Why do we fall? To learn to pick ourselves back up. (£26K+ DEBT!)

System

Feeling your final week of the month vibes! Do you get paid tomorrow?

MrJester

Hey so yep been paid.

General breakdown:
1623 income
688 rent
20 saving
30 bike rent
25 mobile
9.58 other debits3
320 DMP payment
-
530 leftover

this gives me around £100 per week for my spending budget, that's everything: travel, food, treats.
with hopefully a little leftover.

though, me and the GF are planning on going to wales the end of this month. just trying to get a good price for a place atm on airbnb, there's plenty of good options and good pricing two especially split between two people.

also have business expenses still going on, but luckily i did sell some stuff on ebay to cover all that as i finish the accounting up sometime this month

lot of transferring money around all over the place as i have different cards but going to streamline all this soon now that i have an income i can get some consistency back together

MrJester

also need to update that one of my debts has been sold on. not too sure what to think of it as its the first this has happened, likely because im now on DMP and regular payments are coming into the debt that it became valuable enough to sell on.

updated it with my DMP via the online service and should transfer over soon.

my total debt is currently 25,500!
estimated debt free date November 2024

my pay was slightly less than expected because i get pension contributions too, which i wont be opting out of because thats free money for my future. i used to think exactly the opposite. but now more planning for the long term, by making better short term decisions. rather than trying to survive in the short-term making bad short-term choices.

i pay in 0.8%, the gov pays in 0.2%, and my employer pays in the 1% to match it. its the bare minimum, but thats fine by me as i need most of my money now but i know every penny adds up. ive given in £15 and so that means at least £30 every month going into a pot for the future.

System

Yep totally agree with you about the pension, I think we're the same age (25?), I've been paying in to my pension since my company offered me the option 2 years ago. I make a minimal 2% contribution and my company make a minimal contribution. My intention now is to allocate 25% of any pay increase I have in my future to my pension as a way to up my contribution and also not notice the deduction so much.

MrJester

i'm a little older, unfortunately

but thats a good idea. i'm happy to let the pension contribution happen for the time being and focus in other areas with paying down debt, having an emergency fund, and trying each week to spend less than my weekly budget.

i have my weekly budget of £100 on my spending card. and at the end of each week it gets topped back up to £100. note there i said topped up, not add another £100 every week. this means each week i manage to spend less than £100, i'll have additional funds by the end of the month to do things like pay off more debts from friends and family or add to savings

:T

MrJester

i also forgot to mention i am looking at moving soon. to live closer to my GF. we're not ready for moving in together, but right now it takes a lot of planning and close to a 1.5 hour journey to get to one another. this is very frustrating.

there is too the potential to either get much better value, potentially getting even my own place for the same price i pay now for a room, or getting cheaper rent somewhere between 100-180. maybe more.

i'd be closer to my GF, and still within easy access of my work when i have to be in-office. which is only a couple days a week.

so all in all, it seems like a no brainer. she is concerned that i move 'for her' and this all goes disastrously wrong kind of like jinxing it i guess. but i dont see it the same way, i see it as a logical opportunity to save money, make life a bit easier, and potentially live somewhere nicer.

trouble is, to make this an easier process, i'll need to save up some funds to put down deposits and rent easier. will try keep this in mind and not spend my money quite so easily!

Reb2016

I agree with paying into your pension, as you say it’s free money, and who doesn’t want free money:)

Sounds like the move could work out really well for you, so good luck with your acccomodation hunting.
Reb

MrJester

thanks Reb.

just sent booking request for the trip to wales! it'll be £126 each. up until then going to try and bring in money through ebaying to cover it without hurting the pocket too much

System

Whilst the move sounds good have you thought about the fact moving is super expensive? I know you and your GF aren't ready to move in together so have you considered staying where you are until perhaps you guys want to live together? Only as it saves moving in to one place and then moving again to be with your GF (which also hits your credit rating).... Though I suppose if you're moving to be closer to her so you guys can see if the relationship is going to work longer term then ignore me all together. I just know I did something similar living in Surrey, I moved near to my BF and we were going to then move in together which meant lots of money for us both after we'd only been in our respective places 10 months.

MrJester

hey sauce.

so, yeah i've totally considered that. ideally i'd save up something like £1000 to be sure I had the cash for rent up front, and a deposit as necessary. otherwise, i don't find moving very expensive. i've moved 3 times around London and have easily found a white van man to move all my stuff (which isn't much, it would all fit in a car) for £30-40. i'd avoid agents almost exclusively because they are generally the worst people on earth and the additional fees is hugely unnecessary.

thing is i dont see us living together for some considerable amount of time, still. maybe a year. and right now we're distant and its making life harder and more stressful.

and yes moving closer to her will remove some of the stress of having to plan far ahead of time, and the travel necessary. when if we're closer we can just see each other whenever we are free, without the need of planning, but still respect each others space. which is important to us both.

in terms of credit rating, it's pretty much dead in the water anyway because of my DMP and large money owed etc. aside from that, i don't care for my credit rating much at all. i'd rather live a life of spending what money i can make (within my means) rather than getting credit ever again.

i'll worry about mortgages if it comes to it, but that is a long way away unless something drastic changes in my earning potential.

thanks for the feedback though i always want to be challenged on my ideas, to find the holes, to make sure they aren't crazy or going to cause me more problems. does the above make sense?