It started with a bill......

It started with a bill.

It arrived on my doorstep on Friday morning (28th November, 2008 - pay day would you believe?) for £170 of electricity and gas charges from Scottish Power for two months.

And there's only two of us in the flat.

I mean, bloody hell! We don't even turn the heating on anymore because gas is so expensive, so this is the financial eqivalent of being mugged by my boiler.

Making the payment online that morning (that would qualify me for a 'prompt payment discount' off my next bill, and, as it was payday, I needed to pay it whilst I could), I had a huge, stonking, 100watt energy-efficient lightbulb moment (I've been lurking on http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/ for a while and apparently that's what it's called!). I could almost hear it 'ding' as it appeared above my very deeply buried-in-sand head......and it was saying 'I don't have any money.'

Don't get me wrong, I earn a great salary, and rent a room so have someone to help me with the bills and towards the mortgage etc, but all in all, with bills, mortgage rates, the cost of petrol (I commute to work), my grotesque student loan (which, although I despise, I couldn't have gone to university without), and my even more grotesque graduate loan (which, although I despise even more, I couldn't have moved away from home to start my first job without), and the vast array of insurances I seem to have to have to cover me in the event of one of many occurances including accident, sickness, unemployment, redundancy etc, every month is a squeeze.

BUT, even though every month is a squeeze, somehow, I still feel compelled to buy absolute rubbish, waste money on useless tat I don't need and will never use, buy at a takeaway on a Sunday night with my boyfriend, and fritter countless pounds away in some random bar on a Saturday night out with the girls.

So what am I moaning about? There must be plenty of things I can do to stop wasting my cash and actually get some control over my finances.....I'm not far from 30 and I don't want to wake up on my 30th birthday STILL without a penny to my name and still being largely responsible for keeping Smirnoff and Pizza Hut in business.

So, I'm putting together a plan. I don't know what that will be yet, I've simply made the decision that I need to do something about all of this! I'm just about breaking even, but I have no savings, no security (and have lost most of my equity in the property price crash) so I need to find ways to cut back, and put some money back in the bank.

I also want to get rid of my outstanding loans as they're a permanent headache, but I'm sure there are also a million and one ways I can trim back spending and reduce bills/outgoings etc.... I just don't know where to start!

I'm off for a cuppa and a brainstorm...... I will be back! xxx