been living beyond my means - now its crunch time

[thebluebeyond]

I've known this was coming for a couple of years, but each month have eaten further and further into my savings. Now my savings are gone, credit cards maxed, overdraft at limit, and I really have to get my spending in check. My mortgage is paid, so that isn't an issue. I have upped my hours at work, but that won't start for a couple more months. I'm going to apply for a transfer to a zero percent credit card, and eat out of the freezer and store cupboard for the foreseeable.

I've frozen gym membership, amazon prime, audible, any other subscriptions I can, I know I need to put in an insurance claim, but am bamboozled by the paper work. Not entitled to any benefits. I have been treated for cancer, and have had several major surgeries, and I suppose money has just not really been a priority in my head in recent years.

It has to be now though.

Any constructive suggestions gratefully received! And yes, I am expecting much criticism as well, dont worry, it will all wash over me.

Hopefully this means that your health has improved and is no longer taking up all your energy. It sounds like you know clearly what the problems are, I don’t think any of these have a quick solution but I agree with the zero % credit card, and freezing of all memberships… there are so many options for movement / reading that are free of charge these days.

I just really wanted to say the insurance claim is the one thing that you can sort out, in good time, and it will not be hanging over you once it’s done. It’s usually a pain in the backside collecting reports and filling in documents, but perhaps look at it like a one-off job where you’d actually get a payment at the end of a few weeks of slogging through it. It’d certainly feel good to complete this before you start doing extra hours at your real job!

Go for it, and wishing you continuing recovery and good health!

Can you get a cheaper mobile phone package/sim card? Look at if you can get your landline/broadband cheaper. When insurance is due to renewal, review what you're covered for and what you really need and get quotes in.

You might be able to transfer your debts into one area and pay less.

If you've got a car only use it when somewhere isn't walkable, ie I carry and walk with my food shopping a few times a week as it's less than a mile - and exercise good for me - at least that's what I tell myself.

You could have a go at selling a few things you don't use, need, wear on ebay/Vinted.

If you're food shopping, really think about cheaper options, ie shops own brand of biscuits will be cheaper than a cake if you fancy a sweet option, think shops own brand, take advantage of offers if it's things you'll really use, pasta, rice, quinoa pulses, cans tomatoes are fairly cheap and you can add whatever you have in to make pasta, chilli, curry dishes. Look at packets of fruit/veg on offer, might be cheaper than say a few bananas, other veg.

Get yourself out for a walk, bike ride on days off, free and it'll do you good. If you really need something, look in charity shop first. If you enjoy reading, can you do book swaps with friends or at least buy them second hand.

Thank you - yes, my health has no stabilised, so can start to think of other things again!

@Sunnyside4 lots of food for thought here. Thank you

Does anyone know how easy it is to get started on vinted? Anyone else who has had cancer will know, you finish a completely different shape to what you were when you started! I've needed a lot of new clothes, but also have many I will never wear again, especially shoes, actually, as peripheral neuropathy means I need a size and a half bigger now.

The other thing I am thinking about is losing the landline. Has anyone done this? regretted it? saved money from it? managed fine without it?

Do you have space to take in a lodger?

How much money do you spend each month on food? IME there can be a lot of saving to be made in this area. Eg could you take a packed lunch to work rather than buying lunch? Do you buy coffees when out and about? How often do you eat out or get a takeaway? Do you choose the supermarket version over the branded item? Etc etc.

Vinted is easy, sign up and start selling, I made £150 first wardrobe clear out in a weekend.
A couple of things to beware, be prepared for your stuff to sell to lots of different people, making sure correct item goes to correct person (hasn’t happened to me but I have received wrong item which seller mixed up -PITA! Also I think there is an option where you can choose how it posted(I haven’t found this yet) otherwise you could end up having to send via numerous postage couriers, Royal Mail, Inpost, Evri etc - that’s also PITA! Otherwise selling is easy. Good luck x

I found vinted surprisingly easy to get started with.

Have you ever sold on eBay or Facebook marketplace, or similar? I found it as easy/easier than both of those!

my tips:

do a big photograph session first. Photograph each item, labels, up close of the fabric/any imperfections.

then do a mass upload session on the app. I always photograph the label so I can check my photo for the sizing rather than get up and find/look at the item again!

I think that uploading in bulk, in one go, seems to tip something in the algorithm and things sell quicker. I also find if I upload Friday/Saturday, I get more sales quickly.

save all packaging that comes to your house from now on to recycle and use again. But I will also use clean, new supermarket shopping bags turned inside out if I need to.

stock up on tape!

I love the inpost lockers for posting. I’d never used them before but they’re fab. And can be done with your phone so no need to print off labels. You can turn shopping options on/off in your profile.

You won't miss a landline only people that used it for us were my DPs who now use my mobile and cold callers.

I’ve never had a landline in my 20 years of living away from parents & been fine.

We removed our landline about 10 years ago. No regrets!

Me and OH are on sim only plans (£8 each) for unlimited calls and texts messages and 10 gb data.

Money saving expert is great for things like this, they have templates on the forums for inputting your incoming and outgoings so its easy for people to recommend actions if you want more in-depth ideas.

I don't have a landland and have giffgaff for mobile, so don't spend much on my phone every month. I know you're wanting to eat out the freezer/cupboards but still make sure you eat good while you're recovering.

It's perfectly understandable that when you have been going through cancer treatments you go for easy options for food which are more expensive but do save time and energy of effort. Now you're through the worst you are focussing on money saving. Open a burner bank.account. It doesn't take long. Then in 3 months use it to switch to one offering a switch bonus of up to £180. After 6 months you could switch it again to a different bank and get another switch bonus. Banks offering switching bonuses are First Direct, Santander, Nat West that I know of, there might be more. If you switch 3 times you'd get about £550 of free money. Get rid of your landline. I bet you barely use it. Can you get a cheaper SIM for your mobile? If you have Sky or Virgin and are out of contract ring them and tell them you can no longer afford it and they'll offer you a discount to stay. Are you on the social internet package? Do the insurance claim. You'll feel relieved once it's done. Putting subscriptions on hold is a great idea. Eating out of your freezer is a good option too. Vinted or eBay to get rid of no longer fitting clothes and buying other clothes that will fit better. The best thing you can do is move the debt to an interest free card. I've just taken out one to put a cash advance on so my son can buy a newer car. He has good credit but never gets the really good offers I get. I'll pay it off over 18 months interest free period and he'll pay me back over 3 years.

you are right about this, definitely an area to tighten up in, I waste money on takeaways occasionally- and that has to stop as of right now! pack lunches and cheaper shopping absolutely - and if I am meeting friends for a "coffee" I am sticking to a single green tea, and making it last! I think meeting friends in coffee shops is quite important to me, so I will hold on to this if I can. No more takeaways though, not until I am back on an even keel, which I recognise could be 2 years....

no, I don't think so, I have thought about that.

OK! I am going to try this, this week! Thank you

This all sounds very doable - thank you

Thank you all for your kindness taking the time to make helpful suggestions. I am going to get to work on these straight away

xx

It is so understandable that your finances have suffered while you've been focused on your health. It's great that you're healthier now and looking to fix it, but don't spend emotional energy on chastising yourself, see it as what you needed to do to get through and move on.

As for Vinted, before you list anything, go to your Profile > Settings > Postage and then turn off the postage options for anything that isn't really convenient for you. I didn't realise initially and ended up having to drive miles away to some obscure parcel depot! I now only have 2 options selected and don't think it's impacted on sales.

Remove card details from all websites, Amazon etc. when they email to “remind” you your Prime payment is due/over due just think - yep, and I ain’t paying you another penny.

I’ve done this and yesterday got an email telling my Prime account is cancelled- shock horror- yep 👍 coz I’m letting you drain account anymore, bye.

I got rid of my landline and broadband and now just use my phone as a mobile hotspot (tethering). I have an unlimited data contract.

I love a coffee out with a friend.

A couple of ways my friends and I make it a bit cheaper...

If you've a Wetherspoons near you then you can get a refill coffee for under £2.

IKEA do free tea and coffee for members on weekdays.

Dobbies garden centres have a club you join for £15 a year and get 2 free hot drinks a month, and a voucher for two more drinks and two free slices of cake when it's your birthday.

Don't worry OP I hear you loud and clear. Similar happening here with me being off work since an embolism in Jan and not looking like I will be able to go back any time soon (frankly can barely get out of bed in the day and just do the dog walk and get back shattered). Also have no mortgage but the bills are going up. Relying now on a rental income which is fine as long as no works need doing (had to really tell them to be more careful as they were spending up to £900 a month of the rent leaving me with nothing because they'd not open a window in a steamy bathroom when they broke the fan, for example). Savings are dwindling rapidly.

Anyway - yes to the eating out of the freezer. Also what I am doing are the following:

Get a Thrift bag to sell old clothes - from what I can gather you put nice clothes you don't wear any more in and they sell them for you. I have 2 just no energy to do them.
Make sure you aren't paying for prescriptions - cancer as I am sure you know should make you exempt
I can't physically think of anything worse than going out let alone trying to have a conversation with someone atm which is saving on meeting people
Let the garden go - I honestly can't do it solo and I am not paying someone £100 to take 20mins on it.
I'm lucky really because I can't eat much so saving a lot on my food bill there
I am in a headspace where I do not need anything new - no point as not leaving bed most days. Only things I have bought recently are planters for my plants that keep having babies!
See if you can ebay anything worthwhile - summer things people might want in their garden perhaps?
Look on freecycle for anything you need. I need new flooring in my bathroom so am keeping an eye on my local one as they get lino off cuts on there sometimes.
If you want to see friends maybe suggest they come for a meal or you do a meal for them (I think there is a thread on here about it being cheap, but at this point in time if I am spending any energy on anyone they had better believe I care very deeply!).

Sorry, not letting them draining my account.