In a bit of a mess!

On_my_way

I think your haircuts are fine if they mean a lot to you - doing it yourself will just ruin your hair!

I know what you mean about giving your spare time to your dogs and that is nice but having the cleaner less often will save you some money. You do need the dog walker and if your new lodger can walk them too that will ease the guilt on you!

Well done for facing up to things and for acknowledging that you are very fortunate compared to some.

You will be fine with some cut backs.

Good luck

Silian

On your income cleaning for £100 or haircuts for £80 or even dog walking at £209 makes little difference.

The issue is that these things combined DO make a difference.

So you have to find what is less important to you and go without until your debt is paid off.

You can even decide that paying off your debt fast is less important than the other stuff - you are putting a good chunk of you your salary towards it already.

On that note - I did get rid of my cleaner (my oh promised that he would do it) and I am starting to regret it. 2 weekly coucould be a good compromise.

What about entertainment (especially now that you are in a new relationship) clothing (things wear out even if you have loads now) and holiday?

rockm87

On_my_way wrote: »

I think your haircuts are fine if they mean a lot to you - doing it yourself will just ruin your hair!


Good luck

Not always! I cut and colour my own hair (watch youtube videos, lots of practice and professional scissors/products). I don't look like I've been attacked with sheers and a bowl!

I do appreciate a professional cut and colour, but spacing them out as a 'treat' is perfectly ok!

CrossFit_Duck

Silian wrote: »

On your income cleaning for £100 or haircuts for £80 or even dog walking at £209 makes little difference.

The issue is that these things combined DO make a difference.

So you have to find what is less important to you and go without until your debt is paid off.

You can even decide that paying off your debt fast is less important than the other stuff - you are putting a good chunk of you your salary towards it already.

On that note - I did get rid of my cleaner (my oh promised that he would do it) and I am starting to regret it. 2 weekly coucould be a good compromise.

What about entertainment (especially now that you are in a new relationship) clothing (things wear out even if you have loads now) and holiday?

This post hit home with me. I think there has been two main reasons for my debt:

1. I have allowed my health issues and other factors get on top of me so I have not been managing a budget, I have just been spending, mostly on card

2. I have been thinking 'I work very hard, earn a good salary therefore I can have....'. The problem is not the one or two things that I have been having, but the combination of it, as said above.

I hardly slept last night, my mind is in complete overdrive on how I can pay things off quicker.

I am using my spending app to record what I spend so I can complete my budget more fully, including clothing, gifts, eating out etc. Certainly being in a new relationship is expensive. Bring on the sitting in watching TV stage :rotfl:

CrossFit_Duck

Hello everyone

I was hoping for some advice please. I am thinking about debt busting non-stop. I am reviewing my bills and keeping a spending diary as I have many gaps in my SOA and I know I don't have any money left at the end of the month!

So, my plan of clearing the debts is in this order:

Debts
1. Overdraft ---- 1,608.08
2. Halifax ---- 4,426.73 ---- 19.45%
2. Friend ---- 2,000

3. Tesco ---- 10,663 ---- 17.9%
4. Barclaycard ---- 8,956.44 ---- 0% until 01/10/2016
5. MBNA ---- 9,786.65 ---- 0% until 01/01/2016

The overdraft will be cleared tomorrow as it is payday. It's with Halifax and it's a very expensive overdraft as I do reach the £3,000 limit every month :-( I intend to close that account.

Then I am planning on clearing the Halifax card. I think it will give me a good boost to clear two things and that seems to be the highest APR.

My friend has agreed to have a little delay in my payments to him, so that loan will be cleared by July. I can't postpone it any longer as he has been waiting a while already and I am grateful he helped me.

Then I will attack the Tesco card.

Does this sound like a good plan? Am I on the right path there or missing something?

I have opened a basic account with Nationwide and transferred all my bills into another basic account (from the overdraft). So my intention is to get my salary in the Nationwide account, pay the other basic account enough to cover the bills and a little bit extra to cover anything I missed, then anything left over at the end of the month, add it to debt repayment.

Does this seem like a sensible idea? Am I missing something?

I am so scared I am doing things wrong or missing stuff as according to the spreadsheet, I have a lot of spare cash but I definitely haven't

Thank you for any help.

byjimini

How much are you throwing at those cards?

CrossFit_Duck

Just the minimum at present.

I am going to hit the debts in the order I put with any money I have at the end of each month to try and clear them quicker.

katsu

If your bank account doesn't have the cash balance then what transactions are on bank statements but not the SOA you posted?

CrossFit_Duck

katsu wrote: »

If your bank account doesn't have the cash balance then what transactions are on bank statements but not the SOA you posted?

Cash withdrawals and bills mostly. Been using the overdraft a lot and accruing lots of charges. Boiler and car repairs took a good few hundred pounds in the first couple of weeks of the year too.

Been relying on credit card for restaurants, concerts, gifts etc.

I am hoping the spending diary will help me understand it all more. Really down tonight. How did I let it get as bad as this

Kittycat1981

Try not to feel down, you are in a much better place now you have had your light bulb moment. Its tough but you will come out the other end of it.

A spending diary is a good idea, its amazing how much money we waste- a costa coffee here, parking on that quick trip into the city centre, meeting up for lunch with friends etc etc.

Anything new we do, whether its learning to drive, learning a new language or learning to manage our debt, we all so through the same cycle.

Before your light bulb moment you would have been unconsciously incompetent, (living unaware of your debt) now you are in the consciously incompetent- (very aware of debt and trying to figure out to debt bust) next you will move through to the concious competency stage (budget plan set up and plodding along with it) You will eventually be in the unconscious competency stage when it become a way of life - (not over spending, living to a budget and not having to constantly think about it)



Take a look at some of the other forums users Debt free diary's- some are totally inspirational.

Good luck hun and chin up