BigEars' debt diary - please help v silly person become more sensible

BigEars_2

Right, just cos there aren’t enough diaries on here….

I hope some of you lovely people can help me – you’re already motivating me to make money and quit smoking so now if you could sort out my finances too I’d be much obliged!

Before I start I better say – all this is my own fault so I don’t expect any sympathy. Also it may not look so bad as I know there are people on here in real trouble, but it’s really depressing for me.

My OH (amazing job, no debts) is going on 2 holidays without me this year (I was invited on both) which isn’t exactly the end of the world, but I feel like life is leaving me behind, and I should be able to be independent of OH and parents (ie not borrowing all the time) and afford to lead a decent (albeit MSE!) lifestyle.

Basically I got into debt after uni by paying myself through college to get qualified for a job that pays SH*T money. Stuck that out for 2 years, got even further in debt due to becoming deeply depressed and being isolated geographically from family and friends so spending loads on food, booze and trips home.:(

In February 2006 I moved in with the parents and got a (slightly) better paid job, they loaned me a large amount to clear the most urgent debts and most importantly they nursed me back to sanity, for which I will be eternally grateful. :A After a year of living near family and friends and being well and truly looked after, I decided (stupidly!) to move to London to be with my OH of several years.

I got myself a fantastic job on great cash(I've doubled my take home pay since Feb 2006) – but it’s all going in debt repayments and rent so I feel no better off than I was before. Every month I go over my overdraft (which I should be starting to pay off by now) and end up borrowing from very generous and understanding OH. My lovely parents keep offering to let me defer my repayments to them but I feel awful for accepting their money and then b*ggering off to London after they supported me so much..

Anyway this is a bit of an epic post, sorry about that! I’ve done my SOA and what I was really hoping is that someone can help me see where I can cut back. I’ve already tried to make some changes, and keep a spending diary, but to be frank I’ve been rubbish at it. One thing I am very proud of though is that I gave up smoking:A

I have a decent job so I get embarrassed that I have to be so stingy and turn down nights out so often, but I really want to pay off these debts and enjoy my twenties (nearing the end of them!!) while I can, so I am prepared to make some big sacrifices here… I want to overpay on CDL loan as it’s the most interest (I did the snowball thing) but also reduce my overdraft too.

OK here goes....

SOA
Career development loan - £2371.83 at 12.9% APR (£135.80 repayments, planning to start overpaying once Christmas is out the way)
Graduate loan - £1258.17 at 6.9% APR (repayments of £75.77)
Parents - £700 at 0% interest (repay £100 a month)
OH - £158 – will repay this with December 15 pay
Overdraft - £1,550 at 0% interest on first £500 and I pay about £4 interest a month on the rest

Incomings:
Salary - £1623 (after tax, NI and student loan)
Not including this in case I don’t manage it, but will attempt to do £10 a day challenges as long as it takes, and put these straight off the loans)

Fixed outgoings:
Utilities and TV licence and council tax– OH pays (until I am back on my feet then I have to share
Rent - £487.50 (that’s London for you – tied into contract so can’t move)
Transport - £120 (travelcards for public transport)
Trains home to see family - £50 (getting cheapest possible deals)
Mobile phone - £45 (on £35 deal in attempt to cut bills as they were getting to the £80 mark. Have now got landline installed and as soon as contract allows, will reduce call plan)
Phone/internet/TV etc - £27
Loan repayments (see above) - £311.57 usually (£470 in December)

My budget for other outgoings (hopefully can stick to it – have only had it in place for 1 month)
Cards/gifts/Christmas savings - £40 (big family and wide circle of friends)
Personal spends - £150 (this includes clothes and Lottery* as well as entertainment)
Food - £70

Total projected outgoings: 1301.07 (yet I go over my overdraft every month – how???!!!!)

*I know, OH refers to it as a tax on stupid people but I guarantee the week I stop my numbers will come up so….)

Squirrel29

Hi and welcome,

There isn't a lot of room for movement in your outgoings but obviously you have over £300 "spare" each month. I think you need to keep a spending diary and use the motivator tool. It is amazing how magazines or bought sandwiches (cos you can't be bothered to make pack up) can add up over the course of a month.

Also, you have made the sacrifice to move in with your OH in London, so could he not pay more towards the rent for say a year to help you get back on your feet?

PS - regarding lottery, I have weaned myself off it.. it was hard when you have set numbers but I purposely don't check the results!

peb

Hiya and welcome. Well done on givig up smoking.

I think you've said it yourself - YOU NEED TO KEEP A SPENDING DIARY. You have a generous personal allowance but it must be hard watching other folk spending on going out etc when you can't afford to.

Nothing else stands out; although if you can keep your head down you will soon have paid off your parents and then divert that money to another creditor. Have you tried the snowball?

Keep posting

BigEars_2

Hi Squirrel and peb
Thanks for popping in!

I know, the £300 is v weird as I never actually seem to have it!!

I suffered an identity fraud recently so that explains a bit of the disappearing cash ( Barclays don’t seem to be in any hurry to give me the cash back though – sigh) but I agree, it’s obviously something silly that I’m not considering.

I’m ok at packed lunches – I manage usually 2-3 days a week but I know I have to try harder. I have stopped buying a croissant and coffee on the way in - £1.50 seemed like a bargain til I used the demotivator so now I keep a box of cereal at work and have that instead.

I also keep seeming to have disasters ie last month I had to pay to get the phone line in (over £100) and this month my glasses broke so I’ll need another pair. Maybe I need to budget a certain amount – I’ll call it my stupidity fund! – to cover me for these little disasters.

The OH is a difficult one – he is a very kind and supportive person and he supports me a bit by paying the bills and things, but we don’t have kids or anything like that so I can’t really expect any more from him. He paid off my credit card and paid the rent when I was out of work for a few weeks, but I always pay him back. I kind of expected him to support me more but then we argued about it and I realised it was a bit unfair – after all, we’re not married.

I don’t know how you have the moral strength to not check the lottery! Whenever I waver and think about cancelling my online account, I win a tenner or something (it’s like a crack dealer keeping me hooked! Hehe)

I feel so positive that I’ve actually written it all down and kind of faced up to it. The OH made me do it a while back but because he has never been in debt he doesn’t seem to understand. You’re all so inspirational cos I can see many of the people on here have been through far worse so I’m hoping the successes will rub off on me!!

I actually started tracking my spends from last month but didn’t break it down properly – am going to take a notebook round with me and note down every little thing. Entries so far will probably be 100 x Curly Wurlys (my fag replacement therapy!) Prepare to be bored to death with the minutiae of my life!

Thanks guys!

BE x:D

BigEars_2

PS Peb, yes tried the snowball but due to the disasters I mentioned I know I won't have any spare cash til Jan, when I intend to snowball like crazy and get that DFD closer and closer!

Squirrel29

I love reading diaries - post as much as you like!!!

I found it really hard not to check the lottery but seeing my OD go down is more of a reward these days. I think I have only won £40 in about 10 years of doing lottery!

I work out how much spending money I can have each week and transfer it to a separate bank account. I only use this account for petrol, shopping and spends. My main account is used for direct debits and bills. I find I can quickly work out how much I have left and am really strict about not transferring any more across. This really works for me, I used to lose track of all the trips to the ATM and really couldn't see where my money was going!

BigEars_2

Squirrel - I set a 'spending account' up last month and my OH said it was silly - I feel so vindicated!! This is the first month I'll be using it properly (I got paid last week) so I am very excited!:D
BE x

BigEars_2

Morning
Well I went through my bank statements last night so I can do this properly. I got paid last week and so far I spent (not including things that are fixed ie travel, rent etc)
£3 on swimming
£140 on joining a gym (but that's a mystery shop so will get that back next month)
£25 on birthday pressie for mum
£30 on Sky installation (they claim they will refund this by today but as I don't trust them I'll count it as spent til I get it back!)
£36 first Christmas shopping
£7.50 on other mystery shopping expenses
£20 on drinks this weekend (2 nights out, so not too bad!)

I think one thing that sticks out is the amount of mystery shopping expenses I incur - I know they get repaid but you do have to wait for them so maybe I should budget a set amount every month for them and make a decision not to go over that. Then when I get them back I can call it 'extra' to throw at the debt. :question:

Anyone got any ideas for me?

I'll update the diary every day that I have net access, even if I'm the only one who reads it in detail (cause it will be pretty boring!!) it will force me to see what I'm actually spending

Thanks for reading

BE x

BigEars_2

Hello....if anyone is around, I'm twiddling my thumbs and wondering what useful things I could be doing to cut my ridiculous outgoings....
Help!

BE x

Squirrel29

Hi Big Ears - will give you a bump!!

BigEars_2

Thanks Squirrel - nice to see you today
BE x