It's all unravelling

ms_london

Hey Y&R

How are you? I am sorry to hear that youve had a bit of a setback - I hope your cat has made a full recovery. Unfortunately these things do happen, so try not to feel too bad about it - just dont let it turn into a full blown spend fest (?).

I would definately broach the subject of petrol money to your friends, all of these little trips soon add up. Perhaps if they dont actually give you £££ for a short trip, but if you are going to the pub, to buy you a drink, or to buy you lunch. They should definately be contributing in one way or another!!

Keep up the good work, you'll get there - you know you can do it.

Ms_London xx

youngandreckless

Hey everyone,

I feel much better today, I got it all straight in my head last night and God must be smiling cos I got a refund on an overpaid electric account -£62.50! Every cloud and all that.
The overdraft has to go, it is too easy to fall into it, so I'm definately going to get it reduced as I go along.
There may also be a solution in the shape of ma and pa. They have come into some money and have said that they would offer me a short term interest free loan to get back on my feet. Plus point would be the overdraft could go straight away and I could set a repayment scheme with them without worrying about interest (although admittedly I don't pay a great deal of interest currently).
Bad point would be that I'm relying on someone else to bail me out and feel like I should slog this out on my own. Any thoughts?

Willsnarf1983

as long as u can be trusted to pay your parents back and not get in trouble it prob is in ur worth to do it. Make sure that everything is clear with ur parents, ie monthly repayments and if u think u can afford to pay them back more...don't stick it in a bank earn some interest and then maybe pay a lump sum back later...thats my opinion anyway

Will

youngandreckless

Thanks Will, I'd set up a standing order so that there was no question on the money. My mum and dad aren't rolling in it so I'd want them to get the money back asap if I go down that route. I'll have a think on it x

Willsnarf1983

its a good idea but always risky incase it goes wrong, puts stress ont he family situation....and obv these are my oppinions not recommendations.

its whatever ur most happy with!!!


good luck

Will

ceegee

youngandreckless wrote:

Bad point would be that I'm relying on someone else to bail me out and feel like I should slog this out on my own. Any thoughts?

Yes, accept their very kind and timely offer. Pay it back ASAP and if you are ever tempted into debt again, remember how "bad" you are feeling now about having this "loan" from your Mum and Dad.

Fabulous news about the electricity refund though!

youngandreckless

Hi All,

Had a chat with ma and pa, but have decided to pay this off on my own. I've checked my bank statements thoroughly and I've never been charged more than £2.99 interest for the overdraft, although obviously I'll check this again now the overdraft has increased (this would be the only reason that I'd take up ma and pa's loan) but if it remains decent then I'll pay it off as I go.
I did some soul searching and realised that while I'm bailed out easily I'm never going to learn. I like to think I will, but hand on heart the current disgrace that is my bank account is not just petrol and the cat. It's a handbag here, a takeaway there, a night clubbing when I'd already spent more than I should in a bar.
I have to face the fact that while my heart is in the right place, my head is still thinking I can spend recklessly and not get the dreads when I check my balance.
So hence my decision to take responsibility and not rely on anyone else. If I can get myself back up straight then I think I'll have finally cracked it. I don't want to be in this place in ten years time -it really is now or never.
Thanks for the support, my plan is:
a) Cancel gym
b) Buy way out of the remaining few months of old vodafone contract
This makes me £43 better off, then pay
£275 to houehold expenses (mortgage etc, all of these bills are the best I can get them using the boards on here for guidance)
£148 - Cahoot loan
£30 Phone contract (excellent deal get loads of mins etc and use it fully)
£40 ISA - I will be penalised for stopping early and this is my vvvvvv rainy day fund.

This leaves me with £471. I'll aim for no less than £120 off overdraft a month, with at least £50 in my easy access savings for next lot of car / house expenses that come up.

I hope by having enough money to live on with the odd extra treat, I'll avoid feeling deprived, which makes me less likely to rebel against my own budget and lose the plot again.

I'll keep you all posted

Y&R x

Josie_Jump_3

Re your overdraft, when my overdraft got to the stage that even when my salary went in I was still overdrawn I knew something had to be done. Although I was reducing my OD by £50 every month you, it just never appeared to go down as it always was a minus figure and a depressing sight. So in the end what I ended up doing was opening a new current a/c - no OD (with the same bank) and shifting over all my DD's etc to my new a/c. I then set up a standing order to transfer £50 a month to clear my overdraft a/c and reduced my OD limit every month in line with the balance.

This helped in two ways - I could see that I was reducing my OD & it also felt good to actually see an a/c with a plus balance for a change. I also found it helped me budget better as I could see how much cash I had to spend (not spend!). It was like a clean slate, that was a couple of years ago and I still have both a/c's the OD one is at zero now and my current a/c has a little left at the end of the month (and still no overdraft).

I know it's only a simple thing but it really did help me sort my finances.

youngandreckless

Hi Josie,

Thats an interesting point, it is depressing to see a minus all the time, I guess I thought I'd just have tolive with it.
Was thinking earlier about getting a 0% card, transferring o/d to it, cutting it up and then paying that off with the end of the 0% deal as my deadline. What do you think? I would hope to stick to it as for some reason I've always been v uncomfortable with credit cards and haven't owed on one for 6 years (only used a barclaycard twice in that period and paid it fully next month both times). That would also get me out of a minus situation, is this madness? Thoughts appreciated people....

delboypass

Ive never seen an ISA that penalises people for not paying into it. Are you sure that is correct?
You should probably switch this to a cash mini isa (3k allowance) tax free savings if it isnt this already.