My SOA, I'm trying but VERY impatient

inamess200

Dont worry - i am an accountant and very good at my job but took my eye off of my personal finaces for a few years and now am paying the price!!! Try and get it sorted sooner rather than later - it can be done

Hugs

Inamess

spykey_uk

Also, its worth starting a diary on the diaries board, definitely helps keep you motivated (it does me!) x

Accountant_Kerry

Thanks everyone, I am just rubbish at staying focused and want to have it all.

And Vanilla I know there are many people worse off than me, I was one of those people and fortunately through the death of my parents inherited a little money, enough to let me go to university and start my training to get a better job, in hindsight maybe I should have paid off my debts then but you live and learn. :-)

Jesthar

Hey Kerry, and welcome!

Don't really need to give your SoA a full going over as others have beat me to it, and whilst there are several areas you can save money, you really only have one major problem, which you already acknowledge - your entertainment budget! You already know this is a lifestyle thing, so the question is - is getting out of debt much more worth changing your lifestyle for?

Looking at your SoA, you already have 900 a month extra on paper a month, even after your debt payments and with your £400 pub bill. Is this really the case, or do you never seem able to find that money in reality? Either way, I suggest you start keeping a spending diary so you know where every last penny goes, it's amazing where they can slip away!

Now, for the next few months most of that money plus any else you cut of your entertainment budget is going to have to go on paying back the loan to your friend (be disciplined!), but after that you have nearly a grand (or more if you cut the pub bill!) extra to pay off your debts (wish I had that amount of cash to throw at my mortgage overpayments! :rotfl:)

The there is the redundancy option. OK, so it's an option, but is it worth it? Can you be sure of getting another job at similar or better money? You'd also need to use the redundancy money to live on until you got another job, unless you already had one lined up. You need to think about this one carefully, especially as the whole of the redundancy payout would only cover just over 1/4 of your debt (assuming your friends loan is paid back), but if you were disciplined and cut your pub spend, you could pay the same amount or more off your debt by this time next year.

I know you say you are impatient, but you do have a fair amount of debt and it IS going to take a few years to clear fully. However, with the amount of disposable income available to you, you are in the very fortunate position of being to make big extra payments off your debt whilst still having the means for a comfortable lifestyle. If you can settle down to doing that, you'll get debt free a lot quicker than most!

Hope that helps,

~Jes

Accountant_Kerry

Everyone on here is great, thank you. My motivation is up already, I plan to save £100 out of my beer fund this month (because I spent 1/2 of it on the day after payday :-( or it would be more )! hopefully upping that next month.

SueP19

Accountant_Kerry wrote: »

I shouldn;t have got that creidt card the day before my 18th Bday, its a spiral. Its just crap because as an accountant I should be good at this!! xx

inamess200 wrote: »

Dont worry - i am an accountant and very good at my job but took my eye off of my personal finaces for a few years and now am paying the price!!! Try and get it sorted sooner rather than later - it can be done

Hugs

Inamess

You know what they say about builders, they never work on their own homes

I am in the Finance sector too and I look at it like this, my debts make me human. So far I have been able to recommend (on the quiet) this site and how to deal with debts

euronorris

Accountant_Kerry wrote: »

Everyone on here is great, thank you. My motivation is up already, I plan to save £100 out of my beer fund this month (because I spent 1/2 of it on the day after payday :-( or it would be more )! hopefully upping that next month.

Hey Kerry,

That's a lot to spend in one day! Do you find yourself being over generous when you've had a drink, ie, you start buying others drinks etc?

I used to do that, and it's crippling! It's always nice to be generous, but you have to think about yourself first. You can always treat a few special friends to the odd drink here and there, but always make sure that a) they aren't over expensive, like drinks from 'corney & barrow' for example, and b) that the people you treat, will treat you back!

It can be done, and you will do it! Patience and perserverence are the key. All of us on here have obviously had issues with this in the past, or we wouldn't be here either. Keep coming back, join some of the challenges and talk to people when you're feeling too tempted, impatient etc. It will keep you focused and get you back on track!

Katie-Kat-Kins

You know what you need to do...... don't need us to tell you!

You need to weigh up what you want most, another beer or that debt paid off.

Apart from your entertainment most of the budget is pretty reasonable, you want to be able to enjoy the fruits of your labours a bit.

If it were me (and as a lawyer I know all about long training periods etc) I'd start looking for jobs for january, test out the market, see whether you will realistically be able to find something before you have spent the £10k. It is very risky, I was made redundant a few years ago when the job market was much better but in the end lost out on my payout because I took a job that needed my to start sooner than I was allowed to. I decided it wasn't worth the risk of waiting....... You never know you might find a suitable job that would be prepared to wait for you!

I'd cut the entertainment budget by maybe half, only go to the pub once a week, go to one that doesn't need a taxi home, start a bit later and have one at home before you go. Drink cheaper drinks, just swapping say stella for carling could save you a bit. Other nights of the week go for cheap or free, entertaining at home can be good fun and more relaxed. You could shave off the groceries via the O/S board, and you could probably cut haircuts a bit by finding somewhere cheaper or going a little less frequently, just an extra week between cuts would help.

You could get OH to increase their hours to help out......

You'll get there but it is about priorities, you can't have it all unfortunately! Your choice, pay off slowly and enjoy yourself or pay off fast and make changes.