To ask for help with paying off debt?

You are living the lifestyle of someone else.

If you were to just not go out for a month or two, you could completely pay that credit card off!!

Imagine yourself in March or April with no credit card debt at all.

But if all the terrible financial decisions you’ve made , cancelling your civil service pension is the absolute worst.

please don’t do this. Not only are you robbing yourself of future income but you risk the terms and conditions being changed .

It's madness to opt out of the civil service pension scheme, you've literally thrown away £ here.

The little things all add up.

I started living alone this year and have had to learn to be really strict with myself. I have a "pot" for all the essentials - food, cat etc and separate the rest for fun things.

I do 2 bigger online shops a month and one smaller Aldi shop and make that last all month. I meal prep my work food and never buy lunch out. If I'm bored at the end of the month when money is tight I invite friends round rather than going out.

It's all a learning curve but you'll get there!

Bank accounts like Monzo or hyperjar let you have 'pots' so you can make a budget for groceries, toiletries, travel costs, socialising, whatever. You also might get some money by changing bank.

I agree don't cancel your pension. Its a great scheme yes. And actually i don't think it makes enough difference to bother with the effort of cancelling it as SCcs or whatever they are called now are slow.

When you've cleared the card you need to save an emergency fund. Look at someone like Dave Ramsey, UK version.

Have just remembered a programme I saw once about a very successful business woman ( can’t remember who). She had started life quite poor, but had set herself high targets and ambitions. One thing she did was to give herself a daily allowance to cover incidental expenses. She had this in cash , no card, and if there was anything left over at the end of the day,either a few pounds or even a few pence, she would empty her wallet and put that money straight into a savings pot which she would eventually bank but not otherwise touch. I don’t think the amount mattered so much as the mindfulness of what she was spending.

You can be entertained at home for free by signing up with various streaming providers on a free week trial - MUBI, Apple TV+, Paramount +, BFI player and maybe others I don’t know of. But you have to remember to cancel your subscription before the end of the trial.

This. Transfer the balance to 0%.

For the credit card pay a bit over the minimum each month. Then stick to the amount. For example, if it’s £199 then pay £210. The extra will make a dent and each month you pay £210 it will chip away the debt. Usually paying the minimum it’s almost nothing because of the interest.

When you go out, or to work, take a snack and water/tea/coffee rather than buying food and drink out.

Boring is cheap.
A constant need to be entertained is expensive.

The little expenses add up.

£5 for a lip balm
£1.50 for a box of tissues
£4.50 for a coffee
£3 for a birthday card
80p for a stamp

That's an example of how you can spend a tenner in 5 minutes and not really notice.

Budget in advance. Set yourself an allowance every month for each category and keep a record. Your money is obviously being spent on stuff you don't really need as much as you need to stay in your work pension.

Don't cancel the pension. That would be the height of money mis-management.

I know it’s a sin to mention this here, but could you give your cat to someone who could take care of it for a few months, and who could pay the cat’s costs?

Why don’t you understand where it’s going? That’s simply can’t be true, unless someone else is spending your wage you do know where it’s going. Sit down and work it out. It’s never been easier with online banking, you aren’t waiting for a paper statement to come. You are choosing to “not know” . And another one saying a terrible idea to cancel a civil service pension.

When you say you applied for a 0% card did you apply directly for one or use MSE to check all cards? If you're being turned down for all products you must have something significantly impacting your credit score which you need to get to the bottom of. Taking money out of your pension is a sticking plaster to a bigger issue - you need to long term raise your income or change your spending habits.

I completely empathise with dating being expensive. It sounds like you need a "socialising" line in your monthly budget that includes date expenses and stick rigidly to it. It's up to you how you divvy it up between dating and friends.

Also, any time you are tempted to buy a ‘little’ thing you don’t really need (eg takeaway coffee) immediately pay that money towards your debt instead!

When is your phone contract up? You could get a non-iPhone contract for much less than you are currently paying and if you get unlimited data, you can use that as a hotspot/tethering for your internet. For example, you can currently get a Samsung Galaxy A55 5G (mid range Samsung), £5 upfront cost, unlimited data for £19 per month. That would save you £39 per month.

Splash out on a small notebook and write down everything you spend everyday. Writing things down where you can see it and compare everyday is a good way of starting to take control of your spending and seeing where you can make savings.

See if there is a free debt advisory service near you, they will help you to prioritise your spending habits and make sure you are paying things off in the right order. Randomly cancelling outgoings like your pension contribution could cost you dear in the future.

Second the cash thing, a relative of mine got into a lot of debt. I told her stop using card and go to cash. They started taking out 300 and seeing how far it would go. Keeping money till the end of the month before buying things like clothes and shoes, just basics until they knew what was left. Cleared there 10k card in 18 months also had interest every month then within a year brought a new car outright never looked back. Cash is the way to budget. Card just costs more overall

Have you tried using the eligibility calculator on moneysavingexpert?

It can usually tell you which card you're eligible for before the application. 0% is the way to go here

It’s really just about getting back to basics, after your holiday this month. You can’t afford to save - paying off your debts should be your first priority.

I think the biggest issue you have is that you live alone. There are very few people who live alone that can afford to have a nice quality of life, comfortably pay their bills, and have a chunky amount of rainy day funds. If you don’t live in a one bedroom flat consider getting a lodger.

Could you take a loan to pay off the credit card - interest rates will be much better?

Are you receiving the single person discount for the council tax?

I have an excel spreadsheet with all my incoming and outgoings. I transfer all bills to a pot. All food money to another pot. All money for socialising to another pot, etc Spend a month keeping receipts and have a good look at what you are spending on what. I am really bad with money and have nothing left 2 weeks before payday. I have found this really helps. Also, if your bank does it activate the round ups, I don't think about it and it rounds up any card purchases and put that in a rainy day fund, i can get upto about £100 a month without realising

How do you eat and cook OP? Do you meal plan?

Im veggie and find when in my own I can eat very simply and cheaply. Pasta with sauce, Eggs and homemade chips. Chickpea and potato curry. I would batch cook two meals to last the week, with toast or soup for lunch. Fruit wise I stick to cheap and nutritious options; bananas, apples.

You can do this. Every month on payday, put aside £100 to a savings account. I know it’s not nice feeling skint just after payday but it won’t last forever. This is just a difficult time but it’ll pass.

Do you buy stuff on Vinted? Could you sell stuff to fund new purchases?

Can you invite your friends round to have film night at yours to save travelling costs? Do they come to you?

Agree with this poster. Chase has pots, good interest rates and cashback per month. The pots will help you plan for the annual expenses.

It would be easier to give you advice if we could see exactly where all your money is going each month. This online calculator is great and if you post a more detailed breakdown of your finances I'm sure you'd get some better responses https://www.stoozing.com/soa.php

Getting out of debt is a slog. It took me years. Every pound you pay off your credit card will help. I would pay everything I could down to the penny.

Try a bank account with pots to save in each month, like Starling or Revolut. It made a huge difference to how in control or otherwise I feel about money, I have individual pots for utilities, activities, everything.