hi there newbie looking for advice on my whole situation

sevenpounds03

hello there, as the title suggests, im a newbie and have been reading the threads for some time now and am looking for some debt advice.

i have done a few soas over the last few months and with my debt repayments, its showing that i have around £580 left per month after this.

I would like to use this to pay these debts off asap, but like many people, i never seem to have this left at then end of the month.
I have a part time job which i get paid £100 per week cash in hand for and use this for food and petrol, but sometimes, before i get it, have to get food and petrol so use my card for this.

Then the usual story is, with working mon-fri i dont get to put the £100 in the bank and before you know it, i have spent this as well.

Im not doing very well.
Any advice anyone can give me would be valuable

many thanks

Hovel_lady

Hello and welcome!
First thought - keep a spending diary to find exactly where your moneys going. Include everything - chocolate, a paper whatever.
If you post your SoA here I'm sure someone will have some advice for you.
Good luck - you've made the first step.
Someone else will be along with more help soon I'm sure.

browneyedbazzi

A good starting point would be to keep a spending diary for a while - if you note down everything you spend as you go along (even a cup of coffee or £1 for lottery tickets etc) the diary will show you exactly where your money is going. Once you know where the money is going you can start to look at ways to cut back and improve how you handle your money.

sevenpounds03

thanks for your replies.
I have actually been keeping a spending diary (although it has fallen by the wayside lately)
what should i do with this £100 weekly? is it wise to try and maybe keep it in a cash tin in the house and bank it once a month?

determined_new_ms

can you go to a bank & make a paymnet with it?

sevenpounds03

determined_new_ms wrote: »

can you go to a bank & make a paymnet with it?

thanks for the reply. well i know thats the best idea but what with working mon to fri, i cant usually get there in banking opening hours

edinburgher

Quite a few banks are open 'til half past one or so on Saturdays these days - the three I use all are.

Getting it banked asap is probably the best plan, as you can't spend what you don't have and it removes the temptation to fritter it away on nights out, coffees and stuff that you end up buying, but didn't really need to

sevenpounds03

thats what im thinking. i tend to get it on a sunday so maybe leaving it in the house and banking it the next saturday is the best idea.

abby1234519

sevenpounds03 wrote: »

thats what im thinking. i tend to get it on a sunday so maybe leaving it in the house and banking it the next saturday is the best idea.

At the end of the day we can give you advice as to what to do with it, but you're the only one who can actually do it.

I lock money like that in my money tin, I don't go into it because I have told myself NOT to. If I go into it well I only have myself to blame. You could do that and then bank it.

How about you live off your normal wages and use this £100 to pay off debts. Open a basic bank account for debt repayment, put that in it on saturdays and straight away use it to make bank/card payments to creditors.