Newbie with a lightbulb moment !

Bells&Whistles

Hi people.

Just thought I'd do a post to say hello and introduce me !

I am currently in the midst of paying of a bank loan of over £17k :eek: which started off as a respectable £3k which should have only been for £1k (the bank said I'd get a better rate if I took £3k) anywho that was three years ago and as you can see things have escalated somewhat ! :rotfl:

My problem is my fantastic ability to spend money and have nothing to show for with, mixed with my inherent lack of budgeting skills - recipe for disaster !

Have just amalgamated my overdraft (yet again) into my loan and will be paying it off for the next four years, this time the bank have ditched my vast overdraft limit and taken it down to a much more managable £250.00 which I have currently not dipped into.

Add my two credit cards and the car I have just bought (needed, but will be paying it off for 5 years) and you have some idea of why the lightbulb just appeared above my head !!! :eek:

On the plus side I am back on an even keel :T , with an overdraft limit which I will never increase ever again ! my loan repayments are managable but nearing £400.00 which is a crazy amount and I should be able to get the credit cards gone by the end of this year (fingers crossed)

I guess I'm lucky I've seen the light before things got really out of hand, unlike some people on here I can manage the repayments but I really need to learn how to stick to my £100.00 per month budget I've set for myself, this is where I tend to fall down so any hints are more than welcomed with open arms !!

Thanks for listening

Bellz

JAMIEDODGER

welcome to dfw!!!! congrats on the lightbulb moment!

Bells&Whistles

Ta!

feels good to unburden myself, my OH doesn't even know the whole gory story, he just knows I have an issue with slippery fingers and I'm "on the wagon"

LittleL_4

Hi and welcome! You'll get loadsa great advice on here on how to stick to that £100 budget. :T :T :T

Welcome on board........

L
xx

Bells&Whistles

Thanks !

Am looking forward to my DFD and beyond, I can't afford to screw up again (literally !!)

Hope to take my new frugal approach to the max and not return to my frivalous (sp??) ways when I reach my goal !

Catseyez

Hi Bellz!

Welcome to the board! Like you, my biggest problem was spending money on things I didn't need.

I've been officially debt-free for a little under a month and if I can do it, so can you!
Here are my tips:
1) The first thing you've got to do, is to stop applying for credit for purchases!! This is a slippery slope as you know and the banks are only too happy to help fund your lavish spending.

2) Stopping paying for things on your credit cards unless one of them has a good cashback deal and you are able to pay off the full amount every month.

3) You say you have two credit cards. Are these on 0%? If they are then great, hide them away or, better still, cut them up so you aren't tempted to spend on them.
If they're not on 0%, pop over to the credit card board and look at swapping them over. You will be able to pay off the balances much faster if you aren't paying interest.

4) Try to look at all the different ways in which you can reduce your spending. What about your mobile phone? When my contract came to an end, I phoned the provider (Vodafone) and managed to keep my existing deal but at £10 a month rather than £30!!

5) Do you have anything you can flog on e-bay, at a car boot sale or in the free-ads? Any money you get from this, needs to be thrown at the debt. Do not be tempted to use it to buy more stuff!

6) Can you work extra hours? I was able to work most evenings and weekends which gave me an excuse for being unable to go out, thus saving me loads!

7) Now the hard part - resisting temptation! For me, whilst out shopping I would ask myself if I actually needed the item. If I didn't need it, I wouldn't buy it. In the end I bought hardly anything as about 90% of the time, I didn't need anything at all! On the occasions where I slipped up, I would later return the item back to the shop for a refund. The best way to avoid over-sepnding is to stay away from the shops altogether.

8) When you do go out, give yourself a budget. Generally, I used to allow £20-£30 if going out for dinner/drinks. It does mean being unable to 'buy rounds' but if you've got good friends, they'll understand.

9) Try to reduce the amount of glossy magazines you read. They make the reader feel as though they have to buy 'that coat', 'that bag', go on 'that holiday' etc. It will only make you feel depressed if you know you can't afford them.

10) You'll probably have 'low moments' where you start questioning whether it's worth it. You'll see other people sepnding and seemingly having a good time. But just remember, they are probably in debt too and are still waiting to have their light-bulb moment.

11) Do allow yourself the odd treat occasionally and don't worry if you occasionally slip-up as we all do at some point!

That's all for now! I'm sure others will be along soon to add more!

Good luck and keep posting on this board!

Catseyez x

domestic_goddess

Hiya and welcome.

Why not post your SOA so we can have a look and help you to find some other ways to cut back......

Bells&Whistles

Catseyez wrote:

Hi Bellz!

Welcome to the board! Like you, my biggest problem was spending money on things I didn't need.

I've been officially debt-free for a little under a month and if I can do it, so can you!
Here are my tips:
1) The first thing you've got to do, is to stop applying for credit for purchases!! This is a slippery slope as you know and the banks are only too happy to help fund your lavish spending.

Have stopped with the car, last thing I really needed on credit, and probably the last thing I can get on credit !

2) Stopping paying for things on your credit cards unless one of them has a good cashback deal and you are able to pay off the full amount every month.

Have cut these cards up and thus far have not been tempted to phone and say I lost them and get replacement cards (went through a stint of doing this

3) You say you have two credit cards. Are these on 0%? If they are then great, hide them away or, better still, cut them up so you aren't tempted to spend on them.
If they're not on 0%, pop over to the credit card board and look at swapping them over. You will be able to pay off the balances much faster if you aren't paying interest.
I dont think I would be able to get a 0% card, I seem to keep getting turned down for CCs, I wanted to get my credit report from experian but you need a CC to even do that !! talk about catch 22 !!
4) Try to look at all the different ways in which you can reduce your spending. What about your mobile phone? When my contract came to an end, I phoned the provider (Vodafone) and managed to keep my existing deal but at £10 a month rather than £30!!

I have a fixed contract with T-mobile on Ufixt where my bill is £25 and I can't spend over that, I used to have a PAYG but couldn't be trusted with it and spent way more than I needed to

5) Do you have anything you can flog on e-bay, at a car boot sale or in the free-ads? Any money you get from this, needs to be thrown at the debt. Do not be tempted to use it to buy more stuff!
Am in the process of hauling out the ebay worthy stuff and am definitely doing a car booty, I have a stupid amount of clutter to get rid of !!

6) Can you work extra hours? I was able to work most evenings and weekends which gave me an excuse for being unable to go out, thus saving me loads!
Unfortunatly I don't get paid overtime at my job and there isn't any scope to work extra hours

7) Now the hard part - resisting temptation! For me, whilst out shopping I would ask myself if I actually needed the item. If I didn't need it, I wouldn't buy it. In the end I bought hardly anything as about 90% of the time, I didn't need anything at all! On the occasions where I slipped up, I would later return the item back to the shop for a refund. The best way to avoid over-sepnding is to stay away from the shops altogether.
This is the hard part, I think I should try to steer clear for the time being !!

8) When you do go out, give yourself a budget. Generally, I used to allow £20-£30 if going out for dinner/drinks. It does mean being unable to 'buy rounds' but if you've got good friends, they'll understand.

9) Try to reduce the amount of glossy magazines you read. They make the reader feel as though they have to buy 'that coat', 'that bag', go on 'that holiday' etc. It will only make you feel depressed if you know you can't afford them. This is another point that I suck at, I can't resist the pull of the glossys, I read them in about half an hour and then they go in the recycling, why can't I get my head round the fact that this is just plain dumb !!

10) You'll probably have 'low moments' where you start questioning whether it's worth it. You'll see other people sepnding and seemingly having a good time. But just remember, they are probably in debt too and are still waiting to have their light-bulb moment.

11) Do allow yourself the odd treat occasionally and don't worry if you occasionally slip-up as we all do at some point!

That's all for now! I'm sure others will be along soon to add more!

Good luck and keep posting on this board!

Catseyez x

Thanks for your advice, I really need to sit up and listen or it wont be long before the overdraft is run up again and I have to get it moved in to the loan again to get square again !!!

Bells&Whistles

Ok so here's with the SOA

In
£1150.00 salary

Out
£300.00 rent (I guess I should say I live with my OH who takes care of the bills etc - I know how lucky I am to be in this situation)£377.00 repayment of loan :eek:
£55.84 car insurance - fully comp
£98.00 Car repayments
£28.00 minimum payment barclaycard
£8.36 minimum payment capitalone card
£15.00 bank charges for account
£25.00 mobile phone
£100.00 my monthly budget (includes £60.00 fuel £20.00 food shopping - £5.00 per week and £20.00 misc)
£100.00 saving :T

---

£1107.20

---

which leaves me with 42.00 in my account at the end of every month supposedly, where this goes however I have no idea, I give my other half my debit card when I have taken my money for the month out and therefore I shouldn't be able to spend anything else, this obviously doesn't happen though.

spud30

Firstly, can you stop the £100 saving until your debts are repaid?

You are likely to be paying more interest on the Barclaycard than you will ever receive on your savings.

Secondly, you are spending more on your mobile each month, than you are on your groceries. That doesnt seem right to me

Lastly, shop around for your car insurance when your renewal is due, remebering to use Quidco. I've just done this and saved myself over £200 on the year.

Good luck Bells :beer:

Bells&Whistles

Thanks for that, I know what you mean about the savings but I've never been in a position to actually save money before (I guess I'm still not)
I only have this months £100.00 saved currently, I guess it should go towards the cards, it seems like a step back to go from having money to grab if needed (emergencies only) to having nothing again, but I know this will bring my DFD closer.
The shopping is £5.00 for me to spend on groceries for the weeks lunches for me and my OH, he buys the real food shopping for the house, I will def have a chat with T-mobile to see if I can reduce my tariff.

Thanks for the advice :beer: