Joined 31.05.16

Poor_Single_lady

It is weeks to payday. Its going to be long and tough. Not quite at the cutting up credit card stage. Went to pub tonight. This week is not shaping up how I expected. Spent £8 in the pub but was needed. Forgot to pick up the bits I needed so will sort that out tommorow. Nsd not looking likely till late next week. Its all a bit whoosh right now. Having debts makes you feel a bit out of control. I cant wait for things to improve and feel a bit more grounded. Pay mortgage on 30th and most bills on 1st so that should help feel a bit more in control. Goodnight all. Xxx

GoingToDoIt

If it was easy we would all be debt free! At least you're trying. From time to time we all mess up our budgets x

reality_check

Can you not try and move all your direct debits to pay day and then you know exactly what is left when you've been paid? xxx

reality_check

Forget that, just realised you have just been paid!!!

Poor_Single_lady

This is really good advice. Thank you for helping me. I have tried to do this. The things that aren't tho are phone which is pay as you go £20 top up per month around 23rd. Lovefilm £8 on 13th and Sainsbury's credit card £75 a month and Specsavers £30 a month.
It is good advice tho. When i got my first job the second day there was a computer glitch and nobody got paid. Then it happened about 3 months later at my (then) boyfriends completely seperate company and it always put me off paying bills on pay day.
train ticket is bought monthly and can move around if I have holiday. Getting that tommorow.

Today had an expensive lunch £20. But it was lovely. Then bought 2 birthday cards £5 and spent £18 in tesco. Milk, toothpaste, mouthwash's, toothbrush, milk, bananas, cheese, bread, butter colour catcher all essentials really.

Need to buy train ticket tommorow and lunch with another friend. Should be around £7. Then not going out in the evening but may nip to sainsburys.

Decided to earmark the 10 days before payday as being very tight, not going to do anything social or any lunches.

So today not very successful but its hard because I only like a few of my collegues so then its nice to spend time with those people and it can only be good from a social side but i do know its not great for the money! Might need to live on beans on toast for a bit. Glad its the weekend coming. xxx

PurpleFairy26

Hi PSL just reading your diary and think y are doing great addressing these things rather than just going with the flow with everyone else. I'm sure there are lots of people on here (me included) who wish they had got their debt under control when I was single rather than trying to do it with two small children balancing childcare, maternity leave and home renovations (or whatever it might be for different people)

Just a couple of observations if you don't mind:

Why don't you have 2 accounts, get paid in to one and then on pay day move all your money to another account (and don't take a card out for that one - ever)

What you have left in your account is then yours to spend as you wish and the dates other thing go out doesn't matter. I get paid 4 weekly and since I have done this it was revolutionary. I never miss a bill and never go overdrawn on that account as its balanced to the penny each pay period.

Other tip would be do to set up a fixed amount as a repayment on your CC each month, not higher than you pay no, just way you pay now rather than them taking an ever decreasing minimum. In know you said one goes down by 72p every month, well you won't miss the 72p if you fix it at a set amount and it will help pay the debt off quicker. It will also say on your credit file that you are paying above the minimum, which is also a positive.

I hope that goes well and I wish you every success. PF.

System

Hey lovely. Checking in, it's been a while, was back with folks for a few days.
You've done soo much! All sounds really positive to me. Totally get where you are coming from about your parents...mine have no idea and they'd freak out if they knew. Be positive about your approach if they ask you about overdraft again....tell them you were stupid to get into it, but now you are doing the right thing by working hard to pay it off.
And as for your friend, it sounds like he's lovely. (but unhelpful). Can you challenge him to find something free to do so that you can both meet up, have a laugh...or knowing that you can't be a hermit, set him a budget (that's challenging....e.g. £10 for both of you to have a fun day / eve out....?) xxx

Poor_Single_lady

Thank you for the support. At the moment I have 4 credit cards and 1 loan and overdraft facility. OD and 1 CC are at 18%, everything else is 0%.

So I pay £153 on loan till october 2017, £75, £75 and, £36 and £36 each credit card and whatever interest on overdraft. I'm leaving the 0% as-is and concentrating on staying out of overdraft and reducing the 18% balance. And teaching myself how to he sensible.
But even if the credit card stays the same and overdraft use is limited this will be progress so in the future I will definitely do what you have suggested but its just a bit too premature right now because I've got everything spread around.

Having seperste accounts will work for you because you are sensible but I know hand on my heart doing that will not stop me spending. This concept of budgeting is hard if you only reach it when you are 30. The situation will improve but.i need to adjust my lifestyle more than I probably realised.

Poor_Single_lady

Hi Ramble. Thanks for dropping in. My friend is fantastic but also a total nightmare. I love that you agree that he is unhelpful! He just does not get it.
Im at home tonight, spent £7 at lunch and £33 on some house bits which is a splurge but totally necessary.
Going to give my parents £100 this month. I owe them about £4000 from my mortgage deposit so try and give them £50-£100 a month. They are so good with money and so sensible. I can't wait for the day when I have this sorted. Feel quote heartened that other people are in the same boat re the parents. Its so hard when they ask me if i am ok with the money. There is 4 of us and I know my parents worry about me the least right now, its not always been like that but for now it is and I know if they found it it would be way too much. Do you think you will tell you mum when its all sorted. I don't think i will but interested in if other people would tell their parents - or not. Its so hard right now. Im hoping this month goes quicker than june. xxx

System

Hi,
I'm planning on never telling them unless it totally goes tits up! As I am going on a DMP my credit score is going to be runied for the next 6 years or so...damn scary. We currently have a mortgage and that's all fine, but if we have to move at any point, I'm worried about getting credit.....but then on the other hand, I seriously do not want to live with credit - it's like a bit of brainwashing - you are 'talked into' believing that it's important to have a good credit score etc - but actually it would be better if I saved up for everything and got everything when I actually had the cash. So in some senses going on a DMP is a good thing - getting credit will be out of the window....but it's bloody scary as it naturally feels like my fall-back option. Still onwards and upwards. Once this debt is cleared, we will never go back in debt....(ideally even mortgage debt) so plan after this will be to clear mortgage. If they ever found out, my folks would be upset, but they would probably understand why I didn't tell them about it - no sense them worrying, and they couldn't do anything to help anyway, but they would feel like they should, and I don't want that. And even if they did know, I wouldn't want their help - this is a hole we dug, and we'll claw our way out of it!!

Do you use a budgeting tool? We're having some success with YNAB - you get a free trial for a month and then have to pay for it - but it really helps you get your head around what your money is doing for you - and then you don't look at your bank account, instead you just look at YNAB to see what you have to spend, and if you overspend in one area, you have to take it from another. They have training sessions on budgeting the YNAB way. Might be worth a look - but only pay up if you know you will stick with it.

We had a £100 bill for vets today (big sigh) - there's always a few bumps in the road!! xxx