Starting at the VERY Beginning!

CiderDrinker87

Hi everyone,

I'm a 25yo female with NO savings to speak of, and currently around £1600 of debt on various credit cards and store cards. Oh, and a big student loan to pay off, too.

I've been lucky enough to have my parents' financial support over the years, although I've slowly but surely been breaking away and testing the waters for myself (hence the debt... I've learnt the hard way that parents really do know best!)

I now live 200 miles away from my family, and am doing the job I always dreamed of doing... But like many of us, I always have waaay too much month left at the end of my money! I'm determined and motivated to get to grips with my finances and put effective budgets and systems in place so that I can actually start saving for my future, rather than living day to day and constantly worrying about my pennies.

I'm really excited to start my money saving journey in the company of like-minded folk. The advice and help I've already gotten from this site has been fantastic, and I look to forward to becoming part of the MSE community

CD x

Robin_TBW

If the credit cards have any interest rate higher than the interest rate of your savings account then don't save anything until you've paid off the debt (apart from the student loan) or you'll just be losing money.

cydney65

Hi Ciderdrinker,

Welcome to MSE. It's great to hear from someone who has made that first step towards getting rid of debt and making the most of their money. Robin is right, if the card rates are more than that of your savings it is best to pay them off first. A good way to find out how much you have coming in and going out is to fill out a statement of affairs (SOA)...here's a link:

http://www.stoozing.com/msoc/soacalc.php

I've started using this every couple of months to keep up to date with any new income and outgoings. If you want to, you can post it up on the debt free wannabee board (just press the format for MSE button, then copy and paste) and the peeps there can have a look at it and suggest ways to cut back and free up money for debt busting and saving. It worked for me...see my signature!

Keep us all up to date and good luck

Cydney X

CiderDrinker87

Brilliant, thanks so much for the advice guys

happykate

Hi!

I'm new too. I just wanted to say that I know how you feel, I too learnt the hard way that parents know best when it comes to most things!! I ran up a fair amount of debt in my early / mid 20's, consolidated with a loan, and am still paying some of that off (I'm 29 now) along with a credit card and a sofa to pay off. Money wise I can handle it at the moment, but I have very little in the way of savings so I need to tackle that too!

This year I am committed to getting most of my remaining debt cleared!

Good luck!