Sorting out the mess 'past me' got me in to, for a happier 'future me'

FOMO_overspender

Moneywhizz said:

Welcome to the forums and well done for getting a grip of your finances. You seem to know where you have gone wrong and also seem committed to putting it right. You have a good salary and reasonable fixed outgoings so if you can set and stick to a realistic budget going forward you should be able to make good progress in getting rid of you debt. Of course although it may seem easy just now to be putting so much extra to the debt the current situation is not going to last much longer (hopefully) and you may be tempted to spend more again. What you really need to do is make up your mind how much you think is reasonable to spend monthly on things like entertainment, eating out, extra travel, holidays, gym etc - all things that you can cut back on if you want to. Obviously you need to have a life as well while paying off your debt and only you can make the hard choices between how much to spend and how much to pay to the debt. The one thing to do, though, is to separate your spending money out either in cash, or in a separate account, then when it's gone there is no dipping into your other pots to get extra money. Putting your monthly surplus and your non essential spending money together comes to around £800. That is a reasonably large  amount of money to be spending every month, so definitely room for manoeuvre and sending some of it to debt paying instead. It might also be a good idea to boost your emergency fund up a bit while you have some extra money so that you at least have something behind you if something unexpected turns up. 

Thank you, all really good advice. I have set up a Monzo account which has my 'pots' in now for Xmas, Birthdays and Holidays and I use the main Monzo account for spending money but I think I might look at another option, as I know that if they sit there I may be tempted. Then I can use the pots to split out weekly spending money. 

I bank with Halifax as my salary, bills and savings account (which is my emergency fund), and wondering if I should look for another bank account that can do 'pots' like Monzo to have my Xmas etc funds in? If anyone knows of any like that? Monzo is so easy to use, but also so easy to remove money from your pots! 

FOMO_overspender

Also I should add that the only reason I am saving so much for 'holidays' at the moment is because I have two abroad hen dos and weddings next year I am committed to (which were supposed to be this year), so I want to make sure I save each month for those whilst I have the luxury of time, instead of doing my usual of hoping to cover it on the month of, which never works out! After those events, I will reduce that amount, as I appreciate £150 per month is a lot of money that could be paying off my loan.

Moneywhizz

Could you use your Monzo pots for food, travel, leisure, clothes spending - ie things that you use regularly throughout the month. And leave your longer term pots in the Halifax. I am not sure if they do separate saving accounts like Monzo but You don't actually need to have a separate savings account for each one of them - you can just track how much is in each one with a very simple spreadsheet. 

FOMO_overspender

Moneywhizz said:

Could you use your Monzo pots for food, travel, leisure, clothes spending - ie things that you use regularly throughout the month. And leave your longer term pots in the Halifax. I am not sure if they do separate saving accounts like Monzo but You don't actually need to have a separate savings account for each one of them - you can just track how much is in each one with a very simple spreadsheet. 

Yes that's probably the better way to do it! Will look in to changing that up so I can't just spend the pots because they're there and so easy accessible. 
In better news, today has been a NSD and I managed to put another over payment of £40 to my loan, taking me to £20,260. I am prioritising over payments on my loan over putting to the Virgin credit card which is at 0% as figured then that is % savings as the loan is 5.9% APR? Excited that at my next payday the regular payment will take me below £20k, which feels a long time coming!

bellaboo86

As far as i'm aware, you can't have separate pots on with Halifax but you can have multiple instant access savings account which you can then name. 

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bellaboo86 said:

As far as i'm aware, you can't have separate pots on with Halifax but you can have multiple instant access savings account which you can then name. 

Thank you! Just having a look in to that now, actually. 

Rgib89

Good luck on your debt free journey. Will be following for any tips x

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Rgib89 said:

Good luck on your debt free journey. Will be following for any tips x

Thanks so much! You too - I’ve subscribed to your diary as well! 

laurarutter89

I thought I would stop by and read your diary/progress as you so kindly read through mine. 

Your story of how you got into debt is exactly the same as mine so I can completely relate and i also used to be a massive people pleaser. 

Things really changed for when when I met my now husband and started saving for a house, so the fact you are starting now for yourself is an amazing thing.

I just recently got into hype of Beauty pie but I was spending a lot on skincare before and i have only taken the £5 per month option so its actually saving me a fortune  

Good luck on your journery to becoming debt free, looking forward to following your progress! 

FOMO_overspender

Thanks so much @laurarutter89 - it feels so easily done, especially when you are trying to keep up with friends who all have different salaries etc. Oh glad Beauty Pie is saving you money, I did email them to see if I can reduce from £10 membership to £5 as the products are so good and so much cheaper, so then can half my beauty budget!