i grew up dirt poor with parents who were constantly in debt and therefore had the mindset of ‘treat yourself’ when you have money. i also had absolutely nothing when i was a kid so when i got a job i went crazy buying everything i never had when i was younger
now i’ve grown into a shopping addict. i have no self control and nobody to learn from on how to be good with money. i want to move out but am struggling to save money because of how much i spend. i had almost 4k in savings but spent 2.5k of it to fund my fast food and shopping addiction. i also owe my nan 1k due to being super fucking irresponsible… i need help. please give me advice and help me with my budget
i earn around £1900 after tax and these are my monthly outgoings.
£400 rent to my parents
£160 a month on driving lessons
£56 phone
£30 contact lenses
£90 monthly bus pass
£14 netflix
£15 for my work union
£8 for an animal adoption charity
i should still have £1127 left but this gets drained every month three weeks in. i don’t even know where my money goes but it’s awful the way i spend. any advice would be appreciated
please help a girl who is living way beyond her means!
byu/Maleficent_Day_3869 inpersonalfinance
Posted by Maleficent_Day_3869
2 Comments
Serious answer: therapy. This isn’t a financial question. This is a self control question.
Get a second bank account at a different bank. Make it a passbook account or something with no internet banking. An account which gets a high rate of interest is best. Watch the fees. This takes considerable attention — put a few hours in to finding an account that fits this criteria.
Go to your payroll and ask them to put the amount you need to save into this second account. If they will not do it, then pay all your money into that account, and then that amount minus the savings amount into your usual account by direct transfer. You can set all of this up automatically so that you don’t have to think about it.
After a few weeks, your spending will adjust to match the amount of money you have left. Because it is inconvenient to access your savings (you won’t be able to get it without going in and taking it out over the counter) you are more likely to consider the inconvenience before spending it.