Newbish Needs Help With SOA!

becky_rtw

Hi all,

I’ve lurked around here for a while posting occasionally on the housing board. Anyway I’ve got a new job which has given me my LBM! My debts are not massive but they are currently ‘creeping’ after 2 years of trying to pay them off, so I wanted some advice and help from you lovely people really.

Monthly Incomings:

Income from job: £1480.39

Total Income - £1480.39

Monthly Outgoings:

Housing costs - £450.00
Council Tax - £65.00 – I’ve tried asking to pay over 12 months – they wont let me
Electricity - £20.00 – estimate as I have a coin meter
Mobile - £35.00 – in contract
Food - £100 – estimate from last months statements
Insurance – £7.50
Union -£9.95
Contact Lenses - £15.50
DVD - £15.00
Eating Out - £50
Loan Payment - £109 –I need to go and get a proper balance I think there’s around £1000 left to pay.
Credit card – minimum payment is £10 – current at its £400 limit – APR 15.9%
O/D – at its £250 limit – APR 18% I think, but am only in it for about 10 days a month
Total Outgoings: £886.95

So far all so good! Except this month I have spent nearly £600 on items such as, laptop, clothes, train fares (exceptional, I don’t normally have these), books and other sundries in cash, which as you can see takes me over my incomings (hence why my credit card is maxed out!). I have plenty of money to throw at the CC next month (in fact can pay the balance in full on Friday when I get paid), but what I need is motivation and/or advice from you lovely people about how to stop myself from spending before it gets any worse??

I’m thinking of withdrawing the cash I need for a week and seeing how it goes, how much do you think is reasonable?

Cleosmum

If you can repay the CC then I would cut it up/close the account, that way you wont be tempted to max it again. After outgoings you are left with £593, do you know where this goes? Maybe keep a spending diary? Out of that £593 you could clear your OD and cancel it, maybe payday after next as you are going to clear your CC with this one. If you really focus then you could overpay on your loan and have that gone by mid summer

Ames

If it's clothes, cds etc then I usually go window shopping one day, then wait and go back later in the week/a few weeks later. I often find that I don't like whatever it was as much and so don't buy it, whereas I used to just buy when I saw.

Books I've started buying from charity shops, or using read it swap it, where I swap books and just pay the postage and it's saved me a fortune - now I don't even like buying books half price at the supermarket because it's so much more expensive than using those two ways of getting them.

becky_rtw

Thanks guys - both really good ideas. I usually spend all the money in cash so am definitely going to keep a spending diary, I suspects its lots of coffees/food etc at work, which wont be a problem with my new job.

So plan of action:
CC - pay off in full on Friday
O/D - pay off in full next payday (mid June)

I think my pay date might be moving with my new job so I'm going to have to watch that carefully, but luckily I have 5 days of holiday to be paid to me when I leave this job.

Anyone have any suggestion's about how much is reasonable for a single person to live off in cash for a week?

becky_rtw

Hi Guys,

Still on track - paid my CC bill off today! Put it away in a draw at work where I can't touch it.

Am now addicted to spendingdiary.com - wow that's great. I've discovered already I buy loads of food that I don't eat and end up wasting.

Going out tonight but am taking only £30 in cash and no cards - I'm determined to be good.

Verbatim

I wouldn't leave it at work in case it goes missing. One of the ideas I've seen on here is to put it inside a plastic bag and the into a carton of water and put the container in the freezer. That way it's still available for emergencies but not available for impulse buys.

Good luck with the new job.

PasturesNew

Open up a savings account and set up a direct debit to go straight from your bank into your savings the day after you get paid.

You've got loads of money to live on and save, you're just frittering it away, so fritter it away into savings before you get chance to think of it as your money.

beecher

PasturesNew wrote: »

Open up a savings account and set up a direct debit to go straight from your bank into your savings the day after you get paid.

You've got loads of money to live on and save, you're just frittering it away, so fritter it away into savings before you get chance to think of it as your money.

That's good advice - this is what I do. It means you just count your savings as another 'bill'.

becky_rtw

Thanks guys - I've been doing well with my spending diary - had a nsd yesterday and hoping for another today! Yippee.:j

I actually have a separate account I used to use for bills ages ago...so I'll speak to the bank about changing my dds into it and make sure I set up a standing order to cover them.

I also posted an item on gumtree to try and sell which should bring in about £80 - couldn't get ebay to work as I don't have a landline!

Will keep you updated. Thanks for helping I'm feeling really positive about it all now. The aim is to be debt free by December - I know I can do it.

tallyhoh

I tried another method of writing my spending diary. I worked out how much "surplus" I had each month & put it at the top of my spending diary (new page). Everything I then bought I wrote down & deducted it from the balance.

I find if I can see the money reducing off I am less likely to spend.

becky_rtw

Oh I'm so happy!
My loan payment went out today and I'm under 2K of debt. Yippee.

Rent to go out on Thursday, which leaves me with £195 of actual money and £250 of overdraft. I'm going to hold off as long as possible before I go into that.

Right I'm going to take out £50 tonight and make it last all week (and weekend) and cross all my purchases off it (thanks Tallyhoh).

See you guys tomorrow.