Are you British about debt ?
It is very British not to talk about our money worries and to mutter ‘fine’ when asked how we are, even if we are feeling terrible. The trouble is if you don’t talk about problems how on earth will you ever get sound advice and offers of help – people don’t like to just assume you are skint!
I have a friend who has a pretty hefty overdraft and she was paying interest at about £50 a month. Of course this means most of what she is managing to save (because she really is trying) is going on her overdraft fees. Last week her beautician advised her as she was waxing (Ow!) her eyebrows that having this debt on a credit card instead of an overdraft could have been a lot cheaper option. In those 10 minutes of waxing they made a little plan. My friend didn’t have a credit card so off she popped to her bank straight after her waxing to apply for a credit card and so she began to change how she managed her debt.
I had another pal whose daughter wore the nicest of clothes. She needed a cash injection (as she did like nice things) but was a working mum with short bursts of free time and really didn’t want to be sat on ebay figuring out how to use it and queuing up at the post office. She told me about her dilemma and I came up with a pan. Well versed in the art of ebay and with post office time always allotted into my week I became her mini business partner. £45 for a par of second hand kids Uggs was happily split between us and we went on to notch up many more joint sales me doing the selling and her the providing.
A reader wrote into me recently saying how she had been having a moan to her mum about her need for a change of scene and a holiday after having had her baby had made money a bit tight. Her mum happened to mention it to a friend who lived in a cottage by the coast and who was off to sunnier climes a few weeks later. Hey presto she offered her cottage whilst she was away and my reader got her free longed for holiday!
Speak up…you may just get the support you need x
Do have alook at my other money posts and see how to save money on Black Friday
I’m really lucky that my friends are all quite open about money issues. I have a group of friends I go out for dinner with once a month and we’ll always opt for eating in if anyone is feelings strapped for cash. I also have a friend who’s recently gone back to do a degree and is a single mum. She is fiercly independent so I have to do things like casually turn up with food for dinner and make her cook it for me – everyone wins 🙂
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How nice are you! …good friends make all the difference don’t they. My really good firend bought me some GHD’s when mine broke recently as she knew I could not replce them and that I would be in a frizzy haired fug without them. So kind.