Keeping on top of money
Discussion
I've finally managed to pay back my overdraft (£550), and paid back the money I owed to my parents/brother (around £400). For the first time in 3 years I don't owe anyone any money, and would like some advice on how to keep it that way.
If I've worked it out right, I take home just under £830 a month (30 hours a week, at £7 a hour, going up to £7.14 a hour on Sunday).
My outgoings are low, just £150 rent, £21 for the gym, and £30 for a phone (which only has a couple of months left). Leaves me with around £630 a month.
Out of that I need to pay for fuel (£200 give or take) and any food that I need, still live with parents, but due to working flexie hours, often get meals at work, which doesn't help.
What I really struggle with is keeping to a budget. Today I must have spent £5 on drinks at work as I had my card with me. Despite being near my overdraft limit, needing fuel and overdraft fees coming out on Friday/Monday. Luckily I got some money, but I didn't know that at the time.
Would it be best to withdraw £XXX a week, and use that for food/anything I want to do etc, when its gone its gone until the next week?
I would like to start saving some money for when I decide to move out, although realistically, I can't see it happening in the next couple of years while I'm still at Tesco.
Any help/advice would be great. The last couple of months have been horrible, worrying about money, despite not owing that much (compared to some people). I was considering selling my car, however I should be OK for the time being, but if need be, I will sell it (and also die a little inside!).
Thanks
.
If I've worked it out right, I take home just under £830 a month (30 hours a week, at £7 a hour, going up to £7.14 a hour on Sunday).
My outgoings are low, just £150 rent, £21 for the gym, and £30 for a phone (which only has a couple of months left). Leaves me with around £630 a month.
Out of that I need to pay for fuel (£200 give or take) and any food that I need, still live with parents, but due to working flexie hours, often get meals at work, which doesn't help.
What I really struggle with is keeping to a budget. Today I must have spent £5 on drinks at work as I had my card with me. Despite being near my overdraft limit, needing fuel and overdraft fees coming out on Friday/Monday. Luckily I got some money, but I didn't know that at the time.
Would it be best to withdraw £XXX a week, and use that for food/anything I want to do etc, when its gone its gone until the next week?
I would like to start saving some money for when I decide to move out, although realistically, I can't see it happening in the next couple of years while I'm still at Tesco.
Any help/advice would be great. The last couple of months have been horrible, worrying about money, despite not owing that much (compared to some people). I was considering selling my car, however I should be OK for the time being, but if need be, I will sell it (and also die a little inside!).
Thanks
.Ki3r said:
I was considering selling my car, however I should be OK for the time being, but if need be, I will sell it (and also die a little inside!).
That. Aside from fuel (£200 a month is a fair bit), the 528 is going to require some future expenditure that will make a £5 lunch look cheap. On the subject of canteen cards, junk it and do as you outlined - take out £X a week and when it's gone it's gone - thus keeping to a budget. Increase your income through second or better job etc. Invest in yourself whilst you have the time.Defcon5 said:
Food at work is one of my downfalls too, add it up over a month and its loads.
I got a load of plastic takeaway style containers and make big batches of stuff to take, along with a big bottle of water. Cheaper and healthier!
Going to start doing that, decided that I'm going to take wraps in, quick and easy to make, and pretty cheap with just cheese and ham.I got a load of plastic takeaway style containers and make big batches of stuff to take, along with a big bottle of water. Cheaper and healthier!
fido said:
That. Aside from fuel (£200 a month is a fair bit), the 528 is going to require some future expenditure that will make a £5 lunch look cheap. On the subject of canteen cards, junk it and do as you outlined - take out £X a week and when it's gone it's gone - thus keeping to a budget. Increase your income through second or better job etc. Invest in yourself whilst you have the time.
Touch wood, its been the most reliable car I've had so far! Only had it since January though. Always at the back of my mind though, but I'll cross that bridge when/if I come to it.I'm looking at getting a second job, or a better paid job, but there isn't anything around at the moment. I don't want to do something that will take training, as I plan on applying for the Police as soon as I can, and would feel bad. Can't increase my hours at work either, unless I want to move departments, and although I hate my job, the petrol station is a good place to work.
Am a Special as well, so get a bit of money from that, which as I said above, I try to ignore and put it in a different car account, anything from £100 to £300 a month. Not much, but it helps.
Thanks for the replies
.I would:
Take ou tht emoney you need for the week and stick to it... No more money til next Monday
Take sandwiches to work.... and some healthy snacks (I take carrots and fruit)
Open a savings account which is separate from your bank account. Put money into this as the first thing you do every month (standing order if possible) Have a goal for this money when it is saved (new car etc)
At the end of the month, if you have any money left in your weekly account, either spend it on something nice, give a little more to your folks in the way of a present (They will love this) or put it into the savings account
Have a real goal for saving, if you don´t have, it´s tough to save
Ask yourself everytime you buy something, do I need this? Would I rather this went to my end saving goal?
Take ou tht emoney you need for the week and stick to it... No more money til next Monday
Take sandwiches to work.... and some healthy snacks (I take carrots and fruit)
Open a savings account which is separate from your bank account. Put money into this as the first thing you do every month (standing order if possible) Have a goal for this money when it is saved (new car etc)
At the end of the month, if you have any money left in your weekly account, either spend it on something nice, give a little more to your folks in the way of a present (They will love this) or put it into the savings account
Have a real goal for saving, if you don´t have, it´s tough to save
Ask yourself everytime you buy something, do I need this? Would I rather this went to my end saving goal?
I know how stupid and patronising it is to say this, but for me the lightbulb moment really was as simple as suddenly, actually realising "dont spend more than you earn". If you need to break this down to weekly then do it, whatever is best for you.
Aim to get some savings together. Aim for a small figure to start with, say 50-100 left over at the end of the month. The following month when you save another bit, no matter how small and you see the savings accumulate you'll get addicted to growing the amount. You'll start not spending on crap you dont need. It's a good feeling.
Good luck.
Aim to get some savings together. Aim for a small figure to start with, say 50-100 left over at the end of the month. The following month when you save another bit, no matter how small and you see the savings accumulate you'll get addicted to growing the amount. You'll start not spending on crap you dont need. It's a good feeling.
Good luck.
You've paid off your debts - which is very good. Good because you no longer owe, and good because you are clearly earning slightly more than you need to live on, and hence can pay them off. Well done.
The best advice I had was to keep track of everything (everything) that you spend. Small pocket book and a pencil, and if you spend 20p on a mars bar (no idea how much they cost now) then write it down. £50 on petrol? Put it in there. Rent? That goes in as well. And definitely those £5 on drinks at work.
At the end of the week (or - even better - end of the month), look at what you have spent and work out what you have spent things on, and what can be saved. Obvious contenders are your mobile (£30 a month is a LOT on a mobile) and your gym costs (take up running or cycling or something - do you really need to pay someone to exercise?) Between them those are over £50 a month, or 6% of your income.
And if you are running a BMW 5-series then change it. Something smaller WILL be cheaper on fuel and insurance and it may not have gone wrong in the last 6 months, but a big bill is not far away with something like that. Best to sell it now, while it works, than later, when it needs repairing and is worth nothing. Harsh, I know.
Oli.
The best advice I had was to keep track of everything (everything) that you spend. Small pocket book and a pencil, and if you spend 20p on a mars bar (no idea how much they cost now) then write it down. £50 on petrol? Put it in there. Rent? That goes in as well. And definitely those £5 on drinks at work.
At the end of the week (or - even better - end of the month), look at what you have spent and work out what you have spent things on, and what can be saved. Obvious contenders are your mobile (£30 a month is a LOT on a mobile) and your gym costs (take up running or cycling or something - do you really need to pay someone to exercise?) Between them those are over £50 a month, or 6% of your income.
And if you are running a BMW 5-series then change it. Something smaller WILL be cheaper on fuel and insurance and it may not have gone wrong in the last 6 months, but a big bill is not far away with something like that. Best to sell it now, while it works, than later, when it needs repairing and is worth nothing. Harsh, I know.
Oli.
Whomever said 'invest in yourself' is spot on.
I don't know how old you are or what you do or if what you do is what you want to do long term but if it is then get qualified as soon as possible - get started at least. it's the best way for the long term benefit for your career (short term it will be tough) and your earnings.
If you don't know what you want at the moment then I'd take some time to think what is it you want to do? Don't drift. Think. and once you've made that decision go and start on it as soon as possible. I drifted along assuming something would just crop up eventually. It doesn't. You just drift!
Also - might be worth setting up another account without easy access (cut the card up!) where you just put a £10 or £15 in a week or something (an amount you forget about anyway). it'll just build up in the background over time. 52 weeks at £10 a week - £520!. from acorns.....
The key thing is to concentrate on yourself - forget what your mates may or may not be able to afford (you don't know how much debt they are in). Just concentrate on you; what works for you.
I don't know how old you are or what you do or if what you do is what you want to do long term but if it is then get qualified as soon as possible - get started at least. it's the best way for the long term benefit for your career (short term it will be tough) and your earnings.
If you don't know what you want at the moment then I'd take some time to think what is it you want to do? Don't drift. Think. and once you've made that decision go and start on it as soon as possible. I drifted along assuming something would just crop up eventually. It doesn't. You just drift!
Also - might be worth setting up another account without easy access (cut the card up!) where you just put a £10 or £15 in a week or something (an amount you forget about anyway). it'll just build up in the background over time. 52 weeks at £10 a week - £520!. from acorns.....
The key thing is to concentrate on yourself - forget what your mates may or may not be able to afford (you don't know how much debt they are in). Just concentrate on you; what works for you.
Thanks very much for the replies everyone .
Bit of a multi quote post!
Chances are I will be down grading when it runs out, or maybe getting a second hand phone and a sim only deal.
No idea what for though, I would like a motorbike, but despite being 22, my mum says no (although she was kinda OK about a 125), and as I'm living at home, kinda have to take notice what she says.
Funny thing is, when I have money on me, I'm really good at not spending it, I hate spending money, but on card its so much easier.
I would cancel my gym membership, but I feel its cheap for how much I could go (not been for a bit, but when I do go, I get my monies worth), I would rather stop buying something each month than not go.
It is on eBay at the moment, because I was struggling to run it, however found out I could sell my shares I've been saving at work (Save as you earn, £50 a month), which I didn't know, so sold them (£1,550), paid off my overdraft and parents, and leaves me with around £600 left (which should pay for insurance in September). Now I can save some money, I should be OK. But if I get a decent offer on eBay, then chances are I'll sell it. Deep down I know I should, but its a great car for what I paid.
In my spare time I'm a Special, so see that as investing my time for the future. Always looking for something that will help me with my regs application too.
So far, I've decided that I'm going to do the following.
Transfer £200 over to my parents credit card, this will pay for my fuel for the month (hopefully!), also get club card points by using it.
Leaves me with £107.50 a week.
I'll take £90 a week out, give my card to my mum (sad I know!), and live of that. Any left over money when I get paid, will get put into a sealed money pot (I love things like that, had one last year, and had £40 in a year, despite hardly ever using cash).
Money from the Police for my expenses, will stay in the account they go in (lloyds savings), and will help towards insurance/mot etc. I should be able to leave that untouched now.
Thanks very much for the replies, very helpful.
.Bit of a multi quote post!
Burrow01 said:
You should be able to get a better deal than that when your contract expires - whats your usage like?
Talking wise, pretty low, use a fair few texts (300/400 a month), but I use the internet a lot, get on for around 2GB a month, I have a fair usage cap of 3GB.Chances are I will be down grading when it runs out, or maybe getting a second hand phone and a sim only deal.
The jiffle king said:
I would:
Take ou tht emoney you need for the week and stick to it... No more money til next Monday
Take sandwiches to work.... and some healthy snacks (I take carrots and fruit)
Open a savings account which is separate from your bank account. Put money into this as the first thing you do every month (standing order if possible) Have a goal for this money when it is saved (new car etc)
At the end of the month, if you have any money left in your weekly account, either spend it on something nice, give a little more to your folks in the way of a present (They will love this) or put it into the savings account
Have a real goal for saving, if you don´t have, it´s tough to save
Ask yourself everytime you buy something, do I need this? Would I rather this went to my end saving goal?
I've got an account with Lloyds that my contract comes out of. I can transfer any left over money to that, and give my card to my parents.Take ou tht emoney you need for the week and stick to it... No more money til next Monday
Take sandwiches to work.... and some healthy snacks (I take carrots and fruit)
Open a savings account which is separate from your bank account. Put money into this as the first thing you do every month (standing order if possible) Have a goal for this money when it is saved (new car etc)
At the end of the month, if you have any money left in your weekly account, either spend it on something nice, give a little more to your folks in the way of a present (They will love this) or put it into the savings account
Have a real goal for saving, if you don´t have, it´s tough to save
Ask yourself everytime you buy something, do I need this? Would I rather this went to my end saving goal?
No idea what for though, I would like a motorbike, but despite being 22, my mum says no (although she was kinda OK about a 125), and as I'm living at home, kinda have to take notice what she says.
DJC said:
What works for some people doesn't work well for others. I for example, use personal finance software which exports data into a system of complicated interlinking spreadsheets to manage my accounts, budgets, funds and cash flow. However, I realise I am particularly anal and 99.5% of people would balk at spending the time to put this together and maintain it!
I think the easiest way is to simply withdraw cash, at least to start with.
You have £830 a month coming in, and your regular outgoings are about £200.
You have approx £145 per week left to spend on needs and wants.
I would say you should withdraw £120 a week. Use this to pay for everything. If you run out, just stop spending. After a few weeks you'll learn how to control your expenditure so as you still have a little left at the end of the week.
If you did this for a year, you'd not only have learnt how to control your expenditure and you'd not owe anyone money but you'd have saved up about £1300 too!
Sounds like a good way. My maths is terrible, is the £140 a week including fuel? I think the easiest way is to simply withdraw cash, at least to start with.
You have £830 a month coming in, and your regular outgoings are about £200.
You have approx £145 per week left to spend on needs and wants.
I would say you should withdraw £120 a week. Use this to pay for everything. If you run out, just stop spending. After a few weeks you'll learn how to control your expenditure so as you still have a little left at the end of the week.
If you did this for a year, you'd not only have learnt how to control your expenditure and you'd not owe anyone money but you'd have saved up about £1300 too!
Funny thing is, when I have money on me, I'm really good at not spending it, I hate spending money, but on card its so much easier.
VinceFox said:
I know how stupid and patronising it is to say this, but for me the lightbulb moment really was as simple as suddenly, actually realising "dont spend more than you earn". If you need to break this down to weekly then do it, whatever is best for you.
Aim to get some savings together. Aim for a small figure to start with, say 50-100 left over at the end of the month. The following month when you save another bit, no matter how small and you see the savings accumulate you'll get addicted to growing the amount. You'll start not spending on crap you dont need. It's a good feeling.
Good luck.
I had some savings a few years ago, around £500, and it was good to see it, sadly my car broke (Focus) and cost £1,200 to fix. Thats kinda how I got in to debt, had to borrow some money from parents to pay for that, then I had to borrow money for insurance etc etc.Aim to get some savings together. Aim for a small figure to start with, say 50-100 left over at the end of the month. The following month when you save another bit, no matter how small and you see the savings accumulate you'll get addicted to growing the amount. You'll start not spending on crap you dont need. It's a good feeling.
Good luck.
zcacogp said:
You've paid off your debts - which is very good. Good because you no longer owe, and good because you are clearly earning slightly more than you need to live on, and hence can pay them off. Well done.
The best advice I had was to keep track of everything (everything) that you spend. Small pocket book and a pencil, and if you spend 20p on a mars bar (no idea how much they cost now) then write it down. £50 on petrol? Put it in there. Rent? That goes in as well. And definitely those £5 on drinks at work.
At the end of the week (or - even better - end of the month), look at what you have spent and work out what you have spent things on, and what can be saved. Obvious contenders are your mobile (£30 a month is a LOT on a mobile) and your gym costs (take up running or cycling or something - do you really need to pay someone to exercise?) Between them those are over £50 a month, or 6% of your income.
And if you are running a BMW 5-series then change it. Something smaller WILL be cheaper on fuel and insurance and it may not have gone wrong in the last 6 months, but a big bill is not far away with something like that. Best to sell it now, while it works, than later, when it needs repairing and is worth nothing. Harsh, I know.
Oli.
Going to start doing this, few years ago someone said keep all your receipts, which I did, but never did anything with them.The best advice I had was to keep track of everything (everything) that you spend. Small pocket book and a pencil, and if you spend 20p on a mars bar (no idea how much they cost now) then write it down. £50 on petrol? Put it in there. Rent? That goes in as well. And definitely those £5 on drinks at work.
At the end of the week (or - even better - end of the month), look at what you have spent and work out what you have spent things on, and what can be saved. Obvious contenders are your mobile (£30 a month is a LOT on a mobile) and your gym costs (take up running or cycling or something - do you really need to pay someone to exercise?) Between them those are over £50 a month, or 6% of your income.
And if you are running a BMW 5-series then change it. Something smaller WILL be cheaper on fuel and insurance and it may not have gone wrong in the last 6 months, but a big bill is not far away with something like that. Best to sell it now, while it works, than later, when it needs repairing and is worth nothing. Harsh, I know.
Oli.
I would cancel my gym membership, but I feel its cheap for how much I could go (not been for a bit, but when I do go, I get my monies worth), I would rather stop buying something each month than not go.
It is on eBay at the moment, because I was struggling to run it, however found out I could sell my shares I've been saving at work (Save as you earn, £50 a month), which I didn't know, so sold them (£1,550), paid off my overdraft and parents, and leaves me with around £600 left (which should pay for insurance in September). Now I can save some money, I should be OK. But if I get a decent offer on eBay, then chances are I'll sell it. Deep down I know I should, but its a great car for what I paid.
Oi_Oi_Savaloy said:
Whomever said 'invest in yourself' is spot on.
I don't know how old you are or what you do or if what you do is what you want to do long term but if it is then get qualified as soon as possible - get started at least. it's the best way for the long term benefit for your career (short term it will be tough) and your earnings.
If you don't know what you want at the moment then I'd take some time to think what is it you want to do? Don't drift. Think. and once you've made that decision go and start on it as soon as possible. I drifted along assuming something would just crop up eventually. It doesn't. You just drift!
Also - might be worth setting up another account without easy access (cut the card up!) where you just put a £10 or £15 in a week or something (an amount you forget about anyway). it'll just build up in the background over time. 52 weeks at £10 a week - £520!. from acorns.....
The key thing is to concentrate on yourself - forget what your mates may or may not be able to afford (you don't know how much debt they are in). Just concentrate on you; what works for you.
I want to join the Police, sadly the only thing that is stopping me is no forces are recruiting at the moment, well they are, but up in Scotland (500 miles a way), I want to join, but not that much! I'm 22 and working at Tesco, as much as I hate it there, its convenant, just down the road, I finish my shift and don't worry about anything (apart from going back xD). I don't know how old you are or what you do or if what you do is what you want to do long term but if it is then get qualified as soon as possible - get started at least. it's the best way for the long term benefit for your career (short term it will be tough) and your earnings.
If you don't know what you want at the moment then I'd take some time to think what is it you want to do? Don't drift. Think. and once you've made that decision go and start on it as soon as possible. I drifted along assuming something would just crop up eventually. It doesn't. You just drift!
Also - might be worth setting up another account without easy access (cut the card up!) where you just put a £10 or £15 in a week or something (an amount you forget about anyway). it'll just build up in the background over time. 52 weeks at £10 a week - £520!. from acorns.....
The key thing is to concentrate on yourself - forget what your mates may or may not be able to afford (you don't know how much debt they are in). Just concentrate on you; what works for you.
In my spare time I'm a Special, so see that as investing my time for the future. Always looking for something that will help me with my regs application too.
So far, I've decided that I'm going to do the following.
Transfer £200 over to my parents credit card, this will pay for my fuel for the month (hopefully!), also get club card points by using it.
Leaves me with £107.50 a week.
I'll take £90 a week out, give my card to my mum (sad I know!), and live of that. Any left over money when I get paid, will get put into a sealed money pot (I love things like that, had one last year, and had £40 in a year, despite hardly ever using cash).
Money from the Police for my expenses, will stay in the account they go in (lloyds savings), and will help towards insurance/mot etc. I should be able to leave that untouched now.
Thanks very much for the replies, very helpful
. Something that might help is to get a piggy bank.
When you get home every day, drop all your coins in it, (perhaps barring the £1 and £2 coins.)
This will do two things:
When you get home every day, drop all your coins in it, (perhaps barring the £1 and £2 coins.)
This will do two things:
- Stop you having to get your Mum to sew up your pockets so often.
- Get you saving without noticing it.
louiebaby said:
Something that might help is to get a piggy bank.
When you get home every day, drop all your coins in it, (perhaps barring the £1 and £2 coins.)
This will do two things:
Yep, as I said above (I think), I had about £40 in a year, and that was when I never used cash.When you get home every day, drop all your coins in it, (perhaps barring the £1 and £2 coins.)
This will do two things:
- Stop you having to get your Mum to sew up your pockets so often.
- Get you saving without noticing it.
Oi_Oi_Savaloy said:
Kier
You're sensible and responsible fella. Got your head screwed on. Keep doing what you're doing.
Also; keep, in my view, paying into that Share save scheme at Tesco. Might give you a better return than a savings account to be honest.
Thanks You're sensible and responsible fella. Got your head screwed on. Keep doing what you're doing.
Also; keep, in my view, paying into that Share save scheme at Tesco. Might give you a better return than a savings account to be honest.
.I would like to keep paying in, but if I need to get the money quickly, I can't really. Plus I only got £6.10 with the money I put in.
For what it's worth I used to always try and use the 1/3rd rule, it can be useful regardless of what you're earner as it sets out what you can afford.
1/3 - Mortgage or Rent
2/3 - Bills and Food/Beer
3/3 - Savings
If you're rent is low then use the spare to put towards a future deposit for a mortgage/rent deposit.
If your bills are high then drink less beer. And remember that any annual bills should be divided by 12 and accounted for each month (Car Insurance for example).
Savings can be whatever you want, or a mix of things. Savings for holidays, new car, whatever. You should have a long term plan but really that can wait until you have a career, rather than just a job.
It's not a hard and fast rule as and it can skew a little if you have a good job and low outgoings or vice versa, but I used it as a target and found it helped put things in to perspective - was my rent too high etc?
It's all about balance, you should still enjoy life so if the car makes you feel good that fine, same with the Gym, you just need to be putting money away now for car repairs (which may never happen)...
HTH
GJOB
1/3 - Mortgage or Rent
2/3 - Bills and Food/Beer
3/3 - Savings
If you're rent is low then use the spare to put towards a future deposit for a mortgage/rent deposit.
If your bills are high then drink less beer. And remember that any annual bills should be divided by 12 and accounted for each month (Car Insurance for example).
Savings can be whatever you want, or a mix of things. Savings for holidays, new car, whatever. You should have a long term plan but really that can wait until you have a career, rather than just a job.
It's not a hard and fast rule as and it can skew a little if you have a good job and low outgoings or vice versa, but I used it as a target and found it helped put things in to perspective - was my rent too high etc?
It's all about balance, you should still enjoy life so if the car makes you feel good that fine, same with the Gym, you just need to be putting money away now for car repairs (which may never happen)...
HTH
GJOB
Why not get the car converted to LPG?
If it was me I'd get a nice boring little car that does 40mpg and never breaks down.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing.
When it was me I bought a string of silly loud expensive cars that did 20mpg and always broke down.
Definitely cut out the drinks and food at work.
I'm pretty lousy with money on the whole, the only thing I've found that works is putting it out of sight and forgetting about it. Transfer a chunk of it on pay day and put it in a savings account you never touch.
If it was me I'd get a nice boring little car that does 40mpg and never breaks down.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing.
When it was me I bought a string of silly loud expensive cars that did 20mpg and always broke down.
Definitely cut out the drinks and food at work.
I'm pretty lousy with money on the whole, the only thing I've found that works is putting it out of sight and forgetting about it. Transfer a chunk of it on pay day and put it in a savings account you never touch.
AJS- said:
Why not get the car converted to LPG?
If it was me I'd get a nice boring little car that does 40mpg and never breaks down.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing.
When it was me I bought a string of silly loud expensive cars that did 20mpg and always broke down.
Definitely cut out the drinks and food at work.
I'm pretty lousy with money on the whole, the only thing I've found that works is putting it out of sight and forgetting about it. Transfer a chunk of it on pay day and put it in a savings account you never touch.
Something I've been looking into, but costs anything from £1,000 to £2,500. Not sure if I want to spend that much on a car only worth £1,000 or so. Plus I don't think I do enough miles to make it worth it (10,000/11,000 a year).If it was me I'd get a nice boring little car that does 40mpg and never breaks down.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing.
When it was me I bought a string of silly loud expensive cars that did 20mpg and always broke down.
Definitely cut out the drinks and food at work.
I'm pretty lousy with money on the whole, the only thing I've found that works is putting it out of sight and forgetting about it. Transfer a chunk of it on pay day and put it in a savings account you never touch.
Got paid more than I was expecting today, so £350 transfered into my savings account, £200 will be used on fuel, £150 is going towards insurance, any left over from the fuel will be put into a different account for a rainy day (DVDs are another weakness of mine!).
After rent/gym/phone/fuel I have just over £400 left. Taking £90 a week out for food and social life (ha!), any left over gets put in my money box.
The money you owed has been paid back and so you must have been keeping in budget and putting some money by. Why not calculate how much a month you had to "put by" in order to pay off debts. Then consider yourself still in debt and keep saving said monthly amount.
If you work in Tescos then surely you know when the food is going to be reduced. You could save on food bills if you brought stuff when its reduced. Its just about being organised. Infact svaing money and being good with finances is all about being organised and not relying on 3rd parties.
Just remember its better to save £10 than earn £10. When you earn £10 the tax insurance gets taken out of it. When you save £10 your not wasting £2 in VAT!
If you work in Tescos then surely you know when the food is going to be reduced. You could save on food bills if you brought stuff when its reduced. Its just about being organised. Infact svaing money and being good with finances is all about being organised and not relying on 3rd parties.
Just remember its better to save £10 than earn £10. When you earn £10 the tax insurance gets taken out of it. When you save £10 your not wasting £2 in VAT!
PearlGarden said:
Just remember its better to save £10 than earn £10. When you earn £10 the tax insurance gets taken out of it. When you save £10 your not wasting £2 in VAT!
It will be impacted by inflation though unless it's returning a higher than inflation return. I don't agree with your VAT reference as at some point you will be using the money for something and no doubt what it's used for will be liable for VAT so all your really doing is deferring it.
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