Time to get it sorted

Squidge123

So I've decided I want to do a hairdressing course. I'm going to use the money in my pennies jar to pay for it but I have a long way to go. The course is £850!!!!!!!!

Squidge123

I've decided its time to get serious about this once and for all. I'm going to start again with the taking lunch to work. I'm going to stop buying crap I don't need - stop spending money on takeaways and start cooking.

I'm going to have a clear out of my room and see if I can rustle up enough stuff to do a car boot.

InsertWittyName

Good on you Squidge.

Taking lunch to work is a good thing - I've always done it and find it better than buying (and a lot cheaper too!).

I'm also a sucker for a takeaway (well, all the family is!) and we're able to limit it to a treat once every one or two weeks, which isn't too bad at all. We do prepare all other meals ourselves through from store bought ingredients.

Clearing debt is like dieting - you could not eat at all and you'd lose a lot of weight, but it'd probably kill you! All you need to do is ensure the debt is going down each month and not going up.

Squidge123

When I get a month when my wages aren't screwed up it will be so much easier! I'm going to make most of my Xmas pressies this year. I'll have to buy for my OH, dad, brother and nephews but should be able to make the rest

InsertWittyName

Wish I had the skills to make presents Squidge... nevertheless I've put a bit more thought into presents this year, which pretty much means I've bought better presents but at a lower price!

The vouchers from surveys help a ton too

Squidge123

So I'm trying to find different ways of being able to do the hairdressing course that doesn't cost me a bomb!

Squidge123

I'm trying to decide whether its a good idea to reclaim some PPI from my credit card. I wasn't told that the PPI would only cover me for the first year of having my card so I was paying for PPI for about 1-2 years after that to not be covered.

I've decided I'm going to do whatever debt busting I can but am going to go fully at it in January. I'll be back in my original store then and will be able to reduce my petrol and put in lots of overtime to get the money coming in

It doesn't make any sense to me to try and debt bust when my money is going on petrol and I can't do any overtime.

Squidge123

I've e-mailed to find out if I can pay for a hairdressing course in installments. They're expensive but I'm not happy in my job and if I get qualified and build up a client base I can get more money doing mobile hairdressing then working in a supermarket.

It means that for the few months I'd be on the courses (one is 9 weeks for level 1 and one is 12 weeks for level 2) I'm going to need to be REALLY strict with my spending etc. When I'm back at the store I work at (after new year) my petrol usage will go down so that will be some money saving there. I'm getting more money for working boxing day and my bonus comes through in about February so I can either put them into an account as emergency money or put them on my debts...

Squidge123

So this is what I've worked out:

The level 1 course is £850. It goes from the middle of Jan for 9 weeks so will cover my Feb payday as well. Hopefully they'll let me pay in three installments.
If they do I'll have to pay £284 (rounded up by a few pence) Dec Jan and Feb
If it's over 2 months it's £425 Dec and Jan which I know I won't be able to do.

My car insurance is due on Boxing Day! Should go down. If I step down from the role at work I'm doing now to be able to do the course I'll be able to claim Working Tax Credit and put in a bit of overtime when needed.

After that I need to find £1500 to be able to do the level 2 for 12 weeks starting in March!!

Now I just need to decide how I'm going to get this money saved up. The only thing I'm thinking at the moment is have a clear out and do a car boot sale. Cut down even more on my spending etc and hope for the best!

Squidge123

I'm feeling quite deflated. I'm seriously wondering if I can get the money saved up that I need to do my course but then if I don't do it I know I'm going to be stuck in a job I don't enjoy for even longer.

I just don't know what to do