No more Shopping......

laurag89

So this is my second diary, I completely forgot about my first one after a few weeks but I have still been lurking on here reading everyone's stories.
A little about me..... I am 25, planning to buy a property with the boyfriend next year, but currently living at home with my mum. Working full time and seem to have a big problem with not spending my money on things I do not need.

My situation - Debts:

Natwest Loan: £9509.90 17% apr
Nationwide Loan: £4300 (approx) 10% apr
Barclaycard CC: £1375.18 (had to buy a car 0% and direct debit set up for £80 per month to clear it before the deal ends)

Money needed for next year:
£4000 for house deposit

I have stopped smoking as I knew money wise and health wise it made no sense to carry on, and there will never be a good time to stop.

I am not sure the best way to go about shifting the debts, and also with saving the money I need so any advice would be greatly appreciated. I am going to start budgeting, and keeping a diary of money spent so that I can stop myself spending funds I should now be saving.

Byebyedebthellolife

Hi Laura. I am new to all of this so don't really have any advice. Just wanted to say Hi and good luck

GunWharf

Good luck on your Journey!

My only advice Is leave your credit card at home or cut it up. Carry cash as you will find this harder to spend than handing a card over.

I will follow you and see how you get on. :beer:

laurag89

Thank you both! I appreciate you reading my post! Great idea of not taking the credit card around with me as there is always a temptation then to buy something I really could not afford and reason with myself that I can put it on my credit card and pay it off the following month but then it never happens!

mum2one

Good luck with all the plans, -
Credit card - Use an old margarine container and put the card in with water and freeze - if you need the card your have to make the effort to defrost it.

Spending Diary - Account for every penny, even it its 50p for a bar of chocolate, or £3 for a magazine - these are where the money slips too quickly

Breaks at work - can u take in a packed lunch, - maybe do half a week of buying, other half packed lunch

Clothes/Shoes - if you see something that you must have rate it out of 0 to 10, being a 10 I must have it now... but as you wont have your credit card - by the time you get home your have time to think do I really need it.

Money - Sounds a good plan to have the DD set up for your credit card, with the other debts, (whether loan, credit cards or overdraft, the one with the highest apr is the important one - pay the minimum payment off the others, then the rest chuck at the main card, so when thats paid off, attack the nest one

Loans - Check whether you can overpay on them or whether it is a final settlement, if its final settlement, put the difference between what you need to pay and the can pay - into a savings account then settle when you can

Savings - to be honest the interest rates aren't the best, - usually aim for an isa as your main account, then general saving account.

Pay a day - try pay a day - whether its £1 going into savings or ready for debt, - whether thats from money that you would have spent on cigs, coffee, lunch

Christmas/birthdays - Dont forget to budget for these - as this is where money can get "over spent"

1st month budgeting - use this as a trial and error month, yes your have a rough idea of what you what to spend, but something may crop up, you need more than you budgeted for eg petrol, so if at the end of the month theres differences - dont see as a failure, its a credit as it give you a firm base on which to move forward on. x

chevalier

YOu might want to fill in the Statement off Affairs that has a link on the first posters thread. That way you can go through your last 3 months of statements and REALLY find out where the money has been going.

YOu could also do the one in two out policy. Ie you only buy a moisturiser when you have finished two (if eg you have a large cosmetics horde). That way you are getting through things you have already spent money on AND decluttering at the same time.

Do you have some clothes that you could sell, to fund extra debt payments. Or anything recent that you could take back to the shops for a refund?

Good luck
chev

laurag89

Thank you mum2one there are some brilliant Ideas there I am going to write them down and put them into Practice. I can overpay my loans anytime I just get penalised 56 days interest or something like that, but It is still cheaper than the overall interest that they are going to be charging me.

Saving for the house is another big priority for me, as me and the boyfriend live 55 miles apart and only see each other at weekends for the moment, and this has been the case for over 2 years now. Think I need to save equally to overpaying debts, because the debts will affect the mortgage when I come to do it. Stopping the smoking will help, this is day 6 now! £7 a day I was smoking away!

Thank you Chevalier! Yes I am one of these people that hordes clothes and moisturiser, make-up, generally anything like that hehe. If I really put my mind to it I think there could be a lot of things I could sell, I have books and DVD's all over the place I never bother with.

I haven't bought anything recently, apart from a bit of a blow out in the Zara sale a month or so ago but I did take a lot of it back. I only kept things that I knew I would use and would last me next summer aswell. Have to admit I am actually getting much better with not wasting money in clothes shops now, but it still seems to disappear.

It is really the paying off loans, and saving at the same time that I can't seem to get my head around or a plan in place....... before now I was just paying as much of debts as possible but now saving is just as important to me. Wishing now that I had been more switched on when I was 18, 19 onwards and saved money rather than racking up debts.

laurag89

Thought I would update my Diary for today .....

It is my day off, have not even left the house so far but the good thing with that is I have not spent any money either.
I have been on Valued Opinions catching up with my surveys, when I claim my voucher rewards I keep them aside for birthdays and Christmas so that I don't have to use any of my wages.

Plans for the rest of the day are to clean my car, room and also start sorting through my clothes for some things I can put on Ebay which will clear some space in my wardrobe ... So I can actually find things.

Also going for a run with a friend from work all free things to do Should really make use of my gym membership (another silly waste of money, putting myself into a one year contract) but its £24.99 a month so not as bad as some, and I can cancel it in October. Which is exactly what I will do!

6 days 13 hours smoke free, and I have saved myself £45.60 (I used to smoke a packet of 20 a day) have no idea where that £45.60 is though, because I am low on money until payday which is Friday, but usually come the end of the month I would pay for my horrible habit on my credit card and then pay it off on the next payday. I will notice the money more after Friday, and hopefully this month will be the first month I still have money up until the next payday.

laurag89

mum2one: I forgot to mention I only work 5 minutes from home, I do drive it which is really lazy but my car is economical I come home for lunch so I never ever waste money on buying lunches.

NinjaSavingKat

Hello Op... a question.. On your first post you have £15185.80 in debt to loans or a CC. Where does the payday loan come into this or am I being thick? How much does is amount to?

You really need to consider throwing all assets and savings at the debt BEFORE you consider buying a house. I know you want to live with your boyfriend due to distance but if you don't get a grip on your spending and why you spend you are going to find yourself in serious difficulty if this spending continues and you can't pay your mortgage.

You're spending habits and debt will be taken into account when you apply for a mortgage. Will this be a joint mortgage? What about legal fees etc?

Fill out a "statement of affairs" form as stated by the others on here so we can see where the money is going - you might be amazed how we can help shave pennies of your spending - however - you need to STOP spending.

Cold turkey - no more shopping. Simple as that - there doesn't seem to be middle ground with you and your "spending" otherwise you wouldn't be in debt right? So it's all or nothing.. (easier to say)....

Whats more important - things or a home your own to put things in?

You are on the right track - you just need to refocus. And yes - sell everything that isn't nailed down!

Good Luck!

NSKx

laurag89

Thanks NinjasavingKat, I don't have a payday loan, I have a Natwest Loan and a Nationwide loan which are both consolidations of old cc debts etc. And the Natwest Credit Card which is my car but Im already paying the amount to the credit card required to clear it in its 0% deal.

The loan I was on about overpaying was the Natwest Loan as it has the highest APR, but I do get charged 56 days interest as a penalty everytime I overpay.

I will do a SOA so I can see exactly where everything is going, as mentioned I really have got to grips with the no shopping apart from my little slip up in the Zara Sale. I earn fairly good money, but a lot of it goes onto debts. I will get on with my SOA now.

The Mortgage will be joint, legal costs valuation etc will be on top, the £8000 joint will be just the basic 5% needed, so we will need a further couple of thousand for the other bits.

x