Everything changes

Mands

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81960489#Comment_81960489

Same. Pots, pots and more pots.

The grocery money never mingles with the petrol money which never touches the annual village bills money.

What's left over, after 90% has been allocated, is mine. Coffee, lunch out, unicorn socks, no judgement. But when it's gone, it's gone.

Smudgeismydog

Each month my partner and I pay into our joint account which then covers all the household bills. We also have a monthly personal spend allowance, which we are free to spend as we wish, but once it’s gone it’s gone.

The credit card is only used for online purchases or larger purchases to benefit from some cash back, and paid in full every month.

We review our finances monthly to see what was spent the previous month, and we talk about any future ad hoc costs we are going to have, and how they are going to be funded.

ArtyJ931

I have a main account money (salary) goes into and DDs go out of (never spend from this) and then I transfer the rest of my budget to another account which I divide into pots.

I have an amount that is for weekly “spends” which includes petrol and groceries and coffee etc which I have already worked out and I have a pot for that which I fill when I get paid and then I pay myself that money weekly on a Friday. I was withdrawing it in cash which worked REALLY well for me in terms of tangible money but then some places don’t take cash and if I wanted to do an online shop it was a pain so I’m trying having a dedicated account for that money but it is linked to other pots so somehow feels easier to overspend.

it’s a work in progress for me to find exactly what works.

MFWannabe

Pretty much the same

I have my main account which salary is paid into and all direct debits come out off

I then transfer X amount each month into savings and X amount into my ‘spends’ account which covers all groceries etc

MFWannabe

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81960437#Comment_81960437

we’ve all advised how we do things

For you I would suggest you need to,

1. Identify where you are spending your money
2. Set a realistic budget you can work to
3. Are you able to get a new 0% card to move your high interest debt to?
   If I were you I’d get the longest payment back period I could and set up a direct debit to pay it off in time (But make sure you close current one after you’ve paid it off!)
   
   It’s very worrying you started this new thread stating you owe 2k and now you are saying 2.8k only a couple of weeks later

beanielou

Your OD needs to be a priority debt as it will be expensive.
7 months of scrimping is nothing.

foxgloves

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81960437#Comment_81960437

You make different choices. That's what it comes down to. There isn't a magic solution.

You get paid, you're browsing a shop, you see a non-essential shiny thing & you apply the following:

"Will buying this thing HELP me with my goal to pay off my debts or will it HINDER me?"If it isn't an essential item or maybe a very small weekly treat, then it is almost certainly going to be the latter. You just have to stop frittering your money. I was much the same as you & lived beyond my means for years so I can tell you that the only way to live within your means is to stop self-sabotaging.

If you haven't saved up for a holiday or a trip, then you don't go.

If you don't have any money in your Clothes Pot, then that dress stays in the shop.

Ditto all other spending categories.

Something we find useful is having a monthly Personal Spends allowance of £100 each. This is for spending on whatever we like without judgement but when it's gone, it's gone. There is no more until I set the following month's budget. I usually have some of my Spends leftover so this is carried fowards which assists with any bigger purchases I may wish to make. I also do online surveys (Prolific A) to add to my Personal Spends. As our Spends include coffee shop visits, this also keeps them to a sensible level. I often like to take my Ips*s I-say survey earnings in £5 coffee shop vouchers, which helps to reduce spending as we too have a coffee habit.

But overall, you can't keep carrying on the same & expect different results. Your income is your money. There isn't any more so your monthly.budget needs to come in at under that, so as to cover additional debt repayments & then when you are solvent, you can start putting it into savings.

If you keep spending money you don't have, you will remain in debt & it will probably increase. I lived like that from the age of 19 to my early 40s. Change is entirely possible but you have to want it more than the next shiny thing.

enthusiasticsaver

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81960437#Comment_81960437

You seem very all over the place and maybe a touch impulsive and whilst I hesitate to diagnose over the internet you may be neurodivergent (ADHD) and constantly looking for dopamine hits which is often the reason for debts. Just something to consider if you have not already.

I would look into getting a monthly spends account like Monzo or Starling where they track your spending for you and you can see at a glance how much is being spent. At the beginning of the month leave enough for direct debits in your normal current account, pay your credit card/overdraft debt payment, move say £50 into emergency savings and the rest into a general spends account and only spend from there. Try not to think of payday being a treat day. As I say a lot of what you say on here rings a bell with me with regards to constantly feeling like you have to treat yourself which is your brain craving dopamine if you are ND. Sometimes understanding how your brain works helps you overcome obstacles.

Chocolatefund

Don't spend ANYTHING two days after payday.

This allows the dopamine levels in your brain to drop back down. Reduces the temptation of impulse spending and blowing it all on weekend payday.

itsthelittlethings

Had a good day at work then a medical appointment. Came home and ate, washed up, put a wash on, put the washing away and hung the washing out. Finally my supermarket delivery came. They said they didn't have some stuff but I seem to have got everything, a different kind of cabbage but I don't mind that. Now I'm watching some Spanish property program and about to drink a cuppa.

Not spending anything for two days after payday is a good idea which I might try. I am in a good position with plenty of food in and £17 coming my way from Vinted. Quiet weekend coming up.