Okay, to tell the truth im in debt! My card is maxed out and i decided i needed an overdraft too, now im in the situation where i keep buying stuff (wether i need it or not) and as soon as my pay goes in to my account it *Nearly* takes me out of my overdraft only for my direct debits to come straight out >_< Has anyone got any good money saving hints? PS: Someone also hit my car this week so that needs fixing too >_<
I have some advice. Cut up your credit card and just stop buying things you don't need. Pay that shit off before it gets any worse.
.. I know but its hard to resist a couple of new cds / games! Every friday when im in town there is always a new release or two that i want! My friend has also got me into what could be an expensive hobby: Collecting mini japanese cartoon toy figures! I bought 3 the other day and it racked up £25 >_< Add a game or two a week (another £60 or so) A Couple of CD's (£30 or so) weekly Petrol (£30) weekly Fast food / Pub meals (£40) weekly Phone bill [per month] (£30) Gym [per month] (£35) other Direct Debits which equal up to about £170 per month and you have an escallating problem >_<
.. I only bought the car a few months back >_< it would break my heart! I couldent live without transport!
Well, i can tell what i'm doing. 50% of the spare money i have every month (after all bills paid), go to a longtime investment account. Doing this not just for games, but to have money if i need something important. Plus i haven't bought any games since august or something (well, i bought japanese GT4, that will be paid when i get it, but since my friend still haven't sent it to me, i don't count it as a bill (yet).This savings helped me on replacing my PS2 modchip, plus i still have some cash to get a HDD just for the PS2. Anyway, if i were you i would cut that credit card. Mine problem with the credit card company is soon to be solved, but it was great not having this piece of plastic for like 4 or 5 months. Helped me saving money
.. I havent used my card for a while now (i dont carry it with me) but im still left with the bill >_< I dont really want to be forced into selling games etc, but i may have to start thinking that way...
mmm, you could always get a mod chip... and get an mp3 player... that works awsom for saving money, then just wait until the games are cheap and buy them
DOWNLOAD. Only movies and music. As much as it sucks, buy like 1 game a month until you get out of debt. I'm sure they have grocery stores or something similar there. So instead of getting fast food, buy your food at a store and cook it at home.
Looks like the easiest place to cut is the CDs, figures, and games. -Buy used. Think how many new games come out that SUCK! There's tons of old games that should keep you busy, and cost mere sheckles. -Sell shit you don't need. -Quit buying CDs. They're probably crap if they were made in the last 10 years anyway. -Do what Johnny is doing. You don't have to open a brokerage account, but get an account and throw away the debit card. Make it hard to get the cash out. Stick 30-50 pounds per paycheck in there. -QUIT GOING To TOWN if that's where you spend money. When I quit smoking, I couldn't go to bars or game centers. The painful truth, but it helped until I kicked the habit. -The hardest one -- quit going to pubs/bars so frequently. There's no shame staying home on a Saturday night. Yeah, getting wasted/laid is a lot funner, but being out of debt is the key right now. I'll get cained for this one, I had a girlfriend once that didn't smoke, but sold enough weed to pay off 13 grand (USD) when she was working for like $6/hr 35 hours a week. I'm not stupid enough to endorse illegal activities, but it worked for her.
Right. Well unfortunately, the answer is to be harsh. And prioritize. OK, so let's look at your situation: You want to buy games and stuff Your income wasn't enough to support your lifestyle You have got a card and overdraft to pay off, which attracts interest OK, first of all... if you leave the situation as it is, then you will keep putting a little money in the bank/card account, and that might only just pay off the interest. OK, so what is your priority? Buying entertainment stuff, or paying off your debts? The way to look at it is this: you're paying off a little of your account at a time, basically half (or however much) of your money is being swallowed by keeping in the black (or trying to) and paying off interest. The rest you spend on games. What you really need to do is sit down and write some things down. Make a list. Let's just stick to essentials. So list: Weekly Income Wages Other earnings (if you have any, e.g. rented property, benefits, things you sell) Debt Credit card bill Any other borrowings Weekly Expenditure (stick to the essentials) Minimum card charge Rent/mortgage Food Utilities (gas, electricity, water, sewage) Taxes (e.g. council tax or whatever you have where you are, road tax) Insurace (house and car) Haircuts Television License (if you're in the UK) Petrol You may not pay some things - if you live with your parents, no council tax - lucky you. Still, list everything. Some things may be yearly or monthly - split them down into weekly amounts. Also, an important consideration - what rate of interest are you paying on your overdraft and card? OK, so once you have a list of all your income, and all your expenditure, then you can start to balance it. What is the minimum amount you need to pay for all of the above? OK, so hopefully that minimum is less than your wages! Still, that doesn't mean, say you earn £400 a week and your minimum amount is £350 that you can therefore spend £50 a week. Your interest is costing you more. The longer you leave it, the more you have to pay off. Surely that equates to LESS games in the end? Your primary goal is to pay off your overdraft and card as QUICKLY as possible. So, put as MUCH of your wages into that as possible. Pay off all the bills first. You might possibly find that you'd manage better if you had another account. For example, with another bank or building society. Have your wages paid into that. Then, have the set amounts you agree on transferred to your bank and card accounts (or if that involves charges, withdraw cash if you prefer or write a cheque). Then, you can pay off your bills with what is left in your new account. Maybe say to yourself, anything that is left in your account at the end of the month, you earned and you can do what you like with. Even if you only left £10 a week in there, at the end of the month that is £40. That's enough to buy a game and go down the pub (if that's your thing). Basically, yeah its tough, but you have to change your lifestyle, in order to earn it back. Get solvent, stay solvent, and THEN you can afford to buy yourself luxuries. Oh, and if you have to sell things, then so be it. If you just play games, sell those you don't play. If you collect, then tighten down on what you collect for now. Select a specific area. Only collect SNES games, or only collect RPGs. I know what it feels like to be in your situation. And believe me, you don't want your situation to turn into mine. I now have the overdraft, the credit card bill, AND I haven't worked for nearly two months. There just aren't any jobs around. I've had to live on nothing. I'm very lucky I have a roof over my head. I've got to start selling stuff, especially if I don't get a job soon. Once I do, I'm making sure that my debts are paid off. I've already had to live under tight circumstances, I can afford to continue that. And I have enough games to keep me content, I don't need more. In fact, if I want to play new games, I'll go round a friend's house... handy tip for saving money!! Also, that idea of a savings account was good. Get an online account, or a high interest savings account, or an ISA or something. Put money into it and forget about it - that'll make a nice thing to come back to in 10 years or so. If you need to access it before, so be it.
Just as an addition, GaijinPunch has thrown up some good points. Whilst I don't encourage drug dealing, selling something for profit is a good idea. If you are able to buy something for £2 and sell it for £3, that's good. Then, KEEP the pound. Put it in that account that's overdrawn! Incidentally, I put all my copper change (1p and 2p for non-English people) into a pot as soon as I get it. If you can do that, maybe even with slightly larger coins, say 5p maybe 10p too, then you'll soon have some extra cash put away. Perhaps that should be your incentive - save pennies, and you can use that for you when it reaches £10 or £20 or whatever. It may sound extreme, but GaijinPunch had a good point. Treat it like an addiction. To be honest, a lot of people don't really want to quit something. If you REALLY want to quit, then you will. Maybe there may be temptations along the way, but you can fight them, and also cutting them out of your life could be a good idea. My friend smoked. He said it was his one vice. He didn't do drugs, he didn't drink, he didn't even eat chocolate. So he wouldn't give up. His family tried, then gave up. Then, one day, about 2 years ago, he just said to us - I'm going to stop smoking. And he hasn't touched a cigarette since. I think that is quite an accomplishment - especially as his family smoked still. *EDIT* ASSEMbler - stop Trigga from accessing the marketplace! its for his own good!!!
Cut back a little bit. Don't buy brand new games. Take a trip down memory lane and buy some old games.
Good point Retro makes on the RPGs. Those damn things take so long to clear. Buy an RPG and stick w/ it until you solve the whole thing. You might be out of debt by then! The change thing is a good idea. Change is kind of useless here in the states though, so you have to save an amount you can barely carry for it to be worth anything. You brits got the 1 pound coin though. I did this in Japan for a while. You can get like 5000 yen in a week or two by emptying your change daily.
-Cut up your credit card -Buy 2nd hand games or just don't buy games at all and first finish the games you already have -Download all your music and movies because most is just utter shite same goes for games -Don't follow your friends arround town when they are shopping -Save on food shopping and buy non-brand stuff instead of A-brand stuff -Try to cut back on gas,power and water this will save you $$ in the long run -Sell everything you don't use or have bought impulsifly either throught this board or Ebay
Go to a gym which isn't a rip off I pay £20 a month sub Also don't buy new games untill you have completed all of what you own already!!
