‘I accrued £3,000 in credit card debt last year’
All-round rising costs – from her mortgage to pet insurance to council tax – meant Grace, a registered nurse in Cheshire, racked up about £3,000 in credit card debt last year on food shopping alone. “Literally everything went up . It all builds up,” she said.
While she’s now working at paying it off , it has come at the cost of her savings. Grace, 43, has been using her “rainy day fund” to pay the debt off , but is also making cutbacks where possible. This includes not buying food at work. “I try to make myself something but if I’m really tired, quite often I just don’t eat,” she said, despite being at work for up to 13 hours.
Grace used to pick up overtime shifts where possible to supplement her salary – she is currently on £32,306 – but a serious illness last year has meant she can no longer manage it, which added to her accrual of debt. “I can no longer do extra shifts as my body won’t let me.”
She is considering taking more radical measures. “My mind has been drifting towards stopping my NHS pension contributions as I would be better off by at least £250 each month. It’s frighteningly tempting but future me will be poorer for it,” she said.
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Denne historien er fra March 22, 2024-utgaven av The Guardian.
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