Don't want to carry on 'sorting it out later'

Amanda666

I've lurked on here for a long time now and although I earn a good wage and have limited debt I just can't seem to get to point where I am not just 'treating' myself or just saying well 'I'll sort it out later!'

Well I believe that now it's later:D and I really need to crack this for once and for all.

So what advice am I looking for ?

I currently set myself a budget each month but never seem to get to grips with it, I try and have NSD's but am creative with my spending log and move spends into other days. I think that the trouble comes from the fact that actually I can cope on a month by month basis, I am able to service my debt ( all at 0%:D) , overpay on the mortgage and save.

I know that you will say use the savings to pay the debt, but I find that if I do this a few months later I am back to square one:mad:

So what can you suggest to get me on the right path so that I can move forward ?

Its just me to worry about, so its not as though I have someone else to think about or throw me off course!

Thanks is advance:o

_Persephone

Conjuuring up willpower is hard!

Try using the demotivator tool to work out how much you are spending on bits and bobs on when you are supposed to be on an NSD:
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/protect/demotivator/

foxgloves

It sounds as though you are self-sabotaging for some reason. If you are doing a monthly budget then accounting 'creatively', no-one else will suffer in the long term except you! As you are on a good wage & able to service debt, make out a sensible budget which does allow some money for treats, then just stop spending anything that doesn't appear on it. There isn't a magic solution. It's like weightloss.....you can put all the right tools & support in place, but if you choose to carry on with same old behaviour patterns, you can't expect a different result. Once you are able to stick to a budget properly, you will be able to keep a modest emergency fund & throw every other bit of surplus at getting rid of your debts. We were in a similar position a while back. We didn't really add up the total of what we owed, as we both worked fulltime on a good wage, but when I found myself wondering why we 'never had any money' despite our income, that's where the LBM kicked in. At our worst, we were paying between £700 & £800 on debt repayment each month excluding the mortgage. That was enough for my LBM to start big time, followed closely by partner. We picked off our smallest debts first to get a bit of motivation going, then snowballed everything at the bigger ones. Next month, our final bit of loan will be gone. One thing that really did help us was getting our current accounts in credit (or at least solvent) as I found it difficult to budget properly with an overdraft. As soon as these were in credit, budegting just clicked into place & we haven't slipped backwards. Job security (as we have found out) is not guaranteed at all these days, so we can't guarantee that we will always be able to service the same levels of debt in the future. So, as a former big spender & now committed budgetter, I'd say go for it. Get an SOA on here if you think that will help, make out a realistic budget & stop self-sabotaging. I did that for years, & all it did was delay the point where I had to get a grip for 20 years! Wish I'd done it ages ago.

Amanda666

Thank you both for the replies.

Foxglove - you make a lot sense in what you say! I'm not sure as to the root cause of the issue but I sometimes think that I just want someone to come in and take over and tell me what to do! Which if you knew me would seem like the last thing in the world that I would want!

So after an afternoon shopping with my best friend & managing to come back with just the 2 things that I needed for work , dispite the fact that my mate tried to convince me that I needed 2 new dresses which would also require new shoes I am feeling motivated by your words so ......

Am off to look at SOA, I know it off by heart but I need to really look at what I should do and combine in all of my debt and savings to get the picture.

Not sure if I am brave enough to post it though, I can feel the excuses already;)

Thanks:D

Amanda666

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars owned.................... 1
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1912 -This excludes my pension and company savings plan
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1912
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 483 - I round this up to £600 to overpay
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 196 - Car - have just downgraded
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 84
Electricity............................. 7.5 Cheapest deal and lowest monthly payments with Npower get £120 dual
Gas..................................... 7.5 fuel discount each year
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 10.95
Telephone (land line)................... 11.5 BT - never use the home phone wonder if I really need this ?
Mobile phone............................ 35 Gives me unlimited free texts and 300 minutes, in contract till Oct
TV Licence.............................. 12.37
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 20.5 Sky basic , with Talk and Broadband
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 150 - This is too high but is realistic at present
Clothing................................ 40 - An average of the last few months
Petrol/diesel........................... 120 am hoping with the new car that this may come down
Road tax................................ 12
Car Insurance........................... 35 no payments now till renewal on June
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 25
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 15.5 Contact lens
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 8.61
Buildings insurance..................... 11.18 Contents included
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 10 - Health insurance - use fully and always claim more than premium
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 20 a guess bases on averages
Haircuts................................ 5 use local college
Entertainment........................... 80 not too sure but go to the theatre and events and meals out Holiday................................. 100 holiday booked for Oct 2011, money already in savings to pay for
Emergency fund.......................... 150
Total monthly expenses.................. 1650.61

Assets
Cash.................................... 3000
House value (Gross)..................... 140000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 9000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 152000

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 69000....(483)......6.9 over pay £117 as mentioned above
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 7000.....(196)......0 Car - over 4 years but would like to pay off early
Total secured & HP debts...... 76000.....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
M&S Money......................163.......15........9
Play...........................323.......25........0
First Direct...................250.......20........19
Overdraft......................400.......0.........0
Total unsecured debts..........1136......60........-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,912
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,650.61
Available for debt repayments........... 261.39
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 60
Amount left after debt repayments....... 201.39
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 152,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -76,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -1,136
Net Assets.............................. 74,864
Created using the SOA calculator at www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using IE browser.

So just by doing this I can see that I could be sorted on the debt front really straight away and then I think that I need to see if the budgets that I set can be kept to.

But please let me know what you think ?

GeorgieFTB

I think you're in quite a good position, one thing that has always helped me to budget is a slush fund. Work out how much you can afford then that is your slush fund, there is no need to itemise it or justify what you spent it on. My lowest fund was a fiver a week, a mag and some chocolate was normally what it got spent on.

If the budget is too restrictive it might just help to give you some freedom.
Gx

brokeinlondon

your SOA is near-on perfect, just the groceries spend is a bit high but to be honest, can't criticise too much about that because I really struggle not to spend loads on food! even though you don't really need the extra cash, you should cancel that landline if you really don't use it much, although i suppose it's nice to have for emergencies and if you need to call overseas...

Ernster86

Well you know...you just do it.

After failing several times there will come a day when you really mean you have had enough.

Nothing we say can help you, only you can do that,

Until then, keep talking,....sorry to say, you dont sound very convincing.

SOT2011

I also use a slush fund, though in my case I call it my "fritter fund" and as per previous poster suggests I don't itemise my spend on it and I let myself not worry what it goes on - it helps keep everything else on track, although this is only month two of doing it properly, it definitely helped last month by giving me a bit, but not too much, freedom.

What I do do though is draw it out in cash on pay day and if I spend via the internet, I take the cash out of my purse as if I had spent the real money. It is only £40 a month for me, but looking at your SOA you could be more generous without breaking the budget.

Good luck! Once you find the strategies that work for you you will quickly find that you can wipe out those debts for good, but you do need to get your head 100% in the right place so you are not self - sabotaging, looking forward to seeing how you get on!

CH27

Keep a spending diary. Write down every penny you spend & it will become clear where cash is being frittered away on nothing.

crafty*kate

Agree with the previous posters - allow yourself a 'fun' fund, take it out in cash when you get paid, and when it's gone it's gone.

Also - is your gas and electric really 7.50 each a month?!