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

badmemory

Re the electric.  I use about the same summer & winter.  That is because of what I use it for.  I do use a lot.  4 computers 24/7 all year round.  As for an EF well I see the point Brie is making.  But - if you have an EF it means you are unlikely to have to use credit again, as once you use it you can land up using it again & again!

GolfR

I use the same all year round too I think, electric wise, I don’t think I do anything out of the ordinary in the colder months apart from have the heating on which is the gas bill so I really don’t know how I’ve become so much in debt, apart from maybe general price increases? They did email me with the breakdown which seemed to make sense and I had a smart meter installed I think around October last year so all my readings go to them instantly. I will have another look at the breakdown this evening though to see what’s going on. I’m guessing my bill will be around £50/£55 a month once the debt is paid but time shall tell.

I thought I’d show here what I pay monthly to see if anyone can help with cutting stuff down. I know it’s not a proper soa but you get the jist.

£25 my sons premium bonds (I borrowed £450 from this account a good few years ago - not my finest moment - so now I’m paying it back)

£100 premium bonds (my own savings)

£30 kids pocket money - £15 each

£72 electric

£600 rent

£24 sky (I’m going to cancel this when the 18 months is up as I never watch it - the box isn’t even plugged in. I did cancel it before but they lured me back in with a ‘cheap’ deal and now I’m sorry)

£17 pet health club 

£54 pet insurance (it’s expensive but I have a frenchie which are known for their health problems therefore I wanted the most reputable insurance for him and my boyfriend gives me £40 a month towards him so I only technically pay half of this and half the pet health club)

£191 loan (3.5%)

£18 sofa (interest free)

£45 water rates (I enquired about a meter not long ago and apparently I already have one - they said the bill is so high as I pay a larger proportion upfront and then pay less next year…supposedly)

£362 loan (3.1%)

£20 EE

£41 tv lic (Jan, April, July, Oct) (I am thinking of getting rid of this. As mentioned above I never watch sky/live tv. I only watch Netflix and YouTube so I don’t need it but I’m afraid I’ll get inspectors hanging around at all hours!)

£30 NMC (March, June, Sept, Dec) professional fees, no way around this if I want to keep my job

£140 council tax (I’m band C and already have the 25% single adult discount)

£38 gas

£16 RCN (union fees, expensive but necessary sadly)

£24 plusnet

£8 prime (I know this isn’t necessary but I do watch prime video sometimes and I use the prime delivery quite often. Is costing me £6 per month, see below)

£8 Amazon music (non negotiable, I’m always listening to music on my Alexa’s and in my car via Amazon music. If I cancelled prime this would be £10 pm instead of £8 pm)

£150/£200 petrol depending on what’s going on in a particular month

£150 food (I’ve realised £100 a month on food is too difficult! But I used to spend probably at least £250 so this is good going for me)

I can’t think of anything else that goes out monthly. I know car expenses and that kind of thing will pop up but doing an soa right now is too much fuss for me and I can usually cover them with no problems, especially now that I’m spending so much less.

So I’ve decided to try and sell my clock radio and my older alexa and with the proceeds I will get a clock alexa when the next prime day is here or Black Friday and I’ll just use a clock from downstairs in the meantime. After clearing the understairs the other day I’ve sold a couple of things on fb marketplace and I’ve already got £50 in my purse! And I’ve got something else going tomorrow which is another £15. That’s going to pay for the trampoline park for my sons birthday in a fortnight and for his cake and any extra birthday type food we get.

Ive been watching more decluttering/minimalism videos on YouTube and I went to the tip again this morning and the house is looking better and better every day! I’m off work tonight but I’m back in tomorrow night but then I’m off for two after that so I’m hoping to get at least one of the kids rooms done on those two days.

Thank you for all your replies, well wishes and advice. They really mean so much to me and spur me on more than you’ll ever know!

GolfR

I meant to add to my last post re: emergency fund. I would prefer to pay as much as possible off the loan bar £100 pm that I’m going to put into my savings and if anything pops up I will use my credit card. Paying my debt off is what’s giving me huge motivation at the moment and I think continuing that is the right thing to do for me.

I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned it previously but had a Halfords bike rack sat in my living room for around a fortnight now that I found in the cubbyhole in my bedroom. I’ve been meaning to put it on marketplace but I had no idea how to use it so it made me nervous to sell it like that but I had a fiddle tonight and I’ve finally worked it all out! I jammed my thumb in the process mind and ended up swearing in front of my kids from the pain 

I remembered that I have Beats earphones here (my ex brother in law gave them to me so no actual outlay) and I charged them this morning ready to put them on eBay’s magic Sunday end time and when I looked at them after waking up from nights, they weren’t working!! I could have made around £40 on them so I was really gutted. I’ll have a look tomorrow though to see if maybe they just need some kind of reset.

I’m on annual leave in just over a week so I’ve decided I’ll try to do a bank shift the night after my last official shift which should get me between £300-£350. I work full time and enjoy my time off with the kids so I won’t do anymore than this one shift.

Darkslider

Good effort so far! I'm impressed how much you seem to be making from eBay, so much so I'm going to give it a go myself, I've got some clothes and a few bits I never use anymore to get rid of!

GolfR

Yes you definitely should darkslider! For years I’ve been part of the ‘can’t be bothered for the fuss’ camp but I’ve shocked myself with how much I’ve made and I’m so so glad I’ve done it. And as my posts have said, the difference in my home is astounding, I can’t believe I happily lived amongst so much crap since I moved out at 21.

GolfR

Payday yesterday and did a bit of spending today. I spent £42 in aldi and got loads! Including a sucky uppy mat for the back door for £4 (ones I’d been looking at on Amazon were around £12) as the dog is always bringing in mud on his paws when it’s wet out and I fancied a plug in thing for downstairs and it was only £2. Got four bag fulls of food too. Also decided I really need a new microwave, my current one is not heating evenly and the display has been gone for years so I decided to bite the bullet and buy one. BUT! I went for a nice black £50 one with dials from currys instead of a fancy £100 ish priced one which I would have put on the credit card before without a thought. I pick it up on Thursday before I go to work.

My lamp fell off my bedside table the other night and it blew the bulb! So instead of going straight out to buy some bulbs I’ve temporarily pinched the one from my daughters room. Then last night in work I remembered I have one of those fancy flower light things in a vase behind my freestanding electric fireplace so I’ve put that in my room and I’ll attach one of my Alexa plugs to it and that can be my lamp for now. When I was looking behind the fireplace I also found my old lava lamp. And it’s crazy because I was only talking to my son last week about maybe getting him a lava lamp! So I’ll put that in his room if he wants it. If not it can be an extra lamp in my room. I’m going to pinch a saying from another diary I’ve been reading in saying that I shopped from home! And I couldn’t be happier about it

GolfR

Right after I submitted my last post I had a brainwave. Why am I buying a brand new microwave when I could buy a used one?! I’ve found one on fb marketplace about 10 miles away that looks nice, £80 new and up for £20 and looks to be in good condition. I’ve messaged them to see if it’s still available and if it is I’ll try to pick it up tomorrow. I’ve attempted to cancel my order with currys but I’ve had an email saying it’s being processed for delivery and it can’t be cancelled right away but I know whatever happens I’ve got distance selling regulations on my side and I can get my money back if I no longer want it. But I am hoping that I wake up tomorrow to an email saying it’s been cancelled as that will make life much easier. I won’t make this mistake again!

GolfR

Hi everyone! I had bit of a !!!!!! up yesterday. Someone came to pick up the bike rack from fb marketplace and then messaged me a few hours later to say there was a couple of straps missing off it. I have no idea where they’ve gone as I thought I’d have kept them with the bike rack. I felt absolutely awful as I had no idea so offered to give him his £30 back but he’s asked me to see if I can find them anywhere and if not he’ll bring it back to me. I know it’s unlikely I’ll find them as after all my decluttering I’d have surely come across them but I’ll have a look to see what I can find.

I've booked a bank shift for next week from which I should get about £350 so I’m hoping to have £500 this month to go towards my loan. If this is the case then it should be in the £5000’s when my next payment goes out! I’ve got £80 in my purse (after taking off the £30 for the bike rack), £60 is going towards the trampoline park and cake next week for my sons birthday and the rest can be used for miscellaneous food items through this month. I’m expecting another one or two things to sell in the next few days which should hopefully add to that so that I don’t have to buy any small food shops from my account. I had a massive declutter of my daughters room the other day so have some stuff I’m hoping to sell from there but she’ll be having any money that is made.

After my last post I messaged that person about the microwave I had seen on fb marketplace but they didn’t reply at all. However, the day after, an even better microwave came up (900w kenwood) and it’s in fantastic condition. They said they hadn’t owned it long and they were only getting rid as they wanted a smaller one. When I checked online it was £90 new and I got it for £20! I was super happy with this. When I got home with it I contacted Currys and they’ve cancelled the £50 microwave and I’ll be getting my refund in the next few working days. 

I’m working loads this next week so there won’t be much, if any, spending over that period. I’ve been eating from my cupboards and freezer recently to try and spend less on food which is helping a lot. I don’t want to do this for too long though as it’s not the most nutritious way to eat, it’s just unfortunate that eating well tends to cost more which certainly does not go hand in hand with frugal living!

mark55man

you are on a roll!! - there is an element of buyer beware on FB/Ebay, but for £30 I agree with you and you should refund when the rack is returned - then maybe you can sell it without straps for £20 and someone handy will make do and post what a bargain they got

GolfR

Yes definitely, the rack is no good to him without those straps and it’s completely my fault so I offered the refund straight away and I’ll tell him not to bother bringing it back if he doesn’t want to as he lived a little while away. I don’t think I’ll get much interest on selling it without the complete straps though, I only got this one guy interested in it when I thought it was complete! I’ll be going to the dump next weekend with my old broken microwave so if it’s back by then I’ll take at the same time.

Back in work tonight for three in a row, eugh!