New to the forum

Sparkerly

I'm just quickly popping on before preparing for a job interview and saw your thread which reminded me a lot of our situation. Lots of money coming in means we can spend what we like when we like - right? Wrong we have now come to our senses. Our money problems started because we didn't cut back on spending when I left my job and our income decreased by around £2000 a month. We had holiday, after holiday all abroad, all 4 or 5 star hotels and they had to be all inclusive. Each holiday cost at least £4k and although we had a great time it wasn't worth the worry and stress I ended up going through when we could no longer keep on top of repayments. I also spoilt my kids if they needed something they got it.

But we have made major changes and know that it will be tough but it can be done. I'll have a look later to see if there is anything I can think of but need to run now.

pmlindyloo wrote: »

Hi and welcome

Your post reminded me of another thread from someone who had a good income and had similar problems - it is very inspirational!

You may want to have a read.

Here's the link:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3255436=

Was very surprised to open this link and see my thread, don't feel like we have done anything inspirational really - just taken onboard all the advice we have been given and made changes. I can't say its been easy but the benefit of actually being able to sleep at night has made it all worthwhile.

pmlindyloo

Hi Sparkerly

Well, I think you are inspirational! It is not easy to change your way of thinking and get on and do something about it.

I hope the OP reads your thread. Lots of people would have continued to have 'buried their head in the sand' but you got on and made the changes. It is not easy to do especially when you have a good income coming in and feel you should be able to have good holidays and so forth.

So, feel proud!

time4achange_2

Thanks for all these amazing responses - I have written all this down and started my money diary - I have been paid today - and I've worked out that if we stick to a budget we should be clear by jan. But it all depends on if we can stay out the shops. Which I am determined to do. The hols are the stags - I can't tell u how resentful I feel - this is the second time my husband has been to Vegas but he is best man so apparently has to go!
So tomorrow I have to take my daughter to ballet, I need to get shoe polish and some food bits but will go to asda, then I'm going to stay home all day decluttering before cooking my dinner out of freezer!

batgirl21

Hiya,

I too have got myself into debt in exactly the same way, your definately not alone.

Sparkerly you are definately inspirational because you are just like making a difference and taking on board ideas and suggestions.

I personally have found that I needed to work out exactly how much I needed to keep back to cover all the bills etc and then I allocated amounts in cash into separate envelopes for clothes, kids clubs, food, kids clothes etc all the things I normally spent my money on and have only been spending that and its made so much difference.

I have been ebaying and doing surveys etc and have been making a point of paying this money straight off my loan and its really satisfying to see the numbers coming down.

I've only been making a real effort for 6 weeks and I have paid an additional £600 off my loan and in both our joint account and my own account I'm £300 below the top of my overdraft limits where normally I was just going over them.

Like you I feel if I dont do it now and we lose a job we will be stuffed.

good luck

time4achange_2

Thanks for your reply - going to call sky tomorrow to see if can reduce bill and then look into our broadband and phone. Going to sell some coast dresses I have and get ip in loft and see what else we don't need!

Will keep u all updated!

Hovel_lady

Just wanted to say hello again. Glad you're making progress with things.
Will follow your progress and let you know any other good ideas if I have them!

AnnieG

Hello
I just wanted to say good luck, and as someone said earlier it's much better to tackle your problem now while it's relatively small than to leave it for a few years and end up £40k in debt.
Meal planning and sticking to a shopping list has been the biggest help to me in getting spending under control -if you try and shop once a week just for what you know you need, you'll spend much less and probably have less waste too.

Why not try and leave your cards at home for 2 or 3 days of the week - if you don't have them with you, you won't be able to use them. I know you might feel as though a safety blanket has been taken away initially, but you'll get used to it and simply won't be able to spend money on those days. If you've got a packed lunch or enough cash on you to get something to eat while you're at work, it shouldn't be a problem, right?!

And maybe you could try the 'drop a brand' challenge, or a grocery challenge, or set a monthly 'no spend day' target. There's so much help and good advice on this site, I'm sure you'll be debt free in no time.

Good luck!!!

time4achange_2

Thanks for posts I missed. Thought I would keep you all posted. So yesterday did attend my daughters ballet class then Asds - spent £39 so reallydo need to meal plan more as this was just lunch stuff, dog biscuits, shoe polish, a tub for garden and lunch bits for this week. Despite this I did not spend anything else - I stayed home and cleaned my room, my en suite and my spare room. They are no gleaming - cleaning is my other obsession so hopefully this will keep me out the shops.

I also had sone success in reducing our monthly bills:

called Sky who I now pay 31.75 to. This is for a twenty pound package and £10 for HD. They reduced the twenty pound package to half price so saved us ten pounds a month. Then switched my broadband and phone to sky which is going to cost £23.95 per month and now costs £60 so saving us a further £35 per month.

Called british gas who reduced my white goods insurance by £5 a month just because I asked.

Then switched my powergen package which should save us £68 per year.

So def savings of £50 per month so far.

Found a few things to eBay so need to organise that today.

Seen in lots of posts about doing surveys - what is the deal with these?

Can't sleep - will be shattered later. Today I want to do yesterdays ironing as it was midnight when I finished cleaning, do some gardening, then it's my daughters ballet show which will involve being out from 2 till 10 so long daybut should not cost me any money as all paid for.

So feeling positive need to focus on meal planning and see if we can reduce our orange phone bills.

Will keep u updated.

Pollycat

time4achange wrote: »

So feeling positive need to focus on meal planning and see if we can reduce our orange phone bills.

Well done - £50 pm saving for a bit of effort. :T

Re meal planning - take a look at the Old-style board on here, there's lots of tips about all sorts of ways to save money.

Just had a thought, I notice from your SOA you have £3K under 'other assets' - if you have any savings (ISAs etc), check the rate you're getting.

A friend mentioned to me she had only got £21 yearly interest on a £5K ISA = 0.5%.

I told her she could get over 3% in a number of cash ISAs - but you need to be savvy and move your money when the rate drops.

PS - did you REALLY NEED the garden tub? LOL

orangesmartie

You seem to have quite a surplus available each month, although I know you said your SOA doesn't include incidental spending.

You could try working out what your budget for the month is going to be (include a bit of spending money) and then take your surplus (around £1000) and chuck it at your debts as soon as you get paid. That way, you don't have it to spend on incidentals. Coupled with not carrying your credit cards, may cut down a bit on that unconscious spending.

If you feel you don't want to put that whole chunk to your debts straight away, then open a savings account separate from any other accounts and put half in there and half on your debts. That way, through the month you know you have a safety net if desperate and you still make big inroads to your debt. Then, the day before payday, you take out the half from the savings and send to debts and do the whole thing over again next pay day.