Overdraft help

teacher1993

Hi! I need some advice to get out of my overdraft, I've been stuck in it since I left university and had to use it whilst I was inbetween jobs. So sadly now I'm stuck at £1250 overdrawn.
My wage is £1250 per month (NQT teacher).
My rent is £500 per month.
Gas is £90 per month (its gas tanks, and I regularly go without heating and hot water to reduce this cost, I'm renting an old house. )
Mobile is £15 per month, internet is £15 per month, electric has been about £30 a month. Water is £45 per month. Fuel costs are about £90 per month. Food is about £150 per month. Council tax is £200 per month. I've really reigned in my spending, as I was spending lots of money on books and stationery supplies for my work (about £250 per month) I'm now spending about £75 per month instead I'm paying £200 per month for counselling sessions for some horrible things that have happened to me. I'm paying £15 per month till I have paid off the fridge/freezer I bought, I never seem to have any spare money by the end of the month.
Anyway with all that dull info, and feels like I'm missing something... I was wondering if to help clear my overdraft and get a better handle of my money. If I kept my overdrawn bank account but opened a new one for my wage to go in and bills to go out of and then transfer any money left over to the overdrawn one and reduce it each month. Thoughts? I just want to get rid of this overdraft.
PS. I've been super tight with my money after having to get new break pads / disks for my car which was £175 and 4 new tyres after they got slashed (£400 gone):(
PPS. I'm with HSBC.

crazy_cat_lady

Hi, and welcome Do you live on your own? That council tax bill is huge.
As a fellow teacher, the first thing you need to do is stop spending on school stuff. I know we all do it to some extent, but I don't get anything much any more unless it's from a pound shop or I can claim it back through work.
What subject do you teach? You could tutor and earn an extra £25/£30 an hour for that.
I'm at a loss with what to suggest because you clearly have very little disposable income - your rent/gas/council tax is taking such a massive chunk of your earnings...
As for the counselling - are you not able to get that through the nhs for free? I got CBT which completely changed my life, without spending a penny...
I wish you all the luck in the world and really admire people that are coming into teaching these days. I've been teaching for 10 years and it just gets more and more demanding.

McKneff

Do a proper SOA here.


http://www.stoozing.com/calculator/soa.php

Loosepockets

The sofa is usually the first step

fatbelly

A new bank account isn't a bad idea

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/compare-best-bank-accounts

I can see the attraction of:

First Direct with £250 0% overdraft and £150 bribe; or
Nationwide with 12 month 0% overdraft; or
Halifax with £100 bribe and £5 per month reward

You council tax looks odd. Can you check you're getting all the help you're entitled to, then get them to spread whatever remains to the end of the tax year?

Apart from that, it's a case of every little helps, and get familiar with Quidco/topcashback so anything you can buy with cashback, you do so.

Are your electric and water on quarterly billing?

You are spending a lot on counselling but that's not an area I know much about.

cms-help

Welcome to the wonderful world of teaching; it is hard work but I wouldn't swap it for the world.

Based on your figures, you're spending around £200 more per month than you're earning. Although I am wondering why your salary is only £1250 take home as an NQT, assuming you are full time, as it should be around £1400 per month.

I don't know if you can do anything about it but your bills for a single person are horrendous; we're a family of 4 and our bills don't look anything like that. If your council tax is related to the size of the property then it might be time to look for somewhere cheaper to live or take in a lodger if possible?

Why isn't your school supplying you with books/stationery?

Other posters have made suggestions regarding the counselling .... how many more payments of £200 a month are there for this?