Young, wild and soon to be debt free

moneycantbuyyouhappiness

Congratulations on the start of your journey Paul. I have subscribed!

PaulJW95

First of all a massive thank you to everyone who has joined my journey! Well.. our journey! This whole community is a really positive step for me and it makes me feel a part of something much bigger than my own unfortunate situation!
The story from Cupcake about the Corolla is literally how the world needs to see things - owning something and having something provide two different types of accomplishment, I know which type I want! How about you guys!?
luckofthe_irish - I want this post and page to be a home for the positive thinkers so I ask, if you're okay to do so, to please write back with your general income and outgoings (like I list in my first post) and I will gladly help you! I'm not sure if I can paste screenshots or links on this forum but I am quite good at explaining things so feel free to post away and I'll gladly help.
DCFC79 - whilst I have no comment about 2008 (given my age I wouldn't have known) but what I can say is that it may be harder to get credit now, given the fact I had a clear credit history when I started to the mess I'm in now, I can honestly say it was easier getting into it than it is getting out! I guess it depends on working history etc.?

Day two in the office, my boss (who is like a mother figure to me bless her) spoke to me about her own experiences. I won't say too much on this for now, but she says I make her laugh with the way my brain works, I guess she thinks I should be down in the dumps - but WE all know that wouldn't help!

It's painted a clearer picture in my head of the state of the world, and that no matter if you're 18 or 80 you can still have problems with money. (I won't say "money problems" because that makes it sound like money is the only source of happiness.)

I will leave this entry on a final point I've explained to my girlfriend (who is in a similar financial state.)

"It costs nothing to be happy but costs a lot to be unhappy - because to be unhappy you have to buy things and lose them, you have to experience a source of loss - but to be happy all you need to do is put on a smile and do something you love."

Day #2 (ish) - 289 days to our target.

Tips:
#1 - Eat and drink healthy - it'll improve the outlook on things! You'll also improve your work ethic and performance! Not too mention the fact by eating healthier, your weight won't balloon out of control so the depression doesn't take over everything about you!
#2 - Be happy, be positive - it costs nothing!

I'm actually looking forward to payday, we will start making dents in what has dented us for so long.

luckofthe_irish

I hope you don't mind me crashing your new diary, but thank you for the offer... I have posted my details below! Your positive attitude is infectious!

Car - payments are £133.93 a month. Balance is currently £7731 with end date of September 2017 and can then choose between lump sum final payment, part exchange or walk away.
Credit Card - currently £548.55 - 0% purchase until January 2018.
Overdraft - currently £0 but usually into the hundreds by payday (25th of the month).

Income
£1660.09

Expenses
£435 – Rent
£40 – Electricity
£133.93 – Car Payment.
£12.90 – Gym (I go at least once, if not twice everyday so I get good value out of it!)
£28 – Dance Class
£18 - Phone bill
£120.00 - Petrol
£64.00 - Credit card
£200.00 – Groceries
£50.00 – Holiday with Friends (annual occurrence and already booked this year so can’t cut back – no need for balloon payments at the end though £50.00 covers it)
£0.00 - Car insurance (I paid upfront so don’t pay anything monthly – I should budget for this though as I will have to renew in August – paid approx. £300 last year)
£0.00 - Car tax (paid upfront at the time)
£5.99 – Netflix
£25 – Nails (a luxury I know, but for my job I am expected to look and present myself in a very professional way – I am terrible at maintaining my nails myself so I have to make allowances).
£30 – Hair (split over two months).
£30.00 – Credit Union savings (usually gets raided during emergencies).
£14.71 – Dentist.
£12.12 – TV License.
£70 – Council Tax.
£4.99 – Spotify.
£30.00 – Clothes/Cosmetics/Shoes.
£30.00 – Gifts (varies every month but this is a max buffer – I probably should save this amount somewhere).
£50.00 – House Deposit Savings (goes to a Help to Buy ISA).
£50.00 – Moving Savings (Moving flat in April so trying to put some money away to help with first month’s rent and deposit as I will be paying that on top of my current rent for one month – the rest will go on CC).
£80.00 – General Spending (eating out, drinks, days out etc.).

Water bill arrived - £307 (cheaper than I expected to be fair) to be paid by 1 April. Hello CC... !

I have tried to cover everything here and estimated the things I am not sure of. I also get a lot of help from my parents, especially recently with moving. While they do not want money back, I would like to be in a position where I could return to them the amount they have lent me at some stage - even if its in the form of a gift or a holiday rather than the monetary value (which they won't accept).


I appreciate I am just an overspending machine - very ashamed of the fact but trying to do better.

Fab support from everyone here, really outstanding community.

PaulJW95

luckofthe_irish - I will have a little table for you to complete on excel tomorrow, sorry it's taken me so long to come back to you - hard working all day!

luckofthe_irish

Don't be silly, thank you so much - I have totally hijacked your thread here!! Hope your day went well, I had a spendy day but it was necessary. Hard working is the way to go :T!

PaulJW95

Afternoon all,
I know I missed yesterday, was so busy with work it was unreal! Barely got a lunch break.

Not much to report on, had a down day if I'm honest but we avoided purchasing a McDonalds for dinner so that's a positive.

Tip from yesterday:
"put things into perspective, if you can only see the next week or two of enjoyment then where's the fun in that? Value is more than a price tag"

luckofthe_irish - so the way I do things is I do a budget and then see what I'm spending and where. Given the sums you provided above, there's no reason for you to go into your overdraft, you just have to be strict with yourself. I've cut things out and put things into each other like savings contains the holiday stuff and general spending has your clothes budget. This way you can do a sub budget if you wish.

All you need to do is go into Excel, title box B2 as March, A2 would be income, A1 is titled 2016.
A3 rent and so on downwards - I'll paste my proposed March and April budget for you below and see what you think. Have a play about with it. Tweek it. Use Excel to make sure you're not straining yourself!

Current Proposed
Income £1,660.09 £1,660.09
Rent £435.00 £435.00
Electricity bill £40.00 £40.00
Car payment £133.93 £133.93
Gym membership £12.90 £12.90
Dance Class £28.00 £28.00
Phone Bill £18.00 £18.00
Petrol £120.00 £120.00
Credit card £- £-
Food shopping £200.00 £150.00
Holiday fund £50.00 £35.00
Car Insurance £- £-
Car tax £- £-
Netflix £5.99 £5.99
Nails £25.00 £15.00
Hair £30.00 £15.00
Credit union savings £30.00 £30.00
Dentist £14.71 £14.71
TV License £12.12 £12.12
Council Tax £70.00 £70.00
Spotify £4.99 £4.99
Clothes £30.00 £-
Gifts £30.00 £-
House deposit £50.00 £-
Savings £50.00 £100.00
General Spending £80.00 £112.45
Water bill £307.00 £307.00
Overdraft repayment £- £-
Left: -£117.55 -£0.00
Credit card £548.55 £548.55
Overdraft £102.55 - £0.00

April
Income £1,660.09
Rent £435.00
Electricity bill £40.00
Car payment £133.93
Gym membership £12.90
Dance Class £28.00
Phone Bill £18.00
Petrol £120.00
Credit card £25.00
Food shopping £150.00
Holiday fund £35.00
Car Insurance £75.00
Car tax £10.00
Netflix £5.99
Nails £15.00
Hair £15.00
Credit union savings £30.00
Dentist £14.71
TV License £12.12
Council Tax £70.00
Spotify £4.99
Savings £150.00
General spending £210.00
Overdraft repayment £-
Left: £49.45
Credit card £523.55



Just be strict with yourself. Don't spend what you haven't got. Have a tight month. Work things out for YOU!



#4 to come later...

PaulJW95

Day 4 -
Had a complete and utter meltdown I won't lie.
Bad day for sure.

Let's say the tip is, make the budget strict so you have money for emergencies, Once again we found ourselves going to the Bank of Mum.

Ugh!

Tips:
#1 - Eat and drink healthy - it'll improve the outlook on things! You'll also improve your work ethic and performance! Not too mention the fact by eating healthier, your weight won't balloon out of control so the depression doesn't take over everything about you!
#2 - Be happy, be positive - it costs nothing!
#3 - Perspective thinking
#4 - Strict budgets = emergency funds.

=278 days to go

CandyCupcake

We all have off days and things that come up unexpected, but that's life, don't kick yourself over it

I am completely with you on the STRICT budget. I got paid yesterday, have paid off a few things but not as much as I wanted and what's frustrated me is if I'd have budgeted better previously (and stuck to it) then I would have had an extra £1500 to put towards my debts rather than paying people back because I couldn't live within my means last month!

So this month I am just going to focus on living with what I have, no borrowing allowed (bank of mum, boyfriend or credit card!) so next month I can make a bigger dent in my debts.

We can do this, one step back but 100 steps forward

Hutchch0920

Hello! Great start! Just wanted to chip in and say you don't need to be paying your overdraft fee. Open a Flexdirect account with Nationwide. You can get a £1k interest and charge free overdraft for a year which will give you the time to clear it while saving £28/month. Also if your credit card is charging you interest you could also look to balance transfer that to one with a 0% introductory rate.

If you do want to open a Nationwide account let me know as I think there's a referral offer at the moment...perhaps we could split the reward

luckofthe_irish

PaulJW95 wrote: »

Afternoon all,
I know I missed yesterday, was so busy with work it was unreal! Barely got a lunch break.

Not much to report on, had a down day if I'm honest but we avoided purchasing a McDonalds for dinner so that's a positive.

Tip from yesterday:
"put things into perspective, if you can only see the next week or two of enjoyment then where's the fun in that? Value is more than a price tag"

luckofthe_irish - so the way I do things is I do a budget and then see what I'm spending and where. Given the sums you provided above, there's no reason for you to go into your overdraft, you just have to be strict with yourself. I've cut things out and put things into each other like savings contains the holiday stuff and general spending has your clothes budget. This way you can do a sub budget if you wish.

All you need to do is go into Excel, title box B2 as March, A2 would be income, A1 is titled 2016.
A3 rent and so on downwards - I'll paste my proposed March and April budget for you below and see what you think. Have a play about with it. Tweek it. Use Excel to make sure you're not straining yourself!

Current Proposed
Income £1,660.09 £1,660.09
Rent £435.00 £435.00
Electricity bill £40.00 £40.00
Car payment £133.93 £133.93
Gym membership £12.90 £12.90
Dance Class £28.00 £28.00
Phone Bill £18.00 £18.00
Petrol £120.00 £120.00
Credit card £- £-
Food shopping £200.00 £150.00
Holiday fund £50.00 £35.00
Car Insurance £- £-
Car tax £- £-
Netflix £5.99 £5.99
Nails £25.00 £15.00
Hair £30.00 £15.00
Credit union savings £30.00 £30.00
Dentist £14.71 £14.71
TV License £12.12 £12.12
Council Tax £70.00 £70.00
Spotify £4.99 £4.99
Clothes £30.00 £-
Gifts £30.00 £-
House deposit £50.00 £-
Savings £50.00 £100.00
General Spending £80.00 £112.45
Water bill £307.00 £307.00
Overdraft repayment £- £-
Left: -£117.55 -£0.00
Credit card £548.55 £548.55
Overdraft £102.55 - £0.00

April
Income £1,660.09
Rent £435.00
Electricity bill £40.00
Car payment £133.93
Gym membership £12.90
Dance Class £28.00
Phone Bill £18.00
Petrol £120.00
Credit card £25.00
Food shopping £150.00
Holiday fund £35.00
Car Insurance £75.00
Car tax £10.00
Netflix £5.99
Nails £15.00
Hair £15.00
Credit union savings £30.00
Dentist £14.71
TV License £12.12
Council Tax £70.00
Spotify £4.99
Savings £150.00
General spending £210.00
Overdraft repayment £-
Left: £49.45
Credit card £523.55



Just be strict with yourself. Don't spend what you haven't got. Have a tight month. Work things out for YOU!



#4 to come later...

Thanks for this, I will attempt to put it into Excel later on today - I have never used it for much really so a bit apprehensive about how it will work. I have often created budgets before and just never been able to stick to them - something always comes up and I have no visibility to what I am spending where.

Had a brilliant weekend away this weekend but am already in my overdraft and I don't get paid until the 30th of the month. Going to Portugal to visit my parents on Friday for Easter weekend so there is no chance it will be a budgeted weekend. I guess I will start next month. I did get a expected payment into my account this week so I could pay £150 to my CC and put the remaining £280 into my moving savings account.

Great start from your end - I agree with the overdraft advice above! I don't pay any charges on mine at the moment which is fab as I seem to live in it.

I am a self-confessed health freak so completely agree that how you fuel your body has a direct effect on how well you feel in yourself - eat well, feel well is my motto.

How did you get on today?