Road to Debt Free Help

lizzydarcy

This is my story - its a little long but hopefully it will yield better advice.

Until the latter part of last year, I pretty much had all my student days debt paid off or under control. A few more months and I would have been free and clear. I was also working full time so had a higher income than now.

Unfortunately, family circumstances intervened and I found myself on benefits for 8 months and could not cover my bills. I fell back on my evil credit card and my overdraft to help.

Now the family circumstances have settled, I've now returned to employment. I love my job and everything about it However, my security checks took so long, I've started right when the business quietens down and overtime hours have dried up.

I'm on a basic contract of 20 hours which I accepted for several reasons - family issues, part time student etc - and also because I was advised that overtime was currently plentiful.

My credit history is really good. I have always managed my finances well and even when I was on benefits, I made sure I was paying more than the interest. I have also cut all non-essentials expenses out, cut my spending right down etc.

Anyway, it all boils down to this - while my basic salary is enough to cover my expenses, there's not much left to tackle my evil credit card and overdraft. I can pay above the min. payments though. If I had something worth selling to raise the money, it would be on eBay right now.

Ideally to be debt free in a year, I need to be making payments of just under £90 a month. If I make it longer, I end up with more to pay off because of the evil interest. It's just not practical on my salary.

I've spoke to work about more hours and its a no go topic for now - I think my only chance would be if someone left and I took their hours (which is very unlikely as its a very new, very small team.) As for getting a 2nd job, my job involves shift work and it randomly changes so I wouldn't stand any chance of balancing them.

So, right now, I am staring at a budget, trying to figure the best course of action.

Tixy

Hi

Have you consider looking in to if you can find anything you could do from home (in your own time and to suit).
Might be worth a look on the up your income board for ideas.

Is your shift work 7days a week? How much notice do you get of your shifts?

Anyways to reduce other outgoings? have you done a full money make over on every expenses (shopped around for cheaper suppliers etc)?

lizzydarcy

Tixy wrote: »

Hi

Have you consider looking in to if you can find anything you could do from home (in your own time and to suit).
Might be worth a look on the up your income board for ideas.

Is your shift work 7days a week? How much notice do you get of your shifts?

Anyways to reduce other outgoings? have you done a full money make over on every expenses (shopped around for cheaper suppliers etc)?

Thanks for your reply.

I haven't looked for work I could from home as yet - I wouldn't mind doing so but I am not one for the patience to tons of surveys. As for my job, its all 7 days with about two week's notice if no emergencies crop up.

I don't have many bills as it stands anyway but each bill was cut down to the bare min when I had to go onto benefits - I got rid of a lot of things at the same time. I pretty much reduced my outgoings by 75%.

katsu

Will overtime come along later in the year or maybe into next year? Is it just a period of time you have to survive?

lizzydarcy

katsu wrote: »

Will overtime come along later in the year or maybe into next year? Is it just a period of time you have to survive?

Overtime is all dependent on the business. For the rest of this year, unless someone is sick or on holiday, I won't received any. It is likely I'll get some from April next year but this is not a guarantee.

Even then, any overtime available will need to be shared by another teammate as he is desperate for extra hours too.

It's just something I am going to have to cross my fingers until they hurt about.

LittleMissDetermined

Hi

I have a full time job but also work for the body shop at home, there are consultants all over the country so should be available wherever you live. The parties can be as frequent as you like, take a few hours and you get 25% commission. They have lots of offers to boost sales and hosts get free shopping if party sales hit £150 so they are happy

I know there are lots of other party planner lines out there, is this something you have considered?

I do hope you get sorted soon, the crossing your fingers til they hurt doesn't sound nice

LMD x

lizzydarcy

LittleMissDetermined wrote: »

I know there are lots of other party planner lines out there, is this something you have considered?

Its not something I've considered. I had considered AVON but here's where the defeatist part of me kicks in - a close friend of mine has already done it before and she told me for all the effort she was making, she was making nothing.

I am tempted by this though - I'm actually thinking about ideas already ... might actually not be practically though. With Christmas coming up, it might be worth me giving it a go and see how I do. I do love Body Shop too which will be a big help.

Our nearest Body Shop, following closures, is Cardiff which for some people isn't local at all.

My main concerns are:

• I won't get many parties at all because I don't have a large circle of friends in my area. So, it is quite a poor town with a lot of unemployment - I just don't see them spending BS prices when they usually buy cheap stuff stuff from down the market.
  
• I'm absolutely useless with make-up. I've actually taken to only wearing BB cream to work. Outside work, I go sans makeup
  
• I googled and read some not to positive reviews by "former consultants" (could be people pretending) about how its all really sales focused all the time and how there can be issues with stock.

But I have to say, I am really keen to learn a little bit more this and if it would make a viable option for me.

How do you find it? (Feel free to PM me back if you rather)

LittleMissDetermined

lizzydarcy wrote: »

Its not something I've considered. I had considered AVON but here's where the defeatist part of me kicks in - a close friend of mine has already done it before and she told me for all the effort she was making, she was making nothing.

I am tempted by this though - I'm actually thinking about ideas already ... might actually not be practically though. With Christmas coming up, it might be worth me giving it a go and see how I do. I do love Body Shop too which will be a big help.

Our nearest Body Shop, following closures, is Cardiff which for some people isn't local at all.

My main concerns are:

• I won't get many parties at all because I don't have a large circle of friends in my area. So, it is quite a poor town with a lot of unemployment - I just don't see them spending BS prices when they usually buy cheap stuff stuff from down the market.
  
• I'm absolutely useless with make-up. I've actually taken to only wearing BB cream to work. Outside work, I go sans makeup
  
• I googled and read some not to positive reviews by "former consultants" (could be people pretending) about how its all really sales focused all the time and how there can be issues with stock.

But I have to say, I am really keen to learn a little bit more this and if it would make a viable option for me.

How do you find it? (Feel free to PM me back if you rather)

Really sorry I have only just seen this. I have replied to your PM though. I haven't had any issues with stock and through the website there is a daily stock update so you know when o-o-s things are coming back in.

There are many offers on where they do cheap bundles and 30% off ranges so I would say there is something for everyone and most people know that Bodyshop is good quality.

Have a read of my PM and get back in touch if you need more info

LMD x

lizzydarcy

Today at work, I had a fantastic shift. My boss was full of praise for my performance so I left with a big smile on my face.

The only issue was that when I arrived for my shift we received an email from a neighboring branch (and when I say neighboring we are talking about a branch miles and miles away - it would be a fair commute) saying they had opportunities for cover at the latter part of next month to mid November or Christmas depending on the situation.

I jumped at the chance to ask my boss if I could be considered and she flatly refused - she said I need more experience and to complete my six week probation.

I'm not gonna kick up a huge fuss because I have to admit this is the best job I've had since finishing Uni but I really wanted to have a good moan. By the time the cover arrived, I would completed all my training and probation period.

On top, the extra hours would have meant for nearly a month, I'd be working full time -something I am not able to do all the time given my circumstances!

Thinking about how close I am to that extra pay has me so annoyed.

On the positive side though, it has reaffirmed what the company told me that opportunities for extra hours do exist.

Scritti

lizzydarcy wrote: »

Today at work, I had a fantastic shift. My boss was full of praise for my performance so I left with a big smile on my face.

The only issue was that when I arrived for my shift we received an email from a neighboring branch (and when I say neighboring we are talking about a branch miles and miles away - it would be a fair commute) saying they had opportunities for cover at the latter part of next month to mid November or Christmas depending on the situation.

I jumped at the chance to ask my boss if I could be considered and she flatly refused - she said I need more experience and to complete my six week probation.

I'm not gonna kick up a huge fuss because I have to admit this is the best job I've had since finishing Uni but I really wanted to have a good moan. By the time the cover arrived, I would completed all my training and probation period.

On top, the extra hours would have meant for nearly a month, I'd be working full time -something I am not able to do all the time given my circumstances!

Thinking about how close I am to that extra pay has me so annoyed.

On the positive side though, it has reaffirmed what the company told me that opportunities for extra hours do exist.

Hi there.

I would say that it's hardly surprising that you were turned down if you're still in your 6 week probation period. It might suck but you just have to accept it.

On the positive side, if you've been there less than 6 weeks and this opportunity has already arisen, it sounds like, as you were advised, this is likely to happen again. Maybe another chance for extra work will come up in the next few weeks or months. Or someone might get ill or drop out (if it's a fair commute) closer to the time.

If you really do love this job, I'd try not to let this get you down too much and try to stay positive that things will work out and you'll get the extra hours you need.

I too am reliant on overtime (every year I manage to top up my salary by about 7 grand or more and have done for about 6 years now). Every six months or so, I go through a period where there is no overtime and looks like there won't be any for some time and EVERY SINGLE TIME something has happened which meant that the O/T was available again (sometimes lots of it) very soon afterwards.

I used to get very stressed during these periods but it's happened so often now that I just ride it out, knowing things generally sort themselves out.

I'll keep my fingers crossed for you that you get what you need and as soon as possible. I don't particularly enjoy my job (don't hate it but it's a long way from what I'd like to be doing) and only stay because of the salary, (relative) job security and O/T opportunities.

If I really loved a job as you do yours, I'd try to ride out the lack of hours atm, keep positive and try to keep impressing your co-workers and bosses as much as you clearly already have with your performance and enthusiasm. Over the years I can count on one hand the number of genuinely enthusiastic people I've worked with. Keep keen and positive, turn up on time and show lots of enthusiasm and I think you'll soon go far and will hopefully eventually get first consideration for any extra hours.

I wish you the best of luck!!

lizzydarcy

Scritti wrote: »

I wish you the best of luck!!

Thank you very much for your lovely reply!

I know in my gut it is a bit soon for me to be covering at other branches but I thought in this case that because it wasn't going to be straight away, I might have stood a chance.

I've already had a couple of hours of overtime (literally) at my own branch due to sickness within the team. I think my best hope this side of Christmas is if the only person within our team who is considered experienced enough does the overtime at the other branch and I cover for him at ours.

However, he's unlikely to do it. Its an even worse commute for him than me.