live off my salary, not overdraft

When I first wrote this I had a £500 overdraft on top of lots of other debts and whilst many of the other debt still remains, I now only have a £50 overdraft and feel that I can now sign this off. I wasn’t earning an awful lot back then so seeing me £500 in the red wasn’t fun and there was no way out of it but now having moved jobs to a much more advanced role with almost twice the salary, I could afford to peg back the overdraft.

In truth, I only achieved this by merging it with a loan when I consolidated a lot of debt together but when doing so I shrunk it to a £50 which I feel now I can come out of at any time. Whilst I probably still haven’t had a month where I’ve ended it at £0 and not -£50, I don’t see this as a debt and feel I could if I wanted to end a month on level terms. Therefore, I feel I have achieved this, albeit not the best way.

At the same time as taking out a loan to pay off my credit cards, I took out enough to cover the overdraft as well. So for the past month or more I haven’t gone into it although I am running a tight line. I have recently started a new job that earns me more which certainly helps. I still need to cancel the overdraft though, I think I’ll reduce it to £100 for emergencies but stay out of it. I can afford to now and with my experiences, I’d be stupid to just go into it for the sake.

After having overdrafts on all three of our accounts, we have managed to be comfortable in our join account having been nearly £200 into the overdraft before christmas, and also we have got Emma’s from over £100 into the overdraft to back into the black. Mine is £500 into the overdraft, right at the limit. Don’t think I’ll be out of this for a long time to come but as long as we keep the other two out of there overdrafts for now, we’ll be happy. Got other stuff to pay off that is more important at the minute. The interest isn’t much on mine, barey noticeable. I have even cancelled two direct debits this month, small ones but nevertheless, its a saving.

Again, this one kinda merges in with the get out of debt one but can be classed as an individual target for me as well to help me to get out of debt.

For the past 3 or 4 years I have had a £500 overdraft which I am only ever out of when I have been paid. I’m not stupid with my money (any more – I can’t afford to be) its just with my own house and car etc as soon as I’ve been paid and all bills have been paid, there’s nothing but dust left in my account!

Over these past couple of years I have found myself even going over this amount and receiving heavy charges which never helps the budget so I am being even more careful now so not to receive any more. I eventually want to get rid of this account and have all our bills and wages coming from our joint account but it will be hard to dispense of a £500 overdraft as every month I have nothing to keep back.

Again I shall have to review our finances and see where we could be saving money etc and try to achieve this target as soon as possible.