Facing up to my finances

If someone had told me a year ago that by the same time next year I would have barely made a dent in paying back the 4 grand plus I owe my family and the bank, I would have thought they had hit their head, or at the very least had had a little too much mulled wine over the festive season.

Let me set the scene. Christmastime 2010 and I was on the cusp of the next stage of my life. Having graduated from university in 2009 with a degree in my chosen field, I’d had a wonderful gap year embarking on a round the world trip, followed by a less welcomed six month slog of job applications. However, the slog was finally over as I had finally been offered my dream job as a paediatric speech and language therapist. This new job was set to be an adventure offering me many exciting things: the chance to explore a new part of the country, an opportunity to develop my skills in a specific area of the field and possibly the best part, a decent starting salary. Having never earned anything particularly substantial in my life thus far (I used to make £3.63 an hour as a Saturday girl at Next in college), I felt as though I would finally be able to treat myself to what ever I wanted as well as pay back the money that I owed.

As 2011 ticked over, there always seemed to be something to pay for. Moving out of my family home and starting a new career brought with it new, previously never experienced expenses: rent, bills, professional body membership fees. The list felt endless. On top of that, every month brought some one off thing which had to be paid for – some necessities, some luxuries. Car tax. Music festival ticket. Deposit for holiday. Month after month I found myself saying “next month I can pay a little back to dad/mum/grandma/the bank”. Trouble was, ‘next month’ never came.

So now I find myself a whole year later no closer to being ‘out of the red’ than a whole twelve months ago. Whilst I realise that my ‘debt’ is minor in comparison to what others may face (i.e. mine is mostly owed to family), I recognise that if I want my life to continue progressing in a positive and fulfilling manner this is something I need to get sorted NOW.

Not being gifted with a decent sense of money awareness or management, I phoned someone who has the aforementioned in abundance: my grandmother, a.k.a. my very own financial advisor. The best part about her is she gives me free advice with my best interests at heart, as opposed to the bank, who have up-selling me their ‘deluxe diamond account’ at heart. And last week we sat down to have a long honest look at my financial situation. We’ve made what I hope to be an achievable plan and by using ‘Geg’s method’ with any luck (but mostly sheer determination and willpower), I’ll be one gigantic step closer to waving bye-bye to my debt for good.