Help Please!!!

BargainHunterCat

Hello everyone, I really need some help to get my finances in order. I am really struggling with nearly £14,000 debts.
I've always tried to be careful and in truth I don't spend much on myself at all, I hardly have any deccent clothes, and I've always been a good bargain hunter - my car cost me £250 at the auctions!

I really don't know what to do, because I can't really see how I can cut down any further without forgoing eating! I can't stop smoking at the moment because I'm a bit of an emotional car crash scene and the reason I eat at work is that I can barely get food down myself at the moment, and even if I make myself sandwiches I can't face eating them.

Here's the breakdown:
Monthly
Overdraft Cost £9.20 (ouch)
Mortgage / Rent £368.33
Home Phone Bill £13.00
Laundry £6.00
Mobile Phone Bill £10.00
Food & Household Shopping £86.60
Smokes £65.00
Meals at Work £43.33
Parking £60.67
Petrol / Diesel / Gas £50.00
Personal Loan Repayments £164.97
Credit Card Repayments £54.90
Other Loan Repayments £43.33
Work Clothes £20.00

Total £995.33
Wages £996.67

So, I calculate I have a disposable income of £1.34 to play with

I'm looking at switching my credit card balances at the mo but having been self employed, noone would tiuch me with a bargepole. I've recently started employed work much as I really hate it (and my boss is a b*tch) but I'm not making enough money.

I suppose what I'm really after is ideas to make more dough, because I'm struggling to cut back any more. Parking for work I can't get around because there is no free parking for miles (literally) and it's too far to cycle to work.

I'm not a big one for buying clothes, but my work clothes were so old and tatty I had to get some new ones becaues I looked like a scruff (from the sale at Asda I might add!)

I'm also recently seperated from hubby & have been trying to get my business off the ground which has been far too slow, so I went a couple of months with no income at all. It's been a hand to mouth existence.

I've sold nearly all my books & CDs on ebay, I have no assets to sell and I can't afford to change cars at the moment - hubby took the nice economical diesel...

I'm starting to think jumping off a cliff might be a good solution...!

Does anyone have any bright ideas please?!

jessicamb

Ok then - extra income:

Anything that can go on Amazon/Ebay: good for a one off cash injection.
Take a second job - can you do bar work or anything?
Have you signed up to pigsback/quidco - not much of a second income but can provide a bit of pocket money occasionally.

Could you try charity shops for work clothes? Might be cheaper than Asda if you've got the time to hunt around.

davesgirl_2

:doh: £65 per month on fags!! i know its tough giving up, do you smoke ciggarettes? maybe you could try tobaco instead (at home at least) and really try to cut back - you can do it;)

sure someone else willbe along soon and be more helpful than me pointing out the obvious:rolleyes:
xxxx good luck

BargainHunterCat

Everything I could sell on ebay/amazon has gone, I attend various events promoting my business and helping run a meditation circle (which I get paid £10 for woohoo!) in the evenings so I'm rarely free, bar work I have never done & would probably hate if I'm honest. I'm an office worker, always have been.
I can't face a second job right now because I feel so exhausted

funkymonkey

a couple of thoughts!

BargainHunterCat wrote:

Hello everyone, I really need some help to get my finances in order. I am really struggling with nearly £14,000 debts.
I've always tried to be careful and in truth I don't spend much on myself at all, I hardly have any deccent clothes, and I've always been a good bargain hunter - my car cost me £250 at the auctions!

I really don't know what to do, because I can't really see how I can cut down any further without forgoing eating! I can't stop smoking at the moment because I'm a bit of an emotional car crash scene and the reason I eat at work is that I can barely get food down myself at the moment, and even if I make myself sandwiches I can't face eating them.

Here's the breakdown:
Monthly
Overdraft Cost £9.20 (ouch)
Mortgage / Rent £368.33
Home Phone Bill £13.00
Laundry £6.00 [coloris=red]what is this? do you not have a washing machine? is it a laundrette?[/color]
Mobile Phone Bill £10.00
Food & Household Shopping £86.60
Smokes £65.00read the alan carr book and give up! lots of us on here did it - its really easy!
Meals at Work £43.33take packed lunches
Parking £60.67where are you parking? NCP in central london?
Petrol / Diesel / Gas £50.00
Personal Loan Repayments £164.97
Credit Card Repayments £54.90
Other Loan Repayments £43.33
Work Clothes £20.00

Total £995.33
Wages £996.67

So, I calculate I have a disposable income of £1.34 to play with

I'm looking at switching my credit card balances at the mo but having been self employed, noone would tiuch me with a bargepole. I've recently started employed work much as I really hate it (and my boss is a b*tch) but I'm not making enough money.

I suppose what I'm really after is ideas to make more dough, because I'm struggling to cut back any more. Parking for work I can't get around because there is no free parking for miles (literally) and it's too far to cycle to work.

I'm not a big one for buying clothes, but my work clothes were so old and tatty I had to get some new ones becaues I looked like a scruff (from the sale at Asda I might add!)

I'm also recently seperated from hubby & have been trying to get my business off the ground which has been far too slow, so I went a couple of months with no income at all. It's been a hand to mouth existence.

I've sold nearly all my books & CDs on ebay, I have no assets to sell and I can't afford to change cars at the moment - hubby took the nice economical diesel...

I'm starting to think jumping off a cliff might be a good solution...!

Does anyone have any bright ideas please?!

newleaf

Are you now living alone? If so, your food bill could probably be reduced if you worked at it. I think you should really think hard about the smoking too, for the sake of your health as well as your purse. I would not dream of setting light to £65 a month. I know it's not as easy as all that, but most GP practices have a smoking cessation clinic now, where you can get free patches, gum, support etc. You would be sooo proud of yourself for doing it too. And you'd smell nicer, guaranteed.

BargainHunterCat

No, I live in rip off dorset - parking costs me £2.80 a day which is actually cheap for the area!
I'm not emotionally stable enough to contemplate quitting the fags right now and if i make sandwiches I dont eat them anyway...sorry I'm just a mess at the moment

duncans-mum_2

Have you put everything in your SOA? Do you have a TV/TV licence, and what about car insurance? or have you lumped that in to something else?
Extra income: Can you get a few evenings a week working in a pub or something? If you have recently seperated from hubby, then this also will be a way of meeting new people and making new friends?

duncans-mum_2

Sorry, didn't put my post up intil after you said about the evening work thing. Yeah, roll ps at home is a good idea. You get more for your money, and I think you actually want to smoke less of them anyway.

BargainHunterCat

What's an SOA?

I don't have a TV and as I rent a room in a shared house I don't pay the license.

BargainHunterCat

Yuk! I hate roll ups! Plus the fact I can't roll them to save my life...