Impulse Buying

pennywise1963

Impulse buying?? First move: Get rid of that "contactless debit card"!

Sharon87

pennywise1963 wrote: »

Impulse buying?? First move: Get rid of that "contactless debit card"!

Why? I get 1% cashback when I use it! And using it instead of my oyster card and in Tesco when I do my food shop, that means earning a few extra quid a month!

Sharon87

Still going well, but today I really feel like going shopping in the sales!

I did go shopping on 27th to spend my vouchers I got for Christmas. I used one of my vouchers to the exact value and didn't spend anymore (except for a plastic bag, I forgot mine) and the other voucher I couldn't find anything I wanted within the limit - there was something I wanted but I couldn't afford to spend an extra £35 on something I didn't need!

I think boredom is a key contributor to me spending money! If I leave the house though I'm likely to spend money! What else can I do to distract me?

sourcrates

Sharon87 wrote: »

I think boredom is a key contributor to me spending money! If I leave the house though I'm likely to spend money! What else can I do to distract me?

Buy a dog, or take a lover ? ? ?

Sharon87

sourcrates wrote: »

Buy a dog, or take a lover ? ? ?

Can't have pets and the 2nd one is on my to do list (excuse the pun!) It's harder than it seems lol

Sharon87

Got tempted again to buy clothes online, I resisted and instead I did an SOA to demotivate me... seeing my debt at that level has made me not spend money!

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars owned.................... 0

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1697
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1697

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 775 - I've included, water, gas and internet in this
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 135 - includes single person discount over 12 months... in a 2 bed flat (my housemates's a student)
Electricity............................. 15
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 20
TV Licence.............................. 0 - cancelled this, I may get it again in the next couple months though, I'm missing live TV!
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 5.99 - Netflix - instead of live TV. I use it a LOT
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 120 - trying to reduce this
Clothing................................ 30 - this is an average cost over 12 months
Petrol/diesel........................... 0
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 130
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 10
Haircuts................................ 5 - average over the year
Entertainment........................... 40
Holiday................................. 50 - I know you will say don't go on holiday but it's for a holiday in the distant future, which has already been postponed by years!
Emergency fund.......................... 50
gym..................................... 19.95 - need this, I need to lose weight! And health is even more important than being debt free
Total monthly expenses.................. 1405.94


Assets
Cash.................................... 1030 (£700 from a CC stooze)
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 0
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 1030

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Halifax CC.....................4543.36...45.43.....0
MBNA CC........................5727.83...74........0
Barclaycard CC.................1471.43...20........0
HSBC Overdraft.................1200......0.........16.9
Tesco CC.......................214.29....25........17.9
Fluid CC.......................1783......25........0
Total unsecured debts..........14939.91..189.43....-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,697
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,405.94
Available for debt repayments........... 291.06
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 189.43
Amount left after debt repayments....... 101.63

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 1,030
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -14,939.91
Net Assets.............................. -13,909.91

Created using the SOA calculator at https://www.stoozing.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using other browser.

My debt is £700 more than my 'actual' debt as I have a really high interest savings account so thought I would take advantage of a low fee 0% deal and stooze £700 into my account for the next 7 months until the savings deal expires, and then maybe find another savings account to put it into until my 0% deal comes to an end. After the fee I will earn a decent profit from it and it's locked into that fixed regular saver so I can't take it out and spend it!
So realistically my savings are £330. I want to save at least 1k for months like last month...

I had a really lean month last month as I only earned £850. But this wage I've inputted into my SOA is my wage for the next 3 months or so. It's slightly lower than my usual rate when I'm working full time, but is probably close to my average wage over the course of the year. I will be negotiating a better rate on my next contract! I usually go straight from job to job, but I've had a fair few gaps this year after stepping up in my career and instead of being 'an experienced production secretary' I'm now a 'not that experience Production Coordinator', so work has been harder to get! But my current job is teaching me a lot, so I'm hoping I don't have many big gaps in my employment this year.

Because of last month's low wage this meant instead of almost paying off my overdraft I'm deep into again... I have started reducing my spending including having cheaper work lunches by preparing them beforehand, I've reduced travel by getting the bus to a zone 2 station instead of zone 3 - reducing my travel by at least £10-£15 a month as well as not impulse spending!

I am also going to cancel my personal trainer, which is part of the reason for my recent increase in debt! I may see him every 6-8 weeks to keep a track and change up my workout routine, but I simply can't afford 3 sessions a month!

I've also resumed doing surveys for that extra bit of cash, well Amazon vouchers is what I usually get, I use that for my 'treats' like clothes, music, DVDs.etc

Aim for the end of the year is at least 3k of debt to be paid off and save 1k in my emergency savings.

Sharon87

I forgot to add another payment in my SOA It's just less than £4 a month in my TV - I share a subscription to Premier Sports with my brother so we can watch NASCAR! This is a discounted rate and won't be getting rid of it as it keeps me occupied for 37 Sunday evenings of the year and the only other way to watch it is illegal streams that get shut down halfway during the race!

pennystretcher

I started decluttering my house using the Konmarie-method, and now that I know what I have, I have really cut down buying c*ap - I was lured by the huge sale discounts before. Walking through the post-Xmas sale shops this month, I couldn't see anything that I 'had to have'. If I need anything now, I look for the long term - buy nicer things, but save for them before I buy.

Worth having a wee read: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=5146700

Sharon87

Thought I might as well update this.

I've cut way back on my Impulse buying! I can't remember the last impulse buy I've made!

I've also taken on extra bits of work working from home, as well as getting a pay rise at my current job. The extra money from the 2nd job goes straight onto a credit card or into a savings account.

I did have a few weeks off work to have surgery - I had my gall bladder removed, so I did have to dig into my emergency fund a lot, but I've now built it back up to where it was at the beginning of the year. That was its main purpose - to give me money when I wasn't working.

I currently have my job until November (hopefully I'll be extended), it's one of my longest contracts at the best pay I've ever had!

My debt stands at £13980 - so I've paid £1000 off since January, which may not sound like a lot, but considering I had rubbish pay in my old job, and had time off for surgery it's not bad!

I also have £1050 in savings.
I have £631 a month spare after bills, CC payments, food, transport.etc to pay down debt/save/spend on entertaining.

I use YNAB now to keep a track of my spending/budget, it's been very helpful, but it did take a while to get used to it, I'm still getting used to it!

I just now have to resist impulse buying on my soon to be niece and not go shopping for her when tipsy like last time (why is the Disney store on Oxford Street open at 9:30pm? lol) - luckily I had a friend who ensured I didn't spend too much!

pennystretcher

Hi Sharon,

Sounds like you have made good progress - and you say small, but it's not. It takes time to plan and I am really impatient with things like this, so I can see why you feel the same.

But small steps and you will get there. How are you getting on with your HSBC and Tesco accounts? They had the highest rates..also have you had a look when the 0% ends on the other accounts? Get them in your plan pipeline in the order when the offer ends, or transfer to somewhere with long 0% offer.

Hope you are ok after your surgery

ps. and I blew my budget this month as well buying small silly things for my relatives' kids that I had not seen in a long time, should have planned better and bought one proper present each. Oh well, back on track next month...will try twice as hard.