I'm in debt, but it's a bit of a secret...

puddingpops

So here I am, jumping on the MSE debt busting train.

I've been wanting to start my own diary for a few weeks now, but haven't really known what benefits it would have, until I realised how crazed I get with spending when I'm not closely monitoring myself and my bank balance.

I didn't check my bank balance in two days, and managed 3 glasses of wine in the pub (plus one for a friend!) whoops! Can't happen again! Not on school nights at least.

Anyway, a little bit about my situation.

I'm in debt, but its a bit of a secret. I'm pretty sure my boyfriend knows I'm in debt, but I think he thinks I'm managing it better than I do. And at the moment I don't see much point in telling him as its my debt, so my problem. See, we've been together for a good few years now and in that time I have relocated for him, and therefore have struggled a bit with my career path. I know what I want now, but it happens to be working for not-for-profit organisations, and therefore, not exactly earning mega money. But I'm happy in my job and actually ENJOY going to work on most days. That's a good thing right?

The extent of my debt is as follows:

• CC - £2300
• OD 1 - £465
• OD2 - £1950

= £4715

Fun times right?

All this and a big unmissable family holiday / reunion this summer.

I've done an SOA, but I'm not entirely happy with its accuracy at the moment so I'm monitoring my spending like a woman possessed this month, to actually work out what is going on with my money.

Tiglath

Good luck - I'd be lost without my spending diary. I record every can of Coke, every pint of milk ... most of my spends were going on buying lunch at work so I knocked that on the head and freed up cash to pay extra off the debts.

puddingpops

Oh and I seem to have developed a slight obsession with Swagbucks and the like. So much so, I have a spreadsheet to document my earnings.

Bottom line reads like this:

Total earned (since Jan 1st 2013): £16.65
Target: £500.00

paye

if your living with your boyfriend I think you should tell him, £4715 is debt which you can easily clear with a bit of self discipline and managing your money carefully. Even if your not living with him you should still tell him as he might be able to help you out. Post up your SOR and I'm sure there will be areas where you could save money. You have made the first step by posting on here.

Good Luck.

puddingpops

Tiglath wrote: »

Good luck - I'd be lost without my spending diary. I record every can of Coke, every pint of milk ... most of my spends were going on buying lunch at work so I knocked that on the head and freed up cash to pay extra off the debts.

Hey Tiglath, thanks for the support. So far I've realised (besides the wine) its the frivolous after work supermarket shops and picking more expensive supermarkets as they save me all of 5 minutes walk on my way home. I am pleased to say I took the plunge and walked the extra 5 minutes yesterday, and my purse definitely thanked me for it! x

puddingpops

paye wrote: »

if your living with your boyfriend I think you should tell him, £4715 is debt which you can easily clear with a bit of self discipline and managing your money carefully. Even if your not living with him you should still tell him as he might be able to help you out. Post up your SOR and I'm sure there will be areas where you could save money. You have made the first step by posting on here.

Good Luck.

Thank you for your message paye.

Even without telling him, he does help out. The majority of extras he pays for (meals, nights out, holidays etc). If I asked him to help my out he probably would, but I want to do this on my own. I want to prove to myself that I can.

SOA coming up in the next week or so

Tiglath

I shop weekly (Saturdays) in Lidl/Wilkinsons/Farmfoods/local market, and monthly for catfood and cat litter. I did have one month where I popped into Tesco every night after work hunting for bargains, and that was the one month I went over-budget even with the reduced stuff. Aside from cat stuff, I've got the grocery/household budget down from £400 to £180/month for 2 adults; I even squeeze the occasional takeaway out of that. Meal-planning has really helped me, I keep a stocktake tab on my spreadsheet of pantry/freezer contents, and a standard shopping list of always-needed items. I love me a good spreadsheet

amyloofoo

Hope it goes well for you hun, I've also taken a lower-paid but more satisfying job so I can definitely see where you're coming from - it's so important to actually like what you do and want to be there.... you can't put a price on emotional and mental wellbeing.

If you told your partner, do you think he'd be supportive? If he's earning more than you, and you've moved jobs and areas in order to be with and support him, then maybe he'd be able to help you out? I know you say you want to do it on your own, and that's really commendable, but if he paid your debts and you paid him back then you'd be saving a looooot on interest. Just a thought...

puddingpops

Have had a rather restrained weekend, which is good.

Date night was Thursday night. OH treated to Sushi as had 40% off voucher. This was followed by a free film screening we were invited too.
Friday we went out with some friends for a few drinks, again very restrained compared to how we normally are.

Have also done a shopping list for the week, which I think I can get for £15, which I think is good.

Did the snowball thing last night which gave me hope - lots of hope actually! Even with saving £200 a month for holiday (will only be for next 4 months) I can pay off over £200 a month above minimum amounts.

OH is almost fully on board with the new austerity measures, which makes my life much easier! He still finds it quite amusing at times as I am getting really into this, but I'm very confident that he'll thank me at the end of the month when he sees how much money we've both saved!

Got a really hectic week at work so will involve late nights in the office and grilling (and maybe thrilling?) meetings so my main focus will be that, which is fine as it means no spending.

Gym also starts back this week, which I'm looking forward too. I think. :rotfl:

Also found a box of perfumes and make up that has never been used that I haven't thought about in over a year, so going to list it all on Ebay tonight. No idea how much I'll get for it, but each bit counts!

puddingpops

amyloofoo wrote: »

Hope it goes well for you hun, I've also taken a lower-paid but more satisfying job so I can definitely see where you're coming from - it's so important to actually like what you do and want to be there.... you can't put a price on emotional and mental wellbeing.

If you told your partner, do you think he'd be supportive? If he's earning more than you, and you've moved jobs and areas in order to be with and support him, then maybe he'd be able to help you out? I know you say you want to do it on your own, and that's really commendable, but if he paid your debts and you paid him back then you'd be saving a looooot on interest. Just a thought...

Hi Amy, thank you for your comments.

Yes I'm pretty sure if I told him he would be fine with it, but I still have this feeling that if he paid it all off that I'd always owe him something, even though I would pay him back. Does that make sense?

Am hoping for a pay rise in April though, which I'm hoping to discuss fully this week! Eeeek! x

puddingpops

Just about to hit the supermarket for the weeks essentials. Fingers crossed I can do it in under £15!