Hana's hunt for financial awesomeness ^_^

Hana_

So, it's time to get real! I am 24 and have spent stupid amounts of money since leaving home at 18. I had a nest egg that I stupidly did not spend wisely, supported my other half (he was not allowed to work on his visa for 6 months) and have rented houses I can't afford.

I took out a loan of £3000 and then paid nearly half of it off only to get *another* loan to pay off a credit card that the interest sucked on. I have taken my credit card down from £1750 to £500 with the intent of only spending a little of it each month and paying it off in full each month which I have not done. I make promises I can't keep to myself but not anymore!

Between me and my other half we bring home £3000 after tax a month. Rent is £775 and bills/loan repayments are around £500. Realistically, if we live within our means and don't go mental with our money, we can save approx 350-400 a month. This needs to happen!

This month I saved £400 which joined another £200 I had put aside for spending money for a holiday so I have £600 in savings now. No need to pull any money out of a credit card or similar for the holiday so no excuses.

Time to pay off some debt! The aim is to spend no more than £200 a week which is about £28 a day which is plenty but then there's the day I need £70 for the food shop and then my budget sort of flies out the window. I'm going to be writing down what I'm spending every day/week to see where the wasted cash is going.

I don't drive and have no kids, just pets.

I'm close to pay-day and very, very skint (although not skint enough to stop spending so much money!!) so will start the proper money counting from the first day of pay-day. Until then I'll just write down what I'm spending so I can see what a tit I'm being.

21-5-14:

Got lift to work
Bought a packed lunch but bought lunch instead: £7.49

killerpeaty

Hi Hana!

Well done for starting your debt free journey, I will be watching with interest. Have you done a SOA? You don't need to post it online but setting one up (that's honest) will really help you see where you can cut down.

Money saving comes with practice so don't worry if you have slip-ups.

beanielou

Happy shiny new diary
Keep posting!

Hana_

Hi

killerpeaty--what is a SOA, please? Sounds like something I should have!

Thanks for the welcome beanie

So not spent anything as I've been at work since yesterday evening (sleeping in duties, blurgh). Will need to withdraw £20 tonight to get to work and back as I'm doing a waking night shift somewhere that is almost impossible to get to without driving (bus routes don't go there, etc). But aside from that we won't need anything. Making dinner from the cupboards tonight & have snacks all ready to take to my night shift. Got the chiropodist tomorrow so that will cost £15 but have budgeted for that already Now to avoid the wiiiiine on Friday night. Ho hum.

Being_Frugal

Good luck on you journey.:)

lozzy81

Ha ha!! My week is usually no spending until Friday... and then the pesky bottles of wine follow me home! I find not taking my purse out with helps as i can only spend the money in my pocket if i really need to

lotti379

Hi Hana! Welcome to MSE

Hana_ wrote: »

I took out a loan of £3000 and then paid nearly half of it off only to get *another* loan to pay off a credit card that the interest sucked on. I have taken my credit card down from £1750 to £500 with the intent of only spending a little of it each month and paying it off in full each month which I have not done. I make promises I can't keep to myself but not anymore!

I'll just write down what I'm spending so I can see what a tit I'm being.

So how much is the loan now, if you don't mind my asking?

And that last line made me chuckle, and a great place to start! Have you tried a spending app? Personally I find it much more useful than trying to remember things at the end of the day as I just tap it in as I go along!