I made some poor financial decisions lately because of my ED and just being careless with my credit card. I am so ashamed of where I am at now. I can’t believe I got into debt AGAIN. I will not make this mistake again once I am out of this hole. I refuse to tell my parents how much I am in debt and how dire my financial situation is. I NEED to work full time. I think I just need to force myself to work more and just not take any time off. I work 4 10 hour days and have 3 days off in a row to recoup from such a long work week.
If I work full time I can bring home $700 a week in take home pay. My expenses are as follows:
Rent/utilities $1200
Groceries $300
Phone bill $120
Therapy co-pays $120-160(depending on how many sessions I have per week)
Dog Insurance $78
Internet bill $70
Gym membership $30
Other subscriptions $55
Medication co-pays $50
If everything is accurate That’s $2063 in monthly expenses. If I were to bring in $2800 a month that could easily pay off my debt really quickly if I put all my extra funds to the 3k debt. But I may try to save some each month in savings then put the rest towards the debt.
Do you all think I can work full time? I think it’s discipline more than anything. I also have a hard time waking up in the mornings for my 7am shift. Lots of times I use my accommodation time(32 hours per month) so that I can start work at 9 or 10am. I can’t switch my schedule it’s a set schedule, so I gotta get better at getting up in the morning. Then later in the day it’s like I lose focus and can’t pay attention which causes me to leave a little early.
My schedule is 7am-5:30pm Friday to Monday. Please tell me tips for getting up in time for work when your meds sedate you into the next morning.
That’s a brilliant idea. Maybe I will try taking my Loxapine at dinner. I am getting fully off the Loxapine slowly so hopefully it won’t be a problem in the near future
I would work on your food bill the most. $300 a week for food is a lot if that’s what you spend. Shop sales, buy, prep and freeze and plan meals for the week to save on cravings, impulse shopping and decrease waste. Hope this helps.
I agree with @sweetpotatopie. It’s possible to get your food bill down. Be creative and look online for ways to lower your food bill. Or ways to save money on groceries. I also think you could get cheaper phone and internet service. I pay $33 a month for phone and $10 for unlimited internet. Many phone and internet companies are offering deals all the time. There’s even solutions to cutting your utilities bills. I was spending a lot on a gas heater and a portable electric heater. Those are fine to use but I bought an electric throw for $60 and use it instead of turning on the heat and save $20-$30 per month on my utility bill.
Do I think you can work full time? it’s possible but realistically it will be a risk to commit yourself to that. Some people with schizophrenia work full time but not everybody is cut out for it. Maybe work 35 or 36 hours a week. Even cutting a few hours can be a relief for your mental health. Maybe if your company is flexible you could arrange to work 30 hours one week and forty the next or something similar.
Making $800 a month to pay your credit card down is a lot. Maybe clearing just $600 would be enough.
Yes @Speedy my internet is expensive but I only have two network options at my apartment and the other service isn’t reliable enough to suit my work from home set up. Also yes I know my phone is expensive but I don’t want to go with any other carrier but Verizon as it’s the only one that works near my parents house down south. @77nick77 I am trying to get my food bill down, it’s hard to get to the store to shop deals because I don’t have a car to get there. Only Walmart is within walking distance (1 1/4 miles) and they rarely ever have sales. Most of the time I get the bulk of my groceries delivered for a $13 a month fee. I’m starting to get food boxes again so that should also help.
Maybe AI can help you make a budget. Sounds crazy but this last construction job I was working on this guy used AI to budget it… Wasn’t perfect but gave an ok guideline
So far this month I have spent $136 on groceries and soft goods(had to buy new face wash and moisturizer) I think I could realistically spend another $70-100 before the end of the month if I’m careful. I’ve been making a lot of homemade items vs spending on store bought.
Idk if this is helpful because it regards the internet and phone which you probably have a long-term contract for but… I’d see if there’s any way out of those. Phone and internet is taking up like 2/3 as much as the grocery bill.
I pay like $25 for my phone… Comes with 25 gigs of data. Also maybe you could cut the internet bill entirely if you really needed to as your phone plan probably has a lot of data… You could use the wifi hotspot on your phone … just an idea.
@POET I can’t cut my internet as I work from home and require strong internet that my computer actually plugs into it doesn’t rely on wifi. For my apartment we only have 2 internet carriers that cover us and one of them has crappy internet so I have to go with the more expensive one. As for phone I’m not willing to go with another provider as Verizon is the only one that has service out where my parents live.