Give great money saving advice but in debt myself - HELP!!

lynzpower

One thing I suggest is once youve transferred the balance- CUT THE CARD UP.

you will never get out of debt while you rely on debt to get by.

It signifies the end of an era and a great new start!!

mousegirl

Thanks for all advice. I know the first thing I should do is cut up the card - can't bring myself to - which I know is really stupid. Will start by leaving it at home - aim is to pay off card first then not to use overdraft, then to cut up card, one step at a time.

Never quite sure if when I get paid I should put some money into savings or to make aim not to use overdraft - used to watch Alvin and he always insisted that some should go towards savings, but never feels quite right somehow. Currently put a tenner into each of five accounts a month, my ISA, and 2 kids each have two savings accounts (one's the government one). Figured it was as good a start as any. Used to keep a diary - funny that as that's one of the things I'd told my friend to do as I know it does work! Will definitely try again with the diary. I'll keep posting so please keep advising - it feels good to have support.

mousegirl

reply to chocaholic110

my debt seems so trivial compared to what you must have gone and be going through. Well done for paying off so much - don't know how you've done it.

reply to pippo

am new to this and have no idea how to go to your board - please advise

chocaholic110

mousegirl wrote: »

reply to chocaholic110

my debt seems so trivial compared to what you must have gone and be going through. Well done for paying off so much - don't know how you've done it.

reply to pippo

am new to this and have no idea how to go to your board - please advise

Thanks but no debt is trivial if it is preying on your mind and it must be for you to come here. Have a read through some of the threads and I'm sure you will pick up some great moneysaving ideas. Probably other people have advised you to use a spending diary to see where your money goes and to post a SOA to get help on your budget.

Will be checking back with interest

mousegirl

What's a SOA?

ZTD

mousegirl wrote: »

What's a SOA?

Look here...

taxi73

Hi there...all of the above are good but I noticed you say that you only have your part time wage...as OHs incapacity has stopped have you cheked about getting Tax credits..or...if you already get them you should get more if he's off incapacity...sorry if you've already done that

onedayiwill

Hi mousegirl,

Seriously, cut up the card. I know it is difficult. Leaving it at home is a good start though - perhaps leave it at home in the freezer in a bowl of water (literally "freezing" you card and removing temptation!).

My choice was:
1. Stop using the card - cut it up and if you have it stored in paypal or amazon REMOVE it from from your profile.
2. Pay off overdraft
3. Pay off card

By paying off my overdraft before paying off the card I was able to see my bank balance in positive figures which is much easier to manage - it gave me a positive boost. Part of the problem of always seeing things in negative figures for me was the attitude ...."Well, I don't have any money anyway so what does it matter if I spend more?" Now I am extremely proud of my positive bank balance and there is NO WAY I am going back to a negative one!

I know this is not strictly the MSE way (pay off the highest APR first) but we all have to find what works for us.

Also, the spending diary helps me enormously. Not really for tracking how much I have/have not spent but the act of having to write down and make myself accountable for everything I spend stops me from spending!

Good luck! Get that SOA posted, and things will progress.One step a a time.

mousegirl

Thanks, have been informed today that we may be entitled to more tax credit than are currently getting, so that's my next step.

I know it sounds daft but my salary does pay off my overdraft each month, it just means I'm then left with nothing. I get paid next week and am really going to try as I did a big shop today and we are going to eat till the house is empty! - or try at least. Even though I did put it on my credit card, that's definitely the last one. I saved £100 from last month's tax credit money so intend to send that towards paying off card. Might sound a bit strange but I have to try and find out what works best for me.

Overdraft is £260 pm but it gets paid off each time, then I just spend it again.
Credit card is £1000, and I have my first £100 towards it.

My dad has given me the £60 for the dentist and £29 for eldest swimming lessons. Am putting some cash in a tin and have £20 towards next swimming sessions, £10 for dance lessons and £10 to go towards holiday in July - only managing to go away because I saved tokens from the paper and I had to pay for it straight away, so it's just spends that I need. Oh we're saving 2p coins for the slot machines on holiday.

Couldn't use link given for SOA, don't know why, presume it's a breakdown of everything. I have a spreadsheet with bill payments is this the list that I should be posting?

Thanks to all for help, continued support is definitely the way to go!

onedayiwill

Don't know why you couldn't follow the link - but you are right ... it's a breakdown of everything - income, outgoings, list of debts & aprs. Folk can then help you by giving you ideas of where to cut back so that you can find more money to put towards your debts. If you forget anything on the soa don't worry - folk will point it out Just get something posted as a starting point.