bit depressed. Need to go on money crash diet!

jak

When I first found this site, I did really well and paid off a fair bit of debt. Then I had extra bills and used my credit card. So gutted, now I've only paid off a fraction of what I could've and i'm getting married in August. I really wish i'd done a bit better. Was meant to be debt free by now and I still owe nearly 6K. It was 7.5 k though so at least that's something.
Time to cut up that bloody credit card.
Any ideas for a money diet?
Bills are as cut back as possible.
Going to stop buying food I think.
Oh dear...
Feeling very sorry for self!

jak

I did it! Credit card cut up! ~got rid of 1 bit in the bin and will chuck out rest seperately.
Hooray!

Sea78

Yay! Well done! Could you do with posting your SOA again so that we can see any areas you could tighten a little before (and after!!) your wedding?

Sea xx

jak

SOA:
income:
me: 600
Partner: 1400
Total: 2000

Outgoings:
Food: 100
Toiletries: 20
Rent: 330
Electric:30
Phone: 10
Net:13
Sky tv and phone calls: 15
Mobile: 10
Grad loan: 82
Personal Loan: 79
Credit card: 110
Council Tax: 70
Wedding savings: 500
Bus fare:19.80

£1388.80 Outgoings

611.20 not spent.

What do I do with it? I don't understand.


How is it that i've no bloody money when i should have loads!
I don't understand. Wish I'd done this earlier.

climbgirl

I did something similar to this the other day - I've never really been in any debt but I've realised lately that instead of sticking to my budget and saving the money I'm meant to be saving, I'm wasting it away on silly little nothings. It's got to the point where I'm actually starting to dip into my savings each month to pay off my credit card (cash-back card, of course!). And unless I stop this overspending/wasting cash, it's the start of the slippery slope...

First thing I did was put a total ban on all non-essential spending - cancelled any dinner/movie/social plans I had, stopped any purchases of dvds/books/cds (my retail weakness) and wrote a big "NO!" sign on my credit card to discourage the impulse spends (I can't cut it up, it's used for work as well. And the "NO!" sign is quite effective thus far).

Then I sat down and went over my budget again. And again and again. I looked for ways I could trim the fat where it wouldn't hurt and I added in some small amounts of dvd/books spending each month. I figured that I'd be less inclined to blow the budget completely if I had a little leeway in there. (Like I said, I'm not in debt, just wasting more cash than I should be so cutting the budget right to the bone isn't necessary. But the principles are the same whether you're trying to save or pay off debt.)

The more I think about it, the more that I think paying off debt is exactly the same as losing weight or battling an alcohol addiction. You have to identify the reasons behind the overeating/overspending/overdrinking and work to cut or avoid the triggers. Staying motivated and staying on the wagon can be the hardest thing in the world to do, once that initial euphoria of facing up to the debt/weight/alcoholism wears off. And it seems to me that they all involve a day-to-day struggle to solve the problem, you need to form lifetime habits, there's no quick fixes.

I'm oversimplfying things a lot and I don't want to trivialise any of it. I just see a lot of parallels between them and think that treating debt/overspending like an addiction might help in breaking the habits that got you in financial trouble in the first place.

I'm rambling! If you've fallen on the wagon, what you have to do is start from scratch! And keep doing that every time you fall off. Minimise the damage as best you can (immediately stop all the activities that are causing you to overspend) and revisit that budget to find some more motivation to carry on.

climbgirl

jak wrote: »

£1388.80 Outgoings

611.20 not spent.

What do I do with it? I don't understand.

Well, it's being spent on something! Start a spending diary where you write down EVERYTHING you spend. I mean everything - every last penny! do it for a month and you'll start to see where the money's going and what you're wasting it on.

make sure your budget includes everything you spend on - not just bills and rent and food, but things like birthday presents/cards, all socialising, one-off bills you might have forgotten like subscriptions etc. these are things which people often forget in a budget and it's the reason why there's a sudden overspend each month.

do the spending diary for a month and identify where the wastage is. then work on ways to cut it out. ask yourself if you really need it? if you do, is there a cheaper way?

Sea78

Hi

You do seem to have quite a bit left over - could you start a spending diary writing down everything you spend and then you can see where it goes. also, how much are you needing to save for the wedding? Have you got enough yet?

Def consider everything you spend before you hand the money over - perahps joint he daily spending thread to help monitor yourself?

Sea xx

jak

Right, i'll start a spending diary to see where my money goes. At the end of the month i'll review it and see what i'm frittering it on! Thanks guys.
Not enough money saved yet ofr the wedding which is a worry. We have to save 500 a month to be able to pay for everything.
Am cutting every possible corner weddign wise and am doing well in that respect.

Sea78

You've been on the wedding saving tips thread? If not - well worth it

Sea xx

Mozette

Defo spending diary!!! Al those 'it's only a couple of quids' soon mount up. That's where it vanishes to...

jak

Thanks everyone! Feel a bit more on track now. Doing the unneccessary challenge in an attempt to clean up my act and have told BF to do the same! As we are in it together!!!
Wish me luck!
J
x