Feel like everything is passing me buy and not getting anywhere :-(

carefullycautious

If you want to be inspired read some of this blog


http://frugalincornwall.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Debt%20reduction

It may just make you think about where your money is going

Read her story about being in 45k of debt

Also if you are struggling now you will struggle even more with a mortgage and the upkeep of a house to pay for. Don't envy others it is a waste of energy that you could be using for other things.

If you are all healthy and have a roof over your head and food to eat then you are blessed.

ruggedtoast

chrisyboy wrote: »

I have been a member for quite a well and every so often visit this site but have never really said much. Basically I guess I feel a bit low right now with my current situation with regards to finances and my current housing situation. I am 31 years old and live with my partner her son and our daughter who is almost 3. I have been with my partner for 6 years and I moved into her house which we have been renting from our local housing association. I have worked really hard since I left school and have worked for the same company for almost 14 years. I had some savings when I met my partner however, children, furniture, bills, general struggling to live have wiped out my savings and I have been in debt for the last few years. I am now beginning to pay these debts off but every time I set myself a target I never seem to meet it, something always crops up and ends up costing me money. I have managed to pay off 1 loan buy owe my boss £3300.00. I am also £1900.00 into my overdraft. I earn a decent wage which luckily has just gone up, now £26,400 + 1 months pay bonus which I get in September which will hopefully pay off my overdraft. I have managed to save approx. £1900.00 however that's taken what seems forever to save. My goal was to try and pay off all my debts this year but I doubt that will happen, I have a huge electricity bill and car tax to look forward to next month! I guess some of you probably wonder why I am worried but year after year my financial situation never seems to get much better, I have to sit at work and my colleagues bragging about their new cars and houses and I haven't got any of that and work just as hard as everyone else! I try to save as much as I can and it never really gets any better and all I really want is my own house, my main worry is I am not getting any younger and if I still don't have a deposit by 35 I will struggle getting a mortgage. Being realistic if I am only say £1000 better off every year how am I going to have £10,000 + in 4 years, I work my but off as it is now! I have tried other options but time is flying by so fast I am worried sick I will never have my own house and will be working all my life just to survive!

I guess I should be grateful for what I have but I just feel lately that my lifes not going anywhere!

You might not be rich in money my friend, but it is never too late to enrich yourself in another way... with paragraphs!

ValHaller

chrisyboy wrote: »

I have to sit at work and my colleagues bragging about their new cars and houses and I haven't got any of that and work just as hard as everyone else!

They are probably keeping schtum about a whole heap of debt

Davesnave

ruggedtoast wrote: »

You might not be rich in money my friend, but it is never too late to enrich yourself in another way... with paragraphs!

Evening officer, it's obviously a quiet night for the Literacy Police.

Tancred

I bought my first house at 38. It would have been nice to have purchased earlier but I just couldn't afford it. People in the UK have traditionally bought at early ages, often very early, but this is no longer possible with such high prices and the large deposits necessary. What we really need is a fairer private rented sector, but I doubt any government will want to try to impose rent controls etc for fear of driving away landlords.

Lord_Baltimore

deleted...

chrisyboy

Apologises I have not replied earlier, thats a great read and represenents my prediciment and probably many more bees! I will try to cheer up, just saved myself £8.00 a month on car insurance, not much but it all helps!

Lord_Baltimore wrote: »

What's this? We can't have one of the worker bees getting upset. It disturbs the hive. You're not a banker or one of the landed gentry; you're a slave to the system and your reward is hard work until you drop.

Of course, there will be rewards for you along the way, after all, you have given up your freedom to serve the hive but it's your job to create the honey for others to enjoy. Stop moaning that they won't give you a fair share; how can they get fat by sharing fairly? Dear Lord.

Unfortunately, enlightenment hurts. Enlightenment is what you are currently experiencing. You have the overwhelming urge that there is more to life than sustaining the Queen bee. And there is.

It's true that the hive gives you a home, a family and food but don't expect luxuries. In fact, as the honey has been squandered lately (not your fault), all you should expect is to work harder to replace it. You won't be better off as a result though but you will become an embittered old bee. That's 'b' for b'stard by the way.

There are meadows that don't cost anything. Free countryside, free air, freedom. No more commuting and no more daily slog for a boss who will never be happy. Let the boss fill his own hive with honey and when he realises he can't, he will be nicer to the worker bees.

By the way, when a worker bee dies he gets pushed out of the nest. All that hard graft and you don't even get to keep your own hexagon. The boss will gleefully give that to someone else as soon as he can.

I think I'm feeling the same way as you; that somehow I'm being stung. I think the whole hive is being stung except for those eating the honey that we provide.

Cheer up Chrisyboy, we're all in this swarm together. The boss said so:D.

chrisyboy

Sometime it just takes someone to spell it out for you, my head has been in the clouds but you are right, most of the things which 'crop' up are things that I should have budgeted for such as Car tax, a stonking electricity, I am going to go through all my expensies today and try to come up with a plan! thanks

R_P_W wrote: »

When you say things crop up? What kind of things? Give a couple of examples. I hear my friends say it all the time, but they say things like car insurance, car tax etc. all things that don't crop up - but inevitable annual costs that need to be budgeted for.

Obviously there are costs that you cannot foresee - so have a emergency savings pot is a good idea and use anything else to pay down debt.

chrisyboy

Lets hope so, will make me feel a whole heap better

ValHaller wrote: »

They are probably keeping schtum about a whole heap of debt

lindsaygalaxy

I often feel the same, try not to let it get you down. I am getting closer to 30, and have 2 kids, a now fantastic partner and good job, but things have not always been like this and this summer if will have been 5 years since I went bankrupt due to a very bad choice of ex and no courage to stand up to him. But 30 is not like 30 50 years ago, it is no age at all. It can just be hard when friends are all buying (though most of mine that are have no kids to support!).

Look at the positives. You are in social housing with much lower rent than private rent. This gives you 2 things - 1 the lower cost of renting and 2 you can buy your house at a cheaper rate in the future if you wish too. The council wouldnt help me at all (even when I was near homeless) and so I have had to always rent privatly, at the same cost a mortgage would meaning little room for saving and I had to go back to work to pay the bills instead of staying at home with the children.

An SOA is a statement of affairs - you're household outgoings. I have found that living on cash for a month rather than getting the debit card out - it makes you much more aware of what you are actually spending!

Personaly, I would you the £1900 you have saved to pay off the overdraft. You can then start at £0 each month and if you have anything left from the previous month you can move it straight to a savings account. The bonus in September I would use to pay off most of the money you owe your boss. You could then use the next few months to save as much as you can and aim to save the amount to pay the rest to your boss. Then you can really save.

Does your partner want a house? If she does it needs to be a savings target together. Could she do an extra shift a week in the evenings while you have the kids and save that? Or agree to save all the child benefit that you get?