Introducing myself - Small changes, big effect!

*KT*

I haven't tried it yet but I'm sure I will.

I'm much more of a will try and and put any ingredients together kind of experimental cook. For the most part bf is a tried and tested kind of cook although he did once put prawns and chicken into the same pasta dish which I thought was a tad weird...

*KT*

Why when I think I'm doing much better, hardly spending anything except on essentials like food and petrol and trying to do both of these the cheapest way I can am I STILL not going to have any money left to get to pay day?!?!

I know I had the £60 for the tyres and it was my bf's dads birthday on Sunday and I had my part to spend for that but still. I don't know where it is going. I have no real life to speak of and nothing to show for the lack of cash. I am spending on very few luxuries and the rest is survival.

I'VE HAD ENOUGH!!

Verbatim

It will get better! It's always hardest at the start when the debt is highest. You're doing really well so pat yourself on the back and take pride in your self discipline.

As you're putting cash away for the annual stuff you'll feel brilliant when you pay for it up front in full from savings and not have to stick it on a card and pay all that interest too.

*KT*

Verbatim wrote: »

It will get better! It's always hardest at the start when the debt is highest. You're doing really well so pat yourself on the back and take pride in your self discipline.

As you're putting cash away for the annual stuff you'll feel brilliant when you pay for it up front in full from savings and not have to stick it on a card and pay all that interest too.

I can't put away anything just now. I'm just trying to keep making ends meet. I've cut back and cut back but I seem to be in exactly the same position as before - 10 days until pay day and struggling. really struggling...

*KT*

Sorry. I know you were trying to bring my spirits up a bit but I just can't see it just now. I can't do this. I appear to be physically unable of knocking the debt down.

I'm going to have to get REALLY drastic and I didn't want to do that yet.

*KT*

Ok people, I genuinely don't know how I'm going to make ends meet this month without extending the debt a little. This was supposed to be the start of it getting easier, I know I've said it before but next month really should be...

How to make ends meet? How to have enough money for petrol until pay day a week on Friday?

Answers on a postcard please...

kaz0705

Hi KT,

I know things are horrible when you're looking at the bank balance and you've got 20p a day but it is possible to get through- not fun but, assuming all the bills are paid- possible.

Now for the bad news: food will be repetitive. Value bread for sandwiches and marmit/peanut butter/jam etc for the filling. About £2 (including buying another loaf) total and that's lunches sorted (and breakfast, potentially). Dinner: pasta. With butter if things are desperate, with passata or value tinned tomatoes if not. Or rice, with seasoning. Yep. I've had that for dinner. IT's perfectly filling so does that job, at least. Beans on toast is probably a bit more nutritious!

If things aren't quite *that* desperate: half a tin of kidney beans, half a tin of chickpeas (or whatever), cook up with some mushrooms and peppers and chillis and some tomato puree. Cook up rice separately, mix together and lo! Burrito filling. Add some jalopenos and sour cream, wrap in a tortilla and you're laughing.

Tinned beans are your life saver as are seasoning.

It's crap but, according to previous posts, you still have 'luxuries' you can cut back on. I think I said to you in my first post that you have a choice: keep the luxuries whilst you can still pay your bills and deal with your debt that way or cut back completely and really tackle things.

As an aside, do you live with your boyf? If not, can he cook for you a couple of nights? Maybe invite yourself over to some friends who will feed you, returning the dinner next month? Any family near by you can pop in to one night for dinner?

As far as I can tell the most important things (in no particular order) are:
feeding youself
paying rent
paying bills
getting to work.

Everything else is a luxury, whether you consider it to be or not.

Sorry, a bit harsh again but it's the basic facts: somethings in life are necessities, some aren't. If you've got 10days til pay day then you need to be creative with food and stay in and study or read a book or do stuff that's free....

It will get easier (you know, when you forget what having fun meant!) and it *is* possible. Some people on here have paid off stupid amounts when it seemed impossible to even meet minimum payments!

I know you said you weren't ready but:

A SOA would be useful now if you're really struggling.

Kaz

xxx

Verbatim

I'm sorry KT as I seem to have made you feel worse.

But you are doing well. :j You have changed the way you think about money and are planning spending. Of course it's tough but it would have been a lot worse if you had kept your head in the sand for another year or so and then had a much higher debt to sort out.

What food have you got in? I'm sure we'd all be happy to get creative as Kaz said and think of some ideas for food that perhaps you hadn't thought of!

If you can make it to payday it will be a huge achievement. I also think your bf could return the favour of cooking for you at his place or at least pay towards the meals you cook him??

Do you live in a rural area where you wouldn't be able to get to work without the car?

*KT*

Thanks,

Sorry I didn't reply sooner. I've had some thinking to do.

One thing first, don't worry about how I will eat without extending my debts, I have some food still in the freezer and plenty of rice, pasta, dry couscous and smash. Some of the meals might be a bit bland but I have plenty to eat (Thank goodness for my staples shop earlier in the month). I'm a girl that is pretty sure she could stand to miss a meal or two without ill effect anyway - it might even do some good if it came to that.

As for petrol money, I've done a bit of juggling here. It is essential, I'm definitely not rural but I do have a ~80mile round trip for work each day. It's more expensive and takes twice as long to do it my public transport. In January I joined a carshare, as petrol costs had been in danger of crippling me. It was supposed to be my week to drive next week but as I am already off on Wednesday (took a holiday from work to do a one-off paid interpreting job for the extra cash and experience - the tax man is going to love me if I keep doing that...) and I am considering taking a couple of extra days on Monday and maybe tuesday too I have asked one of the other girls if she will swap weeks with me and she's said yes. Even if I don't take both the Monday and Tuesday, the swap is arranged so that reduces my petrol costs pre-pay-day significantly.

I had a bill in for uni £275 already overdue. I'm going to try to pay it next month and that will sort of be one debt paid off. I think it is possible and even possible not leaving me like this the week before payday again. Uni won't be paid off completely but the current bills will be up to date. I'll post later when I've worked out how I'm going to do it.

An SOA isn't going to help me much at this point because it wasn't my "on the budget" costs that were expensive. It was the money that "I don't know where it went" that got me in trouble so I have made a decision. I'm still going to work on hammering down my fixed costs (still keeping sky and the gym as my two main sources of entertainment) but I am setting myself a new challenge.

THE SIX WEEK SUPER STRICT CHALLENGE!!

My next birthday is 6 weeks on Saturday. I have always made changes in my life by deciding something, going hell for leather at it for a while and then relaxing into a more natural routine when the habits are starting to stick, that is how I got into habits with looking after my flat and how I got into exercise. I am learning how I 'work' and now I am going to apply that knowledge to sorting out this at the moment little mess (that could easily grow legs and run)

Here are the rules:
1. NO non-essential spending (essentials defined below)
2. All spending, however small, must be logged in a spending diary (I've never managed to keep one of these for more than a couple of days before)
3. The default setting of "I'll get it" needs to have the off switch located and when located, that setting disabled (no giving in to those gorgeous brown puppy-dog eyes!)
4. I WILL have something resembling a life but activities will be either free or subsidised somehow and always pre-budgeted
5. Attempt ZERO take-aways (and I promise I will be honest if I give in and try to assess why so I can pinpoint my danger zones. Is it laziness? Lack of preperation ie food in the cupboards or not taking things out to defrost? Bad mood? or something else entirely?)
6. I will continue selling things on amazon and ebay and will list at least one item, however small each day.

So there it is 6 strict rules, or changes in mindset for 6 weeks. Lets see if it'll make a difference before the next birthday, even with that bill.

Essentials - in no order
petrol
the mortgage
food
bills including the uni bill if at all possible.

NON-ESSENTIALS
Toiletries - I have just bought deodorant, have a spare toothpaste under the bath, might need to use less shampoo and conditioner each time and start looking for samples if I get close to running out, everyone has a few shower gels, bath oils and moisturisers from gift sets and stuff don't they?

Clothes - Now I have sorted out the underwear situation I shouldn't need to buy any new clothes this next 6weeks. Could really be doing with another pair of jogging bottoms for the gym as I only have one pair to wash against the other, perhaps I have a pair of shorts or something hidden away must go check. I also desperately need a new pair of running shoes, these are close to moving up to the essentials list to stop my knees and hips getting sore but I am pretty sure I can hold out 6 weeks and ask either my mum or dad to put towards them for my birthday. I also desperately need a new handbag because I only have the one that's not dressy and I keep losing stuff in the lining of it, it's gotten so tatty on he outside too. Another thing to add to the birthday list.

Extras when I'm at the petrol station - how often do I put petrol in my car and not get something else?! not often I can tell you. It might only be a bar of chocolate, or a bag of crisps, occasionally a magazine or most likely for me a highly caffeinated drink... That all adds up.

Junk food - I include all the "lack of vitamin" food I consume, take aways, crisps, chocolate etc...

I know there will be MUCH much more to include in my non-essentials list as we go along.

This post has become monumental so I'm going to wrap it up for now but I am buzzing, thinking how I am going to play this so expect some more updates tomorrow.

*KT*

Verbatim

Wow, that's quite a list! You've made a plan so in my book you've got every chance of succeeding. Looking forward to the journey of the next six weeks.