Day 3 - I want to be rich!

In 2018 my bank at the time decided to give me £17,000 which was completely insane. At this time my credit was great so there was no issue with them giving that to me, I think there was a phone call to run me through a few details but that was it. I was 20 years old and that was the most money I had ever seen, and it was in my account. My plan with that money was to spend £10k on this serviced apartment scheme, unfortunately for me it turned out to be a scam. Now I did get the money back, but I had to go back and forth for a long time and it was keeping me awake at night. 

When I was in my last year at College I remember saying to my mum I really wanted to start my own business, I thought I would have a fashion brand or something but had no clue. When I started my first full time office job out of College it was all I could think about, being self-employed and not having to work. So when this opportunity came along, I was so excited at the chance to make money in property. All I would say to anyone is to understand that if something seems too good to be true, then it most definitley is. After clawing back that money, I should have just paid the loan back and carried on with my life, but I didn't. I paid off my overdrafts which was about £7K total, then without realising it over time I was dipping into that money. 

I was using it to supplement my income because my outgoings just kept rising, and I just wasn't making enough, even with being in a new job it just was not enough. The following year I got another job which I only did for 2 weeks because I hated it, was out of work for 2 weeks then got a temp role. This was the first time with having a gap in my income and thankfully my dad helped me out but, but my financial life did not improve as I was just getting by and had no savings. I then got a full time perm job and had to be in London everyday, I couldn't belive it cost me £10 a day just to get to work, I had taken out a new £2k credit card which was meant to be to pay for travel and I was meant to pay it off each month. Of course that didn't happen so I ended up being in even more debt on a low income. 

I used to have to get the bus to work, 1.5 hours each way which was miserable and only saved me a few pounds in the grand scheme of things. I was depressed and couldn't understand how to get out of my mess. I again decided I didn't like my job and quit, so had to take a low paid temp job to have an income. Then Covid struck. I was happy to be at home and spending less, but I would get about £350 a week after tax, do a food shop straight away and then my direct debits would bounce, I would take it in turns paying different bills each month whilst building up arrears and defaults on my account. Then I got a full time job and after bills had £300 for the month for everything, which just did not stretch. It was horrible to constantly be thinking about money, I would enter competitions and hope to win, it was very pathetic but in my defence I was 21 and clueless. 

Then the next job I got was £2k a year more, but I ended up worse off because it was 4 weekly pay, so I lost £150-£200 a month. I couldn't sleep, I always felt anxious and angry and just felt like I was in a pit. By the end of that year I started interviewing for other roles, I went for one which was a day rate but when the recruiter sent across the JD I saw the salary and thought it would be £5k more a year and decided that would keep my head above water. So when I got the job and the recruiter told me over the phone I would get £208 a day, I couldn't believe my ears and was so excited to have a lot more money then I had ever had before. My day rate ended up working out to £235 a day and now I was able to live and make a plan to pay off my debt. 

When that contract ended I got another contract for £300 a day and felt like my life had really changed, I wasn't stressed about money anymore. Unfortunately I hated that job, so I quit, had 6 weeks out of work then was back in another low paid temp role, back to square 1. Thankfully I was only in that job for 6 weeks, then I got my job back at the place I was contracting at originally and my day rate was now £245 instead of £235, I was happy and spent a year and a half paying off that big loan. Then surprise, it all went downhill again. My contract came to an end and I got a job paying £50k a year, which I hated and left after 2 months. 

I was then out of work for nearly 3 months which honestly ruined me, then back into another low paid temp job. I constantly needed money from my parents, I know they were fed up of me asking. But I genuinely needed the money to eat and get to work each day, I even used to call in sick to work some days just to save money. Then came my last job, I took it because the offer was on the table, even though I was at the 3rd stage of an interview for a much better job, I didn't want to risk not having a job at all, and that job included public speaking which made me feel sick. This new job made me go in everyday for 2-3 months, so that was expensive and back on the bus it was. leaving the house at 6am and getting home at 7pm, depression was at an all time high, I sold my jewellery at pawn shops just to have cash at times. I did have someone move in to my spare room but that still was barely scratching the surface, of all the debt that built up from being out of work. 

Then in March of this year, I felt so low and felt like something had to change so I started applying to jobs. I got the job I have now earning £45K and I still have the rental income so I am finally in a much better position. That is a really brief overview of how I got where I am today, a lot of it was self-inflicted with leaving jobs without another to go to. Then taking low paying jobs just to have some type of income. I now am also learning how to trade, not with real money, just a demo account and learning all the basics. I want to be rich and do not want to work a traditional job so I have to do something. I need something to build up some money, then property development is always the end goal for me. 

I will document some of my trading journey as I go along, so stay tuned for that. I have been working full time for 10 years and I am so ready for a change, but I am going to be sensible this time, no spending £10K on a scam, but I do want to do an in person trading day course. I need some physical help and want someone to show me the basics, there are some that I have seen online for free so that is my plan. I hope you guys enjoy this journey. 

- Girl in debt xo