The Vault with Financielle - “10 Days Until Payday and Nothing to Fall Back On” | The Vault Episode 86

Episode Date: October 15, 2025

Send us a text“You should never lend money to family” - we unpack this week’s controversial opinion, then dive into your dilemmas:💸 ”10 Days Until Payday and Nothing to Fall Back On”💸 ”A £9 a month payrise is just an insult!”Got a money win or (totally anonymous) dilemma? Share it via the Financielle app community or email [e-mail] 💌You’re not alone in figuring this stuff out. Get honest, helpful reads at financielle.com 💖💸#AD Get your ✨free will✨ here (Available until 31st October, 2025)The cost of the will is covered by Octopus Legacy & their charity partners. Many people choose to leave a gift to charity in their will as a thank-you, but this isn’t required to claim the offer.Connect with our Partners*🫶 Get life insurance with our friends at Lifesearch. Speak to a female advisor here.✍ Write a will that is tailored to you with Octopus Legacy.🏡 Meet our Financielle approved Mortgage Brokers.*The above are tracked links, which tells our partners we sent you and may in future result in a payment or benefit to our site.The Vault is an entertaining yet thought provoking podcast that answers our community’s dilemmas and confessions surrounding women and money.Visit https://www.financielle.com to download our app.Watch the podcast on YouTube.Follow Financielle for more:▶︎ TikTok▶︎ InstagramAbout Financielle:Financielle is a female focussed finance app helping women to take back control of their money, ditch debt, increase savings and invest in their future.Recorded and Produced by Liverpool Podcast Studios▶︎ Web ▶︎ Instagram▶︎ LinkedIn

Welcome to The Vault with Financial Health. This is a safe space where we talk all things live for money and no topics are off limits. Hi everybody. Hello. Good morning. Happy Vault Day. Happy Volt Day. It's definitely cozy, cozy vibes.

You are thriving. We know you're thriving in this like winter. Coming alive. I've got the opposite of sad. Yeah. Seasonal. What is it? Effective disorder.

I was going to get a lamp to wake me up because we get up early for the gym. And I said to Neil, we need to get the lamp that weights you up slowly. But then it wakes both of you up. I know, but I've decided now to start making an effort to, if one of us is on the early gym session, that the other one gets up as well and sorts out the pat lunches and the protein shake for the other person. What time is that?

But will he do that? Yeah, I think so. What time is the early gym session? 5.40, there's the get-up. Okay, the class starts at quarter past six. So usually I would stay in bed till quarter to seven and then follow him in the gym after. Yeah.

But tonight I'm on an evening session. So he got up at 5.40. I got up at 540. I did the two-packed lunches. I did the protein shape for him. I did a cup of tea for me. I did a bit of work that wasn't fan and shell. I'm a volunteer for the school's PTFA. So I did my work before my work. Like open the curtains, put a wash on. Like I was, and I felt so much more in control of the day. So I was like, do you know what? There might be something in this. And I know you're an early riser. And it was nice not to do it for something. It was like just to get up and start the day. I'll get up for the gym early. But I'll get up for the gym early.

But, guys, get into it yet. Let's see what she thinks when it's like snow. Well, when it's like, yeah. That's why, this is why, again, we go back, I need the sad lamp. Yeah. I want to be woken up slowly. Yeah, I think, I don't think that would wake Carl, so I think I can find out. Yeah, you'll be fine.

Wake up, the lamp telling you to wake up. Well, I'll explore one of them, but it's only like an Amazon one. Like, it doesn't fully light the room up. Yeah. It wakes me up. Does it make a difference? Well, we've got, like, for 12 minutes, it gets brighter. And then it's like,

It doesn't wake Alex up Carl's got no time There's no gradual I've been doing evening gyms Right Because I'm like in an evening sauna Oh before bed And I don't want to walk to the gym in the pitch black

Yes In the mornings But you'll walk from the gym in the pitch black at night Yeah but it's not like It's a bit busier Yes I think it's good to do One of the main reasons that

People talk about fast in cardio and stuff and I don't know anything about it but one of the main reasons for the morning is like you know the big endorphin rush for the day you've achieved something but performance-wise you're actually meant to work out

later in the day like after fuel because you've eaten and drag note do you think I feel better you should be able to do it better and achieve more I'm a bit on highlight

if I've done a like tonight I've got a fitness class and I know that I'll yeah I'll be a little it's quite an intense one it's like I'll be I don't do anything intense

I live some weights and then I go seeing this on for 15 minutes I even looked at I stopped buying a sauna the other day. That's how influenced I am at the moment. It's so good for you though, isn't it? The infrared. Is that correct?

We've not got an infrared one, Mike. I'm not... My gym's not outdated. It's the heat. Yeah. A friend's around the corner's got one in the garden. So Laura's spent the summer. Well, I know.

I've hinted enough times. Building out her out gym. So she's got a gym outside. But our friend's got a sauna and I was like, something in this guy. It's like, literally. Morning gym session. Go around in.

our Oudies. I know because I say it's like Holly and I'm like just because it's outside it doesn't if anyone wants to use the gym not anyone listening because that's a lot of people coming in but Pommie Payne Cave

that's what we call it but imagine if you went to their back garden with like your dressing gown yeah slippers we're queuing I'll put a towel down it's fine don't worry it is like the new big spend thing

on the Instagram isn't it yeah it is if you follow it it used to be the ice bath if you follow anything fitness related every other scroll now at the moment is just selling me something. I played a game on TikTok the other day. I was like, I wonder how many

times someone tries to sell me something. And it was like, because sometimes it's an ad, sometimes it's TikTok shop and sometimes it's someone just talking about something to buy and they're not. TikTok shop's the worst. It really is. Like, every single thing is like, girls, these trousers, it's $5.99, blah, blah, blah. I'm like, I'm on a market stall.

I caved and bought the gym tops. Do you know the Holternet ones? And they're fine. Oh. Wouldn't recommend them. But, like, I've got three extra gym chops for, like, 15 pounds. Yeah. Instead of, like, a gym chart one for 35.

Yeah. Yeah. We talked about it before. Like, it's literally QVC. It is. It's market sale. Yeah. Two-99, going now.

I'm like, what? I don't want this. I'm like panicking. Anything to do with, like, selling on TikTok, I hold down and and press not interested. Oh. Yeah, that's a good idea. And do you seem to get less?

I love that. Yeah, way left. Oh, right. Okay. Things actually want to watch. Oh, right. Passive aggressive. That's a good idea.

I didn't know you could do that. I'm not going to comment and say... Hold down on the video and then it comes up with a little button like not interested. Oh, there you go. I'd love to be able to turn off. I bet I wonder if there's a turn off TikTok shop. But they make too much money. TikTok make too much money.

They don't want to turn it off. It's crazy. How do we get here? I talked about winter and then I went off. Okay. Time for today's controversial opinion. You should never lend money to family. What do we think?

Like, I've not got my purse. Can you lend me? Gives a five. Or is it like we want to buy a home? Can you lend me five grand? Yeah, there are two very different things. Our family WhatsApp is the funniest WhatsApp.

It's literally like professional bailiffs like in there. Like Trish will be like, does anybody, I mean, M&S, does anybody need anything? And I'm like, yes, I need cream cheese, bagels, kitchen roll. I don't pay for my bacon. See? And then six weeks later So I'll say Make she tell me how much I owe you

Does she keep a tell her or does she not? She does she does and doesn't So she probably won't Invise me for the bacon Because she'll be like Yeah Two quid Whereas

But sometimes it's like 7 pound 89 she would invoice me Yeah I wonder what the What's the But it's like a running family joke Like my nan used to do it She'd have like a little book

And obviously we'd be at like College and stuff And she'd like Does anybody need anything from it It would be like Something fun for her to do But it'd be like right I owe you 300 pound for that hot bit of the holiday.

Can you, but you owe me this, they're this. So actually, we owe each other seven pounds. So should we call it quits? It always works out. Yeah, there's all these conversations in the chat. Obviously that that's not the controversial opinion, but it's, you can have funny dynamic. Like Laura, the other day, I was like,

I need this dress. I'm going to traffic centre. Can you buy it for me? Yes, send you the money, done. But borrowing money in an emotional level. I know. And then, so I bought clothes. I've got some clothes for, like for the autumn,

for um i don't know spent september didn't happen last month um but a couple things for morning live couple of things that i can also use for work um in fact these houses money queen um from mango and um i bought them from a space a clothing space yes so then when holly paid us 60 quid no free money that's like how do you spend it on i think it's in an investment so i didn't i didn't spend it but it was it didn't go back in a clothes pot so in my head i'd spent that. So I've spent, because it came from the party, it didn't come anywhere else. And so Carl was like, what's his 64? I was like, never you mind. It's not spare. It's going to our future self. But yeah, like, that's the, so that's, that is like lending a little bit.

You can't always, you can't always just be like, forget. Yeah. Because it can rack up and that person might be like, but I think this controversy is it's more like big stuff. It's the deep stuff. When, when can you? When you are poorly? Or there's, been an act. I say poor. When you are, poor. When you're poor, you probably shouldn't lend money. When you pull it.

If you've not got, we talk about critical illness cover. Like extreme scenarios. Yeah, like you've had an accident. You're in another country. You need to get home to your kids. Like, you've suddenly been taking ill. Like, I think I would say to you or to my mom, we need to borrow money. Like, I literally can't pay my mortgage?

The way is, like, if you are lending family money, you become like, the bank. Yeah. And remember what a bank will do or a credit card company, they will assess credit worthiness, they'll assess risk. And so the reason why so often we'll say, absolutely don't,

is because you have to put yourself in that role and you're related. So you have to think, so for example, you think she's got, she's got a good job. She could get a good job if she lost a job.

She's quite healthy. But she's in an emergency and she's on holiday and she needs to get a new phone or a new passport or like she needs a grand for something you have to put yourself

in that position and go if I lend you that what's the likelihood of you paying it back and if I'm someone that always ask you for money and never pay it back and I'm probably going to

put it on the boat trip that I want to go on you might say no but you might say yes and then I come back and go so it's another holiday and you'll be like you want me a grand

so being the bank doesn't give a shit the bank goes don't care you want me that money Whereas you don't have to make payments to family. It's optional. There's not a, you know, unless there's a, I mean, you can have a contract between family, by the way, I wouldn't advise it, but it can be a legal debt that's between you both.

And you could sue if someone doesn't pay you. How likely is that? You're going to do it? We always talk about, are you willing to give it? So generally, and like, I think you're right. I think there's some exceptions where like if there's an absolute emergency in their family and you're paying back when you can pay her back, but this is a one-off and it's something extraordinary. but generally if you're going to lend money to a family member

if they never paid it back and if they continue to like spend money here there and everywhere we have to live with that and it not come between you and it not be a thing like we've I think we talked about before where you go if you're going to lend money to a family member in that kind of situation you kind of expecting not to get it back and see it as a gift and just be done with it

do you know we've talked about it before where people said and I've asked them and I've hinted and you just have to go can I afford to let this go and you can afford to let it go that's your choice but for the sake of the relationship but yeah we're not one for lending money to family are we for it to be a thing the typical person that lends money from a family consistently the answer to that question is no they shouldn't yeah be lending it to them because they're shit

with money they've never got the shit together and protecting boundaries as well going like why do you see me as a line of credit like this is not helping you but this is not appropriate it's when people like are doing it because they want like a new car they want a new car they want a new It's not like an emergency car. No. They need, like, it's when it's something boogey. You've got lifestyle creep and the way you fund it is not three family members. But imagine like the dinner table when someone owes your money.

We've talked before with friends, like don't lend friends money. There's a difference between like, I mean, God, before we used to go out and not pay on cards. I used to take cash for a night out. And so someone would be like, can you let me 20 quid? Stay out, I'll lend you the money, you know. I saw this TikTok of, um, I think this blew up, thankfully, hopefully, hopefully, but this girl's filming her boyfriend who's walking up and down at the end of the bed and she's sat on the bed watching TV and his face is above the camera so you can't see his

face and he's going, why won't you just let me under a grid? Like, it'd be ridiculous. I might have saved it for us. Oh my God. Sometimes I save it ever read if I watch it like 2 a.m. Talking to her or on the phone. Talking to her. Wanted her to lend him money and she's done it before.

Like I've got to go out with the boys and I can't like being really, really like narcissistic and being really like. Oh my God. You are the worst of the world. Like how embarrassing that. I have to go to them and say, I can't come out because I'm not got money. And the comments, you can imagine, the ladies and gents, both in the comments going, what a walking ick and how, as if he's doing this.

I love that. How embarrassing I've got to go to scores for friends. I'm embarrassing. You've not got 100 quid for a night out and you bully me for it. But it was like between partners, imagine. Oh, that's horrible. That's like financial abuse, isn't it as well? Yeah.

That type of behaviour. Guild tripping. Yeah. I don't like that. I'm not here for it. And I'm not here for lending money to family and friends unless I need it. but yeah big big boundaries to be i think lots of people listening will probably start they're going about okay this is when i think it's acceptable and this is when i think it isn't but

you know it's a it's a lovely thing also sometimes um whether it's friend or family to to be confident to gift something so there's an amount of money that will be right for you that's i don't think about it you don't want me that oh you're that oh that oh that oh that no no it's on me but there's boundaries there because it happens again and you're like ooh and like

is the leachy behaviour where if there is a wealthy family member does that family member get asked for money to borrow money a lot I bet it's had if you're like siblings and one's always like

we've talked about before if they work in the family business and they're always given like the okay okay whereas the other sibling has like gone out and built their own life and built their own wealth and stuff

and they never reliant on the parent even in like the mid-40s or whatever and the other ones constantly asking the stuff or expecting stuff or the family feels like they need to give money to this person for them to like get through life oh god family dynamics okay time for a first dilemma although your life can sometimes feel like a Hollywood blockbuster weddings divorce death and scandal it's the mundane life admin that can protect you from turning it into a horror film here at fine and shell we feel really passionate about making sure our community and their families are protected. Be honest, do you have a will? And if you do, when was the last time that you updated it? We've been working

with our pal's Octopus Legacy for some time now and our gal Harriet from Octopus Legacy has dropped us this helpful voice note to help you stay in control when it comes to protecting you and your loved ones. Hi Financial. There's a quick tip on how to make sure your loved ones are looked after no matter your situation. Make sure you have an up-to-date will in place. Unfortunately, the law doesn't always protect blended or non-nuclear family structures the way you'd expect. So without the right plan in place, your home, savings and assets might not go to the people you'd want and the people you love might not get what you want them to. That's why writing a will, or for extra protection and control, creating a will with trust, is so important. It lets you decide

who gets what, when and how, like letting your partner stay in the house while still leaving your share of your home to your children, or ensuring you've provided for your whole family, not just your immediate relatives. And if you've already got a will, you should make sure it's up to date and matches your current wishes. Thanks for letting me interrupt, ladies. I'll let you get back to your podcast now. P.S. Love the show. A helpful reminder from our girl Harriet to get that important life admin nailed when it comes to protecting you and your loved ones. And right now, it's simpler than ever to do so. Until October 31st, Octopus's legacy has teamed up with charities from across the UK to cover the cost of your will up to 150 pounds. You and your

family can write a simple will at no cost or get a will with a trust at a discounted rate for a short time only. Let Octopus Legacy help you nail the important life admin so that you can go about living your life with the people you love. Head to the show notes to get started. Now, let's get back to it. Ten days until payday and I have nothing to fall back on. I feel a bit sick writing this because I've never been in this position before and I'm totally spiraling. I've gone into my overdraft today and I'm freaking out. Payday isn't for another 10 days and I have zero savings to fall back on. No emergency fund, nothing. I've always been really sensible with money. I budget. I've never missed a bill and I never used my overdraft until today. I'm scared

that this is the start of a slippery slope. What if I can't climb back out? I'm already mentally beating myself up for not being more prepared, but I genuinely thought I'd be fine this month. I had an unexpected expense come out and it's completely thrown me off. I really don't want to borrow money. Or ask anyone for help. I want to try and manage it myself. Is there anything I can do to survive the next 10 days without digging myself into a deeper hole? I'm trying to stay calm, but I feel so overwhelmed. I feel like I've failed and I hate that this one moment is making me question everything please help one thing throw you off yeah one thing it just shows you when you've not got emergency savings and when your budget's really tight one thing and it blows at the

month and she's got 10 days to payday I remember that when I used to work in an office people being like five days payday like they were counting down the days it was so reliant on that money dropping in because they literally couldn't afford it's so normal it's like more people are in that situation than not it's um we're weirdos we're always like is it pay days well people financial is like pay days so they can budget yeah we look forward to the budget yeah well listen I know some of you do it a year in advance like yeah those budgets are done um but she's in survive this is key survive it's like early survive isn't it because before you can build your mini emergency fund and whilst you're doing your budget and it's sort of shame for her

is it sounds like she's been doing all the right things and she's like a budget and something's come in um it's a healthy reminder us to why we need emergency savings but that's like who's gonna lecture her about that right now because she's got 10 days to pay day what do we do back to the wall well if you had longer you'd be like so you can sell like we've already we've always done there how can you create access in your budget but this is like she could do could do some of those things you can do she needs money like here and now so like vinted no that's not a good few days Facebook marketplace yeah you can't do the vintage stuff because it could be 500 days and someone's bartering you down to like 50p for a dress that you bought for

65, not a month to four. So you need the cash quick. How can I get cash quick and something like a Facebook marketplace is perfect where it's immediate exchange. Yeah. And it could be, usually if you have 10 days left a pay day, you probably have paid all your bills usually. The last 10 days, which is almost half a month.

Like it's not a large amount of time. Like it's a large amount of time. But what's in your food cupboards? what is in your freezer. Can mum and dad make you any food? You don't have to dinner. You don't have to have some money. Can I get a lift from a work colleague to get to work?

I can't pay for, I don't want to pay for a train. I don't want to pay for a bus. Like who can give me a lift to work? Can I walk to work? Is it going to take me an hour and a half? Well, I'm going to get up an hour and a half earlier. Like now is the time to get scrappy. Yes.

Scrappy scrap. Yeah. Hack the hell out of this. And then because ultimately you are where you are right. And so where, you know, you know, you wrote into us, you know where you're writing. We're not going to go say, oh, go put on a credit card and learn next time.

You know, you're in your overdraft and you might have to use your overdraft. It's one of those. It's a cruel reminder of why we have the emergency fund. It's a cruel reminder of why you have to start building that momentum. And so you will do that next month and you're adding to your debt a little bit with your overdraft. And as long as it's not a habit,

then forgive yourself a little bit. We've all been there. But when you prepared, we don't go through this. We go, oh. Emergency fun. Annoying, but okay. Yeah. So, like, you know, I know we're saying,

we're not saying use the overdraft, but that is the thing that you'd have to do. But it is a time to get creative. You know, can you pick up a shift in a friend's pub and will they pay your cash on the night? Like, it's stuff that we are massively speaking for a place of privilege where we've not had to do that because we've had nothing.

It was so interesting. and maybe this is why you put the lending money thing before it, Lucy, because there's a controversial opinion. Because I'm trying to think, what would I do? And it's very easy for me to be like, so I'd sell things on Facebook Marketplace. But I might do because you can get cash immediately and if you're going to sell the thing anyway.

And I would shop around my free and I would have the most random meals you could ever imagine and look in my cupboards and stuff. But I would probably ask friends and family. family, would you mind have a borrowed money? Yeah. If I was really up against the wall and I had nothing. But with a contract that I get paid, next month I will be able to give you 50% of it back.

And I've been mortified and I would, and I would hope that it would make me never put in this position where I have to do that again. Like, well, literally what would you do? And some people don't have family. I think I'd go into the overdraft more. I think, sorry, I would do that first. Yeah, it's the first protocol.

Yeah. She's already in the overdraft. And like, like, you're spiraling on this. Like, she's right. You are spiraling. You're like, so that's it. So that's it. I'm going to be shipping money forever because this month I've gone into my overdraft and I've

budgeted and I've done really well. If your budget is so tight, it's time to do something different and the way that you can do that is either by squeezing your budget, which we talk about all the time, or getting more money in. That's the only two things that you can do to not be in this situation again because your priority next month is to build an emergency fund. So you never have to do this. That's why Survivor is called Survive. It's trenches. It's really, really it's not easy or pleasant and you have to think outside the box and you have to do weird and wonderful things and like holly said like if there's a time to get an extra job now is it is the time to apply for the next big job promotion yeah you know now is the time is it renting a room out

is it moving into a cheaper place like is it moving home with parents if that's possibility if things are that tight seeing to yourself i'll sort it this month i'll go into my overdraft I'll borrow, I'll be creative, but I'll never be here again. It's the biggest thing that you can do. It's not some people get this setback in like three, four weeks in and they've built up a little bit of emergency fund and they go, oh, you see it, don't you? They go, I've had to use my emergency fund, I'm so annoyed.

And unfortunately for you, you've had it happen when you were at zero. Yeah. And that's just, you know, adding as little, when people always ask us about this actually, and I say adding as little debt as possible when you have to use debt is the best option. Yeah. Like cap that, like, man. that don't it's not a free-for-all like sometimes sometimes it happens in my

so when people having a baby and they've not saved anything what you're going to do not buy to as much debt as you could like limit the damage damage damage limitation and then we fix it later yeah don't spiral you're doing okay 10 day countdown yeah yeah no spend 10 days yeah and some really weird meals are coming yeah weird what's your weird survival got known like what's in your coverage right now if you didn't have a food shot that's a good question. I've always got pasta. I've always got rice. Yeah, I've got, um, I've always got tuna. I've always got sweet corn. I've always got rice cakes. I've always got cereal. I would, I would be fine. Tuna pasta. Yeah. Because you'd get your protein and you'd have pasta.

I said that edamami in the freezer. Protein fills you up. I, the other week for lunch, I didn't have literally anything and I had eight years for lunch. And I also, the Go to the cheap in the freezer. I also was like walking back upstairs to my desk and I spilled the soy sauce all over my desk. No. I was about to say that a cream carpet going upstairs. Literally. Do you know what?

I think we, I think we should do a little blog on that. Not on the like random things we've got. What are the budget friendly like if you need a week that's like because everyone talks about ramen and like I love a miso and I love noodles and that is a hack for like, do you want the 17-pound Pratt platter that they're talking about. Is it 17 quid or is it cheaper than that? Do you remember we were like 12 quid, isn't it? Salad.

But, you know, the difference between going getting that on your lunch or having like literally a pot noodle for one to the best of a word. Yeah. I wouldn't advise it health-wise, but financially. A short period of time. Things like rice go a long way. Bolognese goes a long way. Like, make a few meals out of it.

Yeah. We're in Shepard's Pie. season. I can't really not spoke about it. It's the worst meal in the world. I will not. Go on. I will be soon. In January last year, this year. Last year? This year. January, I think we started literally like New Year's Day. We genuinely had a run off like 10 days and we ate Shepherds Pack. No. No, it's cottage pie every single day. Just no. I love her. Sweet potato. Sweat. It's basically baby food. No, it's so good. It's pure. Woody was having that at six months

as his first weaned meal and you're like... Maybe I did and that's why I'm so attached to. My problem is the portion size that I require. No, we have a lot. It has to be a lot and is that... We have like my... Do you know there's enamel trays and you get them in like a pub?

Yes. Normally in the like that big with like fries in. We've got like two bigger ones of them so every time I make cottage pies I make two and one will like feed us for one meal. Like we eat a lot of it. Do you have a side of veg with it at all? Yeah, we do like broccoli or something.

I think it's the lack of texture for me. I, my cottage pie. Is it lumpy then? Yeah, I think it's like, now she's like, is it smooth or lumpy? It's just like, it's like, gaudy lot. It's like, no, like you eat it so much, it must be amazing because I could never. No, because it like stays in like once I go like this. Oh right, it's quite, um, yeah, it's not like, yeah.

But during people do the, I think it's on TikTok and it's like when you're running for, for tea and it's a stew. See, I'm with them. When you come in from school and your mom's got the slow cooker on. That's what I think about when I think, I'm like, Paul, Alex and Lucy,

the Reverend Shepherd's fight again. Tonight. It's literally both our favourite meals. That was like, the question on our first day is like, what's your favorite meal? Coffee pie. Oh my God, this is the wedding food. You're made for each other, Jesus Christ.

Deconstructed. Yeah. Okay, community win time. Today, I finally paid off my credit card, which I've had since I was 21. I'm 47. Wow. Amazing. When I started my financial journey back in 2023, clearing my overdrafts and my credit

cards seemed impossible. Now I can't wait to cut this credit card down. See ya, virgin. Bye. I'm coming for that phone debt next. So credit card gone. I'm not laughing at, see a virgin. Like, the company.

By Richard. What we're talking about here. Yeah. Get in loser. Yeah, because they put a screenshot of the credit card in the financial app. In the community, there's zero. Like balance zero. Cut it up, get rid of it, block it, shut the account.

Set it on for, no, it's not on fire. That's like. This is where someone said a few weeks ago I need glitter cannons. Yes. Like, I get it. To appear behind you when. I've just got like, I just said these. vision then right so imagine our vault set up but we're at like a festival maybe it's a

it's not on money things it's gotta be boring so like a cool festival we've got the vault on tour and we've like pre-planned all our guests which has all these wins and then we get them to come and share the win and then there's cannons yeah that's where the canons need to be like one of them you get a car you get a car you get a car I'm paid off your car paid off your car we'd never do that Oh my God. We always talk about, wouldn't it be funny if you're like paid off one of our community's debt? But then I'm like, no, because they need to learn to pay the debt off. If we just paid some debt.

Maybe just like the last like 50 pounds. Yeah. But you know what I mean? But then we're not helping them. We're not helping them. You want to pay it off yourself. Like the survive journey is like the best one out of them all. If we just like paid it off of people, it'd be so...

It's fine. We'll just buy them houses then when they've paid off the debt. They can prove they pay off the debt. We'll buy them a house. I'm really like against it because I want people to go through a bit of the pain of paying it off so they never do it again. We've, you know, we've done had dilemmas before where someone's got, oh, my mum paid off my credit card and then I'm just in credit card debt again.

It's because they've never gone through the pain. This is true. Or the victory of paying it off themselves. Sorry, guys. So sorry. I can have a t-shirt. You can get t-shirts? Can someone get out of a gun?

The t-shirts in the end. If you'd like to tell us your win, head to the community in the app or email it to the vault at financial.com. Okay, next dilemma. I don't know why I've gone further. I end up like this and I'm like... Dilemon number two. I think my bum's so numb for like from the loads of running.

Right, I'm here. This is how we're supposed to sit. Yeah. But I'm like this. By the way, I'm the first. Where's your hair? Is it stuck in a jumper? Oh no.

I look like a bomb at the whole one. No one told me. She should do a check before we go live. Yeah. Lydia said that a few weeks ago. She was like a hair was all a mess and she's like that was her debut. But on my side, it looked fine. It was Holly didn't do the...

Hi guys. Holly didn't do the... Left side check. No, don't me. Right, side, that's all right. We're fine. Very good. On the first, before we go on,

the first episode that we filmed, I had my legs like this. I took off in, during your foot goes dead. I was literally like, it was like flopping all over the place and Lydia was sat next to me. I was like, I hope I don't,

my leg doesn't, because I couldn't feel it. Just, just, wow, Lydia. It's a good job when you're like this. Listen, you laugh, but I've done that on them,

BBC before where you sit cross-legged at the breakfast bar and then it's like right get up and go we're over here now don't fall I'd be like I'm staying sorry just carry on dance around me or whatever you're doing you can you back and your legs literally you could punch it still be like pins and needles does me anyway sorry okay time for our next dilemma Hi, guys. I just wanted to say I absolutely love the podcast. My husband was previously awful with money and racked up so much debt. I'm so proud of him because he's now got rid of all his credit card debt and is working to pay off a loan he took up. In the last year, since we got married and combined finances, I feel like we've both made incredible progress despite earning very low incomes. I do extra things on the side like tutoring, dog sitting and I'm a self-proclaimed cashback queen. Our dilemma is this. My husband recently received a promotion he's been told he's been getting for the last 12 months, but it's nowhere near as much as we thought. It's only £9 a month higher than what he currently gets.

I feel like this is just an insult considering how hard he works and he basically does everyone's jobs for them. Needless to say, he's looking for something else that's higher earning and respects him more. We previously lived on site for his work through salary sacrifice so he barely paid any tax, and in order to get out of his job, we just bought a house. our mortgage is half what renting would be, so it just makes sense, especially when we had the money for a deposit and the pesky Scottish office over scheme. However, with the increase in expenses, it means we can only save £200 to £300 a month. We have an emergency fund that's just over £1K and a car emergency fund of £500,

but I'm conscious that this won't last long if an emergency comes up on the house. In the meantime, while we're on our current salary, do we A, put all our cash into our emergency fund and just accept that we won't get any holidays or renovations done on the house or B, split it more evenly and accept that it might just take a little bit longer to grow our emergency fund. That's, oh, I really, really feel for her. When you think something's coming like a big pay rise and then the... That's all, that's not a pay rise.

No, it's not a promotion. Because before thinking about like her goals and their goals, my immediate wish for this couple is that pay rise is new jobs. new careers like what can we do because there's only so much you're going to be able to do with the excess you know if if a promotion delivers nine pound for him like which she's obviously disappointed with it they obviously presumed it would be more it's not going to make a dent in what they do want to save per month like it's absolutely tiny and so um it's easier said than done and I know we don't know exactly the jobs and the roles and they get different benefits as well to be able to

do like the salary sacrifice housing and things um but wow like that's must feel must have felt like a kicking the teeth especially at the face kicking the teeth i was like yeah well we're hit in here we're like hitting ourselves it's really bad yeah especially when she does every like you know the frustration when you do all that work and then it's just kind of not acknowledged but like she's give us like question a and question b and a was around do we concentrate saving on up our emergency fund or do we trying to kind of split it between renovation and house and emergency fund. And I think we've given this bit of advice before. But when you're on low income, for me, my priority wouldn't be renovating a house.

It would be getting my emergency fund together. Because if you can only, and I say only, you're in a couple, generate two to 300 pounds worth of excess. You can't afford a renovation. You can't. That's a nice to have unless it's something emergency like we've got mould and we need to not as well. Yeah, renovations are so expensive. That would probably like unlock more things that you need to spend. It's going to cost more.

Like, you can save an amount, but yeah, it's going to be, oh, we need to now knock this wall down and, oh, you need insulation here. Or there's mould behind it. You're going to have to have it treated. Like, it will just be a kind of worm duck and guarantee now. And I'm going to be dead honest with you. You can't afford a renovation. You can't even afford probably to, like, maybe lick a paint.

Like, if you need to really, like, if it's getting you down. It's expensive, does my idea. That's what I mean. And if it's stressful, fair enough. And you can do it yourself and you can keep cost low. And she also asked about, she doesn't mention children, I don't think. I didn't hear them. mentioned this holiday and again like holiday is you know we we prioritize it massively like it's

high up the list because we can we can but what i mean is there are different levels to holiday there's different things that you can be done like you know some um so there's some amazing like everything without kids as well possibly like camping or caravan weekends or off out of season stuff that you can do where you get a break and the food you do self-catering you would do it anyway you can you can holiday cheaper but this comes straight back to what i said before, which is there's just so little room in this budget to be able to fund those things. Now, she needs to pick her emergency fund amount. She said they've got 1,000 and they've got 500 in their car fund.

I would treat that as a 1,500 emergency fund. I would because what I always say is the car, if a car breaks, it's an emergency. Lots of people can foresee that that car's going to need to replace him. So, or I've got my emergency fund, but. that's going to need repairs. And so that's when you start to separate it out. But I think mentally, well done, you've got 1,500. And so like Holly said, I would be parking other things

and just going ham on this emergency fund. So you need to pick like three to six months minimum expenses. As long as she's debt-free, if she's got debt, that's a different matter. But, oh, sorry, I'm saying this wrong, actually, one-months minimum expenses is what you should be aiming for. Now, that might be 1,500, so you might be there. And if you're there, then what you do is you move on to overpaid debt. And I think that's the point where you could put, let's say, 50 of the £300

pounds into a holiday pot. Yeah. And at some point there might be £500 in a year's time for a holiday. Renaud stops all this. And so I think that's a lovely goal to look ahead to. And like I said, as long as it's nothing health and safety related with a renovation or something that like you said, you could spend £100 in one month on paint and then you're done for a year, then be practical.

about it because we say this often this is where maths is maths and no magic that we chat about on this sofa is going to enable you to have all three the numbers just don't work but say if you want to get to like two and a half thousand pounds of an emergency fund because that's your one month's minimum expenses and even that might be a bit high once you put your two three hundreds a month into that you've done it's done it's done then that two three hundred can go to your holiday and your renovation and it's only for a period of time that's probably next thing because if If they do have debt, let's say, I don't think she mentions it, does she lose? If she's got like...

Oh, no, they're debt-free. The debt-free. So her husband's currently working to pay off a loan. He's got a loan. But it's got a loan. So they've got a loan. So they've got a loan. I would say it's...

No, if it's a loan, I would say it's quite a high month of payment. Just by very definition of having a loan. You don't tend to take a loan out for like $50 a month payment. It would be higher. So when that is paid off, they're going to have more than $300. Let's say that loan payment is $150 a month. I'm making it up. And you put it off, you've got $4.50.

Exactly. And that's where you get momentum. So you're doing the right thing. You're doing it right at the order. But that's why the minimum emergency fund is first. And you shouldn't be bougie-syncing funds. Like we get distracted. Like we might put a little bit away for Christmas.

And we always say if you're going to spend it, you may as well save up for it. And it'll slow you down. But if you're going to spend it, don't pretend to yourself and then get there and go, it's Christmas. Think about that. It's a bit easier when you've not got kids, I think, to be. be like, we're going with that, we're fine, we're going to, because next Christmas, we're doing something gorgeous.

And rightfully so, like, this isn't us saying, you don't make enough money so you can't have fun. Like, that's genuinely not what we're saying. We're saying, your budget, the maths does just not work out right now. So you have to focus on being financially well, building those emergency funds, paying off any sort of debt. Then you don't own any money to anybody and all that excess eventually will go to you and fun, renovation, holiday, whatever it might be.

But for now, in this period of time, the only way that this maths will work is if you bring in more income at the top. And you said you're looking for a new job. That's the way that you get all three. Yes. That's the perfect answer. It's not the easiest answer. It's going to take some work.

But your income is your biggest wealth building tool. And you can only cut expenses so far. So if you don't increase your income, you can have the things that you've talked about. It just slows them down. And you do run at a time. Or we get more income in and we speed it up. And that would be game changing.

I can imagine if you wouldn't actually have to earn that much more each to suddenly have like six, 700 pound of milk. Agreed. It wouldn't be a huge pay rise. You don't need a big, big 20 grand pay rise here. We're talking smaller pay rises between the two of you that are appropriate. And suddenly, like, no budget is in a whole new place.

What was B? We had an A and we had a B. We'll answer the most. Split it between everything. No, yeah. Do emergency fund, then pay off the debt. Possibly at the same time as pay off the debt, save a little bit for a holiday. We wanted a little UK-based gorgeous weekend.

A friend of mine said the day that you can get he, she'd, booked a haven caravan site, I think a year in advance and it was 45 pounds and I was like, oh, a night and she was like, no, no, for the whole thing. I was like, sorry, she was like, it was like a bronze standard caravan

say it's bronze, silver gold and I was like, we're never in it. The kids are like on the rock climbing wall, they're in the pool, they're in this, that nether and she said I booked it a year in advance. It was 45 pounds for three nights. And you can take your own food. So you could go in theory

and spend nothing. Don't take the kids to the arcade. But she was like, I was like, oh, there's two p arcade. I was like, ten a, across three days. joy. Oh, that's amazing.

So there are ways you can do it. This survive mode is all about hacking. It's just hacking and being scrappy, thinking outside the box. Having the confidence that, like Holly said, this is no reflection on you, you, your earnings and where you're at. You've done amazing to become, like, consumer debt free apart from this one loan. So you're nearly there.

And like I said, the only way is up. But yeah, I would just like, let's get that income up. And nail that emergency fun. You'll feel amazing once you've got that. Amazing. Okay, that is all for this episode. The Vault is now closed. And just a quick disclaimer, The Vault is just a chat and on life on many topics. We're not giving financial advice.