Quote Originally Posted by Muirenn View Post
Hmm. Don't suppose you could post a blank version of that spreadsheet Catrin?

I spend too much
Yes, I can do this tonight and I've started to keep it in Google documents so I can access it whenever I want/need to. For me at least it helps to see the overall big picture. I spend too much as well...so this helps me quite a bit.

Quote Originally Posted by Melalvai View Post
...
Pay food first, then rent and utilities, then the loans & credit cards. Prioritize it so that if money runs out, you have pre-made the decision about who doesn't get money that month or who gets less than a full payment. And call your creditors and explain the situation. You'll end up paying a fee, but you can stave off having collection agencies hounding you.

If you even just send them $10 that's better than missing a payment entirely.
This is a good approach, when I fell behind for assorted reasons in the late fall/early winter I adopted a similar approach to start digging my way back out. I seem to want to put food last on the list though...and am trying to do better with that. I hate late fees...

For me I prioritize my biggest/most important bills first (rent, car payment, utilities) then I move to the largest credit accounts down to the smallest. While this hasn't helped my credit rating, it does help to talk with my creditors and it stops the calls.