The Luxury Trap, Personal Finance | Shopped for financial difficulties:

The temptations have been too great for Linda Olstad. This has led to a huge consumption of shopping.

– I am very inspired by what I see on Instagram and other social media. You see someone wearing some clothes and then you think “I want that too”. I felt an urge to buy something all the time, Linda Olstad tells Nettavisen.

See how much money Linda spends on clothes here.

Olstad is the participant in this week’s episode of Luksusfellen, which is broadcast on Wednesday night. In the episode that was recorded last autumn, economists and presenters Cecilie Tvetenstrand and Lene Drange are met by a girl who has had an enormous consumption. Among other things on clothes.

– You can start a clothing store, Lene Drange exclaims in the program when she gets to see the huge wardrobe Olstad has.

In the program, Olstad predicts that she spends 12,000 kroner a year on clothes, but with 35,217 kroner she spends almost three times as much.

– We often set in the budgets that you have to manage with 500 kroner on clothes a month. According to the consumer institute SIFO, the normal consumption of clothes is around 1000 kroner a month for a girl of Linda’s age, Cecilie Tvetenstrand explains to Nettavisen.

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Olstad was quickly told by the economists that here it is just a matter of starting to sell away clothes and other unnecessary things.

– In the moving process I was in, it was very nice to get rid of some. But of course there were some garments and shoes that were difficult to sell away, says the 30-year-old.

Difficult situation

When Luksusfellen came to visit, Olstad was in a very tough situation in more than one way: In addition to the financial situation, she was in the middle of a break-up. Thus, she and her daughter (3) were on the move home to her parents.

– I signed up for Luksusfellen as a consequence of that break-up. For now I was alone with my daughter. Standing alone with income, while caring for someone who is three years old, became a lot. That is why I sought help, she informs.

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Tvetenstrand thinks it is great of Olstad to ask for help in the middle of the situation she was in.

– Being in the middle of a breakup with children, and in addition the root of the economy, is difficult. I think it’s tough of Linda to ask for help during the period she was in, the consumer economist explains.

Olstad says that even though the process was tough to stand in, it also gave a boost.

– It was very tough. I was really on the bottom, but the fact that Luksusfellen came to help was a huge boost. It gave me a kick, she says.

Almost 800,000 kroner in debt

In addition to a large consumption, Olstad had also accumulated a relatively large debt. In the program, she is informed that she has a total debt of NOK 785,197.

– It’s completely sick. It is wrong to put yourself in such a situation. This must end, she says in the program.

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The total debt is not that big compared to what others have, but for someone who does not own anything, it is different.

– Having almost 800,000 kroner in debt without owning anything is very high debt. If you are to gain access to the housing market, you must have saved 15 percent equity to qualify for a mortgage, Tvetenstrand states.

The debt includes car loans and student loans, but it is the unsecured debt with consumer loans, credit cards and the unpaid bills that gives her a difficult situation.

Tried to clean up myself

Olstad tried to clean up on his own prior to participating in Luksusfellen. She was almost done with that, but quickly fell back on the old pace of taking out a new consumer loan and paying on credit.

– I did not get it as detailed as I did in Luksusfellen. I did not get the same overview as I did in the program. It is something else when you get help by phone and email from an office, Olstad explains.

Thus, she incurred NOK 50,000 in credit and consumer loans, in addition to unpaid bills of NOK 15,000. It has given her great problems.

– These creditors will also deduct you from their salary if they do not get what they want, says Lene Drange in the program.

In the program, Olstad has three months to repay the problem debt of a total of NOK 65,000. In this way, she can have the opportunity to qualify for a mortgage in the Housing Bank. With income from work and the sale of clothes and things, she managed to repay half.

– I realized that it was not going to work, because I did not have enough values ​​to sell away. At the same time, the pandemic did not make it any easier to get sold off, she says.

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Other consumption

With a high consumption, Olstad has 28 kroner left in the account when the Luksusfellen economists come to visit. With one week left until the next salary and still many bills to pay, Drange and Tvetenstrand wonder how she has managed.

– I have borrowed 50,000 kroner from parents and 30,000 kroner from ex-cohabitant, Olstad states in the program. Thus, she has a private debt of 80,000 kroner.

Olstad comes from and lives in Stange municipality in the Inland. She is a trained hairdresser and has a job in a hairdressing salon in Stange. In the program, she says that 100 percent position, but she has time off on Wednesdays.

This makes Drange react.

– You have a 100 percent position, but you do not work enough. You are the one who does not want to work enough, says Lene Drage.

Olstad has had an average income of NOK 24,500 a month for the past six months. Reimbursement of taxes, holiday pay and child benefit is included. The actual income is NOK 17,000.

Should she comply with all the obligations she has, 8,000 kroner is missing. Thus, she loses 8,000 kroner every month.

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The food post is something Cecilie Tvetenstrand could not help but notice. For Olstad had bought breakfast and lunch at the store almost every day.

– It is completely unnecessary, but it is a clear trend that very few people make packed lunches today. There are many grocery stores and it is very easy to go in to draw the card to have breakfast or lunch, Tvetenstrand points out.

Today’s situation

After moving home to her parents last autumn, Olstad and her daughter still live with her parents in Stange today. But she talks about improving her job situation as a hairdresser.

– Now I work as a hairdresser both in the salon and in a nursing home. The income is better than it was and the plan is to find housing to rent after the summer holidays, the 30-year-old explains.

– How is your clothing consumption?

– I have learned to deal with that. So now it’s stop. If I have a hole in a pair of trousers, I can buy one, but there is no more.

The program states that she has managed to sell off so that she has a balance of 33,000 of the unsecured debt. It will soon be over.

– I will finish on June 1. So the plan is to apply for a loan from the Housing Bank again in one to two years, Olstad explains.

Kim Remi and Mona Sæterstad had a steady course towards the forced sale of a home. See the difficult situation they had put themselves in here:

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