Help me my life sucks

brisck1

I earn what seems like a good wage, more than most people I know, but unlike them I am constantly broke. I just cant figure out why, when all my friends and family are splashing out on holidays, clothes, TV’s DVD players and other luxuries i'm sitting at home stressing out about scraping through the next month after all the bills and rent have been paid.

I earn £1037 (after tax, NI and student loan) a month and out of that £385 is rent and the majority of the rest pays my bills and car loan.

Now you are probably thinking I just don’t save efficiently on goods and other areas and that I need to sit down and figure out how and where I can save money. Well, 3 months ago (and with help from this site) I did just that. I cut out any luxuries I had left and watched what I was spending like a hawk. Now although I saved some money each month by doing this, i’m still nowhere near to thinking about planning a holiday or even buying myself some clothes (which I haven’t been able to buy for over a year now). In-fact, the little money I have left at the end of the month I feel I should save in case something expensive happens (car maintenance etc).

The result of all this is I just don’t have any fun or excitement in my life anymore. I just don’t understand how I’ve ended up like this when all of my other friends are buying houses and holidays and George Foreman’s lean mean grilling machines on lower or equal wages than I earn.

I just look at my wage slip, and at the £400 which comes out each month for student loans, tax NI etc and I just imagine how much better my life would be if I had that bit extra at the end of each month.

What on earth am I doing wrong? Am I the only one with this lifestyle?

louise1234_2

Just a quick thought - your rent seems quite high -where are you?? Could you move somewhere cheaper??

Could you post what all the other expenses are exactly, that way we may be able to spot something.

ashmit

But do you know how much debt your friends and family are in?? They might be in denial with debts that are mounting up month after month, or they might have other family members that regularly bail them out, or this or that or the other.

I have roughly £11.5k of debt which is going to take til October 2009 to pay off at current estimate, but I keep shaving months off that with bits of money I save up and from my husband's bonus and things (a very small one but it shaves another little bit of time off the total) - it was April 2010 when I first worked it out, which nearly made me cry, and I think that by changing my life assurance company I can shave another two months off it. The only holiday hubby and I will have til then is going to visit my sister who lives in Germany, so we won't get our honeymoon for like over 6 years from getting married, or start even thinking about having kids til after that, but at least we know we'll have a clean slate then.

Post your outgoings - maybe people can help point things out that were missed before. I know it's depressing, but you're not the only one, and hell, you'll probably be going on holiday before me at this rate!

Keep smiling!

royster42

My first idea if you havent done it already is to get the budget spread sheet off martins main page. Write down every single penny you spend through the day and week, even if it is chewing -gum. Write it down. Until you have an exact set of figures in black and white that you can keep looking at, you wont make an impact. When you have worked out your budget and can see it clearly, you will be able to start making amends.
First pay off the things with the higher interest, and less to the ones with less interset. Stick rigidly to your budget, but dont make it unworkable as that too is a mistake. You are in the right place here for ALL the help you will need, just add your own grit and determination and you`re on the way!
3 years ago, my wife and i lived in rented accom, we had between us 27k of debt. In november we purchased our 1st house, and apart from our mortgage we dont owe a penny to anyone. You hold the keys to doing this yourself too, and i wish you all the best !!
p.s your student loan isn`t the kind you can defer interest free until your earning over 17k is it ? just a thought .And no your not the only one, there are thousands the same.

brisck1

Yep you are right my rent must seem phenomenol to most people, but it comes from a number of bad factors -1. I live in Devon which is currently something like the 2nd most expensive place to live in the UK (although wages dont reflect this like in London) and also the fact that nobody I know is in a situation where they are willing to share a flat/house with me, so im on my own really, and I dont fancy the idea of flat sharing with a bunch of strangers really.

Ok here a quick, budget of my outgoings:

Income P.C.M

Work: £1037

Outgoings

Rent: £385

Car loan: £155

Mobile Phone: £30

Land line: £30 (includes internet broadband)

Food: £80

Petrol: £56

Car tax: £10

Council Tax £80

Electric £45

Gas £10

Social money £80 (drinks, cinema, etc)

Household(cleaners etc) £15

Contact lenses £10

TV Licence £10

Home insurance £15


TOTAL Left £61

As you can see I have a pretty detailed budget just so I dont overspend each month and with £61 (if im lucky) left a month for emergencies there is no room for luxuries...



I would love to buy rather than rent anytime but in this part of the country, my average mortgage wouldnt even buy me a mobile home!!!

VickyA_2

I sympathise with you. It's good of you to put up your outgoings. So, what sort of line rental have you got? And what sort of broadband. Our broadband is with Wanadoo (£17.99 pcm) and we're on BT Option 1 for landline and we use call18866.co.uk for calls. Reckon in total we spend £11 landline plus calls, but that would give you a bit more money to play around with.

When you go to the cinema, do you go on the "cheaper" nights. eg our local cinema has "cheap nights" on a Tuesday for about £3.50 per person. Or "Orange Wednesdays".

Have you looked into reducing your mobile? eg changing tariff to get more minutes free?

Also, my boyfriend and I live on £25 per week INCLUDING household cleaners, food etc. I know of other people who live by themselves who have got this down to £15 - 20 by themselves (including cleaning equipment). Do you eat alot of ready meals? It's often cheaper to cook for yourself.

brisck1

the phone line is with telewest and I got it on a deal where I get 512kbps +50% extra speed free (effectively 750kbps). It turned out to be cheaper to go through them as the line was already telewest and there was cable(not ADSL) previously installed (for the net) and so the was no installation fees.

I am thinking of changing my mobile from my monthly contract to pay as you go but Im not sure if Vodafone would allow me to do this as I think I might be on a 12 month deal...

As for the cinema, it's rare if I do go but I dont have a orange phone for that deal and I dont think they do cheap days

VickyA_2

Sorry! It was a thought.

As for the PAYG, I have a friend on PAYG who only spends £10 per month. I would follow her lead, but I'm tied up into a 12 month contract too....

brisck1

Thanks for the advice anyway

I wonder if there is some way I can get out of this 12 month deal?

Spendless

Your electricity seems high. How big is your place and what electrical appliances are you using?



(We are paying slightly more than you per month for a 3bed semi with me and 1 child at home all day and the other at school, also we have arrears from a previous year which is included in amount.)

brisck1

actually that is just an estimate, it may be lower, but it has gone up lately due to the price of energy going rising recently. Im on an electric key meter right now.