Trying to do the right thing and failing

EssexHebridean

Glad to hear you've got the laptop sorted out at least.

From what you've said it seems to me that it would be a good plan for you to do a proper Statement of Affairs (SOA) and also keep a spending diary for a while, as these will both help you to focus on whether your money is, as you suspect, just being frittered. Do you use a debit card mostly, or use cash?

Talking about consolidation loans is all very well, but you need to work out where your money is going before even thinking about it - otherwise you will get into the spiral that so many on here can identify with - expenditure exceeding income, so overdrafts/loans come into play, then you consolidate and the whole cycle starts again.

Good luck!

TooDee

Hi EH,
I did start filling out a SOA but my out goings are so different each month its hard to fill it out. Some months we spend more time at my bf's parents house so saving on my bills other times its more at ours. We don't shop at supermarkets so my food bill is quite often very different depending on how much we've grown, whats in season and how much that costs.
I'm going to try and keep a diary (although being two weeks from pay day and pretty much pennyless its pretty easy at the moment. :undecided

I use a mixture of cards and cash. I have an account that I put my spending money into so I know I won't get behind on any of my DD's i've found this very effective and haven't slipped up once since i've started. I still find it hard to get into my brain that this money should last me a month though.

I'm giving my cards to my bf next month though and he can put a set amount a week into my spending account for me then give me that card and I can't be tempted then to spend it to quickly.

I'd like to think I wouldn't get into a bad cycle consolidating my debts but i'm well aware of it. Its kind of how I originally got in this mess.

My living situation isn't ideal other than the fact that what I pay my parents isn't exactly rent more of savings so when I move on from here i've got something to show for it. I'm desperate to get my finances in order so sometime in the next few years me and the bf might be able to look at buying somewhere together and I won't borrow another penny if it risks that.

climbgirl

I don't really understand the living situation, but if the £441 you pay to your parents isn't actually rent but savings, couldn't you just ask them to stop that for a couple of months to pay off the computer loan?

TooDee

climbgirl wrote: »

I don't really understand the living situation, but if the £441 you pay to your parents isn't actually rent but savings, couldn't you just ask them to stop that for a couple of months to pay off the computer loan?

Um i've just tried explaining this and I can't but basically no I can't change this payment to them. When we sell the place when I move out i'll get a good chunk of the money i've payed into it as long as long as we get a good enough price for it... maybe that helps!?

At the moment it stands at more than enough to pay my debts off. Hopefully it will be a fair bit more than that by the time we sell up.

Tixy

TooDee wrote: »

Um i've just tried explaining this and I can't but basically no I can't change this payment to them. When we sell the place when I move out i'll get a good chunk of the money i've payed into it as long as long as we get a good enough price for it... maybe that helps!?

At the moment it stands at more than enough to pay my debts off. Hopefully it will be a fair bit more than that by the time we sell up.

I think it makes sense. Basically the £441 you are paying is not going to your parents but to pay off further borrowing they took out). So they cannot afford for you to pay less as then they'd have to subsidise the loan repayments, is that right?

Hopefully the spending diary will help you get a better picture of what you are spending and how much you should be able to afford for your debts. Plus limiting what you can access each week might be a good idea whilst you get used to your new budget.

Good luck.

TooDee

Put it so much better than me Tixy I just couldn't find the words!

Yep I think the diary will help alot. Bf gets paid on Mon so he'll be buying the food for the next week or so. Maybe I should get him in on the money diary to? He's not much better with money than I am he just has less bill etc to pay!

anxious_mum

Hi, I haven't got anything constructive to add, but I'm so glad you seem to be getting sorted. I wish I had an allotment, actually I would be crap with any kind of gardening, but I would love to have access to seasonal veg! Good luck!

TooDee

Well we only took on the allotment last year and spent the first few months just throwing a few things in and hoping so this is the first year of proper planned allotmenting.
Its so satisfying growing your own its worth just trying a few herbs in pots etc. Even things like carrots and potaoes are real easy. I've been allotment planning all day, i'm addicted!
Got most of the tools and seeds collected from various places already too so its a free hobby for me. oh and bf pays for the patch yay!