Determined to get myself out of this mess!

equinoxmatt

Hi!

Firstly to say, I am not in as deep as some of the stories on here, however it does feel pretty daunting to me!

I am a young professional and currently earning £1250 per month after tax. My partner usually brings home £900.

2 years ago, I had £35,000 from inheritance money, today, that is all gone.

It was all fine, I spent money on a cruise and learning to drive, plus first years insurance and first car. I still had about £15,000 to for a deposit on a house! That is when we had to move out of her parents place and move into our own rented house.

We stayed in that house for a year, over that year, I continuously dug into my savings, not realizing just how quickly they were depleting.

At the end of the 12 months in April, all my savings had gone. In 12 months I had spent £15000, along with our combined wages. It was frankly ridiculous. Not only had we not been meeting our monthly commitments, but we had been building up debt on various credit cards, utility bills and council tax. I should also note some of that £15000 was spent on a £1000 deposit for a new car after my first one went bad.

This is how I now stand:

Main Account: £ -627 (£700 overdraft limit)
Barclay card: £1,992
Virgin Mastercard: £1,142
Capital One: £449.97
Very: £340.99
Quickquid: £62.50
Car loan: £900 (I need to check this)

I calculate my net worth as being around £-5,500. Which is pretty depressing considering I was worth £35,000 two years ago.

Anyway after several months of living with my dad, with my partner, I have decided to face up to it and sort this crap out. We still get to the end of the month and don't have anything left, despire living with my Dad and earning a pretty good wage.

I downloaded YNAB and have entered all my figures into it and I have a clear plan to pay off all my cards this time next year. Time to stop 'Keeping up with the joneses.

This has been an eye opening experience for me (I am 25) and I really appreciate the good tips on here on how to save.

The YNAB app looks like it will be my saviour!

littleskintdragon

Have you started a spending diary to see where you spend the most?

Also maybe post a soa so that you can see if there are places you can cut back?

Good luck with the journey

equinoxmatt

Hi, I wont post an SOA because I think I know what I need to do! I just need to stick to it!! I will update this thread when I Can

My spending diary is being used, but within the YNAB app. I log every transaction so that app says the same as my bank balance! Hopefully I can see where I am spending the extra.

I did work out the other day I was spending £80 a month on lunch at work! How crazy!!! :eek::eek::eek::eek:

Thank you for your support! I can do this!

ifstar

Posting up a SOA will help, as quite often people can't see the wood for the trees.

horseshoe_crab

Hi, this is my first post on this forum I am basically in the same situation as you - 3 years ago I had about £15,000 to my name. Then various problems happened and now I am in the negative Now I am determined to get myself out of my mess. I have found it really useful to write the debt balance on my phone and pay off a small amount as often as possible, even if it is just £1, because the act of updating the balance on my phone screen is very encouraging and motivational and keeps my focussed on the end goal.