Sorting my life out (on a budget)

antonia1

My name is Antonia, I'm 26 and I need to sort my life out! My current debt is £3457 and I want to pay it off as soon as possible, so that I can start to think about saving for a deposit on a flat.

My diary is going to cover my attempts at money saving, while I try to sort out the rest of my life, particularly my career and love life.

My debt is largely from being a student and the costs of re-locating for a job, but I haven't been dealing with paying it back at all over the last three years. I actually even felt proud of myself for saving up for a holiday to Peru (£2500) without acknowledging that I had a lot of debt that needed paying off. By reducing spending I aim to be paying off £300 per month, which still leaves me enough money for a social life, car maintenance (+MOT +tax +insurance) and my monthly trips to see family.

To date, my job is going okay, but I think with a bit more effort it could go better. I'm also trying to decide whether to go back to uni to study a Masters (the one I'm looking at is fully funded).

Love life is a bit more complicated I'm afraid. I ended a 4 year relationship in August (after almost a year of deliberating) and pretty quickly felt much better. However, being the not-so-sensible person I am in these things, I have started seeing the guy that sits opposite me at work. Its all very secret, and I'm not sure I can class it as an actual relationship, but who knows what will happen next?! As I type I am waiting to see if he wants to go on an actual date (its so long since I've done the dating thing I have no idea how these things are supposed to go).

Anyway, back to moneysaving, my objective for today is to deal with my hangover without buying any coffee from the work canteen.

crapwithcash82

Hi Antonia,

Just wanted to say hello and good luck with your diary. Its a pity you hadn't paid off your debts with your savings for your holidays, as you would have had less than £1000 to pay back! I am sure you holiday was worth it tho, and you have had your lightbulb moment now!

Its nice to hear you are happier since ending your relationship and exciting to hear you are seeing someone new! I hope it goes well for you.

Will pop back into your diary to say hi again soon!
CwC x