Young, free and simply stupid; MrCF takes control!

MrCrimeFiction

Hi everyone. Think it's my first post on here. Joined up the other day after having a real look at my finances. I've been a long time lurker but thought why not let's soo what joining can help with.

I'm hoping this diary can help me save money and get rid of my debt at the same time. It's a saving novel because I read a lot!

My finances are a bit of a mess. Due to being bad with money, cars and other things, I've gotten myself into a big amount of debt. Silly me. It's manageable, but hopefully this diary will help me save that bit more every month.

Please don't judge me by my past choices, I'm here to change my lifestyle.

Circumstances.....

My wage is at least £1650 monthly, sometimes more. Depends on bonus and overtime.

Loan 1 - £307
Loan 2 - £128
Car finance - £155
Car insurance - £65
Car fuel - £200
Rent - £200 - I still live at home.
Mobile Phone - £20
Gym - £20
Groceries - £100

Outgoings = £1200. This is without spending money and / or trips out with pals/other half. Sometimes my fuel isn't the the full 200 and sometimes I don't pay for groceries so it's will compensate itself out.

Al my money is within my current account. Due to it being the beginning of the month all the above bills have to come out, but I should be left the about £1000. I'm delighted to say that I have no credit cards anymore :j

I am aiming for 2k by Xmas. This is what I want after all bills are paid.

A little bit about myself. I am male, 21 and hold a full time job.

P.s my love as you can probably tell by my name is reading crime fiction books. I read everyday as it takes me to another world. Haha

That's all for the moment.

ColdIron

Have you considered contributing to this thread
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4844519
or this one
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4815948

WantToBeSE

I love crime/thriller books I read James Patterson, Tess Gerritson, Simon Kernick, as well as true life crime books.


Nobody here will judge your past choices, so I hope you feel at home soon!

MrCrimeFiction

Well my favourite authors are Stuart Macbride, Jo Nesbo and Luke Delaney. All fantastic. Reading just takes me away and I can forget about everything else.

Thanks for the links, I have joined one of them to save money until the end of the year.

I'm going to start leaving my debit card at home so I don't spend the odd £10 in tescos every other day.

It'll soon be Xmas aswell, all that money on pointless presents. I've started drafting up a lost of what family can buy for me. I hate getting things that are useless to me.

What is everyone else doing to save money?

WantToBeSE

MrCrimeFiction wrote: »

It'll soon be Xmas aswell.

Shhhhhh.......don't say that! LOL

Eco_Miser

MrCrimeFiction wrote: »

I'm going to start leaving my debit card at home so I don't spend the odd £10 in tescos every other day.

Or you could just not go into Tesco's every other day.

MrCrimeFiction wrote: »

What is everyone else doing to save money?

Primarily, not spending money.

Yes, that sounds facile, but you can only save what you don't spend.

Make a list of every penny you spend, then consider whether you needed to spend it.

You can also make your savings work for you by putting them in the top-paying accounts - currently TSB classic paying 5% AER on up to £2000, you're allowed two (if they accept you) so that will take your hoped for savings plus your wage. After that look at Lloyds, Nationwide, Santander and others paying 3% or more.

DoctorW

Hi mate,

The leaving the debit card at home thing reminds me of myself 5-6 years ago. I think the best way to go about it is not to do that, but train yourself to resist the temptations - ask yourself "do I really need this?" etc. all the time. Don't let it get to a point where you can't treat yourself but so many of our purchases in society are complete wastes, which if we engage our brains we quite easily realise we don't need.

For me, what worked was once I started saving, seeing how ISAs worked and S&S ISAs (though I definitely agree with the above posters regarding current account savers being the best option for you currently) you start to realise that every £10, £20, £100 you don't waste on something meaningless can go into an account which will start (however slowly at first) growing and working for you, which you can eventually use to retire early/buy a house/generally live a more relaxed life doing what you want to be able to do.

I think it's not a matter of fighting temptation not to spend, but realising what you can achieve and build if you make that money work for you elsewhere.

Get your loans paid off, providing they are higher interest loans than what your current account is paying (assuming they are!) and then start filling those current accounts. Later once you've built up a few and some emergency money you can start looking at other, more long-term options.

Good luck mate. If you're 21 and already thinking about this sort of thing, you're already well ahead of 80-90% of the population.

JoJoC

Hi MrCF, I said hello on another thread binding realise you had started your own.

I don't have my own thread, but just catch up regularly with WTBSE 's diary and Cathy's How to fall in love with saving money thread.

It's great to set yourself short term goals. Is your £2k by Christmas a realistic one? I'm hoping to be close to 6/7k by then if I can.

What's your motivation for saving?

atush

MrCrimeFiction wrote: »

Hi everyone. Think it's my first post on here. Joined up the other day after having a real look at my finances :T

My finances are a bit of a mess. Due to being bad with money, cars and other things, I've gotten myself into a big amount of debt. Silly me :mad: It's manageable, but hopefully this diary will help me save that bit more every month.

Please don't judge me by my past choices, I'm here to change my lifestyle.

Circumstances.....
My wage is at least £1650 monthly, sometimes more. Depends on bonus and overtime.

Loan 1 - £307
Loan 2 - £128
Car finance - £155
Car insurance - £65
Car fuel - £200
Rent - £200 - I still live at home.
Mobile Phone - £20
Gym - £20
Groceries - £100

Outgoings = £1200. This is without spending money and / or trips out with pals/other half. Sometimes my fuel isn't the the full 200 and sometimes I don't pay for groceries so it's will compensate itself out.

Al money money is within my current account. Due to it being the beginning of the month all the above bills have to come out, but I should be left the about £1000. I'm delighted to say that I have no credit cards anymore :j

I am aiming for 2k by Xmas. Please support me.

A little bit about myself. I am male, 21 and hold a full time job.
P.s my love as you can probably tell by my name is reading crime fiction books. I read everyday as it takes me to another world. Haha
That's all for the moment.

OK first things first. You really want the debt free forum, but as you debts are unknown lets start there. What interest rates are you paying on the 2 loans and car and how much is outstanding?

atush

And ys, please do a savings diary as it will show you where you are wasting money.

But there isn't a whole lotta sense in saving 2K by christmas if you are paying high interest charges, better to snowball your debt to get rid of it sooner. Better to save a smaller emergency pot to cover any upcoming emergencies so you dont get further into debt, and to reduce your outgoings.

MrCrimeFiction

Wow thanks for the replies. I've been on here all day learning about stuff. There is so much info. Here is a breakdown of my loans.

Loan 1 - £15500 - 60 months - 7.3%
Now - 42 months paying £307 monthly.

Loan 2 - £4000 - 36 months - 8.9%
Now - 27 months paying £128 monthly

Car loan - £5695 - 36 months - 13.9%
Now 31 months paying £155 monthly

Wow now I look at it, I owe a lot of money. At least I managed to get rid of my credit card.

I live in the middle of nowhere so I need a car and do at least 60 miles a day. There is no busses or other ways to travel. That's how my fuel bill is so big. My last car died and I quickly had to get a new car so I went for the cheapest newish car which would last. I plan on having it until it dies now. I have thought about selling it for an old banger, but then it would probably fail like my last banger. Cars are just endless money.

I will save until I reach my target as I need to help my other half with furniture with our (her) house which she is buying next year. As my financial position is rubbish, she will get it herself and I will just help pay for things until all my stuff is paid off. I should be able to save about £500 a month, even more with extra hours from work. After my target is reached I will try blasting off the car finance or the loans. No point paying interest every month. I do see that sense.

I will also bring food onto work everyday as I sometimes spend money on meal deals etc. All those £3 soon add up at the end of the month haha.

Think I might put my £1000 into an instant saver and put my monthly savings there as well. I don't want it in my current account as it will disappear. Will check out accounts over the weekend.

I feel like I've turned a corner. I'm smiling as I've seen what a mess I'm in, but I'm going to sort it out. Any more tips . Thanks. MrCF