Diary of a spendaholic!

Tinkabell25

Hi, It looks like the diaries on here are really useful so am giving it a whirl. All tips and advice will be welcomed! I am in debt to the tune of £2500 plus my partner and i have an overdraft of just under £1000. My debt is made up of Overdrafts in 3 banks and my credit card, which i recently switched to be 0% for 13 months. I am due a tax refund of around £500 but other than that its up to me and my other half to do some serious money raising and saving! I don't really want either of us to have to get second jobs as we have busy ones as it is and we'd never see each other! Anyone have any advice?
Total monthly income:£2300
Total Household Bills:£1500
Fuel Bills: £270
Food Bill:£200
Due to the overdrafts there is rarely a point where i'm in the plus and i'd like to save some mone for a rainy day.
I'm in the process of cutting down the food shopping and unfortunately there's no way to cut back the fuel bill due to the mileage required for work.
I'm a nightmare for just popping out to buy a sandwich at work, or being lazy and paying for car parking for the day so i need to find a way to break the habit!
Please help!!:eek:

never_too_late_2

Hi Tinkabell,

The best way to get advice that's totally applicable to you and your situation is for you to post your statement of accounts on here in detail with corresponding interest rates and what not.

But at a first shout, I'd say to check out this to help cut back the food bill:

Show Jamie How To Cook On A Budget Champagne Contest - lots of really good ideas for cheap and tasty food recipes: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=816965

And the absolutely fantastic Old Style Board for yet more clever tips - I've included their recipe index which I think is FAB:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=458838

And also try to take in lunch at least a couple of times a week so that you're not tempted by the shops while you're out and about? Even if this is leftover dinner bits?

Good luck,
ntl
-x-

Tinkabell25

Hi NTL, Thanks for the advice. I have started bringing lunch in but its the extra silly temptations (eg Choc!!) however i have decided to start carrying an emergency debit card around and leave my wallet at home and see how i go on that as i'm less likely to spend that way if i think it has to last me a while. Its going to be a test of will power, but am desperate to ge myself out of debt and into credit as i used to always have large balances until i bought a house!

never_too_late_2

Oooooh another good tip is to keep a spending diary with EVERY LITTLE PENNY scribbled down and totted up. It shows you where your money goes, patterns etc and also can guilt you into spending less!!

Worked for me although I've let things slip so methinks time to start again!

Tinkabell25

Good Plan, was attempting a spend free day today but due to traffic i had to park in a car park instead of somewhere free! I've gone through the back of my cupboards to get a stash of food for my drawer at work so i won't need to go out and buy anything extra. The leaving my purse at home idea begins on Monday as i have some essentials to buy like cat food etc!I'm hoping i'll get overtime in this months wages too which will help.
With regards to interest on the debt i have i need to look up the exact rates but i get charged around £3 per month on one overdraft and around £6 on our joint and one of my own. In total for all my overdrafts i look to be paying approx £15 in interest every month. My credit card is now interest free as i have transferred the balance over and am not spending on it. I'm just not sure what else to do other than cut everything right back. We don't spend money going out, we haven't been out much since we moved a year ago.

Nichelette

Good luck with your diary

My boyfriend also gets tempted and seems to buy chocolate bars during his lunch break (we're both just about to graduate so we're obviously both in a lot of debt), so I made him go to the local pound shop and buy one of the multipacks, you normally get four or five bars for £1 which can save you quite a bit. I know it's probably better not to buy them at all, but if you can't resist the temptation at least you can save a bit of money this way.

Tinkabell25

Hi Nichelette, thanks, i may have to also try that. Its magazines and newspapers that drag me down, i'm terrible! I've stopped buying papers as i read the news online-step one! Am considering asking for subscriptions for chrstmas and birthdays which will cut my costs quite a bit.

Nichelette

Reading online papers is a great start, I'm not sure which magazines you read but if you like glamour they have a good offer where you can get six issues by direct debit for £6 (or 12 for a one off payment of £12) and you get free perfume too!

MERFE

you can also get magazine subscribtions with tesco clubcard deals if you shop at tesco or ipoints if you use it, might be worth a look. I'm planning on getting OH one for Christmas this year because he does like to buy one about once a month.

Tinkabell25

I tend to read zest and top sante but they're around £3 each, which is awful as i could save around £70 a year if i didn't buy them! I do buy glamour on occassions so will check that offer out, thanks! i did just soend 30p on a mini milk but that was down to pure desperate hunger!!! The money pots are coming out again tonight as i can empty any loose change into them daily so i can't see it to spend which is the main problem! I've also decided to open online savings accounts for the bills that aren't monthly like water and tv license so we don't have to scrape it all together like we are this month.I can deposit a tenner or so a month into each which i won't have in my current account to spend. Lets hope it works!!!

Tinkabell25

i am a keen tescos shopper so i will have a look for that too, thanks!