gone from £30k to -£3000

kmb500

.........sssssssssssss ssssssss

Willing2Learn

Hi and congratulations on getting the new job!

The first thing I would do, would be to open up a new Basic current account, so that my income was ring-fenced. It would need to be with a different baking group from those with whom you have debts. I recommend Nationwide or Co-Op as they are fully independent banks.

Please could you post up your SOA (using your current salary), so that we can see your exact circumstances and advise accordingly. Thanks.
http://www.stoozing.com/calculator/soa.php

Karonher

Did you buy anything with the £30k that you could sell?

kmb500

Karonher wrote: »

Did you buy anything with the £30k that you could sell?

Nope, every penny went up my nose. Kicking myself for it.

Willing2Learn

kmb500 wrote: »

Nope, every penny went up my nose. Kicking myself for it.

Do you mean that literally? If so, are you receiving any kind of support to address that issue?

kmb500

Willing2Learn wrote: »

Do you mean that literally? If so, are you receiving any kind of support to address that issue?

yes. well not quite every penny, I spent some money on other leisure activities but yes most of it went on coke. And yes I have been getting support, thank you for asking still a problem but less so than it used to be. That is also what caused me to lose my job and then when i was unemployed and no motivation, what did I do to fill my time, well you can guess.



I moved back in with my parents too





According to that SOA it says i have £700 left on my new salary. But i suppose that is without including alcohol and stuff which i spend quite a lot.

I've gone the past few months either with £0 weekly pay or not very much so recently even though ive been spending less, I have still been no better off.
Now that I have a decent job again, I am hoping I can get out of my situation.




Another issue is that i want to do an apprenticeship in september. But I think it's maybe wiser to not do that if I'm in 3 grand of debt because i will really struggle with paying debt then (on £150 per week)

JayRitchie

kmb500 wrote: »

yes. well not quite every penny, I spent some money on other leisure activities but yes most of it went on coke. And yes I have been getting support, thank you for asking still a problem but less so than it used to be. That is also what caused me to lose my job and then when i was unemployed and no motivation, what did I do to fill my time, well you can guess.



I moved back in with my parents too





According to that SOA it says i have £700 left on my new salary. But i suppose that is without including alcohol and stuff which i spend quite a lot.

I've gone the past few months either with £0 weekly pay or not very much so recently even though ive been spending less, I have still been no better off.
Now that I have a decent job again, I am hoping I can get out of my situation.




Another issue is that i want to do an apprenticeship in september. But I think it's maybe wiser to not do that if I'm in 3 grand of debt because i will really struggle with paying debt then (on £150 per week)

Dont let 3 grand stop you getting valuable skills in something you want to do. Tough it out for a year and look for ways to earn a bit more.

EssexHebridean

kmb500 wrote: »

yes. well not quite every penny, I spent some money on other leisure activities but yes most of it went on coke. And yes I have been getting support, thank you for asking still a problem but less so than it used to be. That is also what caused me to lose my job and then when i was unemployed and no motivation, what did I do to fill my time, well you can guess.



I moved back in with my parents too





According to that SOA it says i have £700 left on my new salary. But i suppose that is without including alcohol and stuff which i spend quite a lot.

I've gone the past few months either with £0 weekly pay or not very much so recently even though ive been spending less, I have still been no better off.
Now that I have a decent job again, I am hoping I can get out of my situation.




Another issue is that i want to do an apprenticeship in september. But I think it's maybe wiser to not do that if I'm in 3 grand of debt because i will really struggle with paying debt then (on £150 per week)

Congratulations on the job and on making a start on getting yourself clean from drugs and out of debt too. The sentence I've highlighted above flags up a concern - I'm sure you've been made aware within your treatment that addiction is addiction, and it's very easy to risk a move from one substance of choice to another particularly when the perception is that the replacement is legally available so it must be OK, right? I suspect at this stage in time the best thing for you would be to talk further with those supporting you about the alcohol thing as well - we're not qualified to say what you should or shouldn't do around that side of things but if you're looking at a £700 surplus and then naming alcohol as a reason why that might diminish substantially that sets all sorts of alarm bells ringing.

You can certainly get out of your situation with the level of surplus that you're looking at, but you do need to tackle things in the right order here I'd guess.

Is there an option to defer the apprenticeship for a year to give you time to deal with everything else that's going on currently before putting yourself in a position where you also have to manage a massive drop in income alongside everything else? Deferring could prove a better way of managing your stress levels.

Willing2Learn

I kind of agree, that a deferral of the apprenticeship may be a wise move. It would allow you the time to access treatment for your alcohol and substance misuse. There are some really good organisations out there that offer treatment and talking therapy. The talking therapy can be important as it considers the misuse to be a an [unhelpful] coping strategy to manage the psychological stresses of daily life. You can also access treatment via your GP (medication and a referral for therapy such as CBT).

https://www.addaction.org.uk/