How much do you have left over at the end of the month?

Popstess

zenshi wrote: »

I know what you mean but as long as the debts are not going up, then keep some back for EF. If something does blow up, how will you deal with it? Borrow? Bung on CC?

Some of my CC debts are just short of 7K each but currently they only get a fiver a month. They're happy right now, so I will build EF
If they start charging interest or get huffy, then will have to re think

Yes this is true, well my Next account has interest and my Tesco CC so maybe once they're paid off I'll start putting a bit aside for emergencys. I think it'll take a lot of self restraint not to dip into it though. (Clearly I don't have a lot of self restraint or I wouldn't be in this mess) yea you're right I'd probably use my overdraft (charges of £1 a day) or put it on the CC.

Urgh so much to think about and I keep randomly thinking of payments that are regular that I haven't put in my SOA eg DS's guitar lessons :mad: my monthly left overs are dwindling

WannaBLoaded

zenshi wrote: »

I know what you mean but as long as the debts are not going up, then keep some back for EF. If something does blow up, how will you deal with it? Borrow? Bung on CC?

Some of my CC debts are just short of 7K each but currently they only get a fiver a month. They're happy right now, so I will build EF
If they start charging interest or get huffy, then will have to re think

How many years would it take to clear your credit cards? Is attempting to pay it back not pointless?

If it were me i would stop paying anything and wait until the debt drops off your credit history, it's not like anyone would lend you money now anyway is it?

I thought this is what bankruptcy was designed for, to avoid being saddled with debt for eternity.

zenshi

WannaBLoaded wrote: »

How many years would it take to clear your credit cards? Is attempting to pay it back not pointless?

If it were me i would stop paying anything and wait until the debt drops off your credit history, it's not like anyone would lend you money now anyway is it?

I thought this is what bankruptcy was designed for, to avoid being saddled with debt for eternity.

Once my house repairs are sorted and if I can keep working like I am now, I should be debt free in about 4 years. Bankruptcy is not an option as I'm a homeowner

rolls99

I'd say this about saving/emergency funds: once you've actually got to a point where all your outgoings
(bills, debits etc) are known, and you then know what you've got left, it's worth putting whatever you can aside - if at all possible.
Some people suggest a £1000 emergency pot, (or other figures) but I think the key thing is don't set too strict "rules" initially and attempt to save too much; that way you'll almost certainly have to dip into it at some point. Rather try and put away an amount which you won't miss and that you can "forget about". At the same time, try for simply increasing the savings each month rather than a fixed figure if that is hard to achieve; if you can save say £50 one month but only £20 then next that is still more money that you had saved to begin with; even if you can't put anything aside for the odd month it's not the end of the world.
I think most people on here (and, this is not intended to be cheeky!) would say they'd be less inclined to be "Spendthrift" with their own money (that they've saved) that with CCs and so on!
Just try and not stretch yourself and save "too much"; I suspect you will find you actually won't be as "Weak willed" about dipping into it as you think!

zenshi

Totally agree rolls!

My littlest debt is under £500. I knew my roof needed mending and I was putting what I could away. Once the water started pouring in, it needed immediate attention. Somehow through major scrimping (beans on toast diet amongst other things) I managed to get the £600 I needed. If I had the same urgency, I could have cleared my little card but I didn't because they are happy with the payment plan

We can all be guilty of things others would do differently but it boils down to personal attitudes

Popstess

rolls99 wrote: »

I'd say this about saving/emergency funds: once you've actually got to a point where all your outgoings
(bills, debits etc) are known, and you then know what you've got left, it's worth putting whatever you can aside - if at all possible.
Some people suggest a £1000 emergency pot, (or other figures) but I think the key thing is don't set too strict "rules" initially and attempt to save too much; that way you'll almost certainly have to dip into it at some point. Rather try and put away an amount which you won't miss and that you can "forget about". At the same time, try for simply increasing the savings each month rather than a fixed figure if that is hard to achieve; if you can save say £50 one month but only £20 then next that is still more money that you had saved to begin with; even if you can't put anything aside for the odd month it's not the end of the world.
I think most people on here (and, this is not intended to be cheeky!) would say they'd be less inclined to be "Spendthrift" with their own money (that they've saved) that with CCs and so on!
Just try and not stretch yourself and save "too much"; I suspect you will find you actually won't be as "Weak willed" about dipping into it as you think!

Good advice! And you make a good point about being a spend thrift with cc's more than own money put aside

Popstess

zenshi wrote: »

Totally agree rolls!

My littlest debt is under £500. I knew my roof needed mending and I was putting what I could away. Once the water started pouring in, it needed immediate attention. Somehow through major scrimping (beans on toast diet amongst other things) I managed to get the £600 I needed. If I had the same urgency, I could have cleared my little card but I didn't because they are happy with the payment plan

We can all be guilty of things others would do differently but it boils down to personal attitudes

It's crazy what we can achieve if we put our minds to it. Oh of course but that's because we are all different and in all fairness if we were all perfect we wouldn't be in debt would we. I've got some lessons to learn but I'm determined now so I'll do this

rolls99

One thing many people swear by is a second (and even third) bank account.


It's very true that your main account can "Lie" to you; at the end of the month or whenever your salary goes in, you look and see £XXXX balance. But of course you need to take into account all the debits, spends and so on so really it's not until next payday you see the true story!


The idea with a second account is, after accounting for all your bills, (plus, ideally, a buffer), transfer any remaining surplus into your "Spare" account - you then know exactly what you have for spending - there's no need to remember what debits are coming out of this.


You could then, for instance, have a linked savings account with the "Spare account" and if and when you have any surplus from that, shift it to the savings account.


Some people, for instance might regularly save 10%, 20% or whatever of their "Spare" money; i.e. transfer over £100, put £10 or £20 into the savings leaving £80 for spending.


The good thing is, even if you aren't saving much (or anything) you have a clear view of what your "spending" cash is, it isn't hiding amongst the money allocated for bills.

mrsbee17

Some great suggestions here.

I've started transferring £150 a month (on pay day) into my second bank account to use for my fuel. I spend around £30 a week but put a little bit extra in just in case. This way, I only take this card with me to work so I can get fuel if i need it and I'm less inclined to get money out for bits and bobs as I find that even if I take a packed lunch, having extra change in my purse is a disaster as I'm in the canteen buying bottles of diet coke etc.

This month I've also take out £250 a month and keep it in an envelope for food, I read about this techinque a few weeks back and was keep to try it. When I go food shopping I take this and use from that; I looked at previous months of shops and work out how much we spend, I was annoyed to see that there were lots of £3's and £4's etc here and there with no recollection of what I actually bought!