Can't stop spending

S

Strawberries

Registered User
Messages
22
Hi,
First things first:
I am 22 years old, graduated with a biology degree in September. Began my job in November. I earn €24,000 a year- my take home pay is €1848 a month.

I still live at home, and my only debt is a car loan, which is €1500. I pay €71.57 a month on it.
My only essentials are petrol, which is about €20-€25 a week, the car loan, and phone credit (about €10 a week).
But I am spending so much money. I love shopping.
A lot of the background was that I lived on €20-€50 a week at some points during college and was constantly worrying about money the whole time. The most money I had was when I worked 20 hours a week in a supermarket which worked out at about €150 a week.
When I finished college I worked there for the summer.
I earned about €300- €350 a week and had rent, food and bills to pay, but still had maybe 2k of savings after 3 months.
Now I earn about €460-480 a week and until I got paid today, I had €868 of savings, after 9 months.

I am spending a fortune, and it is certainly not on neccesseties. It is all psychological- all those years of worrying about money and now I don't have to.I have more than enough money for transport, food, new clothes, I never have to save for anything and I am just spending so much. Basically I love the high life. I love buying new clothes, shoes, you name it. I tell myself that I worked so hard in college and budgeted so hard for 4 years that I deserve these 9 months of spending. But it is getting ridiculous. I want to move out, and I want to buy a new car, but both would mean having to scrimp and save a bit more. The car would be worth about €9k- I could easily afford a €9k loan but I would have to cut down on the shopping. Same with rent.
There is another issue also- I want to go travelling and buy a house within the next few years. Hopefully by the time I am 26. And I am thinking, how will I afford it if I am paying rent and a €9k car loan? But then at the same time I am trying to plan years ahead and that feels ridiculous. I mean, I don't even know who I would travel with, or where I would buy a house!!!

I dont know what to do- can anyone help. All my friends have moved out and are earning similar money. Don't get me wrong, I love living at home. I have moved out before to go on a J1 and was delighted to move home again as my parents are so easy going and never ask what time will you be home at, etc. But I am 22 and feel I really should! Also with the car- I worked so hard at learning to drive that I feel I deserve a nice new car.

Can anyone help... as I say, my spending is psychological... it's not like I have a lot of bills or essentials to buy...
 
I worked so hard at learning to drive that I feel I deserve a nice new car.
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I think it is this attitude that is your problem. Learning to drive does not equate to taking on a stupid loan because "your worth it". A car gets you from A to B, buy what you can afford, preferably without the loan. Learn to live within your means and save for your luxuries.

I can understand you having abit of a blow-out now you are earning some real cash, but maybe it's time to sit down and prioritise what you really want and how you can SAVE to achieve it.

By the way, do you pay rent to your parents?? If not (and in fairness my dad refused to take a penny from me), you should take a suitable figure and start to save that as a minimum.
 
Hi I am not in a similiar situation like you strawberries.I can't offer you any advice sorry,but I know exactly where you are coming from. I am 34 and I have a problem spending money I am a shopaholic and I always was.I get paid weekly and each week I have to buy ClothesAccesories,Jewellery,Perfume, cds etc you Name it.I feel it is getting way out of hand but I can't stop and at this stage I really just don't know what to do about it. I argue constantly with my partner about this situation. Is there any other ladies out there like this or can anyone advise me?:(
 
Why not set up a saving account and a standing order so that the money goes straight into the saving account when you are paid. Don't spend any money on non essentials for a couple of weeks - you will see how much money you are wasting. It can be hard not to spend everything when you don't have any goals to save for - set one for yourself. You could save for the car if you really want it instead of getting a loan. (by the way new car may be a waste if you plan on travelling) Saving even a bit each month will add up. Some of my friends fell into the spending trap when they started earning money and this meant they are not now in a position to buy a house or take time off to travel debt free
 
Strawberries said:
I am 22 years old, ..............want to move out, and I want to buy a new car, .........I want to go travelling .............buy a house within the next few years. Hopefully by the time I am 26. ...
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4 years - phew. Put up with the car you have, save up a bit, go travelling, come back and buy a house. If you can afford it then buy a new car.

Did you ever watch that RTE house hunting program "I'm an Adult....". Well in nearly all cases the fancy cars had to be sold.
 
Strawberries said:
my take home pay is €1848 a month.

I am spending a fortune, and it is certainly not on neccesseties.

I want to move out, and I want to buy a new car, but both would mean having to scrimp and save a bit more. The car would be worth about €9k- I could easily afford a €9k loan but I would have to cut down on the shopping. Same with rent.

There is another issue also- I want to go travelling and buy a house within the next few years. Hopefully by the time I am 26.

But I am 22 and feel I really should! Also with the car- I worked so hard at learning to drive that I feel I deserve a nice new car.
Click to expand...

Having been a former shopaholic, I can understand but in the last number of years, i've cut back... I was living a better lifestyle in college then I am now!

A car gets you from A-B, is there any really need to getting a better car, as long as its not costing you a fortune to repair etc... keep it and be glad, because new car, is higher tax, insurance, petrol, etc... Its something you don't need to change, I always maintained that I would change my car but I've been driving my Corsa for over 2 years and i've come to understand the realities of what changing it would do to my pocket.....

Save some money and go travelling, save some money for a house, although depending on how your income goes over the next 4 years, will you get a mortgage, renting is dead money but during the credit crunch it is also the best solution. Banks are not giving mortgages without at least 10% of a deposit and thats in the region of €35,000 for a decent house, although if you buy in Dublin you are talking a lot more. If you enjoy living with your parents, stay there, save your money, give some to your parents, start a pension!!! At least while you have some disposable cash....

And my best advise to you is don't get a credit card, if you have one, get rid of it!!!! And as for your spending, just stop and realise what productive things (further study, savings, travelling etc...) you could do instead of buying CD's, clothes or other impluse buys! Its kind of like giving up the smoking, you just need to stop! There is no easy way to reduce spending, you just need to stop!
 
I think a lot of us here would have gone through something similar with our first 'proper' job after college - I know I did. The thrill of having (what at the time seemed like) a large amount of money deposited into your account every month after years of working for a pittance in Dunnes Stores etc. during college can make you feel richer than you are. I never got into debt but I did spend every cent I earned for the first year after starting my first job. Luckily I copped on soon enough.

You really should be giving something up to your parents - I reckon a minimum contribution of €400 per month - which, steep as it sounds, doesn't even cover the cost to your parents of feeding and heating you. Having that fixed responsibility would put a bit of discipline on you and would make you budget more carefully. Do try also to put away €100-200 per month - it's not much, but you'll be so grateful you did when the time comes to move out of home.
 
I dont want to sound condisending but you are only 22!! You're doing really well so just make a decision on what you want to do for the next year. If you have no one to go travelling with and wont go alone then concentrate on getting a car within your means (9k is alot for a run around, you can get a lovely newish car for around 4k, try up north too for good deals) and enjoy having some money to spend on yourself now that you're finished college.
You've time on your side re travelling and house buying I wouldnt be getting so stressed out about all that now. I did both in my late 20's and loved every minute of it.
Enjoy your extra cash but spend what you have and set up a standing order to save monthly it'll all add up over the next few years.
 
You know what the problem is - you spend too much on stuff you don't need. You know what the solution is - stop spending. There's lots of advice here on ways to cut down day to day spending, but at the end of the day you're just going to have to bite the bullet and cut down on your spending.

Rather than have the attitude of you deserve a new car because you worked hard learning to drive, try and think more in terms of you've worked hard and therefore deserve to go travelling / buy a house and start saving towards those goals. They both seem to be more life goals than just buying a flash new car for the sake of it.

Also, it would be no harm to set up a direct debit so that money goes into a savings account as soon as you're paid. Out of sight, out of mind.
 
Has the original poster looked at the many existing budgeting/debt management resources in the key posts section and in other similar threads?
 
love buying new clothes, shoes, you name it. I tell myself that I worked so hard in college and budgeted so hard for 4 years that I deserve these 9 months of spending
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I know this feeling. The problem is it probably won't go away. You'll feel good about a promotion etc as time goes buy and there is always an excuse to spend. What I did first out of college was try pay off all my loans/Credit card etc. These are all zero now. (and it sounds like this doesn't apply to you). Then I started to save quite a small amount -250 euros per month. In the scheme of my wages it wasn't a lot and meant there was always something there. Then allow yourself one 'treat' either a week or a month. A new top this month/week. New makeup the next. Then you'll appreciate it a bit more and have a better handle on your money. If it's an consolation I've done all you want to do since 22 (travelled for a few years, bought a house, made a bit of a career and am about to head off and travel again for a few months). It can be done but you just need to be somewhat sensible with your money. Somewhere in the middle between your college scrimping and post-college splurging should mean you can do this.
As for the car - I bought one car for 1000 euro four years ago. It's 13 years old and not the prettiest but it gets me exactly where I need to go and is paid for. The house and the travel we're more important to me than my car - it's about priorities. But just remember - as soon as you buy the car it will loose value. Bit of a waste of money!
 
Set up a direct debit for saving and get it put into a seperate savings account.Have it transferred the day you get paid.Defenitely give your parents rent money if you are not already.You are getting lodgings,food,esb. etc. Try and limit the amount that you spend on the luxuries to a certain figure and don't go over it.
Don't be rushing to get all done by 26.YOU ARE YOUNG.Travel and have fun and when you return do the things that you want.
 
I forgot to say, I don't have a credit card. I have a Laser card which I use rather than cash as it means I can keep track of my spending online, also for some reason if I open my purse and see cash I want to spend it!!!

I would love to move out but my mother has always drummed into me that "Rent is dead money, you are paying someone else's mortgage rather than paying your own". I mean if I was to move out I would only move a 5 minute drive away.

The fact that I am spending more now than I did when I was earning far less and paying rent and bills really gets to me. A lot of my spending is to do with the boyfriend. We are forever going to the shop because we are bored. We go to buy a couple of Tesco pizzas and I end up buying magazines and sweets as well. We get bored and go to the cinema, thats €20 between a ticket and food. One time he went off with the lads for a week away, I saved a fortune! We just get so bored sitting at home.
 
Don't mean to appear rude Strawberries, but I think you have a problem if you are spending out of boredom. It sounds crazy.
 
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