Getting myself out of debt

As I write this I’m in about £9K, give or take of debt. Debt being, credit cards, bank overdraft, shopping accounts etc. So for me the question is, how do I get myself out of all this debt?

My worst habit is I make my monthly payments, but then I spend it again. Every. Single. Month.

So, how do I get out of this habit that I’ve created for myself? For me, I do kind of need to go to extremes with this. I can’t just say, “I’m not going to use that card anymore” put it out of sight somewhere, make my payments and pay it off. That’s just not me. In the past I’ve given my card to a friend. I literally need to not have it available to me at all to be able to accomplish making the payments and not spending it again. The funny thing is I never know where all my money goes, I don’t buy lots of clothes or shoes or make-up. The holidays I go on are planned a year in advance usually and the money comes from my wages each month and not my credit cards for instance.

Going forward though, I’ve given myself a goal for two years from now and this goal needs me to be debt free and needs me to be more responsible with my money.

I think this is something I can achieve. Because this goal is really important to me, and I would never forgive myself if I couldn’t accomplish it because of something like debt.

I work in retail and I earn less than the average. When I look at it I’m really fortunate that I don’t have a lot of outgoings each month, so let’s take a look at my outgoings.

 

 

These are all monthly outgoings.

Rent = £0 – I live with my dad (I know, it’s terrible that I don’t pay anything). When I lived with my mum I gave her money monthly and bought groceries for us both but when I moved in with my dad he didn’t ask for anything and never has.

Phone Bill = £100 (on average). This is because I end up buying stupid things for games etc. But this is one of the things I’m definitely going to stop and my phone bill will half. So I’ll be saving each and every month on that.

Pets = £45 roughly. This cost is for dog food, give or take and you know sometimes I can’t help but buy him treats and toys but I tend to do that a lot less now than I used to.

Travel expenses = £25 – I’m going to go with this amount as it does vary a lot. I get public transport to work, the train to be precise. I get 4 trains daily and work 5-6 days a week. So how are my expenses so little for the month I hear you ask? Well my first train is a 3 minute journey, one stop. Majority of the time I never see anyone on the train to buy a ticket from them. My second journey is about 8-9 minutes and 3 stops, there’s some conductors that when they see me they just tell me it’s fine and I don’t need to pay and carry on, sometimes they don’t come along the train but obviously other times they do. My journeys average between £1.60 and £2.10 return.

Gym = £10.99 – I’ve only just signed up to a new gym, it hasn’t opened yet and this is an introductory fee for the first year I believe.

Food = £250 – this is a bit of an estimate, It’s probably more.. but I have a really bad habit of buying lunch/dinner in work and that’s how I spend so much. I buy food for the house as well that I have the intention of making food for work with and just never do.

Credit cards = £230 – on average it’s about this I pay between them all each month.

Shopping account = £170 (give or take).

Shares = £150 – these are just starting this month coming, I’ve only usually had £50 so it’s an extra £100 this year.

Total = £970.99 per month (at least).

 

So by this math I should have a good few hundred pounds left every month. So why don’t I?

 

I don’t go on nights out, honestly about 2 or 3 a year. My friend’s have house parties a lot so yeah I buy a little drink for them but tbh I’ve basically got a bar in my room filled with pink gin, baileys and various other things. Okay, so I do like a good gig.. it’s May and I’ve been to 5 this year so far, one a month isn’t too bad right? But I guess when tickets are at least £50 each this definitely isn’t helping my funds.

 

 

How am I going to get rid of my debt?

Budgeting – it’s funny because it’s clearly something I can’t do. Going forward though, I’m going to give myself a £200 limit for the month for all outgoing expenses such as travel, food and pets. £50 a week, now this should be so so managable.

Stop using those credit cards – easier said than done. But what I need to do is just take them out of the equation and then they’re not there for me to spend. I have a kind of savings bank/piggy bank, so my cards will be put in there and seen as it isn’t in my house I won’t be able to get them and use them. Easy. I’m also going to decide whether thr best action is for me to pay off my lowest amount ones or my highest interest and pay more than I usually would to them to elimate that debt first.

Save – another thing I’m very bad at but with my £150 shares I’m doing this each month and not even realising it. I’m hoping to save more than this as well, which like the credit cards will be put in a savings/piggy bank out of my house.

 

 

While I may still be in all my debt at least I know I’m in it, I know exactly how much and I have a plan of action going ahead. Right?

If you have any other ideas on how to get myself out of debt? Maybe you’ve been there yourself. Please feel free to leave a comment below and share any wisdom you may have with us all!

Yasmin x