Wow wee oh my - trying to hack away at my £54k debt (was even about to book a holiday)

berries

Wow!! £220 how much!! Gosh a few pennies then!! 🤣🤣. I'm glad you're realising what's more important than a fancy hair cut which you can get done much cheaper elsewhere . 

The right person will want your personality more than image etc. Understand you need to look smart for your job role. 
I'm not into fancy labels etc as long as I'm happy with what I wear that's fine for me. 
And there was me who had no idea on the full name of D&C clothing 🤣🤣🤣🤣 until a work colleague told me about them. 
I don't need to wear a fancy label to feel good that comes from within my personality. 

I'm glad you're trying other shops and brands of food too. 

vixx_123

I hate forking out £50 for a haircut and stretch it to every 3 months 😅 hubby would never pay that so he goes to barbers for £15 or a fancier barber if he's got any appts (£25), and even then he goes every two months or so!! I stopped getting my nails done when lockdown hit, and now I'm paying down debt I don't feel the need to go anymore. My gym is my expense though...£75 as it's CrossFit but I don't have any other hobbies and helps my anxiety/ general mental health massively! 

Rainbowtrousers

berries said:

Wow!! £220 how much!! Gosh a few pennies then!! 🤣🤣. I'm glad you're realising what's more important than a fancy hair cut which you can get done much cheaper elsewhere . 

The right person will want your personality more than image etc. Understand you need to look smart for your job role. 
I'm not into fancy labels etc as long as I'm happy with what I wear that's fine for me. 
And there was me who had no idea on the full name of D&C clothing 🤣🤣🤣🤣 until a work colleague told me about them. 
I don't need to wear a fancy label to feel good that comes from within my personality. 

I'm glad you're trying other shops and brands of food too. 

Thanks. I’m starting to realise that’s part of the problem (overspending to maintain an image) and I do think budgeting will force me to address those issues. I still look at Xmas holidays to the Carribean and consider booking something and I guess that’s going to take some time to change. 

Rainbowtrousers

vixx_123 said:

I hate forking out £50 for a haircut and stretch it to every 3 months 😅 hubby would never pay that so he goes to barbers for £15 or a fancier barber if he's got any appts (£25), and even then he goes every two months or so!! I stopped getting my nails done when lockdown hit, and now I'm paying down debt I don't feel the need to go anymore. My gym is my expense though...£75 as it's CrossFit but I don't have any other hobbies and helps my anxiety/ general mental health massively! 

That’s a great point. Paying off debt really should be the priority. I’m saying that to myself. As I mentioned above I do have to constantly remind myself of that. 

ryanm8655

Rainbowtrousers said:

ryanm8655 said:

alt80 said:

Good luck mate. 

Ok every eight weeks for haircut bit extreme imo lol. Not having the cleaner every eight weeks too are you? Can’t really see the point in that.

Haha agreed! Where are you going for haircuts at £80 a pop? Remember when I was at uni in London booking into toni and guy and getting stung for £65 for a standard blokes haircut ha. I didn't trust barbers back then though and a trendy salon back home was £25 for a guy, was a shock when I went to pay ha. So assume you're going to that sort of place? Have you thought about just going somewhere cheaper and sticking with the 4 weekly? Even the trendy London barbers are around £25 (places like Jack the Clipper) and you get a beer while getting a trim...they do just as good a job...

I'm so folically challenged that I now cut my own hair but used to go to those kind of places until recently.

Honestly I get it. I’ve tried barbers many times but I always hate the cut and have a !!!!!! month waiting for it to grow out. But obviously I’m hugely in debt so should not be spending like that. I do have a client facing role though plus I’m a single guy so it is important to look sharp. That being said the debt is making me stressed af and I guess in some way the haircut is another form of ‘look at me’ when really I’m living a life I can’t afford which is making me feel like a fraud. Same with the cleaner, the pedicures and the holidays. I do have a funny story for you. When I Zurich I popped in to a salon to get a haircut. Didn’t ask the price ahead of time and had the main dude cut it. Cost me £220!!!!!!!! I went white as a sheet after. Didn’t actually look that good but I was taking home 7k then. Ah man those were the days. Hope you are keeping well. Have to say I have now started buying supermarket branded food and really cannot believe how much cheaper it is. I mean 25-30 of the price which means I can probably save £250 a month on food. I will stick to the butchers for meat and everything else own brand or Lidl. 

Haha! The Zurich price is how I felt in To I and Guy for the first time. They did a good job but you’d expect it for that ha.

Also had a similar story when shirt shopping. Wanted a decent fitting linen shirt. Was at Canary Wharf so had a look around the shirt shops there. Wandered into Pink and tried on a linen shirt, amazing fit and I just assumed it would be Charles Thyrwitt prices. Got to the till and it was £130, I was too embarrassed not to buy it... It is an amazing fitting shirt but to make matters worse I stained it on the holiday I bought it for ha.

I assume you’re getting your haircut by the salon director or something for that price? I remember having a 50% off deal for another fancy salon but the salon director being the only person available. It was a bit more palatable with 50% off but when I called to book in again and they allocated me to the same person I was too embarrassed to ask for the cheapest person I wonder if you feel the same need to keep up appearances?

We all have our vices but the fact is most of us have to choose them, we can’t just have them all...personally id rather spend a quarter of the price for (let’s be honest) a haircut that is about 90% as good and spend that money elsewhere. Over a year it’s basically a long haul flight to most of the world you’d save doing that...

Rainbowtrousers

Hello everyone:)
Hope you are doing well. 
Thought i would update you. So far it has been a tough month without wanting to be a debbie downer. It has been difficult to stay in my £850 per month budget (that is just for food, entertainment, cleaner, yoga classes (but not gym) and clothes) despite not being able to do anything! Really has made me realise just how much i must have been spending up until now and why i am in so much debt. I should have been living on this much for the last 4/5 years. This is just keeping my head above. water and not even saving. Will post exactly what i have spent my money on at the end of the month. I have just had to transfer an additional £50 to my spending account and am looking for free bits to do at the weekend to get me to my new allowance date. I have mostly been taking my own hot drinks with me (with the odd splurge on coffee) and have also been having no contact lense days to save some cash. I am just trying hard to stick to the budget and next month will make some adjustments and cut out further unnecessary expenses once i know where the cash is going. Mostly it has been tough as i am starting to realise just how much stress i was putting myself under and how living this way would have been so much easier making me feel so much calmer (as i do already) and more grateful of things. 

Working_Mum

I think you are doing very well RT. To make long lasting change takes courage.
When I was really hard up, with 2 young kids, self employed with an ex-H who didn't pay his bills I used to "pay" myself on a Thursday each week. I had £150 of FFF money (fun, food and fuel). This way if I had a heavy weekend I could be stricter on the other days but I was never more than a few days from getting my next weekly sum.

It helped me enormously and meant I wasn't constantly saying "no" to my kids

enthusiasticsaver

I thought the other day I hadn't seen you so I am glad you are keeping roughly to the budget.  It will be a lifestyle change but it looks like you are making a few changes already which will help.  That is great. Do you really need new clothes?  Most people only wear a small proportion of their wardrobe over and over again so you could probably go for 6 months or longer without buying anything.  Really thinking about every purchase makes a difference. 

Rainbowtrousers

enthusiasticsaver said:

I thought the other day I hadn't seen you so I am glad you are keeping roughly to the budget.  It will be a lifestyle change but it looks like you are making a few changes already which will help.  That is great. Do you really need new clothes?  Most people only wear a small proportion of their wardrobe over and over again so you could probably go for 6 months or longer without buying anything.  Really thinking about every purchase makes a difference. 

Thanks to you and WM for posting. I can feel my attitude changing and I’m taking time in the supermarket and shopping round for the best deals. Regarding the clothes, I haven’t actually bought any new clothes. I am genuinely interested to see where the cash has gone as I really feel like I have done nothing this month and probably had the most controlled week I’ve ever had! Watch this space. The lifestyle change has to hurt a little I imagine but much better than the constant ups and downs in the long run. Also thinking long term, the way I was running my life really want sustainable even though I felt like I was being ambitious at the time! 

ryanm8655

Rainbowtrousers said:

enthusiasticsaver said:

I thought the other day I hadn't seen you so I am glad you are keeping roughly to the budget.  It will be a lifestyle change but it looks like you are making a few changes already which will help.  That is great. Do you really need new clothes?  Most people only wear a small proportion of their wardrobe over and over again so you could probably go for 6 months or longer without buying anything.  Really thinking about every purchase makes a difference. 

Thanks to you and WM for posting. I can feel my attitude changing and I’m taking time in the supermarket and shopping round for the best deals. Regarding the clothes, I haven’t actually bought any new clothes. I am genuinely interested to see where the cash has gone as I really feel like I have done nothing this month and probably had the most controlled week I’ve ever had! Watch this space. The lifestyle change has to hurt a little I imagine but much better than the constant ups and downs in the long run. Also thinking long term, the way I was running my life really want sustainable even though I felt like I was being ambitious at the time! 

Definitely worth going through the bank statement and adding things up to see...some apps even do it for you (my account does though I always use credit card and pay in full for the points).

Budgeting isn’t easy but it will get better with time. Plus once the debt is gone you’ll have freed up extra income.

Can also explore options to increase your income to get over the pain sooner.

I find the distraction of being busy at work makes a big difference. If you could add something free to keep you busy in your leisure time then that could help distract you from spending. I signed up for the marathon for that reason, though it didn’t help as I’d finish the run at a restaurant

Keep it going.