Newbie and a spendaholic overeating carer!

ShirePiskie

Hi welcome to being a wannabe - a big first step.

You might find doing a full Statement of Affairs on here, but I really think a basic overview of your monthly sending would help you.

Put down your income then all your planned outgoings. You might be surprised how much money you 'should' have left each month and it can be a real motivator to keep track off/ not fritter away that money which disappears on apparently nothing.

That money can go towards paying down your debt. It IS OK to have treats, you just need to plan for it.

Like FireWyrm, I'm a total YNAB convert. I would really recommend watching the tutorial videos (you don't need to buy it) to do this - even if you decide the software is not for you, the mindset to get in to is, in my experience, a financial lifeline.

Very good luck now you've decided to tackle it - Lots of advice and support on here and many many many people who have been/ are in the same boat!

joedenise

Another YNABber here. I seem to have freed up so much money since I bought YNAB software. Took a while to get my head round it and to start with I couldn't find the money in my finances but in the end decided it could come from the money I'd set aside for Household expenses, as thought it would definitely benefit the household.

At the beginning of the month I do my budget and then transfer the annual bills money to a savings account for when they become due. I have even managed to put savings aside, whereas before we never managed to save more than a few pounds a month.

I think it's definitely worth watching the tutorials on line (with the chance of winning a free copy) and then downloading the free trial. It was during the free trial that I managed to start off my savings pots and then release the money to buy the software.

Good luck.

Denise

Liliyanna

Hi OES,

Welcome aboard

There are some truly wonderful people on the boards who will give the best advice possible to help you out of this situation, all it takes is willpower!!!!

The general first steps to get you up and running are......

Post a Statement of Affairs (SOA), which is a detailed breakdown of your incomings and outgoings. There is a link for this which I'm sure someone more technical will post for you shortly. Fill this in and post it back here and the more knowledgeable amongst us will offer some advice on which areas can be trimmed down.

After that it's a case of making sure all your utilities/insurances etc are on the best deals around and you have sensible budgets for all aspects of your spending, YNAB is worth it's virtual weight in gold

Another good tool is the website 'mysupermarket.co.uk', use this to ensure you are paying the lowest price for all your groceries. You could pop over to the Challenge and Oldstyle Thrift boards, see if anything takes your fancy, maybe try the No Spend Day (NSD) challenge to ease yourself in or mix and match a few to keep you occupied and not thinking of nipping out and spending.

And finally just surf around reading other peoples diaries for good examples of how it can be done. Post a few comments and make some friends

Good luck in your journey and hope to see you around



Lily x x

gfplux

So you recognise all the things you have been doing wrong. Or have you. Do you think they are only slightly wrong?
You can change if you really want to. You can do only so much on your own as you need your partner to join you In this new life.
It takes a lot of strength of character to make the necessary changes.
Start by thinking all the time how much you want to be debt free.
To stop being a spendthrift family who are always broke will take time but when you have succeeded you will feel so FREE AND POWERFUL.
Good luck.

Bobarella

Good luck to you. You sound like you have a good idea of the why, now it's starting to control the situation.

Mojisola

Overeating-spendaholic wrote: »

When I'm not working I'm socialising out and about as a mummy and that is taking a huge chunk of money! I am far to generous and don't think twice of buying a round of coffees but very rarely does it appear that it's returned! Just today I was out with another mummy and bought her lunch.... It was the card came out and oh don't worry I'll get this..... What is wrong with me!

Another floor of mine is shopping! Pay for parking going to town, then whilst in town visit the overly priced coffee shops and then buy clothes shoes books anything really that takes my fancy then into the over crowded house that it already is with the ridiculous amounts of stuff which lets be honest it's just stuff and do I need it?

Get a little notebook and write down every time you spend money and what you've bought - you'll quickly see how much the trivial things are costing.

Add it up over a month and be prepared to be shocked!

Another good exercise to only spend cash. If you have to count the money out into the shop assistant's hands, what you spend becomes more real. If all the cash you've taken with you gets spent and you have to go the machine to get more out, you'll reduce what you're buying.

Overeating-spendaholic

Oh wow overwhelmed, after doing 2 long days at work wow what a response you guys are amazing and am now going to ready through reply and update! Thank you all

Overeating-spendaholic

ferox666 wrote: »

Welcome...you could start by posting a statement of affairs - list all your monthly incomings (salaries, any benefits, etc) and all outgoings (from mortgage to food to electricity to clothes) and list your debts and interest rates, the experts can then give some tips. What was the large debt spent on? Eg car, home improvements, general spending?

This I will do! But I am going to say I'm really embarrassed by the figures! I sat in my lunch break today jotting down a budget plan ok rough and not entirely accurate but even what I wrote down... Wow it's awful! Thank you

Overeating-spendaholic

Newyorkdreams wrote: »

Hi :wave: - welcome to the forum!


NYD xx

Thank you and hello

Overeating-spendaholic

captainawsome wrote: »

This will become a way of life in a few months, you will even start to enjoy saving money! Don't believe me? Watch this space. Good luck and well done for wanting to change.

Thank you, I do hope so! I really want to change! It's been a lifelong battle!