Chloe's diary on the road to debt-freeness!

lunar

Hi, just wanted to wish you good luck with the course and with the moneysaving, im back at uni one day a week now, but work are sending me so i get to do it in their time which is a bonus.

Hope you have a better day today, i will look out for your SOA later on

Lunar

duchy

Yikes don't know if I should hope it was a cheap bottle of wine for the MSE value-or a good bottle wine so less hangover whilst doing the SOA !
Hope it's a better day today

chloebelle

Man I was grumpy last night!!

Feeling better today - wine was a combination, expensive good wine on special offer so a decent taste at less the price!!:j

In a better frame of mind I have finally sat down for the past 2 hours and worked out the great SOA:eek:

I’ve finally done it, statement of affairs worked out!!

Was slightly depressing to see the figures but I have certainly learnt that the best way to start cutting down is to be honest.

Ok, firstly this was my full monthly statement before I started cutting down:
Incoming
Wages - £240 (variable)
Money from gran to help study costs - £50.
Outgoing
Travel - £44.80
Mobile - £80
Love film subscription - £9.99
Magazines - £10.80
Lunches - £15.00
Socialising - £100
Alcohol - £25.00
Lottery - £8.00
Clothes - £100
Ebay shop subscription - £5.00
Toiletries / make-up - £40-50
Supermarket visits - £50
Total - £488.59

Now here is my revised monthly statement, including new loan repayments and new budgeting. Comments are included where relevant.
Incoming
Wages - £240 (variable)
Money from gran to help study costs - £50.
Outgoing
A & L loan - £50 Starts November but am budgeting in now as don’t want to get a shock in 2 months time.
Sainsburys loan - £100.12 £45 until November but don’t want to get used to having extra £50.
Travel - £44.80 This should go down slightly when I get my student oyster card. In addition, I think I read that Oyster fares are going down this month. Potential savings of £3.30 a month
Mobile - £80 Terrible! I have to have a mobile, am currently investigating swopping to a contract phone but am a bit clueless. Potentially good savings.
Love film subscription - £9.99 None-negiotiable! This makes me very happy, it stays!!!
Magazines - £10.80 Have already cut down from previous months, looking into subscription which would save me £11.00 a year and I get a free dvd (which could off course be sold!!)
Lunches - £0 Wasn’t spending loads but have cut this out completely.
Socialising - £100 This is hard, includes cab fares home (I don’t drive and am not prepared to risk my safety on the train) and drinks. I go out for a meal once a month with work on payday, could cut this down to once every 2 months
Alcohol - £25.00 Naughty I know! Am not an addict or anything but I do enjoy a bottle of something once a week. Am gonna make the effort to cut this down, both quantity and by buying cheaper drinks.
Lottery - £8.00 Can certainly be cut down, although I like to keep up my chances – you gotta be in it to win it!!
Clothes - £0 Ok i’m sure I will buy more in the future but am currently cutting this down. Have too many clothes and honestly don’t need more right now
Ebay shop subscription - £5.00 Not entirely necessary but I do well on ebay – would stopping this reduce my success?
Toiletries / make-up - £40-50 I am not extravagant in terms of brands. Am making the effort to cut down quantity – have a bad habit of being tired in the morning and slapping on twice as much product as I really need. Am also not going to be faithful to brands, if another product is buy one get one free will get that one instead. Have also discovered Pigsback, exchange rate on points is very good so am going to double my efforts to try and earn boots vouchers.
Supermarket visits - £0 This is a terrible habit, popping into supermarket after work and buying goodies. Have simply stopped going!
Total - £488.59
Slightly depressing to see that after cut backs are minussed loan repayments added, I am virtually at the same figure.

Worth pointing out that in addition to stated income I tend to make some money every month on ebay (constant selling of clothes!) Have started on Amazon which so far has been great. Am also going to get into daily clicks.

Sorry this has been such a long post, any comments warmly received. Have promised myself I won’t get depressed about these figures, they are facts that need to be sorted.

findingmyownway

chloebelle wrote: »

Incoming
Wages - £240 (variable)
Money from gran to help study costs - £50.
Outgoing
A & L loan - £50
Sainsburys loan - £100.12
Travel - £44.80
Mobile - £80 u can definatley switch this to a contract - i think even the unlimited use ones are only £50 but you can get one with plenty of free calls and texts for £25-30 on any of the major networks. This has to be a priority.
Love film subscription - £9.99
Magazines - £10.80
Lunches - £0
Socialising - £100 i am guessing the whole £100 doesn't go on your works night out? If so then you are effectivly working for £160/month!! Can you arrange to taxi share? Or get a lift with a friend?
Alcohol - £25.00 Is this alcohol for home drinking? Added to the 'socialising' budget it starts to add up. Cutting down the wine would defintaly help - £25 buys 10 cheap bottles!
Lottery - £8.00 You are never going to win, waste of money
Clothes - £0
Ebay shop subscription - £5.00 I don't know what you sell but i can't see that cancelling your 'shop' would do any harm - you can still list things in the same way, and people can still link through to your other items.
Toiletries / make-up - £40-50 Thats a massive amount of money to spend every month - can't you concentrate on using up what you already have for a while and throw the money at debt?
Supermarket visits - £0
Total - £488.59

Hi Chloe,

You havent said how much debt you are in - i guess the loans are quite new? Have you consolidated old cards? If so make sure you CUT THEM UP. How have you managed to get such loans, on a low part time income??

Your outgoings massively outweigh your income. And i see you havent included rent/bills/food in your SOA. Do you live at home? How have you been living up to now?

From the comments i've made i think by changing your phone bill (to £30 contract saving £50), halving your social+alchool budget (saves £65), stopping the lottery + Ebay extra fees (£13) and using up old cosmetics for a while (£50) you can cut your outgoings by a massive £189/month. But even that only cuts down your outgoings to £300, only just under your income.

What course are you doing? Do you not get a bursary/studentship?

chloebelle

thanks for your feedback, I agree with a lot you have said. Its really good to get someone elses perspective.

My debts are listed in the sig - they are mainly study related but have certainly be exacerbated by irresponsible spending.

I have no credit card debts, I have a card for emergencies but ALWAYS pay it off - at least I have one good money habit! :rotfl:

I live at home so have no rent, bills etc...My parents can't afford to give me money for studying, so this is their contribution, allowing to live at home rent-free.

In terms of my course I am one of the unlucky in the middle ones. I am, doing post-grad which means no student loan, have to get bank loan. I am doing a masters but the subject doesn't have any govt. grants etc...

If my parents earnt more they would happily pay everything. If they earnt less, I would qualify for a nice fat hardship grant to pay all my fees. Sorry to moan, but I am one of the middle people whose parents can't afford fees and who don't qualify for any help. Therefore my only option to pay £4,000 fees has been bank loan

Enough of feeling sorry for myself, I can't pretend my own stupidity hasn't fuelled the problem. I am quite good at making extra money from ebay etc...

I actually feel like a fraud here, my debts are all at low interest, with no hassle from anyone over the £9,000 student debt. Doesn't change the fact that I want to get debt-free, the amount is out of control and if I don't start taking action it will be with me for decades.

My initial plan of action is 3 key points:

1. start a strict spending diary to monitor which areas of my life are out of contol.

2. Go to town next week and sort mobile out. Keep putting it off as I am clueless, but just gotta do it, could potentially save £50 a month (£600 a year!!!)


3. Make a detailed plan of how to get every extra penny possible e.g. ebay, amazon, pigsback comps, daily clicks, freebie websites etc...



Been quite a heavy day, its not easy facing up to reality, I feel like I am staring up at a huge cliff face and am not sure how to get my climb to the top started.

Deep breathe - the support here is so amazing, I am sure I can do this.

Have printed out the most truly inspiring debt-free story I have read on the site and keep referring to it, proves to me that it can be done.

Good night everyone, this diary is really helping me, will be back soon with progress!! :T

duchy

Well done Chloe-writing a SOA is tough but you did it !
It's a pity your masters in Mongolian sheep farming isn't one that gets you cash but it's more important to study what you want than what is cheapest (I decided that's what you are studying cos you didn't say )
I'd email Love Film with a bit of twaddle about how you're thinking of canceling or even bite the bullet and cancel and see if they offer you some kind of deal to come back (or switch to another company and get Quidco on the new membership).
Don't forget to check phone deals on-line as well as in store-sometimes the deals are better-even with the same companies (and Quidco again hopefully)
If you drink at home.....and won't be tempted to up the amount because it's sitting there (!!)-again online might work out cheaper (or get you a better bottle for the money and of course Quidco -do you see a pattern here ???)
I do agree with findingmyownway that £40-50 a month on make up and toiletries is a lot 20% of your wages in fact ! You can't be THAT dirty I bet that could be cut fairly easily if you keep out of Boots (or buy from Boots on-line instead.....and get-wait for it.....Quidco )

chloebelle

thanks duchy for yor encouragement - was feeling bad about myself after reading SOA, made me see what a prat I have been.

Thanks for making me feel better, maybe I'm not a total loser after all!

chloebelle

Hi everyone, nice day today!

Had a bad nights sleep last night, after doing my SOA I couldn't stop thinking about money.

Woke up feeling tired but have had a great idea :T

I have realised that on my small, part-time student wages, saving money is only half of the battle against debt. I need to also have a major focus on making more money!

Therefore I have set myself the following challenge:

My Challenge

To aim to make £100 every month in addition to my usual income. I will achieve this through a combination of ebay, amazon, daily clicks, piggy comps etc....

This challenge is not about saving money but generating more. Therefore alongside my spending diary, I am going to keep a record of all additional income. All figures will be posted in my diary on a weekly basis.


Wish me luck guys! Challenge kics of 1 week today - start of a fresh financial month as it is payday! :j

shell_girl

Great work so far Chloe- and you will get there. I've been playing the ebay game for a couple of months now- I manage to make around £80 per month with very little effort so you'll do it.

Quick hint for this month- amazon all your text books from your last degree- it's student month and the resourceful ones will be looking on amazon now for their booklists!

Wannabesaver_4

Chloe - couple of things.

Cancel love film and join a different online dvd rental scheme through Quidco - you will get up to £14 just for doing their free trial and when that one finishes, join another one - another "joiing up" fee through quidco and another 2-4 weeks free dvds. During this time i reckon that lovefilm will try and entice you back with £3.99 a month or something.

Also mobile - again do it through Quidco, it will earn you LOTS to get a mobile contract through them - up to £70 i think.

Also on quidco if you go throughthem to get a lottery account you get £4 back through quidco so you could just play a pound online this week and get £3 for nothing!!!! Although i am having trouble registering at the moment because their system wont accept ANY password but once thats fixed - hurrah!

Have only ventured on there this week but there is a LOT of money to be earned for stuff you would get anyway!!