Can we live halved Income

moneywaster-nomore

ani*fan wrote: »

Hi mwnm


Plus there are benefits to be had of managing it yourself that you seem to understand but I didn't anticipate. This debt paying-off lark is about more than £0 on the CC or getting rid of those payday loans. It's about gaining real skills in money management, appreciating the value of things, having pride and confidence in living within your means. For me it's also about not being wasteful, being green and considerate of the environment and looking for something more meaningful than another 'thing' to buy.

You're not stupid and inadequate at all! I wonder if your friend refusing to accept repayment is making you feel worse? Is there a space in your budget to begin repaying her now? Maybe £10 per month would lift some of the shame from your shoulders and let her see you are serious, that you are extremely grateful for her help, and that you are now in a much better position and able to begin repayments. Maybe once the payday loans are gone this amount could increase.

Thank You Ani*fan for sharing, its helps, to hear other stories similar to your own.

Every time I am out with my friend, I hate spending at all. As it makes me feel as if she is thinking. Why she buying that, she owes me a grand. I understanding they probably just my thoughts but, they are there all the same.

I agree, there is more to it than getting out of debt, its a whole life skill and coming to realize I do not need my life full of material junk.

A longer plan, is once my payday loan is finished, money goes toward paying my friend back. £1000 is two loans of £650 and £350. My friend would not even know she had an extra £10 in her purse and would never feel the benefit of my repaid loans. I am going to find a nice box or tin, put in a book and write in amounts I am putting in. I will tell her and show her it and tell her it will be savings account for her. Thay way I would feel happier returning it as it was given. Or if she dips into it, it is saving her taking it from her bank account.

Weather not as good as it has been in my corner of the world, but could be worse.

brizzledfw

Nice idea for your friend..I like that:D

ani*fan

I like it too. Great plan.

Piquant_2

I agree with ani and Brizzle - great plan for the repayment to your friend!

mwnm, you are anything but stupid or inadequate, you are clever and inspirational! How you cope is nothing less than amazing. I've been with you since you started your diary, so I've been with you for a while now.

Take care mwnm and enjoy your day, I'll catch up with you later.

Piq

Igamogam

Just delurking MWNM. Have read your diary this morning and finding your so far, journey very interesting. Lovely idea of how to pay your friend back. I do not have any experience of pay day loans and in all honesty would never go down that path. However I can understand how and why people feel that is only route for them. You have your reasons for continuing to pay those huge interest rates but they are killer to repay. Do you have a plan to re evaluate in a few months?
I read you have plans to generate some income from Eb*y - any luck? And have you looked at doing surveys on line - money from them slowly builds up but it all counts. I just do a couple and have earned about £60 since October - OK not a huge amount but useful!!

The Frugal living thread is a good one if you haven't found it - I discovered the art of wombled Tesco till receipts and 'rounding down' on there!

Good luck!

moneywaster-nomore

Hiya Piq, good to hear from you, hope all is well at your end. Thank You for your continued support :beer:

Igamogam

Hiya Thank You for reading and posting your support and advice.

My plans are on going, nothing set in stone. I am willing to change them any time for the better or if money situation improves. April, will be a re evaluate month, as I have cleared my council tax arrears, so that gives me a little more le-way.

I have looked at survey sites but there are so many. I have no idea where to start.

I shop at Tesco's on a regular basis but have n idea what wombled till receipts are or rounding down. Please tell me more :j.

I have sold some bits of my craft work on Ebay. Paypal stands at £13 and odds at the moment, but I don't think about it. If we need anything, I always go to Ebay first.

I forgot to say, I am waiting for my tax credit pack to arrive. DH cannot claim any as I earn too much !!! but from what man said to me on phone and information I was able to give him, he thinks I may be entitled to £20 a week:j, but I'm not banking on it. Apparently, if I earn less than £17000 a year, I can claim ? time will tell.

I will check out frugal living thread, thank you.

moneywaster-nomore

Has any of my new found Friends and Supporters got diaries ?

rising_from_the_ashes

moneywaster-nomore wrote: »

I shop at Tesco's on a regular basis but have n idea what wombled till receipts are or rounding down. Please tell me more :j.

The frugal living thread is great https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3612005

Wombling receipts is when you pick up receipts lying around (usually at the checkouts although thing they're getting better at picking them up to stop people taking them:( - or around the car park, bins etc) at Mr A / Mr T.

You bring these home and then enter the receipt details on the price guarantee sites:

http://www.asdapriceguarantee.co.uk/Compare-Prices/ASDA-receipt.aspx
https://www.tescopricecheck.com/PriceCheck/Pages/Default.aspx

Hopefully you'll get a voucher if the shopping would've been cheaper elsewhere - quite worthwhile doing - I checked my Mr A ones for about a month and had over £9:) (not really been there much since but I must remember to do this when I do go).

It doesn't work if stuff is on offer tho' as the price is checked on the whole shop (so say they have a fantastic offer of something 1/2 price, it'll bring down the overall cost of your shop - even if other items are cheaper elsewhere:mad:) so if you're buying stuff on offer, it can work out better to put these through on a different bill.

Rounding down is where you choose a day each week (mine's a Saturday), log into your bank account and "round down" the balance to the nearest £10 and transfer the money to a savings account (or take the cash out and put into a pot).

I'm currently trying to get my budgets to an "advance" stage (currently put everything on cc & pay in full each month, but I'm effectively a month in arrears all the time as March's salary will go towards March's spends and not towards getting stuff in April IYSWIM?).

Some weeks the round-down is £8 or £9 and others only £1 or £2 so it balances out.

moneywaster-nomore wrote: »

Has any of my new found Friends and Supporters got diaries ?

Yup, but mine's very boring and stops and starts a lot..... I started out well but then sadly lost my dog (which is when my sparkle went ) and have really struggled since then ......I tend to write in it loads for a few days and then nothing for ages - trying hard to get better but it's highlighting just how obsessed I am with my finances (I do have OCD and think this is taking over a bit:o). Really need a new dog to get me out more - did think I'd found one earlier this week, but he sadly didn't work out which has got me down again.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3538621

moneywaster-nomore

OK, I have round down my current account today, just rounding down to nearest £1 but I will do it every time i go into it, that every couple of days.

Getting in an advance would be a fab place to be. My rent is paid 4 weeks in advance. But it would be fab to pay insurances a year in advance instead of monthly. Something else to work to wards.

As it has been said, its not just getting out of debt, its also about getting ahead of the game and becoming financial as one can be these days.

Igamogam

Thanks Rising for putting those explanations in!

moneywaster-nomore wrote: »

Has any of my new found Friends and Supporters got diaries ?

I burble away on mine

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/52198997#Comment_52198997

I intend to put up more what I am actually doing to reduce my debt but I think I get sidetracked either that or I am in denial:cool: