I was hardly flush when I started my MA but with a frugal regime and working when I could I got by. Like any student I exited with a debt. The benefit of a career development loan is that the repayments don't start until a month after you've finished and the interest rate is exceedingly low and you have 24 months to pay it off. I also pay in a bit extra to build up my Co-op bank account. They give you an account and I have never used it save for the mechanics of paying off my loan.
Of course I would have loved to have had enough to support myself but when you have a home to run, childcare and the rest, I'd really never saved a great deal. Then of course I had all the expenditure of travel, books and small things which were extremely useful like membership to the BFI whose library I lived in, as well as London College of Fashion's and Central College St Martin's.
All in all it mounted up and whilst I did a horrendous stint at a shopping centre every weekend for a month doing a style event, it was all to fund my short film. In all I graduated with a £2,800 career development loan, an £1000 overdraft and £3,000 on my credit card which was only £1000 before so I'd dented it quite a bit. The loan covered my fees and the £3,000 I'd accumulated as additional debt was due to attending college and living expenses.
I was very good I'd like to add. I made my own sandwiches for lunch and had extra things like a banana or a bag of nuts in case I got hungry before I got home. I took a flask with green tea in and only occasionally bought a coffee. I also refilled a water bottle every day with my own tap water. I dyed clothes and altered others. If I bought anything it was from Topshop and Dorothy Perkins as I had 10% student discount. I grew vegetables and herbs at home although this is never enough to live off every week. I also made all my own bread by hand. Mr MDS mucked in to and we rarely went out save for really special occasions.
Every month I made a meal planner and stuck to it, this kept the monthly shop down. Of course I did all my own cleaning, washing and ironing and still do!
At one point I think I even cut my own hair and I became a dab hand at diy bikini waxing. My most extravagant purchase was a necklace from Wendy Brandes a Little Woolf because I needed a talisman to help me when I wrote my dissertation.
Now my debt is entirely self inflicted and before my good choice debt, the Masters, I had made bad choice debt with spending too much on clothes in a thoughtless, almost shopaholic way. I honestly feel sick sometimes when I think the money I wasted. Particularly as you never know what is around the corner.
This year I'm going to increase my frugal methods in the home. I can't emphasise enough how important it is to make a meal planner, it saves you over buying and focuses you on what you can make for a specific budget a week. Food has definitely got more expensive but I always make the meals, ultimately it always works out cheaper to make your own food. I would quite happily live off vegetables, lentil and quinoa but I think my family might go to McDonalds if I did that.
When is comes to clothes shopping I have reigned that in ten fold. I went for 3 months well in the end it was 4 months without buying a thing. This really broke my habit. Now I'm on a style challenge and it means I can only buy designer clothes and guess what it is much harder to do that then a cheeky high street shop. I also love the idea of neutral shopping, selling items on ebay to buy one item you really want. The Queen of Thrifting has to be Sharon Rose of My Style, Thrifting, Fashion and Me she cut her debt by buying items only from charity shops and car boots sales.
The most important thing to remember when you do get into debt is what you can do to get out of it. It is no good beating yourself up but it can happen to the best of us for a whole heap of reasons. CCCS offers free debt help and you should never pay for any advice. I'm going to check out all their advice and tips as 2011 is the year to get truly solvent.
