Determined to do this!

enthusiasticsaver

Do your rent and council tax and water rates etc come out of your main bank account? If you are paid weekly a substantial amount will need to stay in the account to cover these as they fall due. Your rent alone is around £150 a week. Is the Revolut card to cover food and travel?

enthusiasticsaver

Also when you use the Vanquis card for food (the £32.35 you spent yesterday?) do you put the money aside to pay the Vanquis bill?

I wonder if being paid weekly has contributed to your debt problems as well as low wages and it is a budgeting problem you have? Depending on when your direct debits are due and how many Fridays in the month (assume Friday is your payday) it looks like £840 of your income is needed to cover your direct debits monthly. I am assuming rent, council tax, insurance, tv licence, water and cable, mobiles) Now £400 could come from benefits and other income for now (although as Warby says that is time limited) but still you need to be keeping back minimum £110 from your weekly pay to cover those and that does not include debts. Do you think this is why the debts have arisen?

Olddognewtricks

Thanks warby,

"It might seem an odd thing to mention but you do see posts on this forum from parents who were completely unprepared for the benefits to stop when their child finished education"

I have already taken this into consideration, and is part of the reason for my tackling this now. Once she has left college, and is either working full time or at least earning a better amount my daughter has already said she will help contribute towards bills.

Enthusiasticsaver

I budget £100 per week from my wages for rent, and add the remaining amount from my benefits which are paid on 29th.

Council tax /water are all paid from my main account.

Being paid weekly is a huge part of my problem I think, although has its pros and cons. On a 5 week month like this one it's pretty good.

I try to have my direct debits spread out through the month, to limit the impact on available funds.

The money left in my main account this week is after those payments have been accounted for and separated out.

Yesterday's food shop came out of my main account, not the vanquis card. But yes normally I would allocate money for that.

Olddognewtricks

The one good thing about working Saturday's is that they tend to end up being a nsd
So that's 2 in a row. I can't remember the last time I did that.

Have given myself 6 weeks to sort out and finalise my budget, so that I'm comfortable with it to start properly in the new year.

MoneysavingmadGem

Goodluck on your journey!

Would be great to know how you get on with the revolt card as I'm looking into cards, at moment I use cash to help keep on top of my spending.

Olddognewtricks

Thank you moneysavingmadgem

Would be great to know how you get on with the revolt card as I'm looking into cards, at moment I use cash to help keep on top of my spending.

It arrived today so I'm all ready to go with it. The app seems simple to figure out. I was able to add a few vaults and add funds as soon as I opened the account.
I think only being able to access the money in the vaults by closing them is going help me resist more than the instant access savings accounts I can have with my current account, and having too much cash around is far too tempting for me.

Olddognewtricks

Morning all.

Rent's paid this morning for another month. I send it manually every month, I probably should just set up a standing order but that would mean having to remember to transfer it back to the main account the night before and honestly my memory is awful.

Dd proudly informed me this morning that she's save £400 towards her driving lessons - she turns 17 on New Year's day. This is from her only earning £25 per week. If she can do it why can't I?
And she's applied for a new job that has a few more hours. She says if she gets it she will pay me for her phone bill every month.

Olddognewtricks

Decided to declutter some of the kitchen cupboards. Found a bottle of red wine at the back of them that was probably a Christmas present last year, although could have been any time in the last 13 years to be honest. Goes to show how often I drink!
Debating whether to keep it for cooking or take a chance and gift it for Christmas.
Have made a big pot of chilli, far too much for just the 2 of us so looks like that's my lunches for the week covered.

Dd got her new job. Just at a little local restaurant but it will help with her confidence, and it's a little bit more money and hopefully a few more hours than she does now.

Looks like today is turning into another nsd!

Olddognewtricks

Not a nsd for me today. Ds needed her payment account for college topped up so you could get something to eat and drink. Sometimes she takes lunch when she doesn't have many lessons but today her bag was jammed with books so no room for food.
But that's the only thing I spent on today so still not bad.

On the plus side I think I've just lowered my broadband price by about £15 per month.... Just stuck with my current one for so long I'd not realised how high it had gotten!

Lemon_Tree

Well done for grtti g yourself ready to tackle things, you're starting well despite saying you're not going to start properly til the new year. I couldn't imagine being paid weekly now as so much has to be paid out monthly, hopefully keeping a diary and keeping a track of it here will help as well. Well done on the debt you have managed to clear in the past few years.
When will you be able to renegotiate your mobile costs?
I'm off to subscribe now