The penny has finally dropped!

sara86pink

I have seriously just had the biggest wake up call since finally deciding to deal with my debt!

Just been through my bank statement since I've been paid (11 days ago) just to see where my money has gone because this month I'm going to be slightly short again. I must have mis-calculated something because I thought I was going to be well off so I paid an extra £150 on my credit card but then my mind must have stayed in the 'i have spare money this month' mode as I kinda went a bit crazy.

I know this board is suppose to be supportive so I hope to get no nasty comments as I am a very sensitive soul! I have been bad, I know that and this was just the wakeup call I needed!

Just to give you all a little overview on my extra spending (this isnt including bills or rent or credit card etc) just those little 'extras'...

Total Food Shop - £53.87
Total Fuel - £24.74
ATM Cash Withdrawals - £90
Personal Shopping (including lunches, dinners out and bits for new flat) - £142.35

This has been over the last 11 days :eek:

My main downfall is ATM's, I always tend to get cash out and have the best intentions just to use it for food shops but then things always distract me...

Personal Shopping was a first this month as lately I NEVER buy anything for myself, and because I thought I was doing good, I went a bit crazy... But thats that for now and out of my system for a good few months now.

Before anyone mentions it, I cant take anything back as it was shoes (worn constantly now) and meals out with the OH

I'm sharing this information with you for support and advice on how to stop this from happening again...

As it stands, to pay everything thats left (phone bill, credit card and bank charges) I'll be short by £60!

Should hopefully be getting over £300 for deposit from current house as move out on 17th but not sure if that money will transfer over in time!

Thanks for taking the time to read

Tixy

Hi

Seeing as you have identified the ATMs as being a problem could you carry round a small notebook with you. Note down what you get out of the ATM and then each item that money gets spent on.

Or maybe you are the sort of person who is better dealing in just plastic( debit of course not credit) - I know this goes against what many advise on here but I know if I have cash it can easily drip away but if I use my debit card I will only use it for larger items (no buying the odd bottle of pop or chocolate bar) and I can still always check back at the month end to work out where I have overspent (a retrospective spending diary for when I am too distracted to keep a proper one).

PS don't feel too bad - I've done just the same thing -"oo I'm £100 better off this month", then go and spend that £100 3times over!

As for the shortfall - anything you could sell to cover those costs?

Choc-addict

Don't worry, i've done exactly the same this month and managed to spend far too much.....acting (forgetting!) that I don't have any debts.....it was nice in the moment but the blow after (how I am feeling now) is not so good

Keep chin up, you know where you've gone wrong and now it's time to take action to stop it happening again.

A spending diary is always good - note 'everything' in it and it does after a while make you think before you spend.

Also agree with Tixy sometimes having cash in hand is a nightmare and it just dwindles away.....that said i'm good at switching too :eek: Perhaps set yourself weekly budgets and see how it goes and then find what works best for you - we're all different x

sara86pink

Hi Tixy thanks for the reply!

Nothing to sell at the moment, I got rid of most sellable belongings to cover my credit card payment, plus we are moving out next saturday so most of my stuff has already been put into boxes.

Should worse come to worse I can temporarily borrow some money either off my OH or dad because another reason I am this short is that my old housemate owes me £70 for outstanding council tax bill but because another one of our friends owes her over £200 she cant pay me until she gets the money she is owed.

I've already paid this because its the last payment and I just wanted it gone and because this is between them I dont want to get involved (already tried to get this money by getting involved and ending up with everyone getting shirty with me even though I did nothing wrong so not doing that again!)

Hopefully should be end of the month but by then I will miss one of the payments and I cant afford to do that because finally my payments are on time and debt is heading in the right direction!

sara86pink

Sorry choc-addict, didnt see your reply!

In a way I'm glad this has happened because it really was a kick up the butt I needed (again!)

I just cant wait to move out and have all bills going out jointly and not having to chase money off people and be responsible for our own utilities and how much we use etc.

Mikeone

sara86pink wrote: »

In a way I'm glad this has happened because it really was a kick up the butt I needed (again!)

Yeah, happened to me a few times before I had my real LBM! Don't waste the opportunity, and you'll definitely be glad this happened.

Good luck!

:beer:

Ames

I've slipped a lot over the last few months, so I'm reigning myself in too. I've worked out a budget which leaves me money for personal spending. Then I bought three purses. One's for food, one's for activities related to my disabilities, and then the third one's for personal spending. That means I know how much money I have for each category, and so I have to stick with it. It also means that I'm thinking more about what I buy. So, if there's a cd I want then every time I open the personal spending purse I'm asking myself if I really want that fancy coffee more than the cd.

Another thing I do for 'bigger' purchases (ie, not the odd chocolate bar, but things like clothes or bits for the flat - yes that's my downfall too!) is wait for a few days, and then when I go back if I still really like it then I'll decide if I can afford it. It really helps stop impulse buys. And often when I get home after seeing it I realise that actually I have enough black funky high heels, I don't need another pair. (or whatever it was).

HTH

debtdesperado

Hi S86P!

One suggestion for the shared house is to have a bills 'kitty', run by the person who pays them. Work out roughly what the monthly bills are in total, round up a bit (so you build up a bit of a slush fund) and then get everyone to pay you each month. As the bills come in, the money is already there to pay them, so there is no chasing and the person who pays them never ends up paying late fees or bank charges because someone else forgot to hand over the cash in time.

As each bill is paid, pin it up on the wall and write 'paid' so people can see that everything is being done right.

When someone moves out, you should have a bit of surplus in the bills fund, work out by splitting the surplus by the number of housemates what the leaving housemate's surplus is, and then give them that in cash once you can see that their room is clean etc.

This extra money is really handy to whoever is moving out, but also can be used to cover a cleaner for someone's room, new paint etc if anything like that is needed, which then avoids the rest of the housemates being left in the lurch with an unpaid bill or a room that needs repainting. :A

sara86pink

Thanks for all the replies!

I'm just getting a bit frustrated at this moment because once I finally move out (17th July wooooo!) our finances will finally be on track because it will just be me and OH in our own proper flat rather than stupid un-organised house share!!!

Debtdesperado - the only reason I'm in such mess is because I live with 2 other girls and my OH. Because OH lives in my room and moved in later, he just gives me half of everything so its fair. Before the last girl moved in, the other girl decided to just pay things quarterly and we owe her the money. I couldnt afford to do this so I suggested monthly direct debits but no one could be bothered to set it up.

Luckily, just over a week until we pick up the new keys and then come next Saturday, I will be out and can look forward to getting our finances all uptogether.

Verbatim

Hi,
Good luck with getting the money you are owed repaid and congrats on the new flat with your OH.
If I have a large bill one month, like my cc bill this month, I transfer the cash needed to another account so I know what's left in my current account, and then transfer it back just before the bill is due to go out.
Don't know if that would work for you?

sara86pink

Yeah I do try that every month and I had the money from my credit card in my seperate account but have had to transfer that back to my normal account to cover council tax