My debt-free journey diary

Nexgenn

The realisation
A while ago, I was diagnosed with ADHD and started medication. For the first time in years, I’ve been able to think clearly—and it’s been both a blessing and a wake-up call. With this fresh perspective, I realised what a pickle I have gotten myself into with debts, mainly on my credit card. 

Historical struggles
I have always struggled with managing money. During my first degree around 8 years ago, I was stuck in a cycle of impulsive spending, missed rent payments and payday loans galore. I wasted my grant money on expensive gifts in a desperate attempt to make and keep friends. At one point I was juggling multiple loans just to pay off other ones, and eventually, I got my first credit card.

Over time, I managed to pay off the loan, partially with the credit card and partly with help from family. The CC debt grew as Barclays kept increasing my limit, which I kept hitting. Fast-forward to this year: I got a new job, and I absolutely love it, but it required me moving to a new city. Without savings to pay for the deposit + first months rent, I borrowed £600 from my parents. I have paid £350 so far (at £50/month), but was recently hit with a debt of £700 to my old workplace for over-taking holidays and a bike I received through the cycle2work scheme. I currently work a part time job which is minimum wage, and I'm a part time student (no grant or loan money as I am a distance learner).

Current Debt Breakdown
My debt stands as:
Barclaycard- £3823 (Limit £3850)
Family loan- £250 remaining (£50/m)
Old workplace- £650 remaining (£50/m)

The gory spending details
Decembers projected vs actual finances:

PROJECTED/MINIMUM

Outgoings
Rent (inclusive of bills): £550
Phone: £24
Prescriptions: £9.90
Gym: £14.99
Subscriptions: £30
Groceries: £200
Travel: £50
CC repayments: £145.21 in December
Family loan repayments: £50p/m
Old workplace: £50p/m

Total: 1124.10

Income

Wage (December): £1230

Benefit payment: £30

Total: £1260

ACTUAL

Income

Wage: £1033 (less due to Wagestream taking back the wages I took in Nov)

Benefits: £62.18

Taken from Wagestream: £180.28

Total: 1275.46

Outgoings

Rent: £550

Phone: £33.72

Prescription: £9.90

Gym: £14.99
Subscriptions: £30
Groceries: £128.59
Convenience: £47.77
Takeaway: £48.17
Going out: £117.49
Travel: £135
Health and Beauty: £51.82
Online shopping: £38.05
Gifts: £124
CC repayments: £145.21 in December
Family loan repayments: £0 (missed payment)
Old workplace: £0 (missed payment)
Total: 1,474.71

As you can see, my spending habits are out of control. It was Christmas, which always costs more, but that is no excuse.

Taking Action
Today I took my first step in taking back control. I have pulled every figure from my past three statements for both my current account and credit card, and I've put them into categories. I've identified where I overspend, and I'm reigning it back in. 

I contacted Barclays, who graciously put me on a 12 month payment plan and froze my interest, reducing my minimum payment to just £35/m. I plan to decrease my spending and pay as much as I can into this. 

Next Steps
1) Track every penny I spend as I spend it. 
2) Set a budget, creating pots for each category
3) Hold myself accountable by sharing updates.
I also plan on taking on overtime shifts wherever possible, meal prep rather than order takeout, wait a week before making an unnecessary purchase, and walk more rather than use public transport.

My debt free journey starts here, and it will be a long one, but I'm going to get there!

Honeysucklelou2

Wishing you all the best on your debt free journey.

warby68

Lots of luck with getting to grips with your spending.

I'm assuming you've put yourself in this position on purpose (part-time minimum wage) because of the future prospects (studying as well) ? In which case, it shouldn't be forever.

Unfortunately the only answer is to cut your cloth for a while - I can see you have plenty of ideas to get you going and that December might not be a typical month but that's why you need a budget for a whole year. Don't forget to check whether you can actually do away with some spends altogether for a while such as phone (go SIM only), one or more in the gym/subs categories, takeaways. 

Also do you have/need contents insurance? I can't see any insurance.

Perhaps family might be amenable to delaying repayments while you deal with your ex-employer debt, particularly as you have paid over half already ?

Nexgenn

warby68 said:

Lots of luck with getting to grips with your spending.

I'm assuming you've put yourself in this position on purpose (part-time minimum wage) because of the future prospects (studying as well) ? In which case, it shouldn't be forever.

Unfortunately the only answer is to cut your cloth for a while - I can see you have plenty of ideas to get you going and that December might not be a typical month but that's why you need a budget for a whole year. Don't forget to check whether you can actually do away with some spends altogether for a while such as phone (go SIM only), one or more in the gym/subs categories, takeaways. 

Also do you have/need contents insurance? I can't see any insurance.

Perhaps family might be amenable to delaying repayments while you deal with your ex-employer debt, particularly as you have paid over half already ?

Thankyou!

Yep that's correct. I'm working part time so I can study (and do well in my studies), this job is related to my field of work and once graduated I will be embarking on a paid Masters programme (£25,000 bursary year one, paid training year two). Definitely, I know it won't last forever, and at least I've learned the detrimental effects of getting into debt/having a credit card, so in future I won't let it get so far.

Totally, I think my other issue was I didn't budget at all. I've never budgeted in my life. Now I have gone through the whole process of analysing my incomings and outgoings I am able to really see what I have to spend and where I can cut back. I've also started putting all of my expenses on a spreadsheet so that I can add them up as I go along and ensure I am staying within budget. Absolutely, thankyou! I'm on it 

I just have bike insurance for my electric bike which is £40 a year, I shall factor that in. But no, no other insurance.

I've spoken to them they told me just to pay back what I can, and I've amended my payment plan with my ex-employer. I'm planning to send any excess I get (via overtime, selling things) to Barclays and my ex-employer.

Thanks for your well wishes and advice!

Nexgenn

So update time.

I'm making progress with my spending habits and budget planning! Here's what I have accomplished so far in order to try and decrease spending.

Financial system in Notion

• I have created a dedicated Notion workspace to manage all debt- and money- related activities.
• I have added an expense tracker where I log my daily expenses, tag it by category, and how they were paid. This helps me stay accountable and see how much of my budget I'm spending.
• I've created a table to track my subscriptions and their payment dates to make sure I'm prepared.
• I track 'no spend days' here, allocating specific days to not spending anything at all.

Identifying spending triggers
I've gone through my spending habits and identified areas where I spend more (going out, takeaways, convenience shopping, taxis)

Monzo Pots

• I've set up various pots in my Monzo accounts with specific budgets:

- £200 for groceries (INCLUDING convenience store purchases)
- £50 for travel
- £75 for going out

• I've updated my bank details with payroll, so my wages now go directly to Monzo. When I spend something within one of those categories, I transfer money from the relevant pot to my main account.
• I've utilised Monzo's 'round up' feature and opened a free instant access savings pot, the 'round up' money goes in there (if I spend £3.60, it rounds up to £4 and the excess 40p goes in that account).

Cutting costs

• I've started packing lunches for work
• I deleted retailer apps from my phone to avoid impulse purchases and notifications
• I removed my card details from Google autofill to make purchases more manual

Switching bank accounts for extra cash

• I opened a new account with Nationwide using their switch service, so I should receive £175 next month from them as part of their offer.

All the excess I have will go towards repaying my debts. As my Barclaycard interest is frozen and my repayments have been lowered, I plan to keep back some of my savings each month. This way I have a 'sinking fund' if needed. If after a number of months I have not had to use this, I'll be paying a higher lump sum towards these. 

I'm hoping this is the beginning of a new, financially responsible me, and I'm looking forward to the results!