Treading Water

Idiophreak

Hi All,

first up, my debt:
9k student loan (currently paying about £60/month, but not worrying about too much)
7k postgrad loan (£340/month - 2 year term, 15 months remaining)
9k car finance (£270/month - 3 year term, 19 months remaining)
3k virgin cc @ 0% (min payment only £5, month, but paying off 100-150 when I can)
1k overdraft @ 0% (coming down slowly)

(cripes, it looks quite a lot written down like that!)

Now the narrative (read: rambling) part:

I'm on a fair wage for my position, (1.5 years out of uni), I live at home still so pay minimum living expenses and as such the repayments on my debts aren't really a problem. I've tried to be aggresive with my repayments, especially to my postgrad loan, in order to get through it as quick as possible. (my sister took the same loan over 4 years).

However, by the time I pay around £700(plus student loan) to debts each month, £200 rent, £100 petrol (for work), phone bill (£35), gym membership (£24), I don't have too much left over. By the time I've taken the gf out to dinner once in the month and delt with whatever comes up (there's always something - birthdays, christmas, valentines, car service, new furniture etc etc) all my money's pretty much gone.

I know this puts me in a better position than a lot of people on here, but it gets really frustrating. I want to be able to afford nicer things, holidays, gadgets etc, as well as giving more to charity etc and can't. A couple of times I've caved in and CCd them, (that doesn't account for all of the CC debt - the rest is car insurance). I don't really see a problem with sticking the odd thing on the CC (I know that I can afford the repayments and once my loans start drying up I'll be able to pay it off quickly, if not before then), but it has two drawbacks:

1) Whilst the virgin period keeps repayments at £5/month I'd be ok if I lose my job, but once I have to transfer it elsewhere, the repayments could make my SOA uncomfortable if I were unemployed (which I don't anticipate being btw)

2) It just means I'll be repaying stuff for longer.

The second one is the biggest problem. It's the time it's taking to get through the debt. As I said, I'm being as aggressive as I safely can to get rid of it - and I'm due a payrise soon, which will help with clearing the CC, but..

My gf and I would like to live together, get started on "our lives together", that sort of thing, but until I get this debt sorted (around 16 months with any luck) I can't even start saving for a deposit, stamp duties etc, so it all seems so far off. I just feel like I'm wasting my life away and (as the title says) treading water, just waiting for my "real life" to start.

I think it's this feeling that causes me to lapse every so often and splurge some money on something I shouldn't really buy (just got a lovely new laptop tho ).

I was just wondering if anyone else feels like this and what people do to stop their life from feeling like a total waste of time and how you stay focussed on debt clearing?

Sorry for the long post, I didn't mean for it to turn out this way!!

owessomuch

Hi

I understand what you mean. I still live at home and I'm not going to be debt free for a very long time. I find myself daydreaming about my own place and also wishing I'd never gotten into this situation.

The fact of it is I did though and unlike student loans I was just a silly girl who got into debt by buying rubish and making bad decisions.

The only way I find I can get through it is everytime I get the urge to buy or treat myself I tell myself that it's just adding on to the length of time before I'm debt free.

The sooner I pay it back the sooner I can get my own place.

Sorry it's not a very helpful reply but I just want you to know that you are not alone

Good luck.

angelavdavis

Thought I would drop you a note for support.

I am afraid you have hit the nail on the head that debt does dictate lives.

You are right to think that it is a waste of time saving for a deposit when you have £29k debt. You are much better off throwing any spare money at the debts as possible. Do you know what the outstanding balances are (if you have been throwing money at your loans, these must have decreased quite a bit?).

Do you have anything you can sell to pay off more of the debt?

Grab a notebook and note down all expenditure so you can see what you are spending your money on.

Your current "keep" outgoings are nowhere near enough to cover you even to live in rented accommodation (I doubt you would get many good mortgage offers with your repayments at the level they are currently).

In addition to the rent, you would have council tax, water rates, electric/gas, contents insurance, plus other living expenses like furniture and food. You are staying at the cheapest hotel anyone knows! The reality is, you simply don't have the cashflow to move out yet.

Be patient, I can understand your frustration wanting to leave home and move forward with your life, but unless you can pay off your debts and/or dramatically increase your income, patience is the only way to get over this one! You need to stay focused on your debt, slippages like buying a new car (£9k car loan?) or a laptop will push your goal further away.... You need to think long and hard about your priorities.

People on this site will help you with ideas on generating income, etc when you are ready.

Wishing you well.

lynzpower

hi there mate

the thing which screams out to me from your post is NO BUDGET!

However, by the time I pay around £700(plus student loan) to debts each month, £200 rent, £100 petrol (for work), phone bill (£35), gym membership (£24), I don't have too much left over. By the time I've taken the gf out to dinner once in the month and delt with whatever comes up (there's always something - birthdays, christmas, valentines, car service, new furniture etc etc) all my money's pretty much gone.

birthdays, valentines Xmas, they are all predictable events, so you should be putting money aside for these. My OH puts away a tenner a week as he gets paid weekly for clothes for himself & gifts

Are you getting pigsback vouchers for meals out, also they do points for booking resturaunts through them , these vouchers will help towards gifts or clothes for yourself of course.

I know this puts me in a better position than a lot of people on here, but it gets really frustrating. I want to be able to afford nicer things, holidays, gadgets etc, as well as giving more to charity etc and can't. A couple of times I've caved in and CCd them, (that doesn't account for all of the CC debt - the rest is car insurance). I don't really see a problem with sticking the odd thing on the CC (I know that I can afford the repayments and once my loans start drying up I'll be able to pay it off quickly, if not before then), but it has two drawbacks:

Again, if you had a budget you can live with you shouldnt need to do this.
I stopped my charity payments and now see my donations to the charity shop as better use of money. think about it those things which "wont sell" on ebay, can be given to a charity shop, if you give 5 paperbacks they sell for a pound each ,youve given a fiver. and so on. thinking like this I think I have probably given about 600 quids worth to the charity shops over the last year and another bag in the hall ready to go.

If you are feeling tempted, chop the card up. Sometimes it can be that your 0% can expire when you spend on the cards, ort that youll be charged interest on what you spend as opposed to 0% on BTs.

Youll never be debt free while you still use your debt cards.

The harder you pay them off the sooner you will be 700 pcm better off and think of the holidays & gadgets you will be able to buy with that - every single month!

Keep going you re doing well, but a realistic budget has to be put in place.

Lynz

do_it_today!

at times it does feel like you are getting nowhere fast and when u do reach a milestile after it has been met it can feel like so what.... in the grand scheme of things 16 months isnt so long and maybe having a visual count down chart will help motivate you. On the Mortgage free wannabe board there are threads about the mortgage pig - where all loose change and extra cash is saved towards paying off the mortgage maybe you could start a Deposit pig! (so even though you are only putting away a little bit you are still making a start!) so when debts are paid you can then accelerate your savings for deposit.

Time flys these days before you know it you'll get there!

Idiophreak

Thanks, Angela - You've hit on a couple of points:

1) I know I can't afford to move out - and that's the problem. Realistically it's going to be a good year or two after I've cleared my debt before I can save nearly enough to think about buying a place.

2) Yeah, my car was probably a mistake in retrospect £270/month didn't sound so bad at the time - I wasn't paying anything to my postgrad loan, then. It's not all bad though - it's still less than 3 years old, so is quite economical, hasn't needed any repairs (edit: well, I drove into a lamppost, but that I billed as a "learning experience" , hasn't needed MOTs etc and is very low milage, so has held value quite well. It should keep me going for many years to come with any luck.

3) I do have a good idea of what's left owing, yeah. About half of each of the two main loans. I quite like that they're coming down so quickly - if I owe £27k one month, in two months I owe £25.5, so I can see the debt tumbling. Am also going to make up a spreadsheet, so I can watch it coming down a little more easily - give me some sense of achievement.

Thanks for your input, lynz.

I do *sort of* have a budget - I know how much I have to pay to everyone (have got almost all of the DDs/SOs to the 1st of the month now - makes life easier), then at the start of each month work out a budget based on what's coming up (ie "I have £200 left, I'll spend £100 on christmas, then CC the other £100) that kinda thing. I suppose a more long-term budget may help.

I also keep a very close eye on my spending (online banking) and don't actually fritter a lot away - I never go drinking, I take packed lunches, etc. I tend to go to the cinema once every couple of months, maybe a meal with friends, but that's about it. The coming months will be easier too - has been a hard month with xmas, sales, etc - at least now I'm stocked up on DVDs so won't buy any for a while

I don't use pigsback, but I rarely go anywhere expensive, anyway. I use the times Dine With Wine vouchers a lot, Bella Italia with clubcard vouchers, or the Early Bird deals with harvester.

I'm giving a lot of stuff to charity lately, although am limited to the local stores, so am not really helping the people I'd like to help.

I'm looking into getting going on ebay and carboots at the mo - the loft has reached it's capacity and there's plenty needs to go - and I need plenty of cash.

I'm always careful with my CCs too - I don't wanna lose my transfer rate by going spending on the card.

Thanks all for your input

dinkylou

Agree with Lynz on this one. You need a budget.

It looks a bit to me like you are suffering from a similar attitude to the one I had when I first joined here. The 'I earn a fair bit, I have debts but can afford to pay them, so why shouldn't I buy myself nice things' attitude.

You really need to start a spending diary as you CANT AFFORD all these nice things. It would also help if you spoke about it with your gf and cut down on the amount of nice meals out, after all, you're thinking of both your futures.

Could you look at downgrading your car or selling your laptop? If you are really serious about paying off your debt and looking to your future then you need to start making sacrifices.

Use the snowball calculator to help put things in perspective. It'll help to make it clear.

x

Idiophreak

Hi dinkylou, thanks for your thoughts:

The problem is, I've lived for 4 years as a student, being completely skint. To face another 3/4/5 years like it is pretty depressing. So I really think that the odd "treat" here and there isn't too much of a problem (I don't have a "spending problem", or anything like that, I don't buy things o impulse, I don't buy things that I don't have at least some need for, other than the odd weekend break at low cost, but you could say that the gf and I "need" time away together...)

My laptop was reasonably justifiable buy - it's about the cheapest that you can get and I needed extra space in my bedroom, so getting rid of the computer + desk has made a lot of difference. I work in IT, so not having a computer isn't really an option.

I've thought about downgrading my car, but would probably only get enough money for it to cover the remaining loan - so I'd have to take out another loan for the new car and so would still have to pay so much each month for it - and for a much worse car, so I think I'm going to stick with mine for now.

My gf is in pretty skint too, she's still at uni (PGCE), so she well understands the need to cut back and save for the future. As I've said above, we don't have "nice" meals out, but being stuck in the house with our families all the time can put certain strain on the relationship, so it's nice to have some alone time.

I really don't have a problem with my spending levels at the moment and am reasonably happy that I do as much as I can to minimise spending most of the time. I think I'm clearing my debt at about the highest *sustainable* rate possible for me; there's no point in me saying "I'm going to put 100% of my income toward my debt this month", because it just isn't going to happen.

I'm more interested in tips to keep my spirits up, how to stay positive, that kinda thing...

lynzpower

My laptop was reasonably justifiable buy - it's about the cheapest that you can get and I needed extra space in my bedroom, so getting rid of the computer + desk has made a lot of difference. I work in IT, so not having a computer isn't really an option.

Did you sell your old pc & desk?

If you have a loftfull of gear, get selling. Ive found it a real motivator when the money comes pouring in

oakdale_minx

Hi there - I think if I could go back in time to 1991 when I graduated, and had a £360 student loan (ah, the good old days!) and an overdraft of about £1200, I would have done without the bits and pieces I "had" to have for a couple more years until I'd cleared my debts. Everything seemed justifiable at the time, but I knew we were fooling ourselves (my ex was a student at the same Uni as myself)

We bought a house in 1992, prices were rock bottom, but it had to be furnished and it slowly spiralled from there.

The longer you can live at home, the better it will be in the future - trust me, i've been there!!

Might be worth doing a spending diary to see where it all goes and where you can adjust things/cut back to help your situation. I'm now in the situation where my social life is literally nil, I don't go out for meals, unless it can be paid for - in cash - it isn't bought until the debts are paid.

Best to grit your teeth for a couple of years now and then know you can get a house debt free. I know I would do now.

julybride

your situation sounds similar to me and hubby... but we bought the house!!! we didn't have the post grad loan or car loan... With hind sight i urge you to grin aand bear it now for a couple of years... clear the debt and enjoy hunting for bargain breaks/restaurants/clothes and when you have the money not to worry about it it will be all the better.

Me and hubby are striving to be there next year!!! had we planned better I think we could have lived a slightly better standard of life sooner!!! get stuck in now... you'll feelbetter when you do.

Good luck