Anyone find it hilarious I have more dollars than pounds?!
Ill give you a little back story. About 6 months ago I caved and applied for a credit card. I felt I was at the point in my life where I thought I had the self control to use it sensibly. Hell was I wrong. For years I said I was never going to get one, I went 23 years of my life without even an overdraft. I had a decent amount of savings and I was dealing without lending money.
Anyone that knows me, knows I have a taste for the finer things in life. When I got the credit card I said to myself I would only use around £100 a month to treat myself to these things. Well that went so far out the window, I can't even. I got to the point where I was living off my credit card and paying it off with my paycheck. Some months I couldn't even pay it off and that's when the interest started. Here we are 2 months later and even though I am still having to live off it to be able to pay it off, we are getting there. So now that you know my story here's some of the things I have changed to turn my financial life around.
1: Unsubscribe to those daily shopping emails.
You name the shop, I was on their mailing list. Countless emails everyday tempting me to spend willy nilly on things I didn't need. I've cleared out my subscriptions, now I only get emails about freebies and samples.
2: Use your savings to pay your debt.
If your in debt but you have savings you are literally spending your savings anyway. In a nutshell, debt costs more than savings earn. I can guarantee that the interest rate on your savings account is less that half of the interest on the debt. Therefore, you are spending more money being in debt that you are earning on the savings. I used the remaining of my once beautiful savings account to pay as much of the credit card off as I could and it was the best decision I've ever made. I was earning less that £5 a month on the savings but paying around £10 for the credit card. Its madness.
3: Don't buy it if you can't afford it.
This was the main reason I got to where I was... I was spending like £30 a day on nothing, random shopping trips would leave me over £100 down. I just didn't seem to realise that I was spending more than I had. I don't know if anyone saw the viral Facebook post about the guy in York that spent £70 on a trip to the cinema with his kids but I read that article with my new money conscious head like wtf was he thinking. I'm not saying stop doing things and do enjoy yourself but if you go the cinema and spend £70 on yourself and 2 kids, when tickets are like £5-9 you must be doing something wrong. He literally must have spent over £40 on food, for Christ sake why not just take £1 sweets in?! Nobody wants to pay £5 for shit nachos.
4: Whittle down your basket when shopping online.
Say you really need something and the best way is to buy online. If you're anything like me that one thing you need will turn into six more things your just have to have! Last week, I did my first Boots shop since I had decided to change my spending habits. I started off in old spending mode and went from a just a primer to a basket full of beauty products I already have too much of. I sat there looking at my basket of over £60 like, I just can't spend this. In the end, I spent £20. I went through everything individually and asked myself 'do I actually need this?' the answer is usually no.
5: Prep your meals.
I would love to say that I've gone from food shopping every night to being able to do a weekly shop and that's it. I have not been able to get this one under control yet. I have started packing lunch for work instead of paying about £4 a day in the canteen, but at night I still have to shop. I have started buying food every other day and making sure I have things for the next couple of days. We are slowly stopping the £7 a day on tea.
6: Set savings goals.
Even if you're not saving for anything in particular, set a goal. I've got multiple trips to save up for (hint hint: there may be another New York blog/video later this year) but even on top of putting money away for these I've decide to satisfy my handbag addiction I am going to save for a high end purchase. I've set myself a limit and I have a few options for when I get there so I know I'll get one I want.
7: If you don't use it, sell it.
I have had 2 iPhone 4's just chilling in my draws for 2 years... a year ago they were worth £100 now they are worth £20. In know it's hard because you never know you could need that 3rd phone in a couple of years... but you really don't. I have multiple things I don't use anymore just collecting dust. there are so many ways to re-sell your unused things. Gumtree, eBay, Envirophone! Just suck it up and part ways.
8: Use what you have.
If you are anything like me, you have back ups of back ups. I cannot even tell you how many back up cleansers and facial scrubs I have chilling in my back up draw. Hell, I even have a back up draw. I have about 8 tubes of toothpaste and god knows how many bottles of nail varnish remover! If you have it you most definitely do not need another one yet.
9: Shop around.
Ok, so you have a hankering for this beautiful something. I can almost guarantee you can find it or something very similar somewhere on the magical world of the Internet for less money. I was majorly lusting over the Chloé drew bag, God knows I don't have £1000 for it. After a little shop around I found one rather similar one in Accessorize for £35. I know its not that much cheaper but its a massive difference.
10: DIY
So this is one money saver I have always tried to do but before, there were things I thought I couldn't do. I started off by doing my own nails, and eyebrows. That's easily £40 a month in savings by doing it yourself. Last week some complete poopface decided to take out Dennis' wing mirror, garage wanted to charge me around £55 to sort it. Bought a replacement on eBay for £14 and found a YouTube video showing me how to replace it. Bam, brand spanking new wing mirror and saved about £40. Lesson learnt, if you can do it yourself why pay someone to do it for you?!
Until next time.
R x
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