Debt Sucks.

PatchTuesday

PatchTuesday

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Hellos,

Did my budget this morning and all I can say is debt sucks.
My entire budget has been worked out to the last cent,and I have no money left for me after all obligations have been paid.Between rent,travelling,clothing accounts and cellphone contracts I really feel like its too much this month.It literally takes all my money,so much so that I had to skip savings.

It really does suck.

I have a plan though.And at the end of August I should at least be 50% debt free,which means its half my salary i can pop into savings
 
Don't start saving until that debt is cleared. You will feel much better when it is cleared.
 
The biggest saving is to get 100% debt free. If only I was that disciplined.
 
iDoS said:
Hellos,

Did my budget this morning and all I can say is debt sucks.
My entire budget has been worked out to the last cent,and I have no money left for me after all obligations have been paid.Between rent,travelling,clothing accounts and cellphone contracts I really feel like its too much this month.It literally takes all my money,so much so that I had to skip savings.

It really does suck.

I have a plan though.And at the end of August I should at least be 50% debt free,which means its half my salary i can pop into savings
Click to expand...

You-Can-Do-It.jpg

Actually trying to do the same thing at the moment. Made a purchase a couple of months ago which I am actually regretting each month. Should be paid by October then I will feel better about it.
 
rent,travelling,clothing accounts and cellphone contracts
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Which of those are wants, and which are needs? Might make it easier to start cutting back to consolidate your debt...
 
Ancalagon said:
Don't start saving until that debt is cleared. You will feel much better when it is cleared.
Click to expand...

Easier said than done.I guess i cant count rent as debt.I should really view that as an expense tbh.
The rest of my debt is fixed term until April 2017,at which point I'm hoping to be 100% debt free.
Being disciplined is the hardest part of it all:cry:
 
Ancalagon said:
Don't start saving until that debt is cleared. You will feel much better when it is cleared.
Click to expand...

It would be more prudent to set 80% aside to pay off debt and 20% aside to build up an emergency fund. All it takes is one emergency and the gains you have made paying off the debt will be eroded.
 
braniac said:
The biggest saving is to get 100% debt free. If only I was that disciplined.
Click to expand...

I am quite disciplined when it comes to spending money but highly doubt I will be 100% debt free any century soon.
Home loan + vehicle finance is the only contractual debt I have at the moment if month to month things are excluded.
 
Mike Hoxbig said:
Which of those are wants, and which are needs? Might make it easier to start cutting back to consolidate your debt...
Click to expand...

lol I dont want any of it.Cell contract isn't too bad but i feel its a waste,which is why i'll be glad when its over.
Clothing account is high though,lesson learnt.If i don't have cash for it,i wont buy it(within reason/living expenses)
 
iDoS said:
Hellos,

Did my budget this morning and all I can say is debt sucks.
My entire budget has been worked out to the last cent,and I have no money left for me after all obligations have been paid.Between rent,travelling,clothing accounts and cellphone contracts I really feel like its too much this month.It literally takes all my money,so much so that I had to skip savings.

It really does suck.

I have a plan though.And at the end of August I should at least be 50% debt free,which means its half my salary i can pop into savings
Click to expand...

Cell phone contract - Get rid of it or go to Telkom Freeme if you need the airtime and data.

Clothing accounts - Stop that shait. I am assuming name brands galore?

Traveling - Is this for work or leisure? If leisure, then again, stop that shiat until your debt in paid off.
 
BeLgaRiOn said:
It would be more prudent to set 80% aside to pay off debt and 20% aside to build up an emergency fund. All it takes is one emergency and the gains you have made paying off the debt will be eroded.
Click to expand...

Thats a good point.having an untouched credit card with a positive balance at this stage is my safety net,but I want to do away with it completely
 
Cell phone contract - Get rid of it or go to Telkom Freeme if you need the airtime and data.
Click to expand...
Contracts end in april 2018.The buyout is ridiculous at this stage

Clothing accounts - Stop that shait. I am assuming name brands galore?
Click to expand...
I would like to say yes,but there was a bit of a rough patch with the family,and I took on most of the cost of this for a while

Traveling - Is this for work or leisure? If leisure, then again, stop that shiat until your debt in paid off.
Click to expand...
Its a bit of a catch 22 in this instance.Due to circumstances,my fiance lives pretty far away.So its for work,but to get her to work as well. looking at a 200km round trip daily. this also means car maintenance is priority
 
A good thread sharing tips about debts and budget. Debts are not good been there and l learned my lesson.

I can say I'm also in the same situation just like you I'm cutting back on few things. Early this month paid off one my furniture account I'm left with one clothing account and car payment. I want to try pay it off month end I think my balance is R6k.

I do have domestic worker and someone who help with the garden. Both come once a week I don't pay them a lot R150 per day, so R600 each month end so I spend R1200 on them. As I'm cutting back on few things I want to cut their days also but I feel bad them, so I'm still thinking about it.

If only I can fine a way to cut off dstv and get cheaper car insurance I will be sorted. I save about 15% of my salary so yeah debts are bad sadly some debts you can't leave without.
 
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Ramodiana said:
A good thread sharing tips about debts and budget. Debts are not good been there and l learned my lesson.

I can say I'm also in the same situation just like you I'm cutting back on few things. Early this month paid off one my furniture account I'm left with one clothing account and car payment. I want to try pay it off month end I think my balance is R6k.

I do have domestic worker and someone who help with the garden. Both come once a week I don't pay them a lot R150 per day, so R600 each month end so I spend R1200 on them. As I'm cutting back on few things I want to cut their days also but I feel bad them, so I'm still thinking about it.

If only I can fine a way to cut off dstv and get cheaper car insurance I will be sorted. I save about 15% of my salary so yeah debts are bad sadly some debts you can't leave without.
Click to expand...

Cut the gardener to once a month, and downgrade to a cheaper package on DSTV, unless you are a slave to sports like most of us, it won't save you much but it's a start, and make sure whatever little you save you put to good use like paying more into one of your debts or opening some savings account.
 
Ouch @OP. Sounds like a terrible hole to be in. Debt is like bondage. Hate it. The only personal debt (business debt is a separate discussion) that I think is advisable is:

Modest home
Modest car
Education

If you can avoid the above 3 even better. Personally I had some study debt for a repeat year which I managed to pay off before the end of varsity, and my home bond that will hopefully be paid off just before I turn 40 barring any other major financial events. Never been in debt for a car. I know some people think of cell contracts as debt but I just see it as a free phone with my monthly call/data plan. Pay about R169pm for an entry level phone and a decent call plan.

Its a great feeling to be free of debt so try get there. Hopefully I will be fully debt free shortly after I pay the house off. Total time to pay it off will be 8.5 years. It requires discipline and being a lot more frugal than your general peer group but the financial freedom is worth it. If you are struggling to get into that mindset I highly advise reading a book called the millionaire next door. It really changed the way I viewed lifestyle spending and what type of person I looked up to post that.
 
I've become a lot better at delaying gratification - to pay down debt before I buy nice things for myself. A little change in thinking really helps.

There are a lot of things that I want to buy (as always) and I can afford some of them. But, I choose not to buy them until later. My goal is to pay off my car by the end of September, which will mean it is paid off in something like 36-40 months instead of 60 (depending on when I can make the final payment). Once that is done, I'll spoil myself for a month or two, and then setup debit orders to start saving for retirement and paying off my homeloan quicker.

I don't have any credit card debt, or cellphone contracts, or clothing accounts, or anything like that.

I am taking a holiday in July which is going to be expensive, but the nice thing is that it will be paid for by the time I go. And by paid for, I don't mean on my credit card, I mean paid for. No debt.
 
iDoS said:
Contracts end in april 2018.The buyout is ridiculous at this stage


I would like to say yes,but there was a bit of a rough patch with the family,and I took on most of the cost of this for a while


Its a bit of a catch 22 in this instance.Due to circumstances,my fiance lives pretty far away.So its for work,but to get her to work as well. looking at a 200km round trip daily. this also means car maintenance is priority
Click to expand...

Dammit tight spots there, in that case you are not reckless, this is merely a shiatty situation to be in currently. Head up high and try to just consciously cut back on other non essentials with the goal in mind to lower the debt.

I know its easier said than done and I often times try not to tell people to save X and spend Y and stuff, because the reality of South Africa is that the average person gets paid too little to survive in this country even if they are the best finance savy you cant save money you dont have.

So best thing I have ever done was to source/start alternative/extra income streams. Meaning perhaps take this time to do some mind-shifting and see if you cannot create or start something on the side to help out.
 
Strongs man, I have finally reached a point where I am making a noticeable dent in my debt every month.

I was in a similar spot where I was surviving but my entire budget was spent on necessities (or at least so I thought at the time) and everything was okay until some crisis pops up like tire damage from a bloody pot hole or something like that. The next thing I know the debt is hurting me. I remember in the beginning it felt like I was making zero difference, it feels like you are not supposed to be able to get rid of it. Six more months for me then I can start looking at some serious saving to build my buffer.

Take a good long look at what you are spending money on. I found a lot of my "necessities" were laziness on my part. I cut out a lot of things and now I realise that most of those things I could easily live without and the rest I did not need nearly as often.
 
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