Advice Please :(

chralph

Hey

Hearing some of the stories on here make me feel really guilty about what i am going to say.....

I am 19 years old don't go to uni and don't have a credit card or an overdraft. To be honest i wouldnt say i am in debt but i dont no where else to post this. I get paid weekly of 250 on a friday but by the monday that is gone or i am below zero. This then accounts a £35 pound charge every time, this is almost every week. I also have to pay for my phone bill once every month and pay rent... This is really getting me down as i check online where my money goes and i can't understand it, it seems as if money just goes no where, I go out friday night buts that about it. I no this is not as bad as everyone else on here but I also owe my friends a lot of money and everytime I see them I also feel bad when they ask me for it as they know i get paid for working full time.

I apologise if this is not the right area for this to be posted but after reading a lot of stories in here and the advice given by people I was hoping someone may be able to advise.

Thank You

Chris

Annie_Fanny

Chris - welcome to MSE! You are not alone.

You state that you have no debt but you owe money to your friends and I presume you have an overdraft (consisting of bank charges I presume?) Could you tell us what those figures are?

Also if would be helpful if you posted up a Statement of Affairs - basically your incomings and outgoings. Have a look at this fantastic thread for details:
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=107280

My first bit of advice for you would be to stop going out on Friday nights even if it is just for a couple of weeks or a month to stop the haemorrage of money.

Also do you know that you can claim bank charges back?

Please post up an SOA and we will do our best to help you cut back.

Annie

Gemmzie

Hi Chris,
Don't feel guilty, whether your debt is £5 or £500k - if it's causing you worry then you need to get it sorted.

The money obviously isn't disappearing over the weekend - so you need to work out where you are spending it. Try a spending diary and an SOA to see where the probems are.

Work out how much your rent is per week and save that each week so that your rent payments will go out without putting you overdrawn. Same with your phone bill.

Are you living alone? Are there other bills to pay for? Food etc?

You are earning £1k a month - you really shouldn't need to borrow from friends.

It sort of seems you aren't giving all of the information honestly here....

happyformonths

... and if you don't know where your money goes, keep a spending diary for a month. Write down literally every penny you spend - yes you feel a bit daft doing this in the pub, but you could always sneakily do it in the loo or onto your hand or something, and anyway you soon get used to it.

And hello!

HFM

Snaggles

Hello! Don't feel guilty, you're doing what most of us probably wished we'd done - ie realise you're overspending BEFORE you end up heavily in debt.

If you can, pop your full soa up - do you pay anything other than rent/phone? Also, keep a spending diary to find out exactly where your money goes. You mentioned going out on a Friday night - I used to do this and spend a fortune, as the decisions I made after a few drinks were far from my most sensible ones (oooooh, there's a cash machine, lets get some more money and have more Booooooze, yeah!!!!! £50 should do it!!!!). I now set myself a budget and don't take my card with me so I can't spend any more - I always keep some taxi money seperate so I don't get stranded with no way of getting home too.

You need to get out of the cycle of bank charges - £35 a week on charges is a LOT and constantly exceeding your agreed limit could have an impact on your credit rating, causing you problems in the future. Plus if you were not paying these charges, you would have that amount extra to spend/save each week.

Well done on recognising the problem before it becomes too bad.

MrsTinks

£250 just vanishing into thin air every weekend? Hmmm Definitely get us an SOA and you'd be amazed at where we can find money to be saved

Also list what friends you owe money to and how much. AND CLAIM THOSE CHARGES BACK!

Molanole

Hi Chris

Welcome to the boards. £250 spent in the space of a weekend is a fair whack (sorry if I've not read this correctly) - I don't have that to spend in a month once all my debts and bills are paid! So in order for us to help you we need to see where all that goes. A couple of easy steps to get to that stage is all that's required and will have the benefit of helping you to get your head around it all as well.

Step 1) Statement of Affairs (SOA)

Make a list of all your incomings (wages) and outgoings (rent, mobile phone, travel to work, other travel, food, bills if applicable etc etc) and then pop the gory details up on here. This will help us to see whether you have anything left each week/month to be able to pay your friends back and also we can help find ways of helping you to cut back.

Also list all of your debts. So we can advise you on how best to handle repaying them. I'm guessing the loans from your friends will not have any interest attached to them but it's worth listing them.

Step 2) Spending Diary

Start to keep a spending diary to see where any spare cash goes. This doesn't have to be anything flash although some people have all sorts of amazing spreadsheets. Start by just jotting things down in a notebook or perhaps as a note on your mobile phone if you're embarrassed doing it in public (that way friends will think that you are texting someone). You'll soon see how much is wasted on the packet of chewing gum you bought that turned into a fiver on drinks etc.

These are the first two steps and are relatively simple and quite often very cathartic. Once you've done this and the nerds on here have been able to make some suggestions we can then point you in the right direction of the consumer action group where you can start researching how to reclaim those bank charges.

:T Well done on posting and good luck. Looking forward to seeing the SOA and helping you get started!!

Mola x

chralph

Hey

Thanks for all your advise people its a real boost for me. Her is my SOA

Monthly Incomings:

My salary - £1,000


Total - £1,000

Monthly Outgoings:

Mortgage/Rent - £600
Mobile Phone - £40 - 60
Food - £175
Bus - £56
Cigarettes - £50
Gym - £42
Going out - £100 at least

Total: £1,073

God i can see how much i'm spending!! I have tried reclaiming by bank charges but foolishling didnt send it recorded delivery and haven't had a reply for ages. I should try sending it again. This has helped me out but I don't know where i can cut down that wouldnt affect me...

Help much appreciated guys!!

Chris

stickytoffeepudding

Welcome!:beer:
Just wanted to add to what has been said about a spending diary.
I did this a couple of months ago and almost immediately started to spend less as I started to think 'do I really need that?' and that feeling has stayed with me and helped to get me on the road to recovery!
Stay with it!

bobbadog

£175 for food for just you, lovely? That's loads! That could easily be cut back, make sandwhiches for work - there's absolutely no stigma attached to doing so!

chralph

I do like my food, but i guess i should cut down on what i buy, i just see something nice and i think ooh that looks good! Maybe then i wouldnt have to pay for the gym.