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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think living in overdraft is the norm?

319 replies

user1490465531 · 26/07/2018 10:31

Beginning to think it was just me.
Despite working I am always in my overdraft a week before pay day.
I have paid it of before only to be in it the next month.
Speaking to people it seems very common due to rising costs of living and no wage increase.
AIBU to think unless you have a fantastic paid job you will living in your overdraft.
I live a pretty basic life apart from odd treat so not exactly due to extravagant lifestyle don't own car don't go on holidays etc.

OP posts:
SlartiAardvark · 27/07/2018 10:26

Your really scraping the barrel now.

I don't have to, my barrel is full....

(now that's smug!!) Grin

Original poster
user1490465531 · 27/07/2018 10:27

And your exactly the kind of person I'm talking about slarti so be a love and fuck of.ta.

OP posts:
BackforGood · 27/07/2018 11:30

Slarti is right though.

If you'd said you earned £X but your rent and essential bills were £X + £10, you would be getting very different responses, but you have said that
You pay off your OD each pay day, then creep into it at the end of the next month
This shows that you are spending only your income each month, just that you are going from 'minus £200', back to 'minus £200' each month, rather than £0 to £0. If you were spending more than you earned, you would be going from 'minus £200' in Jan., to 'minus £250' in Feb to 'minus £300' in March etc. - which you aren't. So you are 'managing'.
What people are trying to explain to you, is that, if you weren't paying bank charges / interest, then actually you would either be able to save those few £ or treat yourself further each month.
It is a relative small amount that you owe. You have said you only owe £200, and yet you have said you spend £80 - £100 per month just on smoking! (The only thing you've given us a clue about your budget)
If you wanted to, it would be so easy for you to NOT live in your overdraft, which, as so many posters have pointed out, isn't 'normal' for most people.

Original poster
user1490465531 · 27/07/2018 11:39

Which is what I plan to do. Quitting smoking is not an option right now plus my cat is on a special diet which means her food is quite expensive but again not buying it is not an option.
However I will make cutbacks on my own food and shop more frugal.
When my dd finishes school I plan to sell up and hopefully move abroad for a better life.

OP posts:
Everstrong · 27/07/2018 11:40

No overdraft here. No credit cards and no loans either.

I’m not smug about it, I’ve been terrible with money in the past and it took a lot of work the pay everything off. Now I make sure I don’t have the facility to borrow because quite honestly I don’t trust myself to be responsible. Too easy to be tempted into buying one small thing and thinking “I’ll pay it off next month” and then repeat. Lots of small things add up to a big one.

Sevendown · 27/07/2018 11:42

Even on pay day I’ve not been out of mine in years.

It doesn’t bother me.

The fees are low, I don’t even think of it as a debt most of the time.

leccybill · 27/07/2018 11:42

Not since student days. Got about £1k on a credit card that I'm slowly chipping away at though.

NameChanger22 · 27/07/2018 11:48

I don't have an overdraft, credit card or any debts. I have a very low-paid job and get no benefits.

I just don't buy stuff I don't need. I haven't bought myself clothes for over 4 years. I don't have any habits and I never go out. I budget for everything and keep my bills as low as possible. I don't own a car. I spend as little as possible. Life can be cheaper if it you want to to be.

Original poster
user1490465531 · 27/07/2018 11:55

Not meaning to be rude name changer but that sounds more like just exsisting than living .
just doesn't seem right that you go to work and have to live like that.

OP posts:
beeefcake · 27/07/2018 11:56

Been in overdraft for the past few months to get some work done on the house but slowly getting back out of it

RedDwarves · 27/07/2018 11:57

Quitting smoking is not an option

Bullshit.

BoxsetsAndPopcorn · 27/07/2018 12:04

Quitting smoking is not an option

It should be a priority given you are struggling finance wise not to mention the health effects it is having bu putting the toxins in your body. As a single person your body is yours to trash but when you are responsible for a child then it's a very very different situation.

Original poster
user1490465531 · 27/07/2018 12:05

What I meant is not an option I wish to pursue right now as there are other things I can do.
Of course if it was down to the wire then I would have to give up but it's not.
Yes I know smoking bad for you blah blah but I need to want to give up to be successful and I don't.

OP posts:
Original poster
user1490465531 · 27/07/2018 12:07

And I'm pretty good health wise always doing stuff with my dd.

OP posts:
PaulRuddislush · 27/07/2018 12:09

Sorry but smoking is really bad for your health, even a small amount and a total waste of money. You might as well set fire to £10 notes.

Original poster
user1490465531 · 27/07/2018 12:10

Anyway I'm leaving this thread as not really any point keep going over old ground
Had some really great advice and will definitely get out of my overdraft and keep it that way.

OP posts:
HappyStripper · 27/07/2018 13:45

I find it crazy that you’re planning to cut down on food before cutting down on smoking. And also your cat needing food is nothing like you “needing” to smoke, one’s an actual need and one is just a shitty habit that drains a ton of money.

specialsubject · 27/07/2018 13:48

arguing with addicts is futile. Leave her to it.

OrdinarySnowflake · 27/07/2018 13:56

But you are down to the wire! You have no savings and a debt you can't clear (as you need to be overdrawn each month)

You don't see that you have no give, no slack. If you quit smoking now, by November you wouldn't need your overdraft and would have £40 left over. By December you'd have £120 extra.

(How are you planning on funding Christmas?)

So why is quitting not an option?

LookMoreCloselier · 27/07/2018 14:01

About half the year I go into my overdraft of 1k, it's a very low cost debt compared with a credit card, which I have but don't use. I then get a bonus in February and am out of the overdraft until school holidays and then Christmas. Doesn't really bother me.

StormTreader · 27/07/2018 14:02

Just a thought - have you considered switching from smoking to vaping? Its generally a cheaper option and putting the savings into your overdraft would let you chip it away while still smoking.

SimonBridges · 27/07/2018 14:27

Ah, so you're smug too, but you've actually managed to double your smugness by being smugger than the people you were calling smug.....

What?
I only mentioned my financial status because it was assumed that I was jealous of people who say they have no debt.

Responding to someone saying that they are in debt by saying that you are not is not helpful in the slightest. It shows a lack of understanding of the situation the op is in.
It’s like telling an insomniac how you find it easy to sleep.

ShatnersWig · 27/07/2018 14:31

I've never had an overdraft and I'm 44. I've never even have a credit card, only a debit card. My only debt is mortgage. My salary is £20k per year, I live alone, have a car, certainly don't go without stuff although don't have fancy holidays but could afford an annual trip abroad if wanted one. I dare say if I had been a student might have been a different story.

BarbaraofSevillle · 27/07/2018 14:33

About half the year I go into my overdraft of 1k, it's a very low cost debt compared with a credit card, which I have but don't use. I then get a bonus in February and am out of the overdraft until school holidays and then Christmas

That's not the case for everyone though. Some overdrafts are very expensive, costing tens of pounds a month on a relatively small debt. If you worked it out as an APR it would be eyewatering.

Where it is often possible to use a credit card instead of an overdraft and actually make money on it because of cashback, while having access to a few weeks' interest free credit on all your spending if you pay it off in full every month while you leave the money you would have spent out of your overdraft, in your current account.

beguilingeyes · 27/07/2018 14:48

When I moved banks the new one gave me a £1,000 overdraft limit and for about eight years I was up to it every month. Then they put their charges up.
I got rid of it by saving money up in a separate account until it was up to £1000, paid it off and cancelled my limit.
I

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