or drink too much, gave that up a while back

euronorris

I noticed that you haven't got anything in your budget for presents, holidays or emergency fund, which I assume you must spend on during the year.

I would recommend that you estimate the annual cost and divide by 12 and include in your budget. Then, set this amount aside each month, much like you do with car costs.

You may find that the presents and emergencies have a habit of eating up some of that spare cash otherwise.

8 Magazines a month! Wow! Definitely worth looking into a subscription.

And, as for hoarding things. I think you have to be harsh with yourself, if it doesn't hold sentimental value and you haven't used it in the last 6 months then you won't miss it when it's gone.

Good luck, you should be able to do this quite quickly. Just do the spending diary as others have suggested. It will open your eyes! lol

Now I want a magazine! Haven't had one in weeks! The OH was going to buy me one yesterday, to cheer me up, but he couldn't find any English ones and, in his words, "There are sooo many for women! I wouldn't know which one to get you anyway!" lol