Debt-Free Wannabe ASAP

Tempus01

Kidder81 wrote: »

I'd echo all the good advice you've received already.

You've had your lightbulb moment. Now comes the difficult part of cutting back on your non essential outgoings to clear the debt asap.

Your rent obviously takes up a lot of your income. Is there anyway this can be reduced? Move in with parent or house share or anything like that?


In terms of immediate things, register an account on topcashback. Go through that for anything you buy, especially anything where there's a contract, like utilities, broadband, mobiles etc. It soon adds up. Put all that money towards your debts.

I realise my rent is the bulk of my outgoings but I don't think I would be able to get out of my contract without paying large fess. I should look into it though. My family don't live in this country unfortunately.


I will have a look at the sites you mention, not something I have done before.


I am for sure feeling more positive than I was this monring. Small steps

EssexHebridean

To be honest I'd not worry too much about rent at this stage - yes it's a chunk of your income, but it's expected to be, and to be honest if it comes with the advantage of being able to walk to work that's probably a bit of money you're saving right there.

You may have missed my point about the £150 the OH is currently paying you towards debts - In understand it's stopping in a few months but is it accounted for on that SOA anywhere? And will he actually have paid his share in total when the payments stop? So the amount outstanding then will just be your share of anything joint along with anything you've run up on your own?

You may well be right about the gym contract - they're notorious for being tricky to deal with too so you may be best just to see that one out. Get your moneys worth in the next few months won't you! And make sure you check and double check what you need to do to cancel and put everything in writing to them when the time comes.

cs1986_2

Good to know the Littlewoods payment stops in 2 months, that will be a nice little extra in your pocket.


You likely wont get out of the gym early but if it stops in January, that is another £40 you can save from then which is another positive step.


You mentioned you are seeing a guy that you are cooking for sometimes. I hope he is cooking for you too on occasion and not just getting free meals


When you do have extra money, I would focus on 1 credit card to pay off first. Obviously keep on with the minimum payments but if you can get 1 credit card cleared then that's a big step and a minimum payment you don't have to worry about anymore.

Tempus01

Sorry, no I haven't. I'll go back and include his in that. Yes by Nov/Dec his debts will have eben repaid and the rest is up to me. I am a disaster!


I will make sure I am on the ball when it comes to cancelling the gym, ironically I signed up to the gym to get fit for the wedding LOL

Tempus01

Yes he also cooks for me. He earns considerably more than me(5 times more) so sometimes its hard to do things on the cheap with him. He doesnt fully know the financial situation I am in.When I first met him I got carried away trying to keep up with him but I've nipped that in the bud now. And we don't go out as much as we used to. He would happily take me out all the ime but I do like to pay my way or go halves.

FatVonD

Do you have stuff you could sell (if you spent the money on 'stuff' in the first place?), you won't recoup what you paid for it but it will get your debt down a bit faster.

Ditch the gym membership as soon as you are able.

Have you considered a second job? The first time I got into debt I took a weekend job which paid my 'fun' expenses while my salary from my day job paid the mortgage and household expenses. (It would seem the 20 year old me was far more sensible than the current one!)

I've recently signed up to do surveys on prolific academic, I've not made a fortune but an extra fiver here and there comes in handy,

Try signing up to be a mystery shopper for marketforce, they do a lot of restaurant chains, your meal gets reimbursed plus you get paid a small fee on top.

Good luck with your journey!

La_escocesa

If your salary is paid 4-weekly then you will get paid 13 times a year, so I think your monthly salary for comparison to your monthly bills should really be £1907.75...

But just thinking...it might be easier to compare your salary to what your bills are 4-weekly - then you'll know how much you need to put away each time you're paid.

Or.. if you get your budget above to work it means that one month you will get an 'extra' salary payment.

Hope that makes sense!

determined_new_ms

I think even with cooking for your bf you can bring your grocery shopping down. I spend between £150-180 for 2 adults and a 4 yo. You could bring it down to say £100 and then then accounts for your shortfall and gives you an extra £59.92 to play with a month I went from paying £100 pw on groceries to cutting it down gradually until I got to a point I was happy with. I often buy reduced meat and freeze, and actually reduced anything and freeze

At the time when your ex stops paying you the £150 you will have finished Littlewoods and almost be able to ditch the gym so that will be an extra £40/£80 to play with. Up until Nov I would just use the £150 to put towards overpaying the loan probably, but it depends when the 0% deals end and what the apr will be when they do.

I would also say from your comment re your bf that maybe your soa isn't accurate. How much are you spending on days/evening out, a bottle of wine when he come round etc? I think you should be honest about your situation with him actually. He earns very decent money so prob wants the spoils that comes with it. If he understands you're not in the position to meet him anyway, let alone half, then the decent thing will be for him to meet those costs and for you to do more frugal/thoughtful things. When I earned a lot more money than my oh I paid for holidays, nights/days out. I wanted to do those things and I wanted to do them with him. Now the tables have turned and I earn very little and a lot less than him and he pays for the lions share. Being fair doesn't always mean splitting the bills!

Good luck. I found it's a mindset more than anything else and when I decided to do it, it became easy to commit to not spending on frivolities and enjoyed seeing the numbers coming down

Tempus01

FatVonD wrote: »

Do you have stuff you could sell (if you spent the money on 'stuff' in the first place?), you won't recoup what you paid for it but it will get your debt down a bit faster.

Ditch the gym membership as soon as you are able.

Have you considered a second job? The first time I got into debt I took a weekend job which paid my 'fun' expenses while my salary from my day job paid the mortgage and household expenses. (It would seem the 20 year old me was far more sensible than the current one!)

I've recently signed up to do surveys on prolific academic, I've not made a fortune but an extra fiver here and there comes in handy,

Try signing up to be a mystery shopper for marketforce, they do a lot of restaurant chains, your meal gets reimbursed plus you get paid a small fee on top.

Good luck with your journey!

Thanks for the tips. I will be getting the gym memebership in January. That's the earliest I can do it. Looking for a second job, cash in hand preferably but not easy to find.

Tempus01

La_escocesa wrote: »

If your salary is paid 4-weekly then you will get paid 13 times a year, so I think your monthly salary for comparison to your monthly bills should really be £1907.75...

But just thinking...it might be easier to compare your salary to what your bills are 4-weekly - then you'll know how much you need to put away each time you're paid.

Or.. if you get your budget above to work it means that one month you will get an 'extra' salary payment.

Hope that makes sense!

Hiya, yes you're right.


Does anyone have any budget templates that they find helpful?