Very bad at managing my money-advice

Tylerdurex

I would appreciate some advice on how to manage my money better , I earn 3k net every month yet live pay cheque to pay check. Here are my fixed expenses

Rent-560
Phone-53(includes 13 for insurance)
TV and BB(50 for 6 months,130 for final 6 month)
Car-petrol and tax about 100 a month
Elec-100

Mervyn Skidmore

What do you spend the other €2,150 per month on?

Tylerdurex

Im so bad with money that I end up getting shortterm loans and then paying them back come payday

Wexfordboy89

What do you spend the other 2k on?

baldbear

What are your other expenses? How old are you? I just don't understand how adults can't manage their cash when they earn a good wage have no kids or a mortgage.

Is this a wind up?

Wexfordboy89

You must have other expenses 2k is more than I have to live on for the month.are you eating out a lot going out drinking etc on the weekend's

CIARAN_BOYLE

Tylerdurex wrote: »

Im so bad with money that I end up getting shortterm loans and then paying them back come payday

Spend a month writing out everything you spend. (Or use an excel sheet with analysis columns) the make decisions as to what expenses you need and what expenses are frivolous.

Buttercake

You never mentioned food, do you shop in Aldi or M&S?

Do you smoke?

Are you single? Are you chasing women? spending unnecessary money on appearance and designer clothes?

Do you go to many weddings, stags etc?

What age are you and how much do you spend out on the razz? a Saturday night out in Dublin, i can imagine is €100-€200.. and the rest

Are you spending money on things that are way ahead? concert tickets, sporting events etc?

Pelvis

Open up a savings account and put 1k of your money into it by standing order every month. You can't spend it if you don't have it to hand.

Tylerdurex

ok heres the reality of the situation this month

24AUG-Paid-3182 euro

rent-560
brother-134
father-120
buy back loan cash convenience-299
bord gais-184
lotto-40
docter twice-70
physio-50
vodafone-153(was in arrears)
Mcgreggor fight-25
Provident loan-200
online bet-10
chinese take away-23
super valu-2 bottles of wine and frozen pizza-42
new laptop-220
tesco-combination of food and alcohol-180
Ps4 games-35
Ps4 online gaming for 12 months renewel-50

I have 810 euro left in my ac

Mervyn Skidmore

Tylerdurex wrote: »

ok heres the reality of the situation this month

24AUG-Paid-3182 euro

rent-560
brother-134
father-120
buy back loan cash convenience-299
bord gais-184
lotto-40
docter twice-70
physio-50
vodafone-153(was in arrears)
Mcgreggor fight-25
Provident loan-200
online bet-10
chinese take away-23
super valu-2 bottles of wine and frozen pizza-42
new laptop-220
tesco-combination of food and alcohol-180
Ps4 games-35
Ps4 online gaming for 12 months renewel-50

I have 810 euro left in my ac

What do you pay your brother and father for?
Vodafone bill is massive, get a pay as you go for around €20 a month.
New laptop should be a once off, same with playstation sub.
€40 a month on lotto is mad in my opinion, that would nearly cover your broadband.

Do what someone else said, get the money taken from you at source and put into a credit union or savings account. €1k a month should be easy for you.

Tylerdurex

What do you pay your brother and father for?(they gave me a lend, its not a fixed monthly payment . I owe them nothing as is)

Vodafone bill is massive, get a pay as you go for around €20 a month.( im in a contract with vodafone which is 40 a month, I also pay 13 euro per month for insurance for my phone. It was high this time because I missed a few payments

New laptop should be a once off, same with playstation sub.(correct)

€40 a month on lotto is mad in my opinion, that would nearly cover your broadband.(perhaps, its a 2 line lotto plus for every draw)

Do what someone else said, get the money taken from you at source and put into a credit union or savings account. €1k a month should be easy for you.(I agree )

Mervyn Skidmore

Tylerdurex wrote: »

What do you pay your brother and father for?(they gave me a lend, its not a fixed monthly payment . I owe them nothing as is)

Vodafone bill is massive, get a pay as you go for around €20 a month.( im in a contract with vodafone which is 40 a month, I also pay 13 euro per month for insurance for my phone. It was high this time because I missed a few payments

New laptop should be a once off, same with playstation sub.(correct)

€40 a month on lotto is mad in my opinion, that would nearly cover your broadband.(perhaps, its a 2 line lotto plus for every draw)

Do what someone else said, get the money taken from you at source and put into a credit union or savings account. €1k a month should be easy for you.(I agree )

Another thing that helped me was cutting back on lunches and coffee/tea from cafes, bars etc. You could easily spend 60-70 a week on this and not even think about it. Try to bring lunch to work and bring tea/coffee from home or wait till you arrive at work.

Fol20

Tylerdurex wrote: »

ok heres the reality of the situation this month

24AUG-Paid-3182 euro

rent-560
brother-134
father-120
buy back loan cash convenience-299
bord gais-184
lotto-40
docter twice-70
physio-50
vodafone-153(was in arrears)
Mcgreggor fight-25
Provident loan-200
online bet-10
chinese take away-23
super valu-2 bottles of wine and frozen pizza-42
new laptop-220
tesco-combination of food and alcohol-180
Ps4 games-35
Ps4 online gaming for 12 months renewel-50

I have 810 euro left in my ac

Straight away you can drop the luxury spending like PS4 games? Lotto, betting, new laptop(what was wrong with the old one) etc. For one month. Live like a pauper. Only buy the necessities in life. Food, rent, travel and utilities. Even alcohol etc is a luxury and I wouldn't recommend stopping that for good. I would just stop it for a month

myshirt

You should try save 1,000 a month to start. 500 on each payday, and a reducing amount each Friday for the weeks after, like 200, 150, 100, 50. Set it up to happen automatically.

See how you cope.

The idea is you need to put yourself under a bit of pressure. If it is too easy you are not saving enough. If it is way too hard then you are saving too much.

Bottom line is you are earning the money and you owe it to yourself to ensure it is not wasted.

o1s1n

How can someone who nets over 3k a month be so bad with their finances?

If this is true it's mind boggling.

Sebastian Dangerfield

About 5 years ago I was the same. Id clear 3k a month, often go overdrawn and be broke with a week to go still. If i had an esb bill coming out, Id clear my account before it came out, overdrawing my overdraft. Id also get an annual bonus in the mid - high four figures, and blow it on god knows what. Savings were non existent. I had a car loan with AIB that I used to top up over the phone for beer money, took me 7 years to repay.

Decided to get my sh1t together when I eventually got turned down for another loan and the following helped me:
If you get any kind of bonus, forego it from a pleasure perspective this time and use it pay down any debt.
If you have a credit card, cut it up and stop using it. Pay down as much as you can each month. I was paying down 100 a month and spending the same on it again, just throwing away money on interest.
Arrange all your direct debits to come out the first couple of days after you get paid. It will give you clear visibility of how much you have for the month.
Give yourself an allowance per week, or at least plan the month ahead, e.g. if you know you have a wedding in weekend 3, take it handy weekend 1 and 2.
Look at your card transactions. As much as I was spending on booze and clothes, a lot of the damage was being done with 40 odd quid in Fresh or Supervalu ever 2 or 3 days. Planning my meals (roughly) and doing an Aldi shop every week or two made a big difference.
Look at your lunch habits. You dont have to live on homemade sandwiches but I was eating a meal in Milanos / other restaurant 2/3 times a week. Even cutting down to a deli sandwich helped.

Takes a bit of adjusting but if you can figure it out, youll soon look back at your old behaviour and see it as being a bit mad. Good luck!

Bubbaclaus

I save 1,600 a month earning about the same as you, and thats with paying a bit more in rent!

martingriff

Tylerdurex wrote: »

ok heres the reality of the situation this month

24AUG-Paid-3182 euro

rent-560
brother-134
father-120
buy back loan cash convenience-299
bord gais-184
lotto-40
docter twice-70
physio-50
vodafone-153(was in arrears)
Mcgreggor fight-25
Provident loan-200
online bet-10
chinese take away-23
super valu-2 bottles of wine and frozen pizza-42
new laptop-220
tesco-combination of food and alcohol-180
Ps4 games-35
Ps4 online gaming for 12 months renewel-50

I have 810 euro left in my ac

How many of those loans are monthly. How long do you have left in both.
Have you finished paying back you brother and father.
McGreggor fight is that a once off PPV or do you get them regularly.
Hopefully the doctor visits are once off and you not going for every little ailment.

With what you have left you should have more then enough to save. Start a saving account and set up a direct debit to take amount monthly out. Next time you want something (Ps4 game, alcohol(yes this is a luxury) PPV event etc) ask yourself do you really need it. STOP GETTING LOANS. Clear loans/credit card(Stop using same) ASAP.

NinjaTruncs

You need to save your money at the start of the month and live on the rest, when going out bring a limited amount of cash with you so you can't spend any more. Close you online betting account and your gas bill is huge for two summer months even if it also includes your electricity, but seeing as you were in arrears for your phone I assume you're the same with the Gas. Switch your mobile to pay as you go, if you aren't tied into a contract, where you can get deals for as little as €10 a month.

What will your other 800 go on this month? I live on about half that once all the items you have listed are paid for.

Without having all the facts, and not trying to be judgemental, you need someone else to control your money and only give you what you need, as it looks like if you have it you will spend it. As others have pointed out, with your wager you should be able to save at least €1,000 a month.

Also you need to look at where you past money has gone and not just your last months' worth. You have almost 20% of your take home pay going to pay back loans, more if the laptop amount is an installment for a loan, what did all that money go on.

martingriff

martingriff wrote: »

How many of those loans are monthly. How long do you have left in both.
Have you finished paying back you brother and father.
McGreggor fight is that a once off PPV or do you get them regularly.
Hopefully the doctor visits are once off and you not going for every little ailment.

With what you have left you should have more then enough to save. Start a saving account and set up a direct debit to take amount monthly out. Next time you want something (Ps4 game, alcohol(yes this is a luxury) PPV event etc) ask yourself do you really need it. STOP GETTING LOANS. Clear loans/credit card(Stop using same) ASAP.

Stop spending money on the lotto seriously its €480 a year. I spend 60 a year on the lotto a bit more if it is very big

Funny how?

2400 a month net. 2k bonus net as well every year.
Only 26.

290 rent
16k 526 a month loan - two years left (Car loan, Credit Card and CU loan - was only on 22k when I lived in Dublin and was paying 500 a month rent-also loved to party)
106 car insurance
100 Diesel

I live on 250 a week and save 250 euro a month for emergencies. I use the 2k net bonus to book a holiday in September where prices are low, buy clothes for the year and any other bits and pieces I need.

Brian Lighthouse

Seriously?
No ads or PM me for advice - as I used to work for XXXX investments - already? WOW!
Looks like this thread didn't work.
PS - I don't believe the OP unless their never at home, only to sleep.

Sam Kade

o1s1n wrote: »

How can someone who nets over 3k a month be so bad with their finances?

If this is true it's mind boggling.

Very easy.
You've never heard of anyone living beyond their means before? Not that's mind boggling.

u2gooner

Check out YNAB or youneedabudget.com.

Theres a free trial for a month, and sometimes 2 months if you ask nicely and say you cant get the hang of it or something. After that its 50 a year.

Check the reddit thread for it, or the youtube reviews, or even search for it on boards.ie.

It is EXACTLY what you need, and is designed to stop the paycheque to paycheque cycle and help clear your debts.

You have clearly come to the point where you are ready to accept the reality, so why not look into it.

Im 2 weeks in and i think its great. Handy app for logging your expenses on the go as well.

lazybones32

I'm not good with money either, so you're not alone.

I got a book from the library and looked up stuff online.
Don't let someone else manage your money; you need to learn this discipline yourself, which you know since you started a thread.
Even look at the wikihow pages - basic and sound steps to take. And if you fcuk up and blow your salary, start again. It'll take time to learn and adapt.

368100

Lay low for the next month and live off the 800 you have in your account without borrowing short term loans. 200 a week should be more than enough considering all bills are paid.

Then next month you shouldnt have a load of short term stuff to pay out. Focus on clearing the payday loans first and get out and don't look back....awful cycle to get in....I was there myself once

loyatemu

I recommend the You Need a Budget app for tracking your day to day spending and planning for irregular spending like car insurance etc.

apart from that, the lotto is an obvious cut- you've more chance of being struck by lightning. Also how are you spending 184 a month on gas/leccy as a single person?

Tylerdurex

Thanks for the advice folks

If I get to september 25th without getting any more shortterm loans I should be in a much better postion, the only loan I will have is the one I am paying provident . i have 1000 euro left on this and ive agreed to give them 200 a month, I could probably clear the damn. thing in september .The reason the esb is so high is because again I missed some payments . So next months without any more loans its looking like as follows

rent-560
esb-185
phone-40
tv and bb-50
petrol-50
clear provident loan-1000

dennyk

Firstly, stop playing the lotto and gambling; it's just throwing money away, and you cannot afford to do that right now.

Secondly, get those loans sorted ASAP, if any are still outstanding. The interest rates on those sort of loans are obscene; again, you're throwing away tons of money. If you have to eat nothing but beans and rice for a month to pay them off, then do it. Definitely stop buying games and electronics and all when you've got outstanding loans and past-due bills.

Also, make out a proper monthly budget of all of your fixed expenses. For all of your expenses that are spread across multiple months (renter's insurance, car insurance, motor tax, electric and gas bills if they're bimonthly, etc.), add up a full year's worth and divide by 12 to get the average monthly cost, then put that in your monthly budget. That way it will be accounted for and you won't have any months where you're overdrawn because of large yearly expenses.

On top of your fixed expenses, add in a savings account deposit. €500 per month at least, I'd say, but the more the better. Open a few different savings accounts if you can, one as a general emergency fund (which you never touch except in an actual emergency), one to save for large long-term expenses such as a deposit on a house, and one to save for short-term 'fun' expenses like a vacation or a new computer or whatnot. With your fixed monthly savings, fund the emergency fund first until you have 3-6 months of expenses saved up there, then start putting the money into your long-term savings account. Your fixed savings don't go into your short-term savings account at all.

Once you have a total of your monthly fixed expenses and savings, subtract that from your monthly net income. The remainder is what you have to spend on variable expenses (food, entertainment, etc.). THAT MUCH AND NOTHING MORE. Track every dime you spend throughout the month. Your bank account balance is NOT what you have available to spend; doesn't matter if you have €1000 in your account, if your monthly budget says you have €5 left to spend, then you have €5 left, so no, you can't buy that bottle of wine or that Chinese take-out. You'll want to build up a buffer in your current account to avoid overdrawing in any case. I personally prefer to keep a few months worth of expenses, but I'd say at least a month's worth of expenses at minimum should be your low water mark. Anything you have left over out of your variable expense budget each month can go into your short-term 'fun' savings account. If you want to buy something expensive, it comes out of that account, not out of your long-term savings or emergency fund, and NEVER OUT OF A LOAN!

Finally, start looking for other ways to trim your spending. Cut back on the alcohol, for one. Once you can get out of your Vodafone contract, switch to a prepay plan; it should be about half the price. Lose the insurance too; just be careful with your phone, and if you break it, buy a cheap unlocked one instead of some fancy top-end phone. Also, figure out why your gas bill is so high; even for a bimonthly bill, €180 is a bit ridiculous for the middle of summer when you ought not to even be running the heat at all.

Tylerdurex

dennyk wrote: »

Firstly, stop playing the lotto and gambling; it's just throwing money away, and you cannot afford to do that right now.

Secondly, get those loans sorted ASAP, if any are still outstanding. The interest rates on those sort of loans are obscene; again, you're throwing away tons of money. If you have to eat nothing but beans and rice for a month to pay them off, then do it. Definitely stop buying games and electronics and all when you've got outstanding loans and past-due bills.

Also, make out a proper monthly budget of all of your fixed expenses. For all of your expenses that are spread across multiple months (renter's insurance, car insurance, motor tax, electric and gas bills if they're bimonthly, etc.), add up a full year's worth and divide by 12 to get the average monthly cost, then put that in your monthly budget. That way it will be accounted for and you won't have any months where you're overdrawn because of large yearly expenses.

On top of your fixed expenses, add in a savings account deposit. €500 per month at least, I'd say, but the more the better. Open a few different savings accounts if you can, one as a general emergency fund (which you never touch except in an actual emergency), one to save for large long-term expenses such as a deposit on a house, and one to save for short-term 'fun' expenses like a vacation or a new computer or whatnot. With your fixed monthly savings, fund the emergency fund first until you have 3-6 months of expenses saved up there, then start putting the money into your long-term savings account. Your fixed savings don't go into your short-term savings account at all.

Once you have a total of your monthly fixed expenses and savings, subtract that from your monthly net income. The remainder is what you have to spend on variable expenses (food, entertainment, etc.). THAT MUCH AND NOTHING MORE. Track every dime you spend throughout the month. Your bank account balance is NOT what you have available to spend; doesn't matter if you have €1000 in your account, if your monthly budget says you have €5 left to spend, then you have €5 left, so no, you can't buy that bottle of wine or that Chinese take-out. You'll want to build up a buffer in your current account to avoid overdrawing in any case. I personally prefer to keep a few months worth of expenses, but I'd say at least a month's worth of expenses at minimum should be your low water mark. Anything you have left over out of your variable expense budget each month can go into your short-term 'fun' savings account. If you want to buy something expensive, it comes out of that account, not out of your long-term savings or emergency fund, and NEVER OUT OF A LOAN!

Finally, start looking for other ways to trim your spending. Cut back on the alcohol, for one. Once you can get out of your Vodafone contract, switch to a prepay plan; it should be about half the price. Lose the insurance too; just be careful with your phone, and if you break it, buy a cheap unlocked one instead of some fancy top-end phone. Also, figure out why your gas bill is so high; even for a bimonthly bill, €180 is a bit ridiculous for the middle of summer when you ought not to even be running the heat at all.

Thanks for that , I just want to clarify your advice regards savings accounts . Lets assume I can put away 1000 euro a month. So the initial plan is to save for an emergency fund for 3-6 months of expenses 3-6k and then just lock that away

Once that's done open 2 separate savings accounts , one with my bank for long term savings like mortgage for a house and the other with the credit union for more short term savings and put 500 into each