Feeling lost and overwhelmed...

Need_A_Map

I have a contract until October. In a couple of months, if I'm still struggling, I could look around - but realistically it would probably not be worth it. At £525 my flat's cheaper than most - I'm in a city, and many work colleagues pay £1000+ for (nicer and more modern) flats with a similar floor space a couple of miles away.

I don't drive, and currently walk to work, so no commuting costs. I rent a small flat, surrounded by shared student accommodation that's not available to non- students, so I'd likely have to move into an area I'd need to pay to commute from.

I might find somewhere cheap enough to offset this if I moved into shared accommodation, but truth be told - I've just ended an 8 year relationship that was a little sour towards the end. I value my space at the moment, at it would be the last thing I'd want to give up.

Not to say I wouldn't, but I'd like to try other things first. I've never defaulted on my essential bills, and hope this is a short term blip caused by a temporary (6 month) loss of reason.

I've just spoken to a friend at work who wanted some time off and have agreed to pick up a couple of her night shifts, tonight and next Friday (means I can still do all my day shifts and not run foul of the wtd). Kills my sleeping patterns, but should get me an extra £200 this month.

Also spent some time looking at my freezer. I'll run out of fruit and fresh veg quickly, but should have enough frozen and cupboard food to manage next month.

Stacks of meat and cheeses, some very nice pieces of fish, and bags of basic frozen mixed veg, but limited carb options.

Lots of tomato pasta bakes methinks. :money:

Oh, and I filled out the form on that step debt management website and requested their dmp application pack. Might not fill it in if I can figure an alternative, but no harm in looking it over.

Off to the old style board now to see if they've got any handy hints on what to do with the gammon I cooked yesterday - I'm thinking soup.

Feeling a little better after planning.

May be false hope, but I feel like I've acknowledged the elephant and picked up the shovel...

ViolaLass

Sounds like you're being proactive and making steps in the right direction with your eyes wide open. Keep it up.

jodles16

Just wanted to say that its understandable that you will think negatively and feel overwhelmed, but your taking positive steps and that means you can definately do this! You can sign up to survey sites, its a slow earner but might be helpful. I use valuedsurvey, yougov and onepoll. If you pop onto the challenges about earning x amount a day they have loads of other ideas to, including selling things in ebay etc.

Good idea on the night shifts, that will def help you feel a little better towards pay day! One of the biggest tips I like from this website is that every penny counts!

I wish you all the best on this journey x

longtermplanner

£3000 credit union loan (paid at £250 a month before I get my pay check)

So your £1100 a month income is after paying this, correct? When will the loan be repaid, because that will make a HUGE difference.

re the gym membership. It has to go, the cash flow is killing you. Just stop paying. Then it becomes just another debt that you need to repay, offer them £5 a month. (If it's the gym that let you lose all that weight, take up running. look at the Couch to 5k program from the NHS.) Your credit rating will already be poor because of the catalogue arrears so this won't make it worse.

[Deleted User]

Are the catalogue debts really at 0%?

Need_A_Map

longtermplanner wrote: »

£3000 credit union loan (paid at £250 a month before I get my pay check)

So your £1100 a month income is after paying this, correct? When will the loan be repaid, because that will make a HUGE difference.

re the gym membership. It has to go, the cash flow is killing you. Just stop paying. Then it becomes just another debt that you need to repay, offer them £5 a month. (If it's the gym that let you lose all that weight, take up running. look at the Couch to 5k program from the NHS.) Your credit rating will already be poor because of the catalogue arrears so this won't make it worse.

Yes, the £1100 is after my credit union payment. It was a £3000 loan to pay off my ex and move him out - well worth it. My figures are based on having already paid off the interest with the payments to date, so my back of an envelope calculations tell me I'll have paid it off by this time next year - twelve (or possibly 11 as I'm not sure if this months would have been applied before I called). When I spoke to the lady she said I could change it to pay back over 3 years, but they need a month to process the paperwork.

No good for this month, but maybe longer term - moves it to £160 a month, but I end up paying nearly £5000 back in total. Seems silly if I don't have to.

I'm actually fairly well paid - £20,950 per annum, but loads of deductions (student loans, work and state pension, taxes, credit union payment). And I've handled it badly recently.

It's like, when someone's under a lot of stress (keeping a bad relationship going, taking care of a sick parent, holding down I reasonably pressured job), and that stress suddenly all goes away at once. One trigger kicks of a complete change. It's like a weight was lifted and it made me a little... I want to say simple, but almost giddy, for a little while. Hopefully it's not too late to pull it back.

This is completely the only time I've ever lived alone. Took a bit of getting used to.

Look at me sounding like an old fart :rotfl: I'm thirty in about 18 months. Plenty of time to turn it around!

I know I can extend the terms on my existing loan, or by Christmas I could borrow more from the credit union (it's low rate because they know they'll get paid by work as long as I stay employed) but that's 6 months away and more debt right now seems like a bad idea...

I'm expecting to default on the gym this month. I've read the terms and know I've got a month to pay it back before they start sending scary letters. I actually rarely go anymore. A friend was chucking out a cheap treadmill which has been in my lounge the last two months - up to three miles a day, three times a week. Miss the weights and company, don't miss having to walk there in this heat.

Truth is I'm in a bad headspace today - caught myself thinking that I could get another pd loan on the 1st but only a small one and that wouldn't be so bad - where'd that headbang emote go?

I think I'm freaking out because I can't go grocery shopping next month - I have crazy (literally) amounts of food in. Just can't think how to evenly spread it out. And hate cooking for one

Need_A_Map

Bedsit_Bob wrote: »

Are the catalogue debts really at 0%?

0% for 12 months on purchases, but they add £12 every time I don't make a payment.

[Deleted User]

Can you reduce the payment to Littlewoods, and increase it to Simply Be and Very?

Need_A_Map

Bedsit_Bob wrote: »

Can you reduce the payment to Littlewoods, and increase it to Simply Be and Very?

At this very moment I'm not actually paying any of them.

Part of the problem is that they want paying every 4 weeks, and I wasn't paying attention and got a loan to cover the shortfall I hadn't expected. So now, I'm in the situation where (with my overtime shifts, and not spending a single penny this month) I can just about pay back my pd loans, default of anything non-essential that I can't cover, and write them all lovely begging letters next month apologising and asking for a 12 month payment plan and my accounts to be frozen.

Then I need to be blocked from online shopping - forever.

Sound like a plan?

patman99

One thing that puzzles me is that you say you earn just over £20,000 p/a, but this would work out at way more than £1100 p/m after deductions.

I used to take home £1250 p/m on an £18k p/a salary.