Here go's

busy_today_mate

I was speaking to mate about a month ago and was bemoaning my debt.

He tore me to shreds as he knows the money that I am making every week and how much I must be frittering away(we are both taxi drivers btw).

Basically I owe Barclaycard £11000 ish and Tesco £2500 ish.

All I was doing each month was paying the minimum payment rather unsurpisingly my balance wasn't being reduced by very much:rolleyes: .

I have had cards for years and they have steadily crept up by my own stupidity and laziness.

The first advice he gave me was to call Barclaycard and get them to reduce the interest rate that they were charging.

This they did but only on the purchase balance. This is now 6.9%.

I got my statement in today and was delighted to see that this has saved me£80 this month. So £115 off already:rolleyes:

I applied for an Egg card last week to transfer the balance of my Tesco card. Looks like they don't want my business as they didn't email me back. Their loss:p

My goal this year is to pay off the Tesco card first and then make in roads to the Barclaycard debt. I will hopefully clear my overdraft this month. This will be difficult as I have a lot on and won't be working at least two weekends.

However I paid my car insurance in a oner on Friday £716, my income tax bill last week £270 and my accountant the week befrore £210.

Hopefully I should get it paid by the end of March.

Onto my income, I normally make between £600 and £800 a week. Due to being a clown with money I normally don't have anything left come the Tuesday when I go back to work.

This week is no different. I counted my silver earlier this morning and luckily had £50. This will get my weekly shopping. Back in the past I would have used my card for that.

I am not ashamed about being in debt more angry at myself for being so careless with cash. I realise that I have a very comfortable lifestyle at the moment but I waste more than I save.

I intend to put all the money that I save into a wallet and pay it to the credit cards at the end of the month. So far I have £4.50:rotfl:

Be gentle with me.

Bismarck

My lightbulb moment came watching Martin Lewis on the telly at 7am one morning saying get off your backside and sort it out.....

OK...so I am doing....

Well done for seeing the light and getting on with it - once you're in the seat you can start driving the car rather than being on expensive journey to debtsville..

There's loads of great folks here!

girl-about-town_2

Well done for having your 'lightbulb moment'. Its so easy to spend money without realising where its going but once you start keeping an eye on it you'll be on a different path!! And believe me, it becomes addictive. If you're fairly careful, you'll be able to get rid of that debt in no time!! My advice would be to keep a spending diary - its really gratifying to look back over the course of a month and see lots of 'no spend days'!! Good luck!:T :T :T

hooby_groovy

Well done for having your lightbulb moment, some moneysaving and you'll soon be paying extra off the cards and getting them clear.

I had to say well done on your user name though, how many times a day do you hear that?

Reminds me of Peter Kay and his sketch about that :rotfl:

busy_today_mate

Thanks for the support folks. I would be surprised if I ever have a NSD. Maybe a Wednesday or a Thursday. That could be my first target.

I hear that at least 20 times a day mate, along with what time you finish and what time did you start? You also get the Peter Kay sketch dragged up as well. I love Peter Kay to, just not that sketch.

I can remember one time years ago I was on holiday in Majorca and we were getting a taxi to Santa Ponsa to meet our friends, the drunken idiot I was with asked the clearly bemused Spanish driver if he was busy. Que?

busy_today_mate

Went to Tesco this afternoon. By being careful and not buying any beer I reckon I spent about £20 less than I normally would.

I also used the 5p off per litre fuel voucher. I had £40 to put in anyway. This saved me £1.85 and I also gained 40 clubcard points that I wouldn't have had.

I normally always get an Indian on a Monday night instead I am going to put the money in my savings wallet. That's me got £27 so far. I am delighted

lindens

It sounds like you're getting obsessed like the rest of us on here. Before you know it, there will be spreadsheetsd and lists......:eek:

Good work keep it up! :j

PS Been busy today have you???:p

chevalier

You may want to look at Taxi 73's thread ref handling money. I don't know for sure but is one of your problems, that you have a load of cash at the end of the day and then don't bank it?

It is just a thought if you bank your money religiously every day then it wouldn't be burning a hole in your pocket, cos you feel wealthy? If the money is out of sight then this might help stop the frittering.
You may also want to start a spending diary to see where your money is going. You write down everything you buy, even a pack of chewing gum, and then after a month you will see if you have a £100 a month latte habit or similar!!!

And NSD are easy! Yes they are REALLY! 3 tips. Take pack ups to work, so no spending on lunch/dinner while you are working. Take coffee (or other caffeinated hot drink) in a flask so not coffees whilst you are out. But best of all leave your cards at home and all money except maybe a £5 for emergencey petrol buying.

Have you thought about putting a statement of affairs on here (SOA) to see if there are areas that we can suggest you can cut back on?

Best of luck with it

busy_today_mate

chevalier wrote: »

You may want to look at Taxi 73's thread ref handling money. I don't know for sure but is one of your problems, that you have a load of cash at the end of the day and then don't bank it?

It is just a thought if you bank your money religiously every day then it wouldn't be burning a hole in your pocket, cos you feel wealthy? If the money is out of sight then this might help stop the frittering.
You may also want to start a spending diary to see where your money is going. You write down everything you buy, even a pack of chewing gum, and then after a month you will see if you have a £100 a month latte habit or similar!!!

And NSD are easy! Yes they are REALLY! 3 tips. Take pack ups to work, so no spending on lunch/dinner while you are working. Take coffee (or other caffeinated hot drink) in a flask so not coffees whilst you are out. But best of all leave your cards at home and all money except maybe a £5 for emergencey petrol buying.

Have you thought about putting a statement of affairs on here (SOA) to see if there are areas that we can suggest you can cut back on?

Best of luck with it

Hi mate, thanks for the tips. I don't bank my money every day. I tend to have bills every week and pay them as I get them. I normally bank £250 a week to cover the mortgage, car loan, and all the other stuff that comes off every month. Some weeks I don't manage this for example I paid my car insurance last week and only had £60 for the bank. I hope to get £440 in this week to make up for it. Might be tough as I am going fishing on Saturday and therefore not working. It'll be my first day off outwith a Monday since the start of December so I am not feeling to guilty about it.

You do feel loaded doing the job that I do. I will make between £80 and £110 tomorrow. It's not mine though, it will have to go into the bank but it is easy to fritter say a £10 of that away before I drop the quick deposit in at the bank.

I reckon I can probably have a NSD a few days a week. Obviously I will be buying diesel every day but that comes out of my takings.:A

Lindens I am going to get obsessed with this, no reason why I sould be in debt to the tune I am.

taxi73

Hi busy today mate...
Chev has recommended I visit you here to see if I can help you.From my name you can guess I'm a taxi driver.
Welcome to the board and solving your debt problems.May I just make some comments on what I do that has helped turned my financial mess around.
Please don't think EGG have rejected you ..you only know when they write to you to say yes or no.Being SE you'll find most CC companies don't give instant deciscions and write instead.I haven't been refused from anyone!!..so please be patient.
This is the way I work things ..if anything is useful to you then fine if not ignore it.
Firstly your overdraft will be charging daily so if you bank money every day you will be reducing it naturally without thinking.I now put money in a seperate savings account every week towards next years tax bill as mine will be large then (last year had 6 months on sick)...anything left over can go on debt.
I put all expenses diesel ,insurance ,repairs etc on a cash back CC that I pay in full every month...that way I get money for nothing on stuff I have to buy!!!
I use morrisons for diesel so get vouchers for that (more free money)...tescos etc which ever suits you ..at least you are getting something back for what you naturally have to spend.
I only bank notes ...so all my change gets paid off CCs etc....mine are on interest free and this is the best thing you can do if possible.
I will think of other things that I do to see if they are any use to you...

busy_today_mate

Hello there Taxi73. I pay for my diesel every day using pound coins. My silver I put in a tin and bank normally every week. I use this cash to pay for our holiday.

I am going to put £30 a week away for my tax, insurance for next year.

I was going to put this in my business account but as the charges are farcical I will probably just open a savings account or put it in the credit union.

Obviously I can only bank a certain ammount every week, you know what I am saying;)