New beginnings.... lets get this debt cracked!!!

Hello... new to the forum and hoping this diary keeps me focussed & positive on the long road ahead....

My lightbulb moment came this July (2016) .... Just been paid and the same day the bank was bare (overdraft blitzed) after paying all my bills... this has been the case for as long as I can remember but this time something was different for me & I knew I couldn't carry on. My mental health was starting to suffer as I felt guilty I couldn't do nice things with my little boy, I wasn't sleeping due to my problems and my moods with my OH were horrendous.... friendships were (& still are) virtually non existent as I never had any money to go out with them and I started questioning what was the point to life.... then it clicked - I needed help and needed help now and so I contacted step change.

As soon as I contacted stepchange I immediately felt relief; relief that there could be and was light at the end of the tunnel and that someone could help & support me to get me out of this mess. I felt guilty, embarrassed and ashamed but on the phone the lady was so empathetic I immediately felt at ease... I am not the first person to get into a financial muddle and doubful I'll be the last.

The first solution they discussed was an IVA and set up a telephone meeting with an IVA practitioner. I sneaked to work early one morning and had the meeting on the phone in TESCO car park of all places - no one but me knows about the situation I am in... OH knows about some bills and goes mad so I feel I can't sit and share anything with him - he doesn't understand - yet he doesn't work and expects all the nice things to just pop out of thin air!! Anyway, after the meeting the guy suggested an IVA may not be the best solution after all and suggested trying a dmp in the first instance. So I phoned stepchange right away and when someone answered and I began to explain, I just cried and cried and cried...

So here is where I am up to now...
Decided to go along with a dmp with stepchange and the first payment is due out at the beginning of next month.... can only afford £244 each month on debts of 38k to 18 different creditors so its gonna be a while - but I am determined to be debt free & will work hard to get this cracked sooner rather than later.

I read thread 10 and thread 11 of the debt free wanabee sections for support and advice and this has really helped - along with the replies that calmed my nerves about my expectation of a flurry of letters, none stop phone calls and door step collectors.

I have contacted all my creditors to let them know about the situation and had one reply out of the 18 so far to say they accept the reduced payments and will stop the interest.

So there you have it - the reason why I am here and where I am at now. Its going to be a tough slog but I will get there & I think doing this diary will be a great help...