Hi newbie here, Hello

*recovering_spendaholic*

Sorry if this is in the wrong place, I am completely new to these forums.

Just wanted to introduce myself and say hi, so 'hi'.:D

I've had a quick browse around the site and already found some fab money tips, so thanks.

I'm Ruth, I'm 32 and married to a lovely man, (who sadly has no concept of the value of the pound) and we have 3 little boys age 2 months, 18 months and 4 years.

We first got into debt just after our first son was born. Dh lost his job, I was on maternity so we began living on credit cards, and a bank loan. We had just cleared our cards with the majority of the bank loan in anticipation of our new baby, and had hoped to keep the rest for a rainy day.

Anyway, long story short, our debt spiralled out of control with charges upon charges etc. We decided we needed help in April 2005 and foolishly went to a debt management company called Spectrum (am I allowed to put their name) Financial Services. We were conned by the promise of our debt being reduced, nay wiped out, into paying them over £500 (which we could ill afford) to sort out a DMP for us.

Needless to say by August 2005 they still hadn't sorted anything for us, in fact they tried to lump us with additional debts belonging to somebody else. Of course our debts had gotten even further out of control by this time. It was then that we found out about the CCCS. We waited a month for a telephone appointment and then voila! They have been our saviour, so to speak.

We ended up with somewhere in the region of £18,000 debt, which had started off as a £9000 bank loan only 8 months earlier.

So, we have been trudging along making our monthly payments since November 2005 when our DMP was officially started with the CCCS.

HOWEVER, after looking on here I have been inspired to try and get this figure down more quickly. I am still getting to grips with all your challenges and terminology, but so far I have made £100 cashback for changing our life insurance to M&S (plus quartered our premiums), £50 for opening a child trust fund with Engage, and £75 for swapping our buildings and contents to esure, (plus saved a third on premiums).

Not a bad start, although of course I have yet to see any of this, but please share your tips (if you don't mind)

Oh, I am also about to start recaliming my credit card charges for me and dh on four different cards - have printed off the template requesting statements, just need to pop them in the post.

Sorry for the essay.:rotfl:

littlechezza

Hi there, I'm no expert but people will come along who can offer advice, the first thing you will be asked is to list your income and expenditure so the advice can start from there, good luck!!!

Karmacat

You sound like you're a long way from being a spendaholic! Well done you for the trudging - hopefully now you'll be walking, maybe jogging, with a light heart as well! Today is a happy day on the board, a long term member became debt free, Snaggles is her list name, so you see, it happens, all the time! Littlechezza is right, the first thing people are going to ask you is to stick up your income and expenditure. For how to do it, go to the last sticky at the top of the dfw board - there's a link in that post.

Otherwise, sit back, join in the fun, join a challenge! After you've done your soa, of course!

Take care, and keep posting.

*recovering_spendaholic*

Thanks for replying.

Great news about your friend, and very inspiring.

hypno06

Hi there - stick around, mooch on the boards, pick yourself a challenge and that debt will be gone before you know it!

claireabelle_2

Great start :T keep it up!

*recovering_spendaholic*

Thanks :hello: