A big thank you from a long time lurker

Hi all,

I just wanted to say a big thank you to everyone on here. I've never posted before now, but I've read so many of the threads here and I've had the same problems as many others. Reading these gave me some comfort, as at times I felt very stupid, embarrassed and also alone thanks to the mess I'd got myself into, and at one point even descended into depression.

At the end of this month I'll be making the last payment on my Nationwide loan of £9,500. I still owe my mum and dad around £5,000 but with a new job with better money and no other debts to pay, I'll be paying them £1,000 a month to get rid of it quickly. I will then be debt free for the first time in my adult life, which is something I am so excited about, and I'll then finally be able to start thinking about saving and buying a house of my own.

Given that circa mid 2012 at my worst I probably owed in the region of £17,000 I've come a long way, but strangely it's been a good experience, and I feel I appreciate the value of money (and my parents) more than ever before.

I'm not saying I haven't had the odd mishap along the way, but the most important thing I've learnt in the last couple of years is that admitting you have a problem is the hardest part. The next hardest thing to do is to remove yourself from the situations that cause those problems.

I also need to say a big thank you to my parents as well, as twice now they got me out of a big hole where multiple payday lenders all had sizeable sums due at the end of the month (hence the £5k due to them).

I'll do another post sometime soon explaining in more detail my story and some of the wrong choices I made in the hope that it helps others, but it will be a long one!

Anyway, thank you all again, and good luck to all of you! :beer: