FLAT. OUT. BROKE.

[na§tee]

okay, so i have been working as a press office type-person for a couple of months now. maybe a bit more. it is, on paper, a "temp" job, but that word makes me shudder with fear and repulsion, so i don't use it. i have to temp in between my film and tv jobs (although this actually hasn't evolved into a plural since i finished the film i was working on at christmas, blah!) or i would be screwed financially. freelancing is hard, yo!

so this job is better than other crappy temp jobs i've had. it's actually a skill, something that i've done before, and something that might be useful should i pack in the film & tv shit and settle for a crappy dealing with journalists and writing stories about your business/whatever career.

the pay is bad, for a graduate, but hey. i work 35 hours a week at £6.50/hour.

according to my wage slip i have earned £2086.50 since i started working here.

went to the bank this morning? what's in my account? (after i request the £40 i need to go to dinner this eve and it was rejected so i settle for £30) a BIG FAT ZERO! ZERO!

ZERO doesn't mean zero in a traditionally sense. oh no no no! it means my balance is MINUS £1,800. fucking overdrafts!

where the fuck did i spend all that money? (and before some smart ass comes out with "just don't go out for dinner!" the dinner is a special occasion - and it's fucking CARIBBEAN THEMED so WHO COULD SAY NO? - and i haven't been out for dinner in oooh, 14 months or so. fuckit. and it was booked months ago) i have nothing to show for it.

i know i spent lots the past couple of weeks on a wedding and stuff but still, come on! it's like i've earnt minus points by working here!

i think i will have to start a bloody excel file to keep tracks of my finances. EXCEL! that is, like, almost an adult thing to do.

i am just feeling really hopeless with this shit. i know it must disappear on random tenners i take out to get lunch or travelling to work or bottles of wine and what not. i just want to start taking control, paying my OWN FUCKING RENT (yes, i am quite ashamed that i am still too immature and poor to pay my rent so my dad has to sub me - one year out of university!).

blah. money sucks. tell me about your money worries here, yo!

(i'm not even mentioning my student debt, btw)

[Rancid_Beasties]

I have no money worries since moving out...yet.

I get roughly $350 per week for 10 hours work with youth allowance. Its enough, rent is only $100 per week, food $70, electricity/internet/phone $50, going out $50-100. So that leaves me like $30-80 to save per week.

By the way, I am doing a spreadsheet and it really helps. Also my booze costs are pretty low as I get alot of stuff at cost.

[Otis Driftwood]

i think i will have to start a bloody excel file to keep tracks of my finances. EXCEL! that is, like, almost an adult thing to do.


It is also one of the most pain in the ass software out there. Type a number, stupid programm converts it into a date or time. Freaks me out, like the people who use it daily....

[paul jones]

Sorry to hear about this mate(n) :(

[hitmonlee]

i hear ya!

i have money in the bank right now. $273 to be exact. $270 is my rent that i have to pay next week for the 2 weeks following that, and the $3 is the bank fee for my account.

i get paid monthly. to some people thats normal. most people i know get paid fortnightly or weekly.

rent is always paid fortnightly, so getting paid monthly blows, as a month isnt 4 weeks, some months i have to pay rent twice, but this month it was 3 times. adding to that, i have had to pay rent for the last month at 2 places, while my rent overlapped. the total of my rent for this month has been more than what i actually get paid.

so if you add to that phone bill, electricity, gas, credit cards, you can see i'm slightly screwed.

luckily, my father has helped me through this time, but i owe him $2000 currently. i also owe nearly $5000 on my credit cards (couple of emergencies this year led me to have to use them).

fathers day comes before my next pay day, and i cant exactly borrow money from my dad to get him a present :(

hanging out for next months pay, it will ALL go on rent, bills and food (i am in desperate need of clothes for work but will have to continue looking slightly homeless) and then maybe the month after that i can finally have some fun with my pay.

argh.

of course next months pay is also supposed to cover my birthday celebrations. :(

[na§tee]

oh, i'm so sorry to depress everyone my reminding them of their financial woes, if they have them!

i keep on reading that the average graduate starting salary is meant to be £24,000 p.a. pish posh! if this was full time, it would be about £13,000 p.a. but then again, it isn't a graduate-level job. that makes me so angry, reading that. yeah, it could be true, but if there aren't opportunities out there, how am i supposed to get the experience to get a full-time graduate job? and film doesn't work like that. am i supposed to scrape the barrel to do what i want to do? unless i'm attached to a production company or the bbc or another broadcaster full-time i'm sorta screwed.

blah! who wants to see what i'm eating tonight, along with wine tasting?! that'll cheer us up, right?!

Corn Bread
Black Bean Salsa
Mexican Hot Smoked Cod Caramba
Ecuadorian Sweet Potato, Peanut and Coriander Soup
Jamaican Jerk Chicken, Okra Rice and Scotch Bonnet Salsa
Colombian Coconut Flan with Caiparinha Sorbet
Coffee with fresh Coconut and Lime Candies

(y)

[Otis Driftwood]

What? No Habeneros?
I kinda like Okra, even though it's so bitter.

[skra75]

"Mo Money, Mo Problems" (y)
try having your ex steal your retirement from you, it's golden.
the more you say 'fuck it, who cares' the better off you'll be.
At least that works for me.

[enree erzweglle]

i think i will have to start a bloody excel file to keep tracks of my finances. EXCEL! that is, like, almost an adult thing to do.
I use Quicken to keep track of everything. It's designed for monitoring expenses & assets. It does a lot more than that, too, if you're inclined to read the manual.

And yes, you do have to say no to even special-occasion stuff if it's going to cause you to overspend. I'm sorry to be smart-assy in saying that, but if you don't say no to that stuff, then you will never pull yourself out of the cycle of overdrafting/overspending/overcharging. :(

When I've had tight times, I told my friends and family about it. I talked with them about it and told them that I couldn't do XYZ types of things and that it didn't mean that they had to pay for me either. They supported me in that and in fact, several of them then said that they were relieved to hear it because they'd been having tough times too or were on the verge of having them. It didn't mean that we ate mac and cheese all the time or that we didn't do anything socially; it meant that we were more aware of the things that we did and how we did them, and the savings started to pile up. I usually don't save money by eliminating big-ticket spending because I don't do a lot of that anyway; saving money usually comes from cutting back on buying little things. For example, I'm having lunch with two friends today and my inclination used to be to go into this trendy shop and buy them some kitschy something that maybe costs $5-$8 each (it's something that we tended to do for each other every few lunches or so and it started years ago) but that's some of the spending that I have to watch or else I'll spend $100 a month on it easy.

[Freebasser]

I have about 200 quid of my overdraft left. I knows how you feel (n)

[tracky]

I'm fast approaching broke myself. I have never been in a position in my life where I've not had money to spend on whatever I want. In the last 9 months my bank account has gone from $13,000 to $2000, probably $1500 now. Admittedly I made some large purchases, but I'm still going backwards at an incredible rate. :( I don't know what's going to happen when I hit rock bottom. I don't even monitor my account, so I think what's going to happen is I'll go to pay for petrol or something like that and it'll be rejected, then the rent won't get paid. Then I won't have money for food. It's gonna happen, and in a way I want it to because I think it's the only way I'm ever going to learn some financial responsibility.

[enree erzweglle]

I read an article about dangers of debit cards and how they can be used to coverdras accounts. In theory, debit card transactions are only authorized if there are sufficient funds in the account. And most banks operate this way, but some banks do not and will authorize a debit card transaction on an already-overdrawn account or they'll authorize a transaction that they know will overdraw the account. Then they charge terribly high fees for that overdraft. So people who don't monitor their account balances think that if a debit transaction is approved, then they must have the account funds to cover it when actually, they maybe be overdrafting and being charged enormous penalties for the transaction. The banks are sneaky.

[Lex Diamonds]

"Mo Money Mo Problems" my ass, youze a naive cat if you still believe that, for real.

That's some shit to try and keep you where you at, all content, while niggas riding Bentleys and Maybachs. (n)

[venusvenus123]

there are some penny saving tips in today's guardian (G2)... if you can afford to buy it;)

[na§tee]

enree, thanks for your advice. i'll have a look for that program - i wonder whether it's available for free download anywhere? i'll have a wee looksie.

ya see, this meal is the first 'special occasion' i've had in about 14 months, and £25 (wouldn't normally) break the bank. so it would not be like your little gifts where you would do it regularly and have a $100 hole in your account at the end of the month. if i agree to something like this, i usually take an extra shift in the library i work at (something which has hit me over the summer because, obviously, in a university there are no students over the vacation and therefore no demand for me to meet) to cover it.

it is hard to budget when you freelance and do temp work. i get paid weekly in my temp job, too, which may seem better but it sure as shit isn't. you live from week to week and it is very easy just to go to the bank and take out that extra £10 for that pret a manger sandwich you've been eyeing cos you know you'll get paid every friday. i think that's my numero uno problem. i might actually ask to get paid monthly now - good idea?

[na§tee]

there are some penny saving tips in today's guardian (G2)... if you can afford to buy it;)
haha. i'll have a looksie. i do actually, as part of my job, get free newspapers (i have to read 'em all each morn! i'm the best for pub quizzes) each day but the guardian isn't included in the thursday allocation. (we only get the guardian when it has the education supplement here). but, at the library you can look at newspapers for free! wooh! or even, online!

i read in the evening times or somewhere shit recently that the amount we should ALL be saving for future life is HALF our age - that percentage of your monthly salary. so i should be saving 11.5% of my earnings. hmph!

[enree erzweglle]

I don't even monitor my account, so I think what's going to happen is I'll go to pay for petrol or something like that and it'll be rejected, then the rent won't get paid.When I was young and ATM cards were still sort of new I resisted using them but eventually gave in and after a year or so, I'd gotten to the point where I wasn't monitoring my account too closely either. I recorded every check that I wrote against the account (and back then, nearly everything was handled via checks) but I didn't really record what I was doing at the ATMs.

Then I got an overdraft fine and another and another... And because I didn't keep strict tabs on my account, I didn't understand how the problem happened and just assumed that I did something stupid with too many ATM withdrawals. Which, I remember thinking, didn't seem probable because I really didn't go to the ATM much, but still, I figured that I screwed up somehow.

So the checks that I had written started to bounce and each retailer charged a return-checks fee and the banks charged an overdraft fee. PLUS the retailers could present each check three (separate) times (incurring bank-fees each time for each returned check). Before I knew it, I was maybe $1000 overdrawn and I didn't know why and it was getting worse each day. I didn't know how to recover from it. I think I called the bank and they put a freeze on the account and I was sort of in bank limbo. Then I started to get credit receipts in the mail from the bank. Apparently, they discovered that they'd made a mistake on an ATM withdrawal that I made--I think they recorded a $30 withdrawal as $300 or something like that and that started the tailspin.

The point is that I couldn't recover from that on my own because I wasn't keeping records of what was in my account, coming and going. I couldn't reconcile my receipts against my bank statements because I wasn't keeping the receipts. I was fortunate that the bank caught that ^^^ error and admitted to it.

That was about 20 years ago and to this day, whenever I get a thin envelope in the mail from the bank, I get anxious to open it. :o It just happened yesterday, in fact. It was a skinny envelope but it contained some sort of low-interest credit card offer. It made me nervous to see it--my mind still associates certain types of bank envelopes with overdraft notices. It's all pavlovian. :)

[trailerprincess]

I find it helps paying for things in cash, rather than your debit card can help as it's a lot more tangible when you have to see the money you are handing over. Also, I have worked out that I save £15 a week (roughly) just by taking lunch to work rather than buying something everyday. I might still get sushi in once in a while but not too often.

[enree erzweglle]

I find it helps paying for things in cash, rather than your debit card can help as it's a lot more tangible when you have to see the money you are handing over. There are studies to support that. People are reluctant to buy a thing (or they will buy much less when they shop) if they pay for the purchase with cash. When they buy stuff using a credit card--even if they plan to pay it off completely at the end of the month--it feels like they're not spending their own money so they spend more.

I absolutely know that this is the case with me. I forget why, but last month, I was out and I only had cash and an ATM card on hand and it completely affected how I approached what I was buying.

(I know that I've said this in other threads in the past, so I'm sorry for repeating it here.)

[skra75]

This thread is a bit of a morale booster.
Shitty situations always seem to have the illusion of less-shittyness when there are more people in the back of the pickup truck along for the ride with you.

[enree erzweglle]

na§tee, I can't remember how much quicken costs, but I think it's fairly cheap. That doesn't help you out, though, if you're overdrafted. :(

Your special occasion--first time in 14 months, I totally understand that. It's hard to be on a budget.

First time I did it, the guy I was dating advised me to record everything that I spent. I thought it was an interesting idea and I remember buying this little pocketsized notebook for like $.29 and he commented that I didn't record the cost of the notebook in the notebook itself. I remember going :rolleyes: at that because he was a numbers theorist and I thought he was just being that way, but I did record it even though it was a ridiculously small expense and that's when I learned that I throwing money away on those types of tiny purchases because they added up to maybe $10 a week, which added up and added up. This was years ago, so $10 a week then is probably twice that now and either way, $40-$80 a month is more than what I pay in gas and insurance for my car. Those little things always get me. I remember I got to a point where I bought a piece of bazooka gum for $.05 and I wrote that into the notebook. :)

[tracky]

see, to be honest, I don't really want to have to be that way, just yet, where I'm writing everything down and all that. I'm just going to start charging my boss more for my time, basically, and hope that a combination of that and putting the brakes on a bit will stop me reaching the point where I need to be really careful with what I spent. I know what you're saying tho, completely. It's little things that add up, like I've stopped buying a drink when I go to the shop now, cause that's like $2.80 (AU here) or something stupid like that, and it's just fizzy sugar or poorly flavoured milk. I should probably even stop going to the deli for lunch, cause that costs $5-$6 a day where as I could make it way cheaper myself. But that's where I'm not really willing to compromise. I'd rather pay the extra $2 or whatever it is and have it made fresh (and fried ;))

my worst expense is smoking. It's killing me in so many ways yet I continue to do it :mad:

[na§tee]

yeah, i spend a lot of money on lunch, too. this sandwich bar across the road from me does the most delicious fresh fruit juices and i'm always like "oh but they're so healthy and i could have it instead of a sandwich!" and they're, um, £2.75. yikes!

i don't get charged for being in my overdraft... yet. it's a graduate one, so the bank of scotland are pretty nice about that. that won't remain forever, though. my aim is to have it paid off by christmas. there. i said it. that'll be a challenge on the internet world documented! i'll keep ya updated!

venus; were these the tips?:

When Northwestern Airlines, a US airline, recently laid off dozens of workers, it didn't send them out into the world alone. Each employee was given a booklet entitled 101 Ways to Save Money. We reprint the first 50 helpful tips below.
1 Set your thermostat to 64 and turn it down to 60 at night

2 Use the phone book instead of directory assistance

3 Use coupons at the grocery store

4 Car-pool [share cars]

5 Ask for generic prescriptions instead of brand-name ones

6 Do your own nails

7 Rent out a room or garage

8 Replace 100-watt bulbs with 60-watt

9 Make long-distance calls at night and on weekends, instead of at midday in midweek

10 Throw pocket change in a jar and take it to the bank when it's full

11 Always grocery-shop with a list

12 Buy spare parts for your car at the junkyard

13 Go to museums on free days

14 Quit smoking

15 Get hand-me-down clothes and toys for your kids from family and friends

16 Meet friends for coffee instead of dinner

17 Request interest on the security deposit for your apartment

18 Take a shorter shower

19 Write letters instead of calling

20 Make a packed lunch

21 Make your own baby food

22 Use public transport

23 Drop duplicate medical insurance

24 Buy old furniture at yard sales and refinish it yourself

25 Apply for scholarships and financial aid

26 Exercise for free - walk, jog, bike, or get exercise videos from the library

27 Form a babysitting cooperative with friends and neighbours

28 Buy your clothes out of season

29 Go to a matinee instead of an evening show

30 Share housing with a friend or family member

31 Hang clothes out to dry

32 Do not use your calling card

33 Change the oil in your car yourself regularly

34 Buy "no frills" vitamins

35 Take a date for a walk along the beach or in the woods

36 Make cards and gifts for friends

37 Shop in thrift stores

38 Refinance your mortgage

39 Trade down your car for a less expensive, lower-maintenance one

40 Shop around for glasses

41 Don't be shy about pulling something you like out of the trash

42 Recycle

43 Move to a place where it's less expensive to live

44 Use low-flush toilets or water-saving devices in the tank

45 Drop unneeded telephone services such as call forwarding and caller ID

46 Buy fruits and vegetables in season

47 Avoid using your ATM card at machines that charge a fee

48 Bicycle to work

49 Borrow a dress for a big night out

50 Use old newspapers for cat litter

[tracky]

Ok, they've got Quit Smoking at #14

I'm pretty sure quitting smoking is going to save you more than everything above #14 combined.

#17, cheers

[trailerprincess]

Another good trick is to buy cheaper plain tops/stuff from charity shops and customise them yourselves. me and some friends had a customising 'party' - was a laugh and got a nice top out of it.

[venusvenus123]

yeah nastee, that's the one. i wonder if nos 51-101 will be just as useful?

remember, don't be ashamed to take things out the trash.

in fact... i did that the other week. i was out with my niece and son in EAT, you know a bit like pret a manger -- food is nice enough, but it starts to add up. there was loads of food left behind on the (empty) table next to us. my son leant over and grabbed a pudding and said, can i have this? so i had a look at it, tasted it and said, yeah, why not? it felt weird, like something was going to happen to us, but really someone had just taken one spoonful and then left it behind. i'm still alive and well.

i'm sure you've heard all about fregans?? it could be the new thing for you!

[ET]

Yeah debit cards are evil. I guess it's too late to mention this but I try to balance mine like a checkbook. It's a mental thing. I only withdraw a certain percentage of my paycheck and allow it for extra expenses (eating out, movies, extra crap i don't need) and the rest is meant for bills and transportation. I then only use my card for paying bills and gas. And since I know what my bills add up to I'll be set when the time come to pay those white devils.

Getting out of debt is tough. I dunno what kind of services you have out there but at least you have parents to fall back on. It's difficult to cut back on unnecessary spending (Nintendo Wii for example :mad:) but compare giving that up to living on the street. Oh yeah, making cheap lunches at home is the way to go. Cup of Noodles

[na§tee]

et, you so know i am going to break the bank when the wii comes out. i'm getting it at no cost! well, there probably, uh, will be a cost. but my boyfriend will probably sub me. it will count as a christmas present. and birthday present. and anniversary present. and...

[ET]

I don't blame you. Donate some plasma in the meantime. We get about $30 here for it. That's like £60.

My bank had notified me by mail of my overdraft. Doesn't yours? Very irresponsible of them! They should be flailed.

[HEIRESS]

*polishes 20G nest egg*

HEY CLAIRE ILL TAKE YOU OUT FOR FUCKING DINNER
PUT ON SOME PRETTY SHOES AND LETS SPLIT BABYCAKES

[Lex Diamonds]

I don't blame you. Donate some plasma in the meantime. We get about $30 here for it. That's like £60.

My bank had notified me by mail of my overdraft. Doesn't yours? Very irresponsible of them! They should be flailed.
$30 is like £15 here. It's nothing.

[na§tee]

heiress, that totally made me lol. the aggressive-ness of it! haha. lolz. (y)

et; i have no idea what plasma is. i have a tv, a good one! they can have that!

[beastieangel01]

you really have to be super careful if you aren't making a lot of money. Having a budget laid out and keeping track of every penny you spend really is important. Believe me, I should know.

Money does suck though. Money is the reason why I may not make it back to school. :/

[abcdefz]

my balance is MINUS £1,800. fucking overdrafts!





That's an enormous amount of overdraft protection. Yeeks!

[na§tee]

That's an enormous amount of overdraft protection. Yeeks!
aarggh! shut your face! no, it's not! NONONONONONONOINONONONON if i stamp my feet and shut my eyes it'll go away!

(i don't get charged for it. it's just.. there. i had it to pay for a holiday two years ago (!) but never capped it. woops)

[abcdefz]

I have, like, $200 in overdraft protection. Your current amount is about $3,400*, U.S. $. :eek:






(*I did the conversion. Gadzooks!)

[na§tee]

you are, like, so not making me feel better.
i don't have a credit card or anything.
my plan is to reduce my overdraft limit on a monthly basis - and i think i can cope with paying off £400 at a time. that should get it done in about 4 1/2 months. i don't think it's that frightening. i know people who have TWO accounts, both with £2,300 overdrafts AND credit cards.

[abcdefz]

Okay: I'll stop.

[na§tee]

thanks. :(!

it's like saying "i have cancer" "OMG that is, like, a SUPER BAD DISEASE to have, YO! you better be worried!"

i was angry about not having money because i honestly thought i had some, but i wouldn't say i'd be alarmed at that level of overdraft if i saw someone else with it.

but yeah, hush your $200 overdraft face! ;)

p.s. thanks for that updated dollar figure! (!) but i am probably right in assuming that our pound stirling is much stronger than your american dollar, right?

[QueenAdrock]

Wow, this really puts stuff in perspective. I've always had it in my mind that anything under $1,000 in the bank to me is considered "being broke" - basically because if I ever need that $1,000 for a medical emergency or car emergency, SOMETHING, I'd have it. I don't consider that $1,000 "my money" because it's an emergency fund. I'm going to be dipping down to $700 after my bills and stuff until I get paid next. Really not bad at all, so I should stop feeling crappy about it. :-/

Still, it's so hard when you think about how you're going to FINALLY be able to save some money and spend a little more when you want to, and then you've got a large payment you have to spend it on, and you never seem to go anywhere financially because everything's being blown on bills.(n)

[abcdefz]

p.s. thanks for that updated dollar figure! (!) but i am probably right in assuming that our pound stirling is much stronger than your american dollar, right?



Oh, yeah. It's a good time for Brits to visit the States.

[na§tee]

a-z;

i paid off £500 of my overdraft yesterday. that's $938 of your american dollars!!!!!!!!!!!!!

so now my overdraft limit is -£1300 (-$2439) but my actual BALANCE is -£991 ($1859) so i'm well on my way to shaving off another £400/500 by the end of the month!

GO TEAM!

p.s. i am documenting this as a sort of motivational thang. so if i haven't posted by the end of this month i will feel guilty.

[Nivvie]

I have a £1,600 overdraft, which I intend to pay off before get a dun-dun-duhhhhhh...Trust Deed, as my bank have been nice, and I don't want to have to get another account.

God Bless Scotland and it's wonderful ways to help those financially strangled. (pay back about 25% of total debt in three years and forget the rest)
Take that England, with your stupid 5 year IVAs.

I was feeling all guilty about it, but then a woman I work with got a trust deed for £150,000, and mine will only be £40,000, and my house sunk and the insurance didn't pay out, so I have an excuse. She just went ot Disneyland a lot in designer boots and bought cars.


Nice going na§tee, I'm impressed with you adultness.

[venusvenus123]

I have a £1,600 overdraft, which I intend to pay off before get a dun-dun-duhhhhhh...Trust Deed, as my bank have been nice, and I don't want to have to get another account.

God Bless Scotland and it's wonderful ways to help those financially strangled. (pay back about 25% of total debt in three years and forget the rest)
Take that England, with your stupid 5 year IVAs.

I was feeling all guilty about it, but then a woman I work with got a trust deed for £150,000, and mine will only be £40,000, and my house sunk and the insurance didn't pay out, so I have an excuse. She just went ot Disneyland a lot in designer boots and bought cars.


how responsible of her!

what the hell is a trust deed? or IVA?:confused:

[trailerprincess]

I have decided to start contracting and have my first role starting in about 2 weeks time. Fortunately, I'll be taking home 3.5x more than I currently earn so I am hoping this will alleviate some minor financial issues and allow me to save for whatever I want to do in the future.

I can't believe I didn't do this earlier.

Though if I lived in Scotand, that would have been better full stop. ;)

[Bitchamachacha]

Wow, Nastee.

That's like minimum wage here in the states, at least where I am.

At this moment I'm finacially okay.

I work part time waiting tables, which is decent money for the hours I work. The colder it gets, the busier we get, and the more $ we make.

I also do freelance web work on the side and have been contracted by a small company to design all of their clients websites for them, so I've had some extra doh as of late.

Which reminds me...I need to update my freakin' portfolio.

[Nivvie]

how responsible of her!

what the hell is a trust deed? or IVA?:confused:


Trust deeds and IVAs (individual voluntary agreements) are where you only pay a percentage of the debt back, as an alternative to bankruptcy. They see how much you've got coming in, take an assests or equity, and you agree on a repayment (usally 25-50% of the debt) for the time specified, and once it's over, you are debt free. There's a mark on your credit for a few years, then it's like nothing's happened.

They are good for people and businesses that have gone belly up, when bankruptcy is looming, or you just have no hope of paying off your debt within a reasonable timeframe. If we paid off the amount we are supposed to each month onour marine mortgage (for the sunken houseboat!), we wouldn't be able to afford rent, and if we keep going at these reduced payments, it'll be 25 years before we're debt free, which makes us ideal candidates.

[ET]

$30 is like £15 here. It's nothing.

I had that bassackwards. It'll pay for a dinner though, yeah?

[na§tee]

another month, another £500 paid off. that's 950 of your US dollars this month!

this is working. s'all good baybee. since i originally made this thread i have paid off £1000 ($1899) in - what? a little over 2 months or something. i'm pleased.

still a way to go though. fingers crossed.

[fraserallison]

okay, so i have been working as a press office type-person for a couple of months now. maybe a bit more. it is, on paper, a "temp" job, but that word makes me shudder with fear and repulsion, so i don't use it. i have to temp in between my film and tv jobs (although this actually hasn't evolved into a plural since i finished the film i was working on at christmas, blah!) or i would be screwed financially. freelancing is hard, yo!

so this job is better than other crappy temp jobs i've had. it's actually a skill, something that i've done before, and something that might be useful should i pack in the film & tv shit and settle for a crappy dealing with journalists and writing stories about your business/whatever career.

the pay is bad, for a graduate, but hey. i work 35 hours a week at £6.50/hour.

according to my wage slip i have earned £2086.50 since i started working here.

went to the bank this morning? what's in my account? (after i request the £40 i need to go to dinner this eve and it was rejected so i settle for £30) a BIG FAT ZERO! ZERO!

ZERO doesn't mean zero in a traditionally sense. oh no no no! it means my balance is MINUS £1,800. fucking overdrafts!

where the fuck did i spend all that money? (and before some smart ass comes out with "just don't go out for dinner!" the dinner is a special occasion - and it's fucking CARIBBEAN THEMED so WHO COULD SAY NO? - and i haven't been out for dinner in oooh, 14 months or so. fuckit. and it was booked months ago) i have nothing to show for it.

i know i spent lots the past couple of weeks on a wedding and stuff but still, come on! it's like i've earnt minus points by working here!

i think i will have to start a bloody excel file to keep tracks of my finances. EXCEL! that is, like, almost an adult thing to do.

i am just feeling really hopeless with this shit. i know it must disappear on random tenners i take out to get lunch or travelling to work or bottles of wine and what not. i just want to start taking control, paying my OWN FUCKING RENT (yes, i am quite ashamed that i am still too immature and poor to pay my rent so my dad has to sub me - one year out of university!).

blah. money sucks. tell me about your money worries here, yo!

(i'm not even mentioning my student debt, btw)


i will get my violin

[na§tee]

you can shove that fucking violin right up your ass. because i've paid more than 50% of the fucking thing off.

[hellojello]

man that sucks. You should perhaps withdraw the overdraft service on your account - that might help , those fees are a fucking killer!
I've always been pretty good with money probably cause I grew up hell poor and know how to live cheap since I been doing it since I moved out of home at 15. But at the moment I"m in financial dire straights, my ex left me with a ton of expenses, which he is SLOWLY paying me back.. but now the replacement housemate is screwing me over in a sense, I put her rego on my credit card as a favour cause i'm nice (or fucking stupid more like it) she was meant to have paid half of it off by now (its like $500+) but hasn't, she reckons she's paying all she owes me this pay on thursday (that AND rent 750+)...but the thing is she hardly ever goes to work just cause she's lazy and I don't reckon she'll be able to do it even though I haven't even made her contribute to bills, only rent, and not even the full half of it! The worse thing about that situation is the fact that she KNEW everything that went on with my ex money wise and was like yeah yeah yeah that's fucked, but now she's doing EXACTLY the same thing...
SO I'm hell stressed, plus I had to put my xmas airfares to my fam. on my credit card... and it cost me a bomb being xmas, about $100 more than I was expecting to pay and I can only go for fucking four days. So for four traumatic days with my family the experience is going to cost me likst $270... not to mention xmas presents and all that shit arrrrghh plus ALL my 4 best friends birthdays fall within 2 weeks (this week just gone, and this week we're in now), they're not getting anything this year though I"m too broke! I still feel bad though. So yeah, I feel your pain, I'm in hella debt too and it SUCKS. Especially when half of it aint even my problem if I had to pay only MY expenses I'd be sweet like I always have been. Oh yeah, another problem is I went out and blew $200 on some new clothes for work that I desperatley needed cause I haven't got any in ages - but I only did it cause I was told I was getting an extra day in my job but I found out today I"m not :() AND then had an interview today with the new people that are buying the agency and I told them I can ONLY work the hours I"m already doing (not many) and they're pretty much like 'yeah that could be a problem we'll let you know' yeah great they'll let me know they don't need me anymore just what i fucking need right now...I knew this was going to be a problem, when we were told the buisness was being sold we were told our jobs weren't in jeapody..but later i thought about it and realised RE agents talk out the ass and I should be worried. Turns out I'm right....
sucks to be me:(

[na§tee]

man that sucks. You should perhaps withdraw the overdraft service on your account - that might help , those fees are a fucking killer!
nah it doesn't work like that. i don't think people are understanding.
basically it's a graduate's overdraft so it is interest free - i don't have to pay anything on it. i only have to pay a charge if i go over the limit - which i'm not as i'm slowly paying it off, as i'm documenting here.
actually, i think you may have to pay interest etc on a graduate's overdraft but my bank still think that i'm a student (SSSSHHHH!) so student account's are definitely interest free.
i plan to remove the overdraft completely when i get to zero so i don't get sucked back into it. but if i remove it now it's like - i will get screwed with about £50 a day in charges for being constantly overdrawn. and that is certainly not gonna happen!

so, being in my overdraft doesn't actually cost me anything extra, but it was starting to get me down being so large an' all - it was like no matter how much i "earned" none of it "belonged" to me because it was all in the overdraft. when i get to zero i will actually have some cash that i can say is my money. and that, i tell you, will be a fantastic feeling.

your situation sounds :( by the way. i'm sorry for creating this thread. it's making everyone share their debt stories! but if i can turn it around, i'm sure all-a y'all can.

[Freebasser]

What bank are you with, Claire?

I'm with HSBC and I know that the graduate account is interest-free (y)

[na§tee]

i'm with the bank of scotland. represent! er...

i don't know if their graduate account is interest free, but as i said it's not a problem cos they still think i'm a student and i haven't corrected them. mooohahahaha!

[hellojello]

Oh ok, sorry my mistake, here I"m pretty sure even if you're a student you can't get away with free overdrafts! (I mean I get no montly account keep fee being a student but that's it) It will cost u like $35 or some shit even if all you want is $5. I remember I lived with this chick that constantly used it to buy cigarrettes etc when she was broke. I never understood why she didn't just make one bigger overdraft..atleast then she'd only get charged the fee once, instead of every single time!
MMM carribean food.
I'm hungry again

[befsquire]

"Mo Money, Mo Problems" (y)
try having your ex steal your retirement from you, it's golden.

sucks that your retirement is a marital asset. (n)

na§tee, sorry about your money problems. :( i've got them, but they're slowly starting to clear up. i just hope that one day, i'll be able to buy a home. i don't foresee that happening until 3 years down the road though. it could maybe go quicker if we didn't have to look in an area where bobby can ride his bike to work.

your bank should bear some of the responsibility, by not further compounding the problem just to make you owe more and more and more. fucking banks.

the dinner menu sounds fantastic, btw.

[ms.peachy]

Yeah. Money. So this residential school that I am trying to place my nephew in costs $4500. Per month. Yeah. Fortunately we can get a k-12 education loan which has a really low interest rate and amortise it over 20 years. Still going to be an eyewatering amount of dough though. But what can I do? If we don't do this, then he goes into foster care. So, money. Feh. Whatever.

[befsquire]

holy shit ms.peachy. i'm a fairly expensive piece of ass and i don't cost $4500 per month. how long will he need to be there?

[ms.peachy]

holy shit ms.peachy. how long will he need to be there?
Not sure. It's an academy for kids with Asperger's/ADHD and other emotional/social disorders. Not, like, naughty kids - it's not like a 'reform school' or anything like that, just a really structured environment for kids like him who don't "fit". Certainly at least a year but I imagine more like two or three. It's a fantastic place and the best place in the world for him to be - I truly believe that if he is to have any hope of becoming a reasonably independent, productive young man, he really needs to have this kind of opportunity. If he doesn't get it, I can see plain as day that he will likely become an aimless soul, unable to control his impulses and probably in and out of jail on petty charges because he just won't be able to function in a socially acceptable manner. (You probably have met the type, I am sure.) So we have to do this.

[befsquire]

i have met the type and several who are similar. the cops get to know them, and arrest them, but the jail intervention unit tries to take care of it without having them enter the system. one of them (he doesn't have asperger's) always ends up naked, running down the road from the cops. being naked and sweaty, he's hard to get ahold of.

[na§tee]

last time i get to bump this thread, yessssaaahhh!

the balance of my account is £69.19! as of last night! I HAVE PAID OFF ALL MY OVERDRAFT. it took me since the creation of this thread (hmm too lazy to find the date now - i dunno, a good few months EDIT: 6), a wii and christmas and other stumbles in between, but i've finally paid off 1,800 great british pounds, 3,528 USD, 2,668 euros, 4,482 AUD, 4,123 CAD and 92, 235 russian rubles (lol). WOOOH.

a-z, do i get a prize? :cool: thanks, by the way, for making me shit with pants with fear. if it wasn't for you i probably wouldn't have been scared into doing it, ha! (y)

[Lex Diamonds]

Well done wee bonnie lass! A balance of 69 as well, smooth. (y)

[funk63]

i gotta hundred duckets

[Pres Zount]

Now your can start paying back all your dealers!