Just a Question.....

jenevieve

Hi everyone,
I've been reading some of the diaries on here; they are very inspiring and supportive.
I've got myself into quite a bit of debt but am hopefully slowly turning things around. I have moved into shared accomodation which has slashed my outgoings considerably and I am going to start a money diary to keep track of where my pennies go. I am partial to magazines and lattes at Starbucks and fritter my money away completely senselessly.

Absolutely no one knows about my debt. I am single so do not have family to support.
Having moved, I now have more money to throw at my debts but my friends think all the extra cash is going towards a deposit for my own home - a very, very distant dream, I can tell you!! It's hard to justify not going out and not spending money when they all think I've got loads to spare now. How do I deal with this?

I know this probably sounds trivial in comparison to some of the mountains that some people are facing on here but I really want to knuckle down and make in roads into my debts.

Any advice is more than welcome and thank you for taking time to read my post

moneydesperate_x

Hi

I have the same problem with some of my friends. I have told close friends that I have debt that i am paying off, but as they dont know the exact amount they think it will only take me a year! More like 10 years but I am not going to tell them that!
I too have not told my family, I have told my OH who is very supportive but nobody else.
I try and be honest with people in my day to day life, but when it comes to personal things it can be more difficult.
Is there any harm in them thinking you are saving for a house, with todays house prices you could be saving for a while anyway?!
Its not trivial at all, infact it can be a big thing to keep lying to your friends, but I would look at it as a small white lie, you may also find some of your friends have the same problem!

Good luck, you always have MSE to talk to!

Tiglet

Hi jenevieve,

Perhaps you could cut down on this rather than stopping it altogether. Instead of going to Starbucks every day, go for a walk every other day. If anyone asks, tell them it's because you want to get fit/lose some weight/explore the town/whatever. The point is that it's free. On the other day, just try to spend less.

The idea of keeping a money diary is excellent:beer: It will show up all sorts of ways you waste little bits of money here there and everywhere. When you start to get an idea of what is happening to your money, you'll find that your attitude to money starts to change quite dramatically.

jenevieve

Thanks Tiglet, that's good advice. I don't go to Starbucks everyday but I do go at least once or twice a week. I like to treat myself with a magazine or two (or three and so on....) and a latte and a cake - easily can come to £10 - £15.
The idea about getting fit is great - I have started running as it is cheap! Come July, I am going to cancel my gym membership (that is currently costing me £36!).

I think I need to try and strike a balance between carefully monitoring my money and still having the odd treat.
I've just added up my C/Cs and they come to £16000!!!!!!:eek:
That doesn't even include my personal loan that I took out to consolidate my last pile of debt I built up.......:o

skint_spice

Jenevieve, you sound like you are in much the same position as I was last year but the numbers do go down! I started only taking money out once a week and not when it ran out and now I can't bring myself to buy mags as you can read so much free stuff on line. I can't believe I used to go throw a fiver a way at a time so people can change. x

SpongeBobSP

It is important to have a long think about what you want. You say you want to save up for a house, so that's a start. Your dream of a house should motivate you. You have to accept it is going to be hard work.

Your friends, if they are really your friends, will understand and even support you. Sometimes telling friends can be a big burden off your shoulder and they will mostly say why didn't you tell me before. A problem shared is a problem halved as they say.

As for the lattes, there is nothing wrong with treating yourself, as long as you can make up that money by saving somewhere else.

Good luck and keep us posted.

jenevieve

I've just filled in my snowball calculator and it's told me that I can be debt-free by 2011!!!!!!!! I am really amazed. That isn't really that far away.
I feel really inspired now to cut costs and try to add to my payments to bring the date down...........:D

Tiglet

That's great news :T

Is there a library near you? The ones near me get quite a variety of newspapers and magazines. They might not be the ones you'd normally get but perhaps that's good because you can sometimes get more out of them than the ones you usually get.

(I don't know how much you spend on magazines but if you can save, say, £5 a week, then that's £250 a year, or £750 between now and 2011. How much difference would that make to your debt-free date?). Have a look at the Demotivator - it's great for helping you ditch all those little extras...

TurnaroundSue

Maybe all your friends are in debt also, but don't want anybody to know! So telling them might also help them and you can support each other along the way.

Good luck and remember it doesn't hurt to have the odd treat now and then. Do you read books? Maybe getting a good book from the library will help your appetite for reading and will help with getting you away from magazines. I used to only read mags, but now would much rather get my teeth into a nice juicy book and I find that mags are just full of so much trivia now (well the ones I used to read anyway!!)

Mozette

Keep a spending diary. Add up what you contribute to Mr Starbuck. Put it in your snowball and see how much faster you can pay your debts off.
Still fancy those lattes? I didn't.

ms_london

Hello!

Welcome to MSE!

Sounds like you are making great decisions already to help with your debt. Most people nowadays seem like they are anti share accommodation and it drives me nuts :rolleyes: !!

Could you post a SOA?

I am partial to a magazine or 20 too and I used to spend a lot, oops! This website will probably have a thread somewhere on getting 3 magazines for a $1 (pound) - Zest, Company, Cosmo & heaps more. (just cancel your direct debit after youve received the 3rd magazine) Also, not sure if you are in London, but you can usually get good Time Out offers too - I got one ages ago 6 for the price of 1 or something like that - that would quench my craving!

All of my friends knew my debt situation. Most were really supportive, but to be honest I was lucky and a lot of my friends were on a budget too for one reason or another, so it was easier. Plus I had 2 jobs, so I actually had less time to go out and socialise anyway!

I used to try and spend as little as possible during the week (take lunches into work etc), sometimes I would spend nothing - even those afternoon snacks, coffees etc add up - which meant I had more money for the weekends or the night out we'd planned etc.

If you could post a SOA that would be great xx