I earn a good wage but im always broke?!

BigTBecomesFree

Thanks for clicking on my thread! I apologise in advance if absolutly none of this makes sense, im dyslexic, havent got a clue about money or how to write this sort of stuff out esspeically when i switch off when the word money is involved! So strap in, its gonna be a bumpy ride... Any advice or critisim is more than welcome, im posting on here because i need help and to grow up a lil bit!

I'm a 25 year old who's just moved counties to live with my partner and her family. I'm a HGV technican with a solid income averging around £2400pm which i understand is a solid income,  however within a week im down to pennies and always end up in my overdraft. My partner is a nurse on quite frankly a terrible wage for the work she does, and she is incredible with her finances. Shes massively helped me get mine under control compared to what it was 2 years ago with £20k+ of debt. Im now sat around £10800. But no matter what i do i feel like im stuck in a loop of going in to my overdraft and being stuck. 

My total outgoings equate to around £1200, including a loan payment of £357.  

Me and my partner a currently 'saving' for a house, which actually means shes saving and im focusing on clearing my debt in order to be able to save next year. ive given myself a target of January 2026 to clear all the debt to my name. The debt is as Follows.. (TR=Total Remaining)

·       Loan: £357.70                                                        TR: £10223

·       Laptop/Brother: £50                                               TR: £670

·       Rent: £200                                                             Ongoing

·       Klarna: £45                                                           TR: £90

·       Credit Card: £50                                                   TR: £600

·       Discord: £5                                                            Cancelled.

·       Gym: £35                                                               10 Months 

·       AA: £38??????  Now £21                                    Ongoing

·       Spotify: £11                                                           Cancelled.

·       Van insurance: £78                                              On Going

·       Tools: £50                                                            TR: £300

·       Airsoft: £35/70                                                     when I want to go

·       Food & pots £130                                                Ongoing

·       Specsavers: £20                                                   Ongoing

·       Toolbox:£100                                                       October

·       Van Tax: £13.                                                       Ongoing

·       Phone: £55.                                                         Ongoing/ £280 remaining

·       EE: £24.                                                               Ongoing/ 7 months remaining on contract.

Diesel approx £200pm 

I should probably add that i have a monster addicition which i spend about £20 a month on. 

Im the type of bloke who could be sat in a room thats on fire and be completely chilled out, nothing stresses me out apart from money, its like a switch flicks on and it makes me wanna crawl in to a pit and never come out, but why? I earn a good wage, i dont have any massive commitments like a mortgage ect. My partners family has been extremely generous with only £200pm rent, compared to £450 i had to pay with my family back home, but the £250 differance just vanishes? I need help understanding where im going wrong, how to get debt free and put an end to it before i set myself up for failure when i really need to do adult things. 

My plan is to snowball my smaller debts the next few months.

1. Klarna £90
2. Tool Vans £300
3. Credit card £600
4. Iphone £280 

And then pay off my laptop from my brother of £600 which i pay 0% intrest on, Before tackling the big stuff.  I then plan on cancelling all credit card accounts, klarna ect, would this help my credit score? 

Since September 24 ive been paying my standard £357.70 loan payment and an over payment of £700 each month which makes everyone else happy but in my head just doesnt seem to make sense, ive been taking advice off everyone else who said get rid of the hefty 10k loan first but after reading some forums on here Snowballing it surely makes the most sense??

I am expecting a £10k payrise in 7months time when i finish the next step up in training at work. For the past 2 weeks i've been doing a minimum 2 hours overtime a day at roughly £21ph. Im also Picking up on call weeks as much as i can without the fear of burning myself out. 

I feel like im really trying, but somehow i always end up in my overdraft which i absolutely hate, it eats up my next months income and is always going to be a 1 step forward 2 steps back situation. I feel like if i dont pay off a minimum of a £1000pm off my loan im a financial burden but my reletives and partner/family feels like this is easily achieveable? Surely, in anyones head this is an obsecne amount of money to being paying off in a lump? It feels that every day that goes by i have no freedom and im forced to work more and more hours. The pressure i feel each day from this is insane, luckily i love my job and whilst im there i can escape this feeling. 

Im not really sure where im going with this, as you can see i waffle alot. I need help, and i would love to know what you lovely people think or would do in my situation? Am i totally screwed? Am i actually doing okay? 

Thank you for reading,

A proper struggling lad. 

CliveOfIndia

You've made a decent start with listing your income and outgoings.  What would be really helpful would be to expand on this by completing a comprehensive SOA: https://www.lemonfool.co.uk/financecalculators/soa.php

This will give a more detailed picture of your finances - as well as perhaps prompting you to think of categories that you may have forgotten.

Select the "Format for MSE" option then copy & paste the results in this thread, we can then take a look through and hopefully offer some constructive advice.

BigTBecomesFree said:

a solid income averging around £2400pm

My total outgoings equate to around £1200, including a loan payment of £357.  

Taken at face value, those figures should give you quite a bit of wiggle room, but from what you've described there is obviously money going somewhere that you're not accounting for.  The SOA can be a great help in trying to see where money is going.

Well done on taking the difficult first step and actually asking for help

QrizB

BigTBecomesFree said:

I'm a HGV technican with a solid income averging around £2400pm

...

My total outgoings equate to around £1200, including a loan payment of £357.  

Adding up the items on your list I get to £1448.70.

Since September 24 ive been paying my standard £357.70 loan payment and an over payment of £700 each month which makes everyone else happy but in my head just doesnt seem to make sense

If you then add your £700 loan overpayment, it takes you to £2148.70 a month of outgoings. That's still less than £2400 but it's a lot closer, doesn't leave all that much wiggle room for unbudgeted expenses.

BigTBecomesFree said:

I feel like im really trying, but somehow i always end up in my overdraft which i absolutely hate, it eats up my next months income and is always going to be a 1 step forward 2 steps back situation.

How deep into your overdraft do you go during the month? Is the depth of this hole getting smaller each month, or is it getting bigger?

enthusiasticsaver

As you say you should be able to live comfortably with £2400 a month and only £200 rent but you seem to have got yourself into a situation where you are spending unthinkingly or impulsively. 

Do you take lunch to work with you or spend out everyday on meal deals or whatever? Do you go out drinking often and constantly putting your hand in your pocket to buy drinks or whatever?  Do you smoke or drink or gamble? Those are ways it is easy to see money disappear. You mention an addiction.  Are you sure you only pay £20 on that? 

Best thing you can do is essentially cancel the overdraft so you are forced to stick within your budget.  No doubt you are paying charges and interest of 40% if you go overdrawn. 

Ideally you should be making a budget where you allocate money to food, bills, savings and debt. Divide your spending money and draw out cash weekly. 

What was the loan for and what interest rate are you paying? 

I think your plan to tackle the smaller debts first and then the laptop is a good one.  Make sure  you close accounts down as you go.  You only need one credit card to help with your credit rating.  Just make sure you pay it off in full each month once clear. 

This is  easily sorted with some discipline and just more care when spending. Get into the savings habit and turn your back on paying out on credit cards and yes Klarna seems to be a bad debt habit many get into so I would stop using that. I think it makes it too easy to buy stuff. 

RAS

Clothes? Ever go on holiday? Ever visit family back home? Ever go out to eat, get a takeaway, grab a snack on route to a job?

QrizB

enthusiasticsaver said:

You mention an addiction.  Are you sure you only pay £20 on that? 

I read it as being a fondness of (not a literal addiction to) Monster energy drink. In which case, £20 a month might still be a little low but it's unlikely to be hundreds.

enthusiasticsaver

QrizB said:

enthusiasticsaver said:

You mention an addiction.  Are you sure you only pay £20 on that? 

I read it as being a fondness (not a literal addction) of Monster energy drink. In which case, £20 a month might still be a little low but it's unlikely to be hundreds.

Ah yes that makes sense.  Not heard of Monster and certainly did not realise you could get addicted to that although I realise OP  may be saying that tongue in cheek. 

stymied

Have you tried writing down everything you spend for a month? This will show you where your money is going. It sounds like you’re doing an excellent job with reducing your debts.