I am scared to admit it....

Lisav_2

I have got myself in a mess. I feel awful but I have decided to come clean and see if anyone here can give me advice.

I currently have a loan with Egg - total outstanding today = £4851.90. I am paying £167.63 per month including PPI at a rate of 7.7%

I also have a credit card with Egg with a total balance of £302.67 and a credit card with virgin (who I hate) with a balance of £465.73. I notmally pay the minimum balances on these plus an extra £20 when I can.

I dont know quite how I got into this mess as I live at home and only pay my parents a small amount of rent.

My take home pay is £1060 a month and I pay out -
£44 a month for one bus pass
£12.15 a week for a second bus pass
£30 a month for my phone bill
£85 a month for my diet plan (dont ask - I have lost six and a half stone so far this year and cannot stop yet)
£18 a month for my contact lenses
£6 a month phone insurance
£150 rent
£43 gym membership

So I spend out £612 which leaves me £448 a month - I dont know where it goes, but I never seem to have any money, I know it sounds stupid. I need someone to tell me straight what I should do and how best to do it. I will take any advice (or criticism) on board.

I am quite embarrased, but I hope you wont judge me on whats happened in the past, just on the fact that I now want to sort this out.
Thanks

Wonder_Girl

Don’t be embarrassed, you have done nothing wrong.

Are you sure that everything? Any food? Lunches at work? Clothes?

I found it good to keep a spending diary, every penny that you spend written down, makes you think, did I really need to spend £30 a month on magazines? NO! so now I don’t. we found it was the odd £10 or £20 out of the cash point here and there that was for nothing at all, now we have £10 pocket money a week each

May I just ask what the Diet plan actually is? I think you have made a fantastic achievement with your weight loss, but what does this actually cover? Is it like a mentor with a plan? Or diet aides like drinks and pills?

Well done for posting you have made a very brave step

WG x

Lisav_2

Thanks so much Wonder girl. Basically included in my diet is two thirds of my daily food, a shake and a bar, I get cognitive behaviour therapy to change the way I think about food included in that price. Its the Cambridge diet.

See me on the attached link - I am picture 9

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/5286482.stm

The only other food i buy is stuff for a low calorie evening meal

scotlass99

OMG! Just looked at your picture! Well done you!!:j You look amazing! That is a fab achievement!

Can't really help on the money side though i'm afraid...

Scotlass99

Wonder_Girl

OMG!

What an achievement! You look ace!

If that amount covers all your food etc then that’s well worth it, it’s £20 a week so that’s fine, I really can’t see anything your overspending on, I thinks it a case of spending without know where it’s gone.

And if your honest with yourself, you have a brand new you, I’m betting you have a brand new wardrobe to match

How does this Cambridge diet thing work then? I need to lose a fair old bit myself

loulouloulou_2

Sorry to jump in... but OH MY GOD!!!! You must be so pleased with yourself - well done you for sticking to your diet plan!!!

Good luck on the money front oo - sorry im rubbish with money, but theres plenty of people here fab to help!!

:beer:

Lisav_2

Its brilliant! Its a life saver for me!

You start off having three foodpacks a day, normally a bar a shake and a soup, its a very low calorie diet which means you only have around 750 calories. If you laid in bed everyday and didnt move, you would burn off 2000 calories, so basically this diet forces your body to use its own fat stores for energy! Theres loads more to it but thats the main gist.

You can also check out my blog http://lisasdiet.iblog.com ( I started dieting on the lighterlife diet which is the same concept but more expensive)

Mrs_Sparkle

Wow! You look fab. Don't be embarrassed- there are a lot of people here in the same boat and we won't judge you. If they are all your outgoings I can't see any room for improvement so if I were you I'd just do a spending diary and work out where your extra spending is taking place- drinks, magazines etc- then cut down on that. It's easy to make slices into spending when you see where you're going wrong and the money you save should be ploughed into your credit cards until they're gone- you will do it x

Lisav_2

Mrs_Sparkle wrote:

Wow! You look fab. Don't be embarrassed- there are a lot of people here in the same boat and we won't judge you. If they are all your outgoings I can't see any room for improvement so if I were you I'd just do a spending diary and work out where your extra spending is taking place- drinks, magazines etc- then cut down on that. It's easy to make slices into spending when you see where you're going wrong and the money you save should be ploughed into your credit cards until they're gone- you will do it x

Thank you thats great advice.

Does anyone think I should put my credit card balances together on a new credit card at 0%? If so can you suggest any good ones?

Wonder_Girl

I have no idea, but Martin does - http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cgi-bin/viewnews.cgi?newsid1107182516,76509,

mrs_deadline

Wow from me as well

Yep, I know that feeling of wondering how all my money just slipped through my fingers with not a lot to show... nothing to be ashamed off, you're taking control now.

Rather than just paying off minimum plus an extra £20 when you can, could you set up direct debits for slightly higher amounts than that and have them go out soon after your pay goes in, and whittle the balances down that way? What you never see, you don't miss...