The freezing, and the pain to come.

financial_planner

I've been reading some of these diaries with interest. And thought, what the hay, ill register and start my own. So here goes.

Last night I bought my last bottle of wine and upmarket ready meal from Marks and Spencer. As I handed over my Amex card, the usual building up of nerves came: had I already hit my £5000 credit limit? Fortunately I hadn't and the deal proceeded. I walked home, to my shared, rented house in an affluent suburb of south west London, whacked the ready meal in to the Microwave, and pondered my situation in general.

Earlier in the week, reality hit (or rather smacked) me hard in the face. Last Friday, I flew over to Italy for just one night, to go to a friends wedding. Total cost, circa £350. The two weeks previously I had been on a foreign holiday, the total cost amounted to around £1000. The weekend before that, I had been on a totally pointless reconcilliation holiday with an ex-girlfriend in Cornwall. Total cost, again, around £300. And, inbeween all these events, at work etc, I am haemmoraging between £5 and £20 plus per day, all on coffee and convenience food.

Anyway, what happened in the middle of the week was the letter came from the bank, stating that I had exceeded my agreed overdraft on my current account, and would now be charged £6 per day for 'unauthorised borrowing'.

It was then that the truth hit me, hard in the face. If I was going to stop the unauthorised borrowing fees on my overdraft, I would need to get cash from somewhere. The only thing I could realistically do is go to an ATM and get a cash advance on my credit card, and then pay the money in to my current account. But, when I looked in to it, I realised the APR I would be charged for doing that would be 29% per annum! At some point, the line has to be drawn, and the time is now. I called up my unemployed younger brother to borrow some money. I went cap in hand to my unemployed younger brother for a bail out! That's kind of like Nicaragua bailing out the USA.

Anyway. I'm 30 this week. I'm male, hetrosexual, single, overweight, and a borderline alcoholic. I am fortunately also quite good looking. I'm kind of the master of fluking my way through life, but it is all (and dramatically) coming to a head. I've got about £11,500 of debt, and I've not been looking after myself for the last year and my age is showing. I haven't really been promoted in my work for four years, and it's all looking like it might turn in to a desperately serious situation in 2012, unless I take some kind of radical action NOW.

The only redeeming factor, if I dare say it, is this. I own my own house. In a remote part of Finland. It isn't worth much (anything), and is pretty much unsellable. But its there.

But thats another story, for a post in the future perhaps.

financial_planner

Day 1

So okay, this is it. The statement of affairs will follow, once I've got my head around the situation, in full. But that might take a little time.

However, today I took a rather radical step. Deciding that I had well and truly reached the bottom, I froze my bank accounts. This morning, I put all my credit cards in a tub of water, and literally put them in the freezer. So, I can't use my credit cards any more. Well, I could, but I would need to defrost them first.

I thought of going all the way and cutting them up, but at the end of the day, there will be genuine emergencies, I suspect. Maybe if the 'genuine emergencies' happen too often, I'll have to take more radical action than todays freezing, but they're out of my wallet and in the freezer now, so thats a start.

Ok, so going through my pockets, etc, I am basically left with about £4, with another 14 days until payday.

Tommorrow, I'm going to withdraw £10, and I'm going to try and get to payday, with only spending £14. Thats £1 per day! Possible?

I've kind of got a head start, in the sense that I have a cupboard full of food.

This includes:

Four peppers
A courgette,
one carton of chick peas
some tuna
three tins of coconut milk
two tins of black eyed beans
three tins of red kidney beans
some condiments, tea, coffee, etc.
Curry paste

So, my plan is this.

I'm going to buy a big bag of rice, some frozen vegetables, and six tins of tomatoes. And, I'm going to cook three big meals.

1) vegetable stew
2) vegetable curry
3) bean stew.

This should hopefully see me through for one week. Each portion will create four servings, lunch and dinner for 2 days. 6 in total.

And, i'll report back in a weeks time, with news of how its all going. Life on £1 a day. Hopefully you will keep reading and find this entertaining!

Aiming_High

Good start.

Having a LBM is a good time, keep up the motivation, but don't forget to treat yourself every now and then for a job well done.

I look forward to following your £1 a day.

Aiming_High

Was just telling my hubby about you freezing your CC's and my 10yr old piped up "cold hard cash" :rotfl::rotfl:

Had to tell you....

staffie1

financial_planner wrote: »

This morning, I put all my credit cards in a tub of water, and literally put them in the freezer. So, I can't use my credit cards any more. Well, I could, but I would need to defrost them first.

The water will probably ruin the chip in the cards, so they might not work again anyway.

financial_planner

Hi. Thanks for your replies!

I think the £1 a day thing is very much a temporary measure. Longer term, i'd probably look at living on around £70 per week, I think thats a realistic budget. I've got to maintain some kind of social life, albeit perhaps not one that involves going to the pub all the time.

As for the credit cards - well if the damage is done its probably too late to do anything about it now! :-)

ZTD

financial_planner wrote: »

Last night I bought my last bottle of wine and upmarket ready meal from Marks and Spencer. As I handed over my Amex card, the usual building up of nerves came: had I already hit my £5000 credit limit? Fortunately I hadn't and the deal proceeded. I walked home, to my shared, rented house in an affluent suburb of south west London, whacked the ready meal in to the Microwave, and pondered my situation in general.

First of all - have you seen the Old Style board? They'll show you how to knit a 3 course meal from twigs. OK - I'm exaggerating - but only a little...

Cooking your own food is *seriously* cheaper than ready meals. A lot healthier too.

financial_planner wrote: »

inbeween all these events, at work etc, I am haemmoraging between £5 and £20 plus per day, all on coffee and convenience food.

Do you keep a spend diary? That'll show you how much you're bleeding.

financial_planner wrote: »

At some point, the line has to be drawn, and the time is now. I called up my unemployed younger brother to borrow some money. I went cap in hand to my unemployed younger brother for a bail out! That's kind of like Nicaragua bailing out the USA.

Don't laugh too long...

financial_planner wrote: »

The only redeeming factor, if I dare say it, is this. I own my own house. In a remote part of Finland. It isn't worth much (anything), and is pretty much unsellable. But its there.

And it is better than nothing.

Prepare yourself an SOA. You've fairly much convinced yourself you're bust - now this will show how quickly you can become unbust.

staffie1 wrote: »

The water will probably ruin the chip in the cards, so they might not work again anyway.

The chip is potted (i.e. encased in epoxy resin) so it should be fine. Liquid water will eventually eat away at the contacts - but it's not liquid anymore...

Don't microwave it to defrost it though. That would be bad.

Though funny...

mrsphreak

Hey Most entertaining so far! I've just spent the last 3 days solid locked in my home, bound to my pc a large notepad with pen and a sh*tload of unopened post and red letters filled with threats :-o At least now i know for sure, it really is as bad as i thought it was! Action stations on Monday, tonight i will start my diary Good luck to you x

financial_planner

Hi

I'm working on the spend diaries, and statement of affairs. Although I should say that I do think that I have a good grasp of the situation, I know how much money I owe, and to whom, and that about 15% of my disposable income is spent servicing my debt! The challenge is trying to deal with this situation.

The trouble, I suppose, is that I get deluded very quickly. It normally stems from my drinking, I keep drinking, either out with friends or at home, and then start saying 'to hell with it', and just keep spending money I don't have. The other thing I keep doing is going on expensive trips. This year I have been to Finland three times, last year it was five times. I need to bring it under control, and figured writing a diary here would help.

Oh well. thanks for reading and best of luck everyone, with your own debt free journeys.

ZTD

financial_planner wrote: »

The trouble, I suppose, is that I get deluded very quickly. It normally stems from my drinking, I keep drinking, either out with friends or at home, and then start saying 'to hell with it', and just keep spending money I don't have.

Take cash and leave the card. The spending stops when the cash runs out.

chevalier

good luck with sorting this out. Will keep an eye out for your SOA
chev