How to manage my money

[Difficultworkdecision]

Had a tricky few years and ended up with a smallish amount of debt.
1 £900 credit card
1 £1000 credit card
1 £200 credit card
£1000 overdraft.

I get paid £1050 on the 25th and then from self employment will earn around £1500- 1800 over the course of the month. Plus £60 child benefit weekly.

Everything is currently at its limit. I have some cash for food and fuel for next week.

My total outgoings are £1395. Most of this is due on the 1st, except the food and fuel which is budgeted for the whole month.

I know I earn enough to get myself out of this. I just need advice how to manage. As soon as my pay goes in my balance is basically 0 because of the overdraft usage. And then immediate bills take it back to the limit and I feel like I’m always withdrawing small amounts from my self employed business to tick me over rather than giving myself another pay day as such.

any advice?

Are they on 0% interest rates or can you transfer any to interest free if not?

Yes, need to know the interest rates on those cards.

So, you have about 1200 a month to cover everything once bills are paid?

Need a lot more information.

Is it just you or do you have a partner

Have you been using debt to cover normal living expenses or has it been one off costs?

Are you a sole trader or is it a limited company and what can your business afford to pay you? Are you up to date with savings for tax?

What are the interest rates on your debts and are you up to date with payments/good credit history?

Can you charge more for your services?

Also, have you reviewed all your bills to make sure they're as low as possible and you're not spending unnecessarily?

Not 0% cards. I have poor credit so can’t switch.

I have a partner but finances are currently separate whilst we both clear debt and get to a good place with money. Bills are split evenly (we earn roughly the same).

I have about 1200 left after bills which I know is enough to sort myself out. I just don’t how how.

I’m a sole trader in the first 6 months but income has been steady so far, I charge towards the higher end for services due to my background. Think along the lines of experienced nurse, now trained in acupuncture.

debt accrued due to some big one off costs so credit was needed to cover day to day living. Now as soon as I get paid from a client I’m needing the money to cover food or fuel so I’d like to get to a place where I could pay myself once or possibly twice a month rather than taking it out £60 a day if that makes sense?

my bank account automatically deducts savings for tax in to a separate pot so that’s fine.

I would try not to overcomplicate it op.

Forget about the credit cards (just pay min payment obviously and cut them up so you don't spend more).

Get that overdraft gone. It's an obscenely expensive form of lending so needs to be priority. And the mental 'toll' it takes of seeing a credit being absorbed into the overdraft every month can't be overstated.

As soon as you get paid this month, call the bank and reduce your overdraft limit from £1000 to £800. Manage with what's left and keep paying minimum payments on your cards.

Do this every month and by Autumn, every penny you pay into your account will be credit.

You can then move towards making strides with your credit cards and it's much easier to manage your money when you're just dealing with a credit balance in your bank account.

Also, check out moneysavingexpert - lots of great tips and there’s a ‘debt free wannabe’ chat board and people will come along with some helpful advice.

Can you reduce any of your current outgoings?

Its recommended to use the snowball effect where you pay a higher amount to the debt with the highest APR, then when you clear that, target the next one. But as for your overdraft, definitely ask the bank to reduce it each month, that seems the only way to get out of it.