I’m 34 and have been in debt since I was 18. It ends now!

GolfR

Hi all

I’ve had a massive lightbulb moment recently and I’ve decided I’ve had enough of being constantly in debt. I’ve never struggled with monthly payments thankfully but I’m really fed up of paying out some sort of debt every month. I used to own a house with my ex and would overspend as we had a good household income. I left him 2 and a half years ago and I now rent however my debts obviously came with me and of course my household income has dropped massively. I received a letter about six weeks ago stating my rent was increasing from £500 fo £600 pcm and this was the catalyst for my lightbulb moment as I really want to own my own house before I’m too old to get a mortgage.

As stated in the title, I am 34 and I’ve been in debt since I was able to get debt at age 18. Mostly on cars and general overspending. I didn’t grow up with much and I’m pretty sure this led me to buying whatever I wanted when I started working as I felt I’d missed out growing up. I live with my two kids who are 8 and 10 and I’m a nurse. 

My current debts are:

£7915 Tesco loan 2.9%, £362 pm with 21 months left

£8729 Lloyds loan 3.5%, £190 pm with 46 months left
£498 Harvey’s sofa 0% £18 pm with approx 3 years left

I also have £1250 on a credit card which was spent month before last on car modifications and an £800 specialist root canal but that is being paid off a few days before the due date which is 5th August. I lived as frugally as possible over the last two months in order to save the £600 pm to pay it off this month meaning there’ll be no interest to pay and I’m really proud of myself for being able to do this. It made me realise how, if I stop going out to the shops spending recklessly to pass the time and cutting down on my food bill by eating what I have in my two full freezers that I could pay my two loans off a lot sooner than their completion dates.

I’ve managed to pay an extra £60 or so off the Tesco loan since last month and I also hope I have some left this month to put a little extra towards it. I’ve also put quite a few things on eBay such as a bike I bought on finance for £450 and used about three times which I’m selling today for £200, some PS4 games that I have played and won’t play again and a pair of £115 running trainers which I also used about three times. I’m sure you can see the pattern emerging of where I overspend!

My monthly income including wages (approx £1900 pm), chb (£140 pm), universal credits (usually around £150 pm) and child maintenance from the kids father (£200 pm) which totals to usually around £2400. My bills are £1000 approx pm, monthly debt payments are around £600 pm and the rest goes on petrol, food and misc. If we say that I spend around £150 pm on petrol and £100 pm on food for the foreseeable future I should ideally have around £550 pm leftover for me to be able to hopefully pay a good chunk extra off the loans each month. I don’t know if it would be a good idea for me to put an soa up? I’m quite financially savvy and I don’t think I pay out anything that could be cut down or cancelled such as gym memberships etc. I keep an eye on gas and electric prices regularly and I haven’t come across any cheaper plans as of yet. But if someone thinks an soa would be a good idea to put up then I will do that.

My only asset worth any money is my car. It’s worth, at a guess, around 9k but cars are one of my biggest interests and hobbies so the last thing I would want to do is to sell it and buy a cheap car in order to pay the one loan off. In fact I did sell the car that the Tesco loan paid for and bought a 3k car (the payment of approx 13k from the sale of the car went towards a different 10k loan of 12.9% interest and the purchase of the 3k car) but it needed something doing almost every month in the 9 months I had it which is why I bought my current, newer car which came with 2 years free warranty and 2 free services. 

I think I’ll end it there for now as it’s turning into an essay but I’ll be back regularly to update on how I’m getting on. I’d love any advice or tips to help with my debt free journey please, I’ve never done a diary before so I’m very excited. Thanks everyone!

[Deleted User]

Happy new diary! Sounds like you have a good plan - if I were you, I'd definitely do a SOA, but you don't have to put it on here. When I started clearing my debt, it was helpful to look back at my initial SOA after a few months, to see how well it was working, and where it needed tweaked. I did a new one once I was DF, and it was very satisfying not having to allow debt repayments!

One thing I would look at is your food budget - I have a feeling £100 p/m for food will be rather miserable for 3 of you. That's less than I spend just by myself. Even with full freezers, that's £25/week (or £20 in a 5 week month) - having a takeaway once a month would take half your week's budget. You're a better person than I if you can stick to that for a few months, but with growing kids and food prices/inflation creeping up, I think you might find it tough - I know I have found that! Some great advice I saw here was to average your last three months on food spends, and try to decrease it steadily by a set amount each month. So if you spent an average of £160 per month, the next month try 150, then 140 etc. That might be a more sustainable approach rather than going full "beans on toast" mode? 

Good luck, will subscribe to cheer you on!  

GolfR

Thank you blackcoffee, I will admit it is difficult sticking to a lower food budget even with my full freezers. I only spent £80 last month and that was miserable! I’ll take on your advice.

I sold the bike today for £200 so I’m super pleased with that, more so that it’s finally out of the way. My boyfriend thinks I should keep it in savings for a rainy day but I’d like to pay it off my loan really, I don’t know what you’d suggest? I have two things ending on eBay tomorrow night which I’m hoping to get around £70-£80 for combined. I also have some things going to we buy books this week which will get me £12 and I have others going to music magpie which I think will be around £20. Not much but it’s clearing the house out and is a little back for me.

I spent £12 today in morrisons on yoghurts, squash, two boxes of frosted shreddies for my son which should last the month and some philapelphia. I really wanted to buy a £4 tarte au citron but I stopped myself. And I’ve just bought some jiffy bags from amazon for the games I’m selling, £12 for 100 which should last me for years.

So it’s been a productive day for me and I’m pleased with myself for finally getting round to selling the things I no longer want or need.

mark55man

Good luck, stick at it and keep your obviously sensible head on and remember it will take a while but not forever and don't get too upset if stuff happens to set you back - all of us on here have that T-Shirt.  Enjoy the surge at the beginning and the big savings you can do once, but remember its the long term changes (the packed lunches, the no take outs, reducing coffees/cake when out), those are the things that will get you to £0.  And those things are the same things that will allow you to save for your house after

You got 20 years on me - so don't beat yourself up about leaving it too late.  And don't stop planning for the future while you are dealing with this bump in the road

peb

If you have a car and also are responsible for white goods (I see you rent) then do consider an emergency fund.

I agree with BCNS, my food bill for one is £100 + a month - if there's three of you I don't think your budget is realistic long term.   There will always be more inexpensive periods when using up stores/freezer contents but then more expensive periods when you run out of more expensive one off purchases.

Hope all goes well

Darkslider

I'm also into my cars and bikes and must have had 30+ in 15 years of driving, sometimes owning two or three at once (handy having a car, a van and a 4x4 to cover all bases 🤣)

In my experience with motoring  moneysaving the cheapest car is normally the one you've got. It's a devil you know, whereas buying a cheap runaround to free up some cash can easily throw up a bill that wipes out any potential savings. If you paid 9k for your car and you've sunk money into it since you probably won't recoup any where near that back so if it's reliable and isn't horrendously expensive to run I'd keep it where it is.

GolfR

I wrote a long reply and then I got caught up in work and it got erased!! Thanks for your replies, it probably is safer to put the proceeds from the bike into my savings but I just feel like I’ve failed if I don’t put it towards my loan. Probably silly I know.

Darkslider - wow that’s an impressive amount of vehicles 🤣 I thought 8 cars in my 15 years was a lot! I’ve had quite a bit done to my car in the year I’ve had it, uprated clutch and stage 1 tune, new PS4’s on the front last month and VW replaced both the turbo and thermostat housing under warranty so hopefully no other big things should go wrong. And it’s a 1.8 polo gti so isn’t too bad to run actually.

I’m in work now and the next two nights so there shouldn’t be any spending in those days. And some games are due to end on eBay in two evenings time so that should be a little extra. I have to take my boyfriend to Telford on Wednesday but I’ll be taking food with me so I’m not tempted by any services McDonald’s!

GolfR

So I’ve sold a ton of games on eBay, most of them are my son’s as he’s saving up for a gaming pc (I’m hoping this is a good lesson to teach him for the future, to find ways of making money to get what you want). I’ve made £26 on my three games after eBay fees but before postage costs and my sons nine games have made a whopping £168 after eBay fees but before postage costs. He’s going to be absolutely thrilled with this addition to his savings account when I tell him.

I’m on my last night in work and there’s been no spending at all for a few days. I’m on annual leave after tonight for 14 days but I’ve booked a bank shift for Sunday afternoon. Six hours isn’t so bad to do in the middle of my time off and I should take home around £175 to go towards a loan or my savings. Still trying to decide whether to get a £1000 emergency fund or whether to put all my spare cash towards the highest interest loan. Any suggestions?

JGB1955

GolfR said:

Still trying to decide whether to get a £1000 emergency fund or whether to put all my spare cash towards the highest interest loan. Any suggestions?

Why not split your spare cash between an emergency fund and paying off your loans - 50/50?

GolfR

Yes I could do half and half, I didn’t think of that!

I had a good few days, on the whole. I finished my three nights in work and almost stopped for a McDonald’s breakfast but I drove on by in the end and was very pleased with myself! But on the drive to Telford (which OH paid for - £30 in petrol) we stopped and I spent £11 on sandwiches, snacks and drinks as I was absolutely starving so I wasn’t too upset as we got a decent amount for this. And I got an orange twirl, I do love them!

I sent some bits to webuybooks the other day which I got payment for today - just over £10 and with the £25 ish I made from the games and the money I got from the sale of my bike I’ve now got £250 to put into my savings! I’ve also got some things to send to music magpie tomorrow. The big money items are my sons games but I should get around £15 for myself I think which doesn’t sound a lot but the difference of crap I have lying around is so so worth it. I went shopping today to Lidl where I spent £54 and Asda where I got two bags of dog food and some bits I couldn’t get in Lidl and spent £14 and I had six full bags from the two shops, I was super impressed! I bought a lot of tin items and even a few expensive ish things such a massive pizza for £3 which I’ll make wedges with and share with the kids Sunday evening following my afternoon shift.

I’ve had a huge clear out of my room today and I can’t believe the difference. It’s so much neater, no stuff hanging around which I never use but didn’t like to throw out and I’ve also listed a few things on eBay tonight and over the last few days. A joules blazer which I’ve only worn once for an interview and is now too big for me (it’s size 16 and I’m now a 12 after losing 3 stone in the last year), my dress from my graduation ball which I’ll never wear again, a Haynes manual for my old Mini Cooper S, two girls Joules’ coats and my Hunter wellies. Oh and I was thrilled earlier as, when I was tidying my bedroom, I found an old Nintendo DS game (Pokemon ultra sun if anyone is interested to know) which turns out is worth around £30! And that’s mine luckily not my sons so hopefully I’ll have another decent amount to go into my savings with that and the other bits I’m selling.

I have a foldable exercise bike which I keep meaning to take pictures of to put on eBay and Facebook marketplace but I keep forgetting to do it!

So I’ve had a really good few days and I’m feeling so positive about things recently. It’s a lovely feeling!

GolfR

Another good day today, I sent two boxes off to music magpie and I should get £16 for myself for what feels like a million old cd’s, dvd’s and unwanted books and £20 for my son from the sale of a few of his PS4 games. I’ve got some listing drafts ready for eBay to be put up on Sunday evening of stuff I’ve found in the house that I forgot I had and are worth a decent amount. I’ve also been through three bags of stuff from the clear out of my bedroom yesterday and have binned most of it and apart from a big pile of clothes on the floor and a hideaway corner my room is the tidiest and most organised it’s been since I moved in here two and a half years ago!

I was swapping between the PS3 and PS4 hdmi’s earlier and had a ball ache doing this as my tv is on the wall and it’s a struggle to get to them so I almost bought two extenders on Amazon earlier for £5.89 but I stopped myself as even though it’s an inconvenience to struggle, it’s not undoable so I didn’t buy them. And a £300 outside corner sofa that I wanted a few months ago but was out of stock in Argos has been reduced today to £240 and even though I did have a little think about it for two minutes, I did not buy it. I’d have snapped it up instantly only a month ago. Look at me!! 

No plans of going out tomorrow (Saturday) as the weather is dreadful and I have work Sunday afternoon so apart from a 4 pinter of milk I shouldn’t need to buy anything else this weekend.

I use the Emma app to track my spends but since I have to pay annually for this I would like to make my own excel spreadsheet and do it myself instead but I don’t know the first way to go about doing it really so I’ll have to have a search on this forum and/or a google to figure it out.