Eep! Help! [student in debt]

teeb

Right, I've finally worked up enough to post here. I've posted in other boards and lurked for a bit, but only now posting in here.

I'm in debt. And I really shouldn't be. I've never been particularly good with money - the black sheep of the family, as it were. Always spending when I should have saved, and so on. It only really started a year and a couple months ago, when I upgraded to a student account. One, I got the student account during the summer holidays [missing out on the '£100 join bonus' offers and freebies], and two, they cunning bank minion said, "Oh, I'll just get you a credit card application while I'm here. Only a couple signatures". Thinking this would be handy, I was a fool and accepted.

To make a long story short, I maxed out aforementioned credit card a couple times [:eek:], as I was hugely reluctant to get an overdraft to pay it off, so I only paid off £50 to £100 a month, and so got hampered with a fiver's interest a month.

Eventually I got an overdraft, paid the CC off in full [hooray], but with a nice big chunk in the overdraft eaten up. I worked throughout this summer in an office for minimum wage - the idea being to give me funds for this year's university [I'm just starting 2nd year at Glasgow U]. In reality it didn't really cover last year's expenses.

So where've I gone wrong? I impulse buy. I do it almost without thinking. Sure, there's a small tinge of guilt at the time, but then it's overtaken by a 'what the heck, I can pay it off in the time to come'. Not a very moneysaving attitude. For example, I see the 3 for 2 offers in Waterstones, notice one book I've been meaning to get out the library, and walk away with 3 books. Last weekend, I was thinking about waiting 'til January sales until getting a new/reconditioned mobile on PAYG, saw an offer for £50 cashback in CPWH, and now I'm hampered with a contract phone on Orange that I really don't need [I certainly don't pay the £25 a month on PAYG that I'm paying at the mo on contract].

What've I done to try and get out my debt? Well, I've tried obvious things - not carrying a bank statement in my bag so I can't sign up to contracts, for starters! I've a debt cow to save loose change, I signed up to Rpoints for the things I do buy...er...I tried to start matched betting, but after I put some money into the betfair side Visa temporarily blocked my card which means all that's happening is I'm losing money

So I'm looking for suggestions to what I could do. I suspect there's not much technical stuff I could do, like switching credit cards or lowering the mobile tariff - even common sense suggestions like 'leave your credit card behind, you twit' or similar would be a huge help.

I am a living-from-home student. My fees are paid for by SAAS, which I don't have to pay back for at least 3 years and I'm earning a certain amount.

My SOA :

Current debts
£561 OD on student account [limit of £1,250 interest-free].
£300ish owed on RBS/Visa credit card, minimum payment £5 a month, monthly interest rate 1.456%

Outgoing
£29 [£25 plus £4 VAT] on Orange a month
£40 Annual on subscription to evo [renewal due in August]
£50ish annual AA membership [apparently the family membership doesn't cover me, just the 'rents]

Incoming
£20 a week living allowance from parents
£20 'food money' that I try to put straight into bank but usually end up drinking

I appreciate that this doesn't look like a great deal of debt [and reading some other threads in here I know it's not really], but to a student even a fiver is a huge amount of money. Any suggestions / advice would be hugely welcome

I know that getting a job [at least part time] is a fairly obvious step, but weekdays I'm usually not home 'til 7 then working on uni stuff 'til 9.30ish, and my sundays are taken up by church-related activities [where I volunteer, and am president of a youth organisation, which is a fair amount of work]. I'd like to work for AQA but have usually been put off applying by the 'usually you'll have a university degree' part of the 'apply' website. I suppose I could try - worst they can say is 'no'. I've put some books up on Amazon and am sticking my iPod up on eBay...

Mrs_Sparkle

First of all welcome to the board. I've been a student and I know how tough it can be. Personally I had no choice but to work part time all the way through my degree after the first year- I think I earned about £30-50 a week all the way through which paid for my food and essential items. Are your hours flexible during the day? Supermarkets always need people to stack shelves at evenings and overnight so you could make cash there.

I assume that the books you've put on Amazon include the ones you've bought in Waterstones? Have a look around to see what else you can sell- CDs, paperbacks, old course books, unwanted gifts etc.

I don't think you're in a lot of debt for a student and think you're actually doing very well- even with my part-time work I ended up graduating with £2.5K of debt after 4 years. So you shouldn't be too hard on yourself but there are ways to make a bit more if you can put aside a few hours a week.

Hope that helps!

durham_girl

Have you been over to the Freebies forum? A lot of the things on there won't be much help to you, but occasionally some good stuff crops up, like free razors, samples etc. I know it's not much but it all adds up. Also if you've got time, do some research on ebay to find out what used items normally sell well - I find mens branded clothes sell easily - then go to a local car boot sale. I go nearly every week and its very rare that I go home without something new to put on ebay. As long as you know your market you can get some really good bargains which have a good resale value. Again, you're not gonna make a fortune, but it all adds up. If you want any advice just PM me

Louise x

tyllwyd

Looking at it, you really don't have a lot of money coming in, so no wonder if you are in a bit of debt. Unless you have got a lot of stuff you can sell, I'd say that your main options are either to get a part-time job, or just put up with being in debt until you graduate in a couple of years time. Your debts aren't all that bad considering, so if you can get a decent job when you graduate you should be able to get them paid back pretty soon.

I'd give AQA a go - I think students are one of the groups they target for recruitment, so they don't insist that you have to have a degree already.

And why are you buying books in Waterstones??? Have a look in charity shops, you can often find paperbacks that have only been read once.