Wake up call time

retromother

Hi. Well done acknowledging your debts. When I was your age I had just moved in with my now husband. My ex had ran up £14k worth of debt across my credit cards (I had stupidly put him on as second user as he was picking me up from work and I thought he could bang the petrol on the card. He turned out to be an emotionless, greedy, well you can imagine). We were broke and have spent the past eight years struggling, yet we now have only £5.5 k left.

You will never have as much disposable income as you do living at home. So take advantage of this time. Because once you live with a partner and have bills to pay, kids to support and debt to boot, a night out will seem like a distant dream. Get it paid off now and you'll still be able to enjoy a social life in the future.

I made a massive mistake in my 20s and regret it every day. Debt can be like a prison sentence, please don't drag it out for anything.

Broke_Kitty

rubywhatashmoo wrote: »

Just caught up on your diary - I think you've done fab with the tweaks you've made so far - not sure why you should have to cancel xmas altogether if you can manage to budget for it and still be overpaying - keep up the good work, you can't cancel the rest of your life til you've cleared your debts, it's just nonsense!!

Thank you! I've done some serious bargain hunting and enjoyed the challenge of finding good presents cheaply as much as giving them in the first place!

As for the makeup well I am just simply not going to stop wearing any, it's a big part of my identity and something I'm really passionate about, I almost went down the makeup artist route so not wearing it myself is a BIG no. I've downgraded from Estee Lauder to Maybelline and I think that's good enough.

retromother wrote: »

Hi. Well done acknowledging your debts. When I was your age I had just moved in with my now husband. My ex had ran up £14k worth of debt across my credit cards (I had stupidly put him on as second user as he was picking me up from work and I thought he could bang the petrol on the card. He turned out to be an emotionless, greedy, well you can imagine). We were broke and have spent the past eight years struggling, yet we now have only £5.5 k left.

You will never have as much disposable income as you do living at home. So take advantage of this time. Because once you live with a partner and have bills to pay, kids to support and debt to boot, a night out will seem like a distant dream. Get it paid off now and you'll still be able to enjoy a social life in the future.

I made a massive mistake in my 20s and regret it every day. Debt can be like a prison sentence, please don't drag it out for anything.

Oh god what an awful situation to be left in, you're well rid there! Congrats on getting it down to £5.5k, you'll have it paid in no time

I'm definitely making the most of living at home, while also trying to not take the P*** and actually help out too as my mum doesn't earn - I'm essentially the only breadwinner in the household, so I don't mind buying the household shop! I'm better at doing it on the cheap than she is anyway! nobody needs 6 different kinds of cheese...

I think it's safe to say that my parents' spending habits definitely contributed towards my attitude to money up til now :rotfl:

retromother

Yes sometimes parents have a huge influence on our own spending habits. You grow up seeing something as normal.

Christmas is tough. I still struggle every year despite knowing the right thing to do, it's easier said than done. Forward thinking for next year is the best advice I can give you (and myself)

You could always treat your mum to a load of cheeses after Christmas. The supermarkets always have tons of cheese boards on sale after chrimbo

Broke_Kitty

retromother wrote: »

Yes sometimes parents have a huge influence on our own spending habits. You grow up seeing something as normal.

Christmas is tough. I still struggle every year despite knowing the right thing to do, it's easier said than done. Forward thinking for next year is the best advice I can give you (and myself)

You could always treat your mum to a load of cheeses after Christmas. The supermarkets always have tons of cheese boards on sale after chrimbo

Yes that's a nice idea!

Got my text from the bank that I get every Friday lunch to tell me my balance, it's so nice to have a positive balance. This time two months ago it would just be a gnawing reminder of how far into my overdraft I was and now I don't even have one! Woop! £300 to last me until the end of the year which does include my £100 CC payments, but puts me bang on budget for the month as a whole which is really exciting! The budget worked! This was my first full month on a strict budget so that's exciting for me.

I just checked my online banking too and have £7.43 cashback from my morrisons shop and a Christmas present I got from Play.com (I even had a little shop around to make sure it was cheapest from there, I'd usually have just got it from Amazon and assumed it was cheapest!). Thanks Lloyds! I've put it straight in the 'debt overpayments account' even though it's due to be paid in in January, just so that I don't forget to!

Broke_Kitty

Today is DD day for my two CCs, I'm in a bit of a panic because they're showing as having left my bank account, but when I log into my accounts for each of the cards it says the payments are overdue. ARGH. What does this mean? Should I ring them in a panic or trust that it will be okay?

On a happier note though, my dad has given me £80 for Christmas, so that's gone into the Debt Overpayments bank account, and I found 42p roadkill.

I was also feeling a bit deflated that my signature was only showing me having paid off £677 in the past two months, but then realised I hadn't added my £500 overdraft which I have paid off, or my 'small' £597 loan which was also paid off last month - feeling a lot more pleased with myself now

Also very happy because it's been two full months since I last spent any money on credit, I didn't even open the letters with my pin numbers from my new 0% cards, just stuck them straight in a drawer. I've gone from not being able to live within my means, to managing to do so AND make overpayments. I think I deserve to sit back and enjoy Christmas and New Year

Verbatim

Brilliant! I think you do too. Have a good one.

Broke_Kitty

Also I just got an email saying I've been paid £63 from my blogging/youtube channels Happy Christmas to me from my little hobby! Going in the overpayments fund when it reaches my account, which brings the total up to £159 which is WELL over target already for January for overpayments!

Also adding that on to what I've paid off my loan since I joined this forum in November, as the 1% thread has taught me, that's 12% paid off in two months, and that's not even taking into account the extra I WILL be putting towards it before the end of January. Or the minimum payment that's still coming out on the 31st.

Shoe_Gal

Just read through from the beginning and I think you're doing really well! :j Coming from somebody who has been here 5 years, half way through paying off £30k - but have always insisted on 'having a life' whilst I do it!

fallen121

Hello, I wear contact lenses but I buy mine online from feel Good Contact Lenses who often have free P&P and they are also on Quidco so you can get cashback as well.


I am on a scheme with my local optician where I pay £3 per month on a "no supply" contact lens scheme and that gets me free eye tests twice a year which covers both glasses and contact lenses (which would otherwise be charged for separately). My prescription is quite severe, so the 25% discount I get on glasses as a result of belonging to this scheme is worth having although I only change the frames if I have to - the discount applies even if you are just buying new lenses for old frames. Also I try and split the payments as my optician offers interest free over 4 months.


Unfortunately because I am extremely short sighted there are risks associated with laser surgery which I am not prepared to take. I have tried Vision Express and some of the cheaper opticians but I need multifocal contact lenses because my near vision is deteriorating even with contact lenses and also I have one eye slightly undercorrected which gives me better distance vision, so it's not easy to keep changing opticians as they all have different opinions about how to correct your eyes and the money you save chopping and changing opticians may result in you having to throw away lenses when optician #2 tells you that optician #1 was doing it all wrong and completely changes your prescription..


I also get a discount on solutions although I rarely use this as it is often cheaper to buy solutions from Boots using Advantage Card points or buying using a double points card.


Have you asked if your optician offers a cheaper monthly scheme whereby they don't supply the lenses? In effect you are just paying for your eye tests monthly in advance but the discount on glasses is a bonus if and when you need to change them.

u_r

well done you..read all the thread....from the frst few posts through to the recent ones, you have actually made progress in financial maturity( does that even make sense!!!!!!!)

e.g the posts just show the thought and effort u are putting in......just one thing from me...........u are very very young, have a long life ahead of you. if you can bring the social costs to vey minimal and be vvvvv frugal in otherthings too.....u could pay up quicker and then hav a hassle free life for longer!!!!!!!

also a thought....could you not borrow some money from mum( now dat she is not spending on going overseas)...dat would be interest free loan from her, which will enable you to pay off one of yur other loans??